You may also be able to tell I’m gravitating toward routines by the subject of today’s blog post: Weekend meal prep!
As I briefly mentioned on the blog a while back, I got some blood work done (inspired by reading the book Outlive) and it’s prompted me to want to focus on three main things when it comes to my diet: Increase my water intake (this has been going so, so well and I owe it all to this time-stamp water bottle!), increase my produce consumption and increase the amount of protein in my diet. I didn’t really dive into implementing these changes beyond increasing my hydration over the holiday season because meals during the holidays are all over the place but now I’m feeling excited to make some changes I hope will have a positive impact on my overall health.
When it comes to the food I meal prepped for the week ahead, you’ll see foods I prepped for our family (aka recipes our boys love) as well as some more protein-dense recipes I prepped with my personal goals in mind. I am not someone who naturally craves protein so I know that in order to see the amount of protein on my plate or in my snacks bump up a bit, I need a plan and a plan is a million times easier for me to implement if I do a little prep work.
I’ve categorized my weekend meal prep into breakfast meal prep recipes and lunch + dinner meal prep, though some of the recipes will be consumed for snacks and may even flip-flop categories depending on what we are craving in the moment.
Breakfast Meal Prep
These waffles have been the boys’ favorites for years. Last year, after I finally bought a larger waffle maker, I began making the entire box of Simple Mills waffles at one time so I could freeze the waffles we didn’t eat and save them for busy weekday mornings. They reheat perfectly in the toaster and our boys love them with a bit of butter, maple syrup and fresh berries on the side.
Since I already had the waffle maker out on Saturday morning, I made a mega-batch of protein waffles to eat and reheat as well. I still need to share this recipe with you guys but the ingredients are similar to my egg white and oatmeal protein pancakes so if you like that recipe, stay tuned for this one coming soon! They’re sooo good topped with a smear of peanut butter because the peanut butter melts and oh my gosh it’s so delicious.
I have these whole wheat pumpkin muffins under the “breakfast” category but they’re really an anytime food in our house. (Shout out to Ryder for sneaking one before I snapped a photo!) We like them for breakfast but are just as likely to eat them for a quick grab-and-go snack as well. And the boys love it when I include one in their school lunches.
Since I had some pureed pumpkin leftover from the whole wheat muffins I made, I found a recipe that would allow me to use the rest of it up in a protein-packed oatmeal bake! I used the remaining pumpkin in this recipe for brownie baked squash oats and since it called for additional squash, I also very finely shredded some yellow squash using my rotary grater to incorporate as well. (I’m sorry I forgot to snap a picture of this one right out of the oven on Saturday so you get the second-day glass food storage container pic!)
Lunch + Dinner Meal Prep
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Thai Cabbage Chicken Salad
My mom is a retired nurse and one of the first people I talked to about my bloodwork results. She knows about my goals to increase my protein and produce consumption and gave me an incredible gift over Christmas. I mentioned a cookbook by Lillie Eats and Tells, a woman I began following on Instagram who shares macro-balanced recipes that are often high in veggies and protein, and my mom printed out all the recipes from her latest cookbook, One More Time, and it’s been an incredible resource for me for new recipes. I’ve made a handful of recipes already (maybe 5?) and all have been incredibly delicious and filling and they make me feel good (stable energy + satisfied) after eating them. On Saturday, I meal prepped another recipe from the cookbook — a Thai cabbage chicken salad — and it was so wonderfully fresh and delicious, though it did make my kitchen look like a complete disaster zone in the process.
Here’s a glimpse into the reality of meal prep behind-the-scenes:
Ha!
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Prepped + Sliced Fruits and Veggies
I prepped some fruits and veggies for the beginning of the week, mostly for the boys’ school lunches, or as an easy throw-it-on-their plate dinner option. Some fruits like apples and pears they’re a little picky about because of discoloration but others, like bell peppers and strawberries are easy enough to slice 1-3 days in advance of serving and they’ll still stay fresh enough. I also steamed some green beans and plan to do another mini-prep of additional fruits and vegetables about halfway through the week.
We go through so many hard-boiled eggs in our house and thankfully our handy little egg cooker does most of the heavy lifting and makes a bunch of easy-to-peel eggs for us to have on hand. Ryan and I like hard boiled eggs in egg salad (or any salad, really) while the boys like them as a snack dipped in salt. For this week, I used the egg cooker to prep two cycles of eggs so we have a dozen hard-boiled eggs on hand going into the week.
I will likely do another round of mid-week meal prep on Wednesday to help get through the remainder of the week but the above prep should hopefully help the next few days a little easier!
Questions of the Day
Do you meal prep or take time to prep food for the week ahead on the weekends?
For those who eat a diet with a decent amount of protein, share your tricks with me! Is there anything you do to make incorporating protein into your meals and snacks a little easier? Any favorite resources?
