Meal prepping isn’t just for bodybuilders; it’s for whoever wants to eat healthier and save time during the week. Meal prepping lowers the chances of you hitting the drive-thru or even worse, not eating at all…
I’m always my leanest and less stressed when I take Sundays to cook all my meals for the week. Cooking is really cathartic and I’d love for people to fall in love with making things with their own hands. Happiness starts in the kitchen.
Take Saturday to:
- Plan your menu. Pick a breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, and optional snack. (The optional snack is for days you need more fuel. If you’re not hungry, don’t eat it)
- From the menu, make your grocery list… and stick to it.
- Grocery shop.
On Sunday:
- Get all of your containers prepped and ready.
- Make all your food and put it in storage containers.
- Organize your fridge by meal.
Unless your training to be Mr. Universe and have specific goals in mind, I believe that your food should be flavorful… and yes, food can be both flavorful AND healthy. Your life shouldn’t revolve around brown rice and boiled chicken. Meal prepping will help you portion food out to more human-sized meals without you really thinking about it. If you think your portions are too big, there are a lot of awesome portion control systems on the market. My favorite is Beachbody’s The Portion Fix.
Here’s my sample Meal Plan Menu and Recipes! (Vegetarian and vegan friendly)
 Breakfast
Pomegranate and Coconut
Overnight Oats with Walnuts
Ingredients
- ½ cup large-flake oats
- 1 tsp chia seeds
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tbsp pomegranate arils
- 1 tbsp unsweetened large-flake coconut
- 1 tbsp chopped walnuts (optional)
- 1 tsp pure maple syrup
- ½ cup coconut milk
Instructions
- In an 8oz glass mason jar (with a lid), combine the oats, chia seeds, ground cinnamon, pomegranate arils, large-flake coconut and walnuts (if using). Put the lid on, and shake the jar to combine the ingredients.
- Pour in ½ cup of coconut milk, and 1 tsp of maple syrup. Stir the contents to combine completely.
- Place the lid onto the jar and keep in the fridge for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
- Enjoy cold or at room temperature.
Snack 1
Fruit Salad
(Mango, Pineapple, & Kiwi)
and 2 Hard Boiled Eggs
Dice up your fruit. I did a tropical mix, but whatever you like is great too! Each serving of fruit salad should be 1 to 1 ½ cups. (I had extra pomegranate seeds, so I added them!)
Hard-boiling an egg is super easy. I put all my eggs in a pot. Once it starts to boil, I let it go for 10 minutes. Immediately after, I dumped the hot water out and run cold water over them. Then place them in the fridge.
Lunch
Southwest Taco Salad
w/ Vegan Honey Chipotle Lime Dressing
Note: Some vegans will not use honey because they believe it’s an animal product… A bee is an insect. To each their own, though. If you’re hardcore vegan, use agave syrup.
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Salad Ingredients:
½ cup Kale
¼ cup Black Beans
¼ cup tomatoes, diced
¼ cup corn
3 TBSP chopped onion
¼ cup tortilla strips
1 serving of Beyond Meat’s Southwest Chicken (vegan)
EVOO
Dressing Ingredients:
1 cup Veganaise
Juice of 1 small lime
1 TSP Chipotle seasoning
1 table spoon honey
Salt and Pepper
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Preparation:
Combine salad ingredients in a bowl. Sauté the “chicken†in 2 TBSPs of EVOO until warmed thru. Place on top of salad.
Dressing:
In a small mixing bowl, whisk the lime, honey, and chipotle into the Veganaise. Salt and pepper to taste. Serving size is 2 TBSPs.
Note: Add the tortilla strips right before eating so they don’t get soggy!
Snack 2
(Optional)
Yogurt and Granola
This one is simple. ½ cup of your favorite yogurt and ¼ cup of your favorite granola. BOOM!
Dinner
Roasted Harvest Veggies with Potatoes
Ingredients:
3 cups butternut squash, diced
4 cups Brussels sprouts, halved
4 cups potatoes, cubed
4 cups beets, cubed
1 cup onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
EVOO
Salt and Pepper
Preparation:
Place all vegetables in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle with olive oil; enough to coat them evenly. Add minced garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Toss gently and transfer evenly onto a cookie sheet. Cook in 400 degree oven for 45 minutes or until all veggies are tender. Serving size is 2 cups.
You’ll spend a couple hours in the kitchen, but save yourself so much time and energy during the week! Please tag @nikkinurtures on your own meal prep photos on instagram, pinterest, and twitter!
Happy Prepping!
Nikki Aguilar
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I lvoe this idea of meal prep. I am also loving the roasted harvest vegetables. Can you use like Quaker oats fro overnight oats.
Absolutely! I used Mom’s Best Rolled Oats.
Ok, this looks like it’s simple enough but how do you keep all the veggies fresh and the fruit from going nasty in the fridge? Stuff seems to go “bad” so much faster in our fridge and I am not really sure why.
I haven’t had an issue with prepped food getting gross. I make sure the fruit is sealed tight and the veggies are cooked, so they stay pretty well in their containers. You can always freeze half of what you prep and heat as you go.
Meal planning is essential in our home as it is the best way to manage the grocery budget. My hubby and I enjoy planning our weekly menu’s together.
Wow! You make meal planning looks so easy! I know if I did this I would save a ton of money. I’ll have to bookmark this and try it out!
That taco salad looks like an easy way to save money on a yummy lunch when I’m at work! I’ve also been meaning to try overnight oats for breakfast – and this recipe looks great.
Thank you for sharing these menu ideas. We definitely eat better when we plan and prepare ahead of time. It really makes a difference in how healthily we eat.
Great tips on meal prepping! I wish i read this when I was in university.
Yum yum! Everything looks soooo good – I wished I could eat some RIGHT NOW. I love planning my meals and your recipes will be put to good use. 🙂
I keep falling off the meal planning train. I just started again this weekend and hope to stick to it! That taco salad looks great!
I like how everything is super organized and simple enough. I absolutely agree that meal-planning is the best way to save money and not having to stress about what to eat or not eat! Thanks for posting
I go through meal prepping phases but it most definitely helps with making healthy choices and cutting down on stress. Thanks for this sample menu! I can’t wait to try the pomegranate overnight oats and southwest chipotle salad recipes.
Meal planning is essential in our home as it is the best way to manage our budget. I loved reading your post!
Meal prepping is the worst for me. I’ll start off great and by the 3rd week, I’m over it. I’m loving Snack #2. Seems the ideal fruit bowl I’d consume.
My hubby does most of our meal planning since he is the one that usually does most of the cooking in our house.