The holidays are a busy time for a lot of people and meal prep might be the last thing on your mind. I feel ya. We do a Christmas promotion that runs the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is basically four weekends and three full weeks of craziness! Don’t get me wrong, I love to prep food on Sundays but these days I prefer rest.
My schedule gets crazy and I have to leave the office most afternoons so I actually didn’t plan an afternoon-meal this week. Instead, I opted for convenience, aka Quest bars! Obviously packaged bars are not as clean as foods I usually prepare, but it is definitely worth having a grab-and-go snack that I didn’t have to actually cook this week. Plus, it is better than skipping a meal because I didn’t have time to eat meat and veggies.
Meal prep doesn’t have to be difficult. Work with the time (and energy) that you have. Sometimes it might be more intense, while other times simple. Here is everything I bought at the grocery store and also how I prepped food for this week. It honestly took me less than one hour total this week (not all at once either). If you have any questions feel free to ask at eatliftplayrepeat@gmail.com.
If you have more time to cook this weekend, then check out my past posts for a little more intense meal prep including Week 27, Week 28 & Week 29.
Grocery Shopping:
- boneless skinless chicken thighs, 92% lean ground beef and eggs
- 2% Fage Greek yogurt
- Brussels sprouts, zucchini, bell peppers (orange & yellow) and carrots
- bananas, lemons and avocado
- cilantro and green onion
- Soleil sparkling water (lime)
- 1 can Hunt’s diced tomatoes and 1 can lite coconut milk
Meal Prep:
Most weekends I dedicate at least an hour or two of food prep time to get meals ready for the week. We are CRAZY busy at work this time of year and I’m not in the office most afternoons. I wasn’t in the mood to cook all day Sunday and I didn’t need to make a meal for mid-afternoon because I won’t be at the office.
Instead I made a curry recipe in my slow cooker, threw together some Greek yogurt business and packed some Quest bars. Hands on time for this meal prep was less than one hour. It was probably closer to 45 minutes, no joke. Super simple, yet I have meals for the entire week.
I had to work Saturday, so I went to the grocery store really early. Turns out, no one is there at 6:30am so I got in and out in no time! I came home and threw some ingredients into a slow cooker and let that cook while I was working Saturday. This simple recipe for Crock-Pot Coconut Pork Curry can be found at What the Fork’s For Dinner blog.
(Slow Cooker Chicken Curry – pre-cooked)
I subscribe to Greatist.com emails and this was in the recipe roundup 21 Whole30 Recipes to Just Throw in your Slow Cooker. I did make a few adjustments to the recipe (aka I used chicken, rather than pork) so here is the recipe for my version:
Slow Cooker Chicken Curry
- 3lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 – 14.5oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 – 14oz can lite coconut milk
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 red onion, diced
- 2 cups carrots, chopped
- 2 bell peppers, diced
- 1Tbsp curry powder, 1Tbsp cumin, 1/2tsp ginger & 1/2tsp turmeric
- 1/2tsp sea salt*
Combine all the ingredients, except the salt, to a slow cooker. Set to LOW and allow to cook for 6-7 hours. Once it is done cooking, add the salt, stir and serve. Top with cilantro and/or green onion.
(Slow Cooker Chicken Curry – cooked)
This recipe was SO easy and it ended up really tasty! I served mine with brown rice that we had leftover from some takeout.
Sunday morning I whipped up my mid-morning meal by mixing Greek yogurt and protein powder, then topping it with blueberries (frozen) and peanut butter. Quick and easy meal for the week.
Honestly that was it…. I only prepared two things. I don’t have any vegetables prepped for the week, but I plan to make zoodles one night and saute Brussels sprouts another. We’ll just see how the week goes.
What are your favorite easy meals to whip together in a hurry?
