A few months ago, I attempted to prep my meals for the entire week and I would say it was…half successful. Since then, I’ve tried different methods of meal and food prep and wanted to share what I’ve learned and what works for me! Leave a comment below and let me know your favorite food or meal prepping trick!

Eat what’s in season

I discovered this awesome guide that has you enter your state, what month it is, and a specific piece of produce you are interested in to tell you if it’s in season. It also gives you recipes and interesting facts about each food item. I’ve learned that if you are buying a kind of sad cucumber at the grocery store, it will quickly be super sad cucumber as soon as you get it home. If you buy something that’s fresh and in season, it will last longer and you will be able to stretch your produce into the whole week versus having to eat everything on Monday and Tuesday. *Bonus tip – make jarred tomato sauce and freeze berries for smoothies in the summer when tomatoes and berries are in season. Then you can enjoy them even in the winter! 

Eat sturdy foods

I’m sure you guys are thinking, what? But here’s what I mean. If you are prepping salads for the week, think about using kale instead of spinach or romaine. Making frozen breakfast burritos? Use peppers or mushrooms instead of tomatoes or zucchini. I’ve learned that if I cook food that holds their texture and taste and doesn’t get soggy, I’m more likely to eat them later in the week and the won’t go to waste. Plus, it turns out that food that gets soggy first are also the fastest to cook! If you have 90% of your meal prepped, it’s not hard to do the last 10% when you get home from work. *Bonus tip – Keep sauces and dressings in a mason jar. They will last for a couple weeks and fresh sauce will make your meal seem just cooked!

Keep a well stocked freezer

Sometimes, there are weeks that get away from me and all of the sudden it’s Thursday and I have yet to visit a grocery store other than the Whole Foods hot bar. The Jude is queen of a well stocked freezer (seriously, in college I used to do my grocery shopping in there. I mean, actually….I still do that now) and even though I have a pretty small freezer, I try to keep 3-5 meals in there that can be made last minute. My favorite freezer meals are soup, stuffed peppers, and breakfast burritos. *Bonus tip – forget to take your meal out of the freezer in the morning? Put it in a ziplock bag and submerge it in warm water. It will defrost without drying out! 

Plan ahead

I think people eye roll the most at planning ahead and writing things down but I ALWAYS notice a difference when I do. I used to grocery shop at random and end up staring into the refrigerator void, wishing for a meal to appear. When I first started writing down what I was planning on cooking, I started with just one dinner each week – one meal I could cook and eat for a couple nights and have slowly progressed into dinners for every night, a few lunches for my long days and grab and go breakfasts. Planning ahead also helps tremendously when you grocery shop! No random items or junk food in your cupboards. *Bonus tip – organize your grocery list but produce, protein, cans, etc. You will be in and out of the store in a flash!

Food Storage is Key

I know, I know. I preach from my soap box constantly about food storage. But, seriously – I used to waste a ton of food, and using glass storage has not only saved my food, but my bank account as well! The heavy glass and airtight lid help create a seal that keeps your food fresh for longer and also, you can bring literally anything for lunch and it won’t spill or leak in your bag! My favorite set that I’ve found is from Coscto, but this is a great set from Amazon and Bed Bath and Beyond sells individual containers/lids if you only want a couple pieces. *Bonus – find glass containers that can also go in the oven! You can bake your dinner and move it straight to the refrigerator once it’s cool!

Happy Cooking!

Continuing on my quest of eating more vegetables in January, but quickly tiring of just eating a bowl of roasted vegetables every night for dinner, I decided to try this spaghetti squash recipe and make it my own! This is not a quick weeknight recipe (the squash takes an hour to roast) but it makes a ton which is great for a big family or for having a lot of leftovers. Even I liked these leftovers and didn’t mind eating spaghetti squash more than once in a week. I made this recipe vegetarian, but it would be great with chicken sausage or ground turkey. You can also add whatever vegetables you like and leave out the ones you don’t! I love to find recipes that are easy to substitute ingredients and make how you like it  – let me know if you have a recipe that needs revamping, I’d love to help you find easy substitutions!

Ingredients

• 1 Spaghetti Squash
• 1/2 Onion, diced
• 1 Shallot, diced
• 1 clove Garlic
• 1/2 cup Celery, diced
• 1/2 cup Carrot, diced
• 1/2 Green Pepper, diced
• 1/2 cup Zuchini, diced
• 1/2 cup Mushrooms, sliced thin
• 1 1/2 cups Marinara Sauce

First, I cut the spaghetti squash in half (no easy feat!), scooped out the seeds and put it in a 400 degree oven for about an hour. Pro Tip – On the Food Network, I saw one of the chefs poke holes in a spaghetti squash with a fork and then microwave it for 5 minutes. This is supposedly to help soften the rind and make cutting it easier….I wasn’t convinced. It was still hard.

While the squash was baking, I started on the primavera sauce. First up, chopping the vegetables.

Next, I sauteed the celery, onion, carrot and shallot for about 5 minutes, until they were partially cooked.

Then, I added the garlic and the remaining vegetables and sauteed everything together for another 5-7 minutes, until everything was cooked through.

Last, I added in the marinara sauce and let everything simmer together for a few minutes.

Once the primavera sauce was ready, I checked on the squash. Since I didn’t cut the squash in half evenly (It was really hard! Even with my Food Network tip) one half finished baking way sooner than the other half. I ended up just leaving the bigger half in a warm oven to finish cooking because I had to leave for work.

When the spaghetti squash was cooked, I shredded it with a fork to create strands. Kind of like spaghetti noodles, hence the “spaghetti” squash!

Then, it was time to eat! I piled about a cup and a half of spaghetti squash with about 3/4 cup of primavera sauce on top.

This recipe was delicious, filling, and I didn’t miss regular noodles at all! The spaghetti squash added a more creamy texture to the primavera sauce and it was a perfect warm dish for the cold evenings we’ve been having. Have you tried spaghetti squash? What are your favorite recipes? Let me know in the comments below!

Happy Cooking!

One of my goals this year is to find easier lunches to have on hand for grab and go purposes. I’ve struggled finding a salad that doesn’t get soggy before the week is up or one that doesn’t leave my starving an hour after I’ve eaten. Luckily, I found this recipe on the website of one of my favorite food bloggers and it ended up being the perfect salad for meal prepping lunch! Since it uses all sturdy vegetables, there was no danger of sogginess and the quinoa added some heartiness to the salad that made it feel like a full meal. It was also very easy to put together (pre-packaged greens always helps make meal prepping a cinch!) and I only had to cut up two extra vegetables. Plus, all the ingredients for the dressing are things that most people have on hand, which is great! I hate buying a jar of something that I only need a tablespoon of. Overall, this salad was basically just assembling things – lets get to it!

Ingredients

Quinoa

• 1 tsp Sesame Oil
• 1/3 cup Quinoa, rinsed and drained
• 2/3 cup Water

Dressing

• 1 Tbsp Almond Butter
• 1 tsp Siriacha (or more, if you like spice!)
• 3 Tbsp Maple Syrup
• 3 Tbsp Tamari
• 3 Tbsp Lime Juice
• 2 1/2 Tbsp Sesame Oil

Vegetables

• 1 Bag Coleslaw Mix (shredded cabbage and carrots – don’t use the dressing if there’s one in the bag!)
• 1 Bag Broccoli and Carrot Slaw (I love the Trader Joe’s version! You can also just use another bag of coleslaw mix)
• 1 1/2 cups of Broccoli, cut in florets and steamed
• 1/2 Red Bell Pepper, sliced thin

First, I cooked the quinoa. I toasted the quinoa in sesame oil for a couple minutes and then added in the water. Once all the water was absorbed, the quinoa was ready!

While the quinoa was cooking, I steamed the broccoli. I love steaming vegetables because it takes no time at all and still leaves them crisp and delicious.

Once the broccoli was steamed and the quinoa was cooked, I combined all the dressing ingredients into the bowl I was using to mix the salad in – less mess!

I added the vegetables to the dressing and mixed everything together.

Once the quinoa was cool, I mixed it in as well.

Then, it was ready to divide into tupperware for the week! The salad made enough for 4 days of lunches, which is perfect for my schedule. You could easily add more or less vegetables to make this for 5 full days or even 3 days.

My best food storage tip is GLASS TUPPERWARE. My vegetables and leftovers last so much longer in glass! This was great for lunch, but you could add chicken or shrimp to make this into a main dish.

What are your favorite lunch meal prep ideas? Let me know in the comments below!

Happy Cooking!