As part of my dairy-free and healthy-eating initiative, I've started planning out my work-week meals, prepping them in bulk, and living out of tupperware containers. I pretty much eat the same things for the first four meals of the day, and then have something fun for dinner. Breakfast = oatmeal, snack = fruit or protein rice cake, lunch = protein + veggies, snack = veggies or nuts, dinner = TBD.
Here are three of my favorite work-week recipes that help keep my body fueled and my calories on track. To keep it low-maintenance, I typically take one of the basic recipes below and sub ingredients to create new combinations. It helps keep my menu fresh while keeping my time spent in the kitchen to a minimum.
 Fruit & Cinnamon Quick Oats Ingredients:
Serves: 1 Approximate calories per serving: 175 Tip: Can be made in bulk and/or as overnight oats! I also sometimes add peanut butter, powdered protein, Cheerios (yes, Cheerios—Chocolate and Peanut Butter Whole Grain Cheerios are the best!) and/or nuts. I eat oatmeal for breakfast every single day (and depending on my workout, sometimes opt for a 1/2c instead of 1/4c). |  Sriracha Teriyaki Chicken & Veggies Ingredients:
Serves: 8 Approximate calories per serving: 204 Tip: If your planning meals for you and a significant other, this is a great one to put over rice, noodles or on a bun for those who require a higher daily caloric intake. You can also sub the cup of sauce for a salsa or marinade to switch up the flavors and theme of the meal. |  Chia Seed Pudding Ingredients:
Serves: 3 Approximate calories per serving: 169 The credit from this recipe goes to my cousin Kristen! |
Healthy eating doesn't have to be hard or take hours in the kitchen. If you take the few minutes to prep your meals over the weekend and portion them out for the week, you're putting yourself on that path to a healthy body & healthy lifestyle.
PS / / I was interviewed over at the Dansko blog, Word of Foot, about how to kickstart your daily routine & incorporate healthy living all day long. Read the feature here!
21 comments:
The sriracha teriyaki chicken looks like something my husband would DIE for, need to try that one out!
I NEED that Chia Seed Pudding in my life! I will make that TONIGHT!!! :) :) YUMMM!
awesome recipes! I need to get back to being organized!
These are awesome! I just recently moved in with my boyfriend and we are trying to kick our butts back in our best shape (we did the relationship bad eating thing haha) so I will definitely be using these! That slow cooker chicken looks so amazing! Thanks for sharing girly :)
If I'm doing my math correctly ;), that's only 550ish calories for two meals and a snack. If you're working out everyday and burning calories, don't you need more fuel?
It's so yummy and has the perfect amount of spice with the sriracha added in!!
I hope you love it. It's SO easy!! You can eat it the same night you make it if you want to :)
it's hard when you get out of the habit. I have to keep doing it or I lose focus, too :)
You're so welcome, Torie! Haha, trust me, I've been there with the "but we're bulking together!" program :) haha. All I know is if you're both in agreement, it makes it so much easier! Enjoy :)
Ah, you spotted the low-cal counts!! Yep. And that's why I eat so much during the day (those were just 3 of the recipes that I use for a few of my meals). I also have a post-workout protein shake, that oatmeal (which I double in size if I do a killer workout), morning snack (fruit, rice cakes, peanut butter, etc), lunch which typically also includes something like a tortilla, rice and/or potato, a few pieces of candy for dessert (I mean, how can you resist Celeste's Peanut Butter M&M jar, right?), afternoon snack, and then typically dinner is my downfall. We go out to eat several nights a week, remember? We don't always make the best decisions when we go out (pizza, nachos, etc) so that's why I try to keep it pretty clean during the day. Trust me, if that was all I ate all the time, you'd see me disappear into nothing! :) haha. Thanks for always having my back, Miss Z! :)
I used to make overnight oats for Jon and myself (he has especially early mornings)... but just got bored over time and had forgotten all about it. But your suggestion of adding Chocolate & Peanut Butter Cheerios sounds frickin' amazing lol.
Aw, thanks so much, Peach :) Hope you don't mind that I don't post too often :)
Yes! Don't do it at night, of course, but as a crunchy topping in the morning. OOH BABY it makes it so yummy!
Looks TASTY!
Totally tasty. I'm still finishing off the teriyaki chicken. It made a huge batch last week!
I love the idea of having everything prepped - I'm usually pretty terrible about that, and then I end up whipping together whatever I find later. Or I eat one big meal and skip my snacks and lunch, and then end up starving when I get home. Thanks for the reminder to get back on track with my healthy habits!
If I could cook like you, I'd take my time and do it meal by meal, too! Haha. Also, that's the worst, waiting all day and being starving when you get home. I have tried to eat everything in my pantry before when doing that!
Can't wait to try these out! I'm doing a lot better with eating health and maintaining it, but sometimes i just need a little inspiration!
this all sounds delicious! trying to stay on the healthy wagon is so hard, so planning ahead is key. love this!
So glad to hear! Isn't it great when you are motivated?? Proud of you!
Thanks Laura. And planning ahead is SO EASY when you do it in bulk with a slow cooker!! I appreciate it :)
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