Sunday Meal Prep and Meal Planning

This Sunday, after a jam packed Saturday, I got around to some healthy meal prep.

James and I are going to try and eat healthy for the remainder of May and that takes a lot of planning and preparation. I decided I was going to plan out our weeks (tentatively, because I've already veered a bit from this this week) and use it to buy groceries and meal prep each Sunday. I made up this week's plan loosely based on the meal plan I had during my 28 day challenge. I tried to separate certain things that would be different between James and I with labels/colors.

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Then was the tough part - actually going through with it.

I was a little delayed in starting my grocery shopping due to an hour and half nap some things coming up. I hit my grocery tri-fecta (Walmart, Costco & Winco, and no I wouldn't recommend it on a Sunday afternoon) and then I got to chopping, roasting and grillin'.

The first thing I did was put my chicken breasts in some marinade (not pictured). I like to slice my breasts in half the long/flat way so that they are much thinner and easier to get cooked through. Do this prior to marinading if you are going to. I used a pre-made marinade pack - I know it's a no-no but I'll get around to making my own soon.

Next is the chopping. Tons of peppers, onions and some broccoli. Having veggies pre-cooked and ready to go is a life saver when trying to eat healthy.

I roasted the onions and peppers in the oven at 400* for 15 minutes, tossed and roasted another 15-20 minutes until they were cooked through. I'll admit, mine were a little over done, cook to your liking. I also steamed the broccoli in the microwave.

While the veggies were cooking I boiled some eggs. They are a perfect, protein packed snack!

Pretty much as soon as I got the veggies in the oven I started on the chicken. I like to grill mine using my Cuisinart GR-4N 5-in-1 Griddler. They cook through quickly and stay moist and flavorful. Plus the bonus is easy clean up - I can remove the plates once cooled and put them right in the dishwasher!

Then with my chicken breasts and broccoli ready to go, I cut up the chicken and made some lunch packs.

Here is an example of a lunch size portion for me - approx 4 oz chicken and about a cup to 1.5 cups of broccoli. I also made these for James - but almost doubled the protein.

4 oz grilled chicken breast, 1 cup steamed broccoli, seasoned with leftover marinade.

I tried to make his meals/snacks as fool proof as possible. I even labeled them. Found out today I should have been peeling his hard boiled eggs for him too - because HE NEVER HAS PEELED AN EGG. Weirdo. The meal below has double the protein I would normally pack for myself, keep that in mind. He's a big guy, he needs it.

Lunch  - 8 oz chicken with 2 cups broccoli, Snack 1 -  Greek yogurt with berries, Snack 2 - apple and 1/2 cup almonds.

After all the planning, chopping, roasting, grilling and packaging, I was pretty pleased with all the healthy choices in my fridge (don't mind the Hoegaarden down there, sometimes you need a beer alright?)

I didn't even get to all I wanted to on Sunday, so Monday evening I cooked up some turkey taco meat to use in meals for the rest of the week and also I put together these little beauties:

We will sub these for our lunch salads in the meal plan above.

Taco Salad in a Jar:

• Chipotle vinaigrette (sort of winged it, you can sub any dressing)
• Some of my roasted peppers and onions
• Leftover carne asada
• Chopped black olives
• Corn
• Spinach
• Romaine

I am feeling pretty good about the process and what I have set up for the rest of the week. It won't be easy, but I think I am on the right track. Even if we aren't eating healthy clean meals all the time, a little prep and pre-planning helps us eat SOOO much better than before. 

I hope to continue on my meal planning/healthy eating binge, so I'll share the journey with you as I go.

Thanks for stopping by! What do you do to meal plan and prep?