Use these ideas and recipes when you are planning on traveling, know you have a busy week ahead of you or need some healthy alternatives.
Meal prepping is super awesome because you don't have to think about what to eat everyday. Just coming up with an idea of what to make for a meal can be harder than actually making the meal.
Another great benefit of having meals ready-to-go is you tend to eat better and healthier. It is so easy to go out to eat or order in when you don't have the energy to make something for dinner. Having a meal in the freezer or a chopped salad in the fridge can save you some big bucks and motivate you to stick to your healthy diet.
I feel one of the most satisfying parts of meal prepping is the feeling that you being are taken care of. You have a delicious home cooked meal ready for you when you need it and it feels good. It reminds me of living at home, when I would come home after a hard day at school or after basketball practice and my mom had a homemade meal ready for me.
1. Mini Frozen quiches for breakfast.
To keep me going through the morning I love to have an egg or two for breakfast. Quiches are great because you not only get your protein but also some veggies in the morning! This recipe is for potato crusted mini quiches, follow the recipe and add greens and onions or add in any veggies you care to eat!
2. Ready to eat fruit in the fridge or on the counter.
Put fresh fruit where you can see it and easily get to it. (not in the bottom drawer of the fridge where you forget about it) If you have melon, mango or pineapple-cut it up ahead of time and keep in a container in the fridge to pull out whenever you need a snack or dessert or to go along with your breakfast or lunch
3.Salad Kit with beans and grains
I got this idea from my mom. She likes to chop her fresh veggies from her CSA box each week and toss them in a salad that she keeps in her fridge.
She also makes a pot of seasoned beans ahead of time, (check out this recipe for Slow Cooker Seasoned Black Beans)portions the beans out into small baggies and freezes the small portions. Beans will keep in fridge for a week and one month in the freezer.
To go along with the fresh veggies and beans she keeps a container of grains ready to eat like rice or quinoa.
You can mix all of these things in a salad together for lunch everyday and never get sick of it! Especially if you change up your ingredients each week, using a different mixture of veggies or a different type of bean or grain.
4. Frozen Soups and Chili
Whenever you make a soup, make double and throw half in the freezer. Or if you have a bowl or two of soup leftover and you are tired of eating it, put it in the freezer for when it sounds good again.
Try these recipes to freeze for later!