Meal Prep Monday – 4/8/2019

Welcome to week two of meal prep! This week I did a little mini meal prep session on Sunday and the majority on Monday. Because I did my big shopping trip this weekend I wanted to put it all away prepped and ready to go as much as possible.

Let’s talk about my “big shopping trip.” I use the cash envelope method of budgeting so I do my shopping based on my envelopes. The shopping trip that I know I will be going to Costco I give myself more in the envelope and the next shopping trip I give myself a little less and try to eat up everything. It doesn’t mean I only go to the grocery store twice a month but more like 1 big planned trip and 1 medium trip, one smaller trip, and (hopefully) enough left in the envelopes for incidental shopping trips, especially for fresh fruits and veggies. This weekend’s shopping trip was Costco/Trader Joes/Nob Hill trip.

In case you are wondering what recipes are coming at you this week, there is going to be Rotisserie Chicken Broth (coming Wednesday), and you can use the broth for Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup with Dill (coming Friday)!

The Menu

• Monday- Leftover potstickers that I didn’t end up making during the weekend, rice, shaved fennel/avocado salad with tahini dressing.
• Tuesday- Suhki’s chicken tikka (from Costco) leftover rice from Monday, naan, and whatever veggie I feel like!
• Wednesday- Potato, leek, artichoke chowder (from Love and Lemons Everyday cookbook) bread.
• Thursday- Asian Salmon (recipe testing), rice, broccoli
• Friday- Rainbow Kale salad with grilled chicken, bread (lunch will need to be prepared for tomorrow).
• Saturday- dinner out!
• Sunday- Forage for dinner (We are going to Shake Shack for a late lunch!)
• I’m also prepping a meal to bring to a friend, enchilada casserole.

Breakfasts

• Nathan is bringing Happy Inside cereal to work so he can eat it there.
• Freezer Breakfast burritos
• Healthy eggs benedict
• Avocado toast

Lunches

• Monday- leftover cauliflower chickpea tikka
• Tuesday- Maple dijon chicken with roasted butternut squash and brussels sprouts
• Wednesday- black bean cilantro lime rice bowl
• Thursday- potato leek soup
• Friday- out to lunch
• Saturday- Rainbow kale salad and veggie sushi roll
• Sunday- Shake Shack!

The Meal Prep Plan

1. Make maple dijon sauce for maple dijon chicken thighs, ( I halved the recipe) prep veggies.
2. Place chicken and veggies on a sheet pan and pour sauce over, lightly toss, cook at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.
3. Make homemade enchilada sauce.
4. Start Instant Pot rice while the enchilada sauce simmers.
5. Assemble the enchilada casserole using leftover chicken from the Costco taco kit and the rest of the tortillas and toppings, homemade enchilada sauce, and the beans from last week meal’s prep (I froze them on Wednesday, and thawed them for meal prep.) Place in a pyrex that can go straight into the oven.
6. Make freezer breakfast burritos, wrap in foil and place in freezer (leave one in the fridge for breakfast tomorrow).
7. Make potato, leek, artichoke, soup place in a big container.
8. Make sauce for salmon.
9. Prep broccoli (trim and cut into florets).
10. When rice is done, make it into cilantro lime rice. Package some for a meal for a friend and put the rest in two lunch containers.
11. Fill the rest of the lunch containers with black beans and toppings. Place in the fridge.
12. Take out the maple dijon chicken and place into lunch-sized containers.
13. Make white rice for dinner tonight and put together potstickers.
14. Cook potstickers in the Instant Pot.
15. Save rest of white rice for dinner tomorrow, place in a container in the fridge.
16. Make tahini salad dressing.
17. Make potsticker dipping sauce.

What I Have Left to do During the Week

• Monday- I have been making dinner along with my meal prep so just have to assemble and toss salad.
• Tuesday- Heat up leftover rice, heat up the chicken tikka, and find a veggie to fix.
• Wednesday- Heat up soup and warm bread.
• Thursday- Make rice, cook salmon in the sauce that I made, steam broccoli.
• Friday- Grill some chicken, make salad, and make extra for lunches tomorrow, assemble rolls for lunches also.
• Saturday- heat up breakfast burritos in the morning- Dinner out!!
• Sunday- heat up breakfast burritos in the morning- Lunch out!!!

Last week was my first time doing a real meal prep session and it really saved me through the week, I had a hectic week and it kept me from eating out. Dinners were all really good and easy. Nathan would consult the post and start getting dinner ready when he got home before me! I ended up switching up the weekend dinners as plans sometimes change but it was still pretty simple! The only part missing was very good breakfast food so that’s why this week I switched it up with more breakfast food that actually sounds good and can be good for when I am on the run. What’s nice is some of my meal prep from last week is still getting used this week, like my homemade black beans. I froze them on Wednesday or so and took them out again on Sunday so I could incorporate them into a few meals this week as well. I hope you enjoyed hearing about my meal prep this week and a look into my fridge!