Meal Prep Chronicles: Week 1 - Protein Packed

This week’s meal prep was completed in under 2 1/2 hours and left me with 5 days of breakfast, 4 days of lunch, 4 days of high protein snacks, 8 servings of dinner, and 4 servings of prepped protein. To put it plainly, I just fed my husband and myself for an entire week in less than 3 hours. This is the beauty of meal prep! I have created recipes that are nourishing, stay fresh in the fridge/freezer, and taste damn delicious. Not to mention I will easily hit my protein goal every single day because of my foundational breakfasts, my filling fiber-dense lunch, my grab-and-go snacks, and dinners I look forward to eating. Okay, okay, I’m done blabbing - let me tell you how I did it.

What I Made

Here is what I prepped this week:

• Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

• Brussels Lentil Salad

• Sausage + Cottage Cheese Bento Boxes

• Ginger-Soy Chicken Breast (freezer marinade)

• Bacon + Sausage Egg Bites

The Game Plan

I always start with an outline of the order in which I will make my food. In general, I start with the meals I’m going to freeze. This way, they have enough time to cool before storing in the freezer which helps to maintain freshness. If any of my snack boxes or lunches require something to be cooked and then cooled I’ll move on to that next. I also will start with whatever takes the most amount of time so that I’m not waiting for something to finish cooking at the end of my meal prep period. I pretty much always save cold dishes for last since those can go right into the fridge.

This is what I wrote down for myself before I began prepping:

• Thai Chicken Noodle Soup + Sausages for Bento Boxes

• Egg Bites (15) - water bath + Lentils

• Chicken Marinade + Cold Salad Dressing

• Cold Salad

Recipes

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

Since this recipe is already up on my website I’m just going to link it here. There is information about freezing the soup at the end of the instructions page.

* While the chicken noodle soup was simmering I sauteed the sausage for the Bento Boxes.

Bento Boxes

Ingredients

• 4 andouille sausage links, I like the Niman Ranch brand

• 2 cups cottage cheese

• 8 tbsp Dijon mustard

• 16 oz jar of pickled cauliflower, drained

Instructions

1. Optional step: Sauté the sausage in a pan until slightly charred on each side. The Niman Ranch sausage is precooked, so this step is optional. However, since I’m eating it cold, I prefer to give it a little char to enhance the flavor.

2. Next, separate each ingredient into compartments in a Tupperware container. I find containers with dividers particularly useful for keeping everything separate. Additionally, I place my mustard in lidded ramekins to keep things from getting soggy/messy.

Bacon + Spinach Egg Bites

Ingredients

• 12 eggs

• 1 cup cottage cheese, I use 2% fat

• 1 1/2 cups spinach, finely chopped

• 5 slices of cooked bacon, chopped

• sea salt, to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 375º.

2. Grease a muffin tin or line with cupcake liners. Add your eggs and cottage cheese to a food processor and blend until smooth. Stir in spinach.

3. To the bottom of each well in the muffin tin add your cooked bacon. Pour the egg mixture into the wells. They should not expand much so don’t worry if they are full. Place the muffin tin on a larger baking sheet. Pour water into the baking sheet until a thin layer is covering the entire baking sheet. This creates a water bath which helps keep the egg bites super moist and dense. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

4. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before storing in an airtight container in the fridge for 5 days. If you do not like leftovers or do not think you will eat all the egg bites in 5 days, store 1/3 of them in the freezer and pull out the night before eating.

5. To reheat: place in a microwave-safe container with a splash of water and reheat, covered, for 30-second intervals until warmed through. OR add egg bites and a splash of water to a pan with a tight-fitting lid and heat over medium heat. Simmer until most of the water has evaporated and the egg bites are warmed through.

* As the egg bites cooked in the oven I cooked my lentils for my cold salad so they would have time to cool in an ice bath before adding to the salad.

Ginger-Soy Chicken Marinade

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp grated ginger

• 1 tbsp grated garlic

• 2 tbsp sriracha or other chili garlic paste

• 1/2 tbsp maple syrup

• Juice of 1 lime

• 1 tbsp avocado oil

• 1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

• 1 1/2 lbs chicken breasts

Instructions

• Whisk together all the dressing ingredients until well combined and smooth. Place chicken breasts in a freezer bag or freezer-safe container. Pour the dressing over the chicken and toss to coat. Squeeze the air out of the bag and seal. Label and date and place in the freezer. To eat, thaw in the fridge overnight. Cook however you love to prepare chicken!

Lentil Brussels Salad

Ingredients

• 1 cup Spanish brown lentils

• 2 cups water

• 6 cups Brussels sprouts, thinly sliced (I used a knife but you could also use a mandolin)

• 3 celery stalks, sliced in half lengthwise and chopped

• 1 14 oz can green olives, drained and roughly chopped

• 4 cups dark leafy greens, finely chopped (I like using kale or spinach)

• 1 cup crumbled feta

• 1 tbsp miso paste

• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard

• 1/2 tbsp honey

• 1/2 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)

• juice of 1 lemon

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

1. Bring the lentils and water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cover, cooking for 20 minutes, or until the lentils are cooked through and most of the water is absorbed. Remove from the heat and cool in the fridge or submerge in an ice bath to cool quicker.

2. In the meantime whisk together the miso paste, dijon, honey, nutritional yeast, and lemon juice. Add in olive oil and whisk until emulsified. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl add Brussels, celery, olives, leafy greens, feta, and cooked lentils. Toss.

4. Store in the fridge for 5 days. Add the dressing when ready to serve.