The holidays can get pretty crazy for people. My schedule has been really interesting lately, especially with a vacation and Christmas thrown in there! I finally had a week where I could go grocery shopping and implement some meal prep ideas – all in the same day!
Last week I did zero meal prep. In case you missed it, you can check out Grocery Shopping & Meal Prep Week 32 and see how little I did to prepare food for the week.
I prefer to take a couple hours over the weekend and prepare lean proteins, vegetables and occasionally some healthy grains/carbs. There are a million meal prep ideas to try in order to make easy, healthy meals. I really try to vary my meals from week to week to prevent boredom. Check out what I bought at the grocery store this week and how I used those foods to make healthy meals to get me through the week.
Grocery Shopping:
- boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- eggs (2 – 18 packs)
- 2% Greek yogurt and 1% cottage cheese
- baby carrots, zucchini, Brussels sprouts, mini bell peppers and frozen broccoli & cauliflower blend (4 packages)
- lemons and avocado
- sweet potatoes
- green onion
- Extra-virgin olive oil
Meal Prep Ideas:
Over the weekend I pulled a 1-pound package of lean ground beef and a package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts out of the freezer to thaw in the refrigerator. I buy meat when it is on sale in order to save money. If I don’t use it, then I freeze it for later.
The first thing I did for meal prep was to steam the frozen broccoli-cauliflower blend. I added water to a large pot until it was about 1/4″ deep in the bottom. Then I added all the frozen vegetables, covered with a lid and put it on the stove over medium heat. I allowed the vegetables to steam for 25 minutes, stirring 3-4 times throughout.
Roasting vegetables was next on the list. First, I preheated the oven to 400° and placed a foil-lined baking sheet inside as it heated up.
Then I prepared the Brussels sprouts by removing the end of each sprout, cut them half, drizzled them with extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkled them with 1/2tsp salt. Once the sprouts were prepared, I pulled the hot baking sheet out of the oven and placed the Brussels sprouts and olive-oil drizzled carrot on the sheet.
Putting raw vegetables on the hot pan gives them a nice crust on the bottom. I baked the Brussels sprout and carrots for 20 minutes.
Next, I cooked diced zucchini and mini bell peppers in the oven. I drizzled them with extra-virgin olive oil, sprinkled with salt and roasted them at 400° for 15 minutes.
While the zucchini and peppers roasted I made lean hamburgers using this mixture:
- 1lb 92% lean ground beef
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1tsp salt
- extra salt and pepper to sprinkle on both sides of the shaped patties
I divided the mixture into four patties and cooked them on a griddle at 350°. Each patty has 180 calories and 22g protein.
***The picture below are hamburgers I made during a previous meal prep session. Same process but different ingredients***
Donny grilled both boneless, skinless chicken breasts and also boneless, skinless chicken thighs for me. Prior to grilled, Donny sprinkled them with salt and pepper.
Last but not least I made yogurt bowls to-go. I mixed 2% Greek yogurt with vanilla protein powder. Then I packed baggies with puffed Kamut, pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds), shredded coconut and hemp hearts to sprinkle on top before eating.
Well that was everything I did in terms of meal prep. If you want more meal prep ideas then check out past Grocery Shopping & Meal Prep posts. Feel free to email me with any questions you have about food prep, meal planning or meal prep ideas.
Don’t forget I am started a 12 Week Meal Prep Series next week in order to help you beginning meal prepping like a damn PROFESSIONAL!
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