Food prep and meal prep is a huge part of my weekly schedule. I try to take several hours on Saturday or Sunday to prepare meals and extra food to get me through the week. My meals are all clean eating friendly, but meal prep can be done for any type of diet or eating style. It can be adjusted to be vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, etc.
Taking a few hours over the weekend to prepare meals saves me a lot of time throughout the week. I keep my meals in the fridge grouped together so that I can grab a days worth of meals and head out the door in the morning.
This week I didn’t have to buy much meat at the store because I had some ground beef and cod in the freezer. Donny also bought an extra turkey to cook for the week so I didn’t even buy any chicken!
Here is what I bought at the grocery store and also what foods I prepared to get me through the week. If you have any questions then please reach out. Email me at eatliftplayrepeat@gmail.com, comment below or send me a Facebook message.
Grocery Shopping:
- eggs, 1% cottage cheese, 4-5oz containers 2% Fage Greek yogurt and feta
- yellow bell pepper, green onion, broccoli, zucchini, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts
- bananas
- Applegate Naturals savory turkey breakfast sausage
- diced green chiles
- Soleil sparkling water – one lemon, one lime
Meal Prep:
Sunday morning I made a list of what I wanted to accomplish during meal prep. Here is the list:
- cook pinto beans
- roast turkey
- make cauliflower rice
- make frittata
- grill vegetables and cod
- cook spaghetti squash
- roast tomatoes
- make meatballs
I woke up rather early Sunday morning and decided to start cooking the pinto beans. Saturday afternoon I combined 1 cup pinto beans in 3 cups water. I let that soak over night, then Sunday morning put the beans and water in a slow cooker. I added another few cups of water to the beans so that there was about 2 inches of water covering them. Next, I turned the slow cooker on high and let it do its magic. The beans took 3 hours to cook on high.
After they were cooked I strained the beans from the water, then added 1/2tsp sea salt, 1/2tsp cumin, 1/4tsp onion powder and 1/8tsp cayenne. They turned out pretty dang good!
As the beans cooked I made cauliflower rice. For a complete tutorial, see my previous post How to Make Cauliflower Rice.
Donny brined and smoked a turkey for Thanksgiving. It was so good that he decided to cook another turkey for us to eat this week. He brined it first, then roasted it in the oven at 350°.
While that was cooking, I cooked the spaghetti squash. My oven was in use so I decided to microwave it instead.
I cut the squash in half lengthwise, scooped out the seeds and stringy pulp, then put it in a glass baking dish cut-side down. I added water to the baking dish (in order to steam the squash) so that it was 1 inch deep. Next, I put it in the microwave and cooked it on high for 15 minutes.
Once it was cooked, I flipped the squash over, let it cool then scooped the squash out using a fork. For a tutorial of how to cook spaghetti squash in the oven check out my post How To Cook Spaghetti Squash.
Donny grilled for me while the turkey roasted. He grilled Brussels sprouts, broccoli, zucchini and cod wrapped in foil packets. I seasoned the vegetables with 1/2tsp salt each and sprinkled both salt and pepper on both sides of the cod.
After the turkey was done, I made a frittata. I kept the oven at 350° while I prepped the vegetables. I diced both red onion and yellow bell pepper, plus thawed and diced five Applegate Naturals Savory Turkey Breakfast Sausage links.
Next, I sautéed the onion and pepper for 2-3 minutes in a cast iron skillet then added the diced green chiles and the sausage and cooked it another 1-2 minutes. While the veggies were cooking I whisked together 12 egg whites, 8 whole eggs, 1/2tsp salt and 1/2c cottage cheese.
After the vegetables were tender, I added the egg mixture to the skillet and took another 1/2c cottage cheese and dropped “dollops” on top of the frittata. Once the bottom of the frittata was set I put the skillet in the oven and let it cook for 25 minutes. I cut the frittata into five wedges, put them into airtight containers and sprinkled diced green onion on top.
I wanted to roast tomatoes to go with my spaghetti squash so I mixed 11oz grape tomatoes (halved), 1tsp Italian pizza seasoning, 1/2tsp extra-virgin olive oil and 1/4tsp sea salt. After lining a baking sheet with foil I spread the seasoned tomatoes out and roasted them in a 350° oven for 15 minutes. Roasting tomatoes this way makes the kitchen smell amazing!
The last thing I did for food prep was to make meatballs. I mixed 1.5lb 93% ground beef with 1 large egg, 1/4c O Organics tomato sauce and 1/2tsp sea salt. I measured each meatball to 1oz raw, formed them into balls and cooked them on a boiler pan for 15 minutes at 350°. The recipe made 29 meatballs so I froze a bunch for future use.
Well that was everything that I made in terms of food prep and meal prep. I have extra turkey and a few cooked vegetables to use for breakfast and dinner this week. If you have any questions about my meal prep then please email me at eatliftplayrepeat@gmail.com.
What foods/meals did you prepare for this week?
