Hi friends! How are you doing? Hope you had a wonderful weekend! We were at the pool with (best) friends, watching Wildcats, coaching a client and working on Fit Team programming.
For today’s post, I’m updating an older post because there are so many helpful tips here on meal prep for a week!
Prepare a healthy meal for a week
Helping the newborn
Meal prep can be a great tool when you set yourself up for success throughout the week. It was also key when Liv and B were newborns. It’s something I love to do for my new friends, as well as make dinner for their families. If I could make some food on hand, they would have an easier time feeding themselves during quick naps or with one hand.
Some of the things that really helped me when the girls were young:
Naps and/or showers (Usually a compliment from Madhuri or Nana. I would feed a P or Liv and they would say, “Go take a nap or take a shower.”
Help with anything around the house or with dogs. Poor dogs were often neglected, so Mom or MIL would lead them for a walk around the neighborhood.
-food. The takeout was great, and the homemade was even better.
I remember I was eating a lot of sugar, and I was so excited when my friend Whitney brought me soup. It had protein and veggies, warmed my soul, and I could heat it up in a cup and eat it with one hand. Finished and finished.
Here are some staples I made for a new girlfriend Mama: paleo breadNight Oats, Monster Salad, Lactation Cake, and Delicious Soup.
Here’s how I prepared a week of meal prep in one hour.
Recipes:
Overnight Oats (oats, almond milk, peanut butter, cinnamon, maple syrup, berries, cocoa nibs)
Salads (chicken, quinoa, chopped vegetables, kalamata olives)
Soup (chicken breasts, onions, chopped zucchini, carrots, bell pepper, garlic, broth, bone broth, fresh herbs). This is an easy dinner or healthy lunch option.
steps:
1. Put two pieces of chicken breasts in the bottom of the tray Instant pot. Season well with salt, pepper and garlic powder. You can also make soup in the slow cooker, but it will take longer (about 5 hours). No big deal if you do this on a Sunday and have time to cook!
2. Start by chopping vegetables for salads and soups. for everything you cut, Half was for powers, and the other half was for destiny.
3 celery ribs (soup only)
4 carrots (peel and dice)
1/2 cucumber (salads only)
3 sweet peppers
3 zucchini
1 sweet onion (soup only)
3. Rinse the quinoa and start boiling it. (You can also use white or brown rice in place of quinoa!) I made 1 cup of quinoa into 2 cups of chicken broth. Cauliflower rice is another great option.
4. Finish the soup and keep going! Add the chopped vegetables to the Instant Pot (over the marinated chicken), 2-3 minced garlic cloves, add 1 carton of chicken broth, and 8 ounces of bone broth (or more chicken broth).
Season well with salt and pepper, then 5 sprigs of thyme and 3 large sprigs of rosemary. Set the “Soup” setting for 15 minutes. (I still can’t believe it cooks everything in 15 minutes of active cooking.)
5. Brown chicken for salads. Cut two chicken breasts (into small pieces) and season well with salt, pepper, thyme, garlic and smoked paprika. Cook in a little olive oil in a large skillet until fully cooked. Remove from fire to cool.
6. By now, the quinoa should be cooked. Stir with a fork and remove from heat to cool.
7. Preheat the oven and start the operation paleo bread. It was my first time getting a double batch, and it came out really well. Just keep an eye on it because ours is getting a little fun at the top.
8. While the paleo bread is cooking, assemble the salads. at mason jarsI added chicken, then quinoa, then chopped veggies, and kalamata olives, and topped with romaine. You can use any green plants you like, but put them on top so they don’t get wet. Later when you’re ready to eat, simply add the sauce, cover, shake, and serve. You can also add grilled vegetables to your salads, cooked on a tray with avocado oil, salt, and pepper.
9. Next, make overnight oats. In each jar, I added about 1/2 cup of Trader Joe’s gf’s Premium Oats, and about 1 cup of almond milk. I dipped in a little maple syrup and cinnamon and mixed well. Put on each jar a drop of almond butter or peanut butter, some cocoa nibs and berries. Raspberries and blueberries tend to hold their shape better.
10. When your paleo bread and soup are cooled and ready to go, pack everything up to share with friends or store in the fridge. I transferred salads and oats overnight into jars, paleo bread in an airtight glass dish, and lactation cookies I made earlier were frozen.
Your friends tell me: How’s the meal prep process going? What is your favorite thing of the week? I love breakfast cakes, baked breakfast cakes, and this egg dish.
I also love making a great selection of grilled veggies, boiled eggs, shredded chicken (perfect for meal prep), french fries, and spiced cauliflower rice. Even when I don’t have time to prepare a full meal, 20 or 30 minutes of prepping staples can make a huge difference in my week.
Friends with Babies: What’s your favorite postpartum meal?? Postpartum sushi was everything I dreamed about.
xoxo
Jenna
More meal prep posts:
5 days of healthy eating a day
clean hour eats
A week of healthy snacks
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