Happy Friday everyone! Here's our first meal prep recipe blog! Like we said last week, eating well when we have busy schedules is difficult. Meal prep might be an answer to your problems. Dedicate one day to cook so you can have a healthy week. You know what Benjamin Franklin said, "fail to plan, you are planning to fail!"
One of the most important things to invest in when meal prepping is tupperware. We cannot stress this enough. Being able to have all your meals ready to go in individual meals is the easiest way to just grab your meal and head to work, school, gym, or wherever your day takes you. Here are some recommendations for tupperware we find most convenient:
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| Rubbermaid's TakeAlongs Rectangles |
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| Rubbermaid's Divided Easy Find Lids Container |
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| LaCuisine 34oz Locking Divided Lunch Container |
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| Frigidaire Bento Lunch Box Containers 2 Compartment |
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Now that we have tupperware's ready, let's move on to the recipe! One thing to keep in mind is to contain all protein, starch, and vegetables. You should always incorporate healthy fats as well;) For this first post, let's cook some omelet muffins, lemon garlic chicken, baked sweet potatoes, and a garden salad.
Breakfast
Omelet Muffins
Ingredients:
10 eggs (beaten and seasoned with salt and pepper)*1 for each omelet muffin
1/2 green bell pepper (diced)
1/2 tomato (diced)
4oz white mushrooms (diced)
Instructions:
1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2) Line muffin pans with cupcake papers or silicone muffin cups. If using cupcake papers, spray them with cooking spray.
3) Place green bell pepper, tomatoes, and white mushrooms evenly into 10 muffin cups.
4) Poor the beaten and seasoned eggs evenly over the mix-ins. Your omelets will expand so make sure you leave a little bit of space at the top of each cup.
5) Bake for 20 minutes and poke the center with a knife to make sure it comes out clean.
6) Cool completely and place the muffins in an airtight container or ziplock bag.
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Lunch and Dinner
Lemon Garlic Chicken (Protein)
Ingredients:
8 medium lemons (cut into wedges)
16 garlic cloves (minced)
1 teaspoons cayenne pepper
4 teaspoons minced thyme
8 teaspoons fresh minced basil
4 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
6 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 large ziplock bags
Instructions:
1) Squeeze 4 lemons worth of wedges into each ziplock bag. Leave the lemon wedges in the bags as well.
2) Add half of the garlic, cayenne pepper, thyme, basil, salt, and vegetable oil into each of the bags.
3) Place 3 pounds of chicken into each of the two bags.
4) Seal the bag and refrigerate for at least 12 hours, longer if possible.
5) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
6) Grease baking pans with olive oil to prevent sticking.
7) Place the chicken onto the baking pan.
8) Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until juice is clear.
Baked Sweet Potato (Starch)
Ingredients:
6 sweet potatoes (pealed and diced into 1-inch cubes)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup honey
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions:
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2) Place a single layer of sweet potatoes on a roasting tray.
3) Drizzle the oil, honey, cinnamon, salt, and pepper over the potatoes.
4) Roast potatoes for 30 minutes. Pierce with fork to make sure it's tender.
5) Drizzle a little more extra-virgin olive oil over the potatoes.
Garden Salad (Vegetables + healthy fat)
Ingredients:
4 romaine lettuce hearts
4 small plum tomatoes (diced)
1 cucumber (diced)
2 carrots (peeled and shredded)
2 avocados - healthy fat ;)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
Salt and black pepper
Instructions:
1) Toss lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots into a bowl.
2) Place the olive oil, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper into a container and shake until the sugar dissolves.
Once all of your food is prepped and cooled down, place the chicken, sweet potatoes, and salad (without the dressing and avocado) into 10 tupperware's (2 meals per day, 5 days a week). Poor the dressing and diced avocado over the salad the morning before leaving your house each day.
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Now, you may have noticed that each of the menus were for 5 days. We did this on purpose so that you have the freedom to go out to eat or cook something different over the weekend. We hope this helps! Have a great weekend everyone!
