I posted on my 2lifeinfocus Instagram account about this week’s food prep that I did to make meals for Mom and me for this week. I received a lot of comments from friends, family and podcast listeners so here’s a bit more information in case you’re curious.

Groceries: nearly all were purchased at Trader Joe’s, except the vanilla protein powder I use for my overnight oats which can be found on Amazon. When I subtracted out other fruits, nuts, and meat I purchased for Dan the total was around $50 and I made 25 meals (11 for Mom and 14 for me).

The Meals: Garden salads, two variations of rice bowls, overnight oats, and spicy egg/veggie salad for me (no photo). I’m not much of a recipe person but here’s the gist of what I do in case its helpful.

Garden Salads

• arugula
• shredded carrots
• blueberries
• strawberries
• feta cheese
• not pictured: dressing= olive oil, balsamic vinegar & herbs de provence seasoning from Trader Joe’s
• not pictured: I also make my own “salad topper” kind of mix with sesame seeds, sesame sticks, almonds, dried cranberries, peanuts and cashews. 

Cava Copy-Cat Bowl

• Brown rice (Frozen from Trader Joe’s)- 1 bag serves 4+ bowls
• arugula
• roasted squashes (butternut, acorn & delicatessa), sweet potatoes and red peppers
• feta cheese
• dressing: plain yogurt with dill and lemon
• Meant to be eaten cold. NOTE: This is my first time making this. We’ll see how it comes out.

Warm Rice Bowls

• Brown rice (Frozen from Trader Joe’s)- 1 bag serves 4+ bowls
• roasted squashes (butternut, acorn & delicata), sweet potatoes and red peppers, zucchini. Brussels sprouts on mine. All veggies roasted with olive oil and herbs de provence seasoning from Trader Joe’s.
• Brie bite or gruyere cheese
• Heat in microwave and enjoy

Overnight Oats

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• Cinnamon (I do 5-7 generous shakes and sometimes add more when eating but I LOVE cinnamon)
• Mix with milk until sufficiently wet (leave a little extra milk in there to allow the oats to absorb it.
• I add shredded coconut and blueberries to the top.
• For mine, I also tend to mix in Benefiber (a supplement my doctor recommended for me) and I usually also add a teaspoon or two of MCT oil.

Spicy Egg/Veggie Salad

This is a recipe inspired by my best friend Kris’ famous potato salad- except I sub in the roasted veggies for the potatoes.

This week I made 4 servings using:

• Hard boil 1 dozen eggs. Let cool then chop
• Chop red onion and mix in with the eggs.
• Add cayenne pepper and salt.
• Mix in mayo and spicy brown mustard (use your judgement here)
• Mix in roasted veggies.
• This is something I usually have to taste each batch of to make sure I have enough cayenne pepper (but not too much). If it’s too spicy, I add more veggies!

Time to Prepare:

• I chopped and roasted the veggies on Saturday. Working time- maybe 20 minutes and then checking and turning them for about 45 minutes. Let cool then put in glass containers in fridge. Not a lot of active time involved.
• Sunday I spent about 2 hours on prep. That also included cutting 2 cantaloupes for Dan’s lunches and a few other small tasks.
• I’d easily spend 20 minutes per night making dinner and another 15-20 minutes each morning preparing dinners and packing breakfast/lunch so this is a time saver for sure.

My thoughts on Meal Prep

• Conserving Energy: Yes, it can feel like a big investment in time, but I don’t have the time or energy to do these tasks after work most days. If I do have energy to tackle something after work, I can do that but dinner has been figured out. It also saves me time in the morning because breakfast & lunch for work is ready to be packed.
• Enjoyment: I enjoy the food I make even more than eating out most of the time.
• Savings: Clearly these meals did not cost a lot of money to make and even if you added in meat, it would still be cheaper than eating out.
• Efficiency: I’m all about efficiency and after realizing it takes me the same amount of time to make 4 salads as it does 1 (half the time is getting all the stuff out of the fridge), that sealed the deal for me.
• Health: I eat better when I control the ingredients and the portion sizes. I also make better decisions at the beginning of the day, so I plan out what I’ll eat for the day and then that’s done. No need to muse or debate or argue. It also means I don’t just say “it will be quicker to grab pizza on the way home” because it won’t be. Even if I call in an order, it will still take more than max of 2 minutes it takes to heat up what I’ve prepped at home.
• Extras: Typically I also end up with some extra roasted veggies after I prepare the meals on Sundays. Either I eat those some time during the week along with a frozen dinner (like Amy’s enchiladas) or bring them to work to eat with scrambled eggs (that I purchase from our cafeteria). By late week if I don’t have a plan to eat what’s in the fridge, I freeze extra veggies in snack size ziploc bags for future weeks when I don’t have time to prep.

Hope this was helpful! I don’t tend to branch out on my “recipes” very often except for maybe switching up some things seasonally but if you enjoyed this post, comment here or on Instagram and I’ll do my best to share.