Well even though this past week was “week 4” of the Whole30, I still have until next Tuesday to complete the full 30 days. I’m already wondering if my meals will change at all from what I’ve been eating and I don’t think they really will. Except for adding desserts back in- which will probably be paleo whenever possible. And let’s not forget about the wine, but that goes without saying.
I ended up choosing simpler meals for last week to reduce the time I had to spend meal prepping. I talked last week about how I struggled with the amount of time I was putting towards this as well as how much we were spending on food. Well, I reduced the time greatly but the cost was pretty much the same. Actually it was a little higher with an extra stop at Whole Foods on Wednesday.
Here was last week’s meal plan:
Sunday: Steak, roasted butternut squash, roasted broccoli
Monday: Baked salmon, baked potatoes, sautéed spinach/kale
Tuesday: Chicken things, purple potatoes, cauliflower, carrots, onion, garlic in crock pot
Wednesday: Baked tilapia, roasted red potatoes, asparagus
Thursday: Bison burgers, sweet potato fries, green beans
Friday: Spaghetti squash with paleo meatballs and spinach
Saturday: Meatloaf, sweet potato and applesauce mash, salad
Breakfasts: Sausage, sweet potato, and egg frittata with other veggies and eggs with bacon, plantains, and spinach
Lunches: Salads with steak or grilled chicken, leftovers
Snacks/Other: Plantain chips, fruit (apples, pears, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries), baby carrots with almond butter
Here is what I prepped last weekend:
-washed and store berries
-made 2 batches of meatballs (we were eating one last Saturday, so I doubled the recipe and froze half)
-washed and cut broccoli, peppers, cauliflower, and cucumbers
-made frittata (I made 2 trays and froze one for a week when I don’t have time to meal prep)
-Rob grilled chicken on our indoor grill
-made plantain chips
-marinated steaks for Sunday’s dinner
-roasted veggies for lunches (sweet potatoes, broccoli, and zucchini)
Since there wasn’t much cooking or measuring involved it saved me some time getting this all done. I’m hoping to use some of those strategies moving into meal planning and prepping for next week!
Are there any meals that you like to double the recipe and freeze half of it?
What was your favorite meal last week?
I’ll also be linking up with Mommy Run Fast and Jill Conyers for their meal planning link-up!
Your food planning is so impressive! I love cooking a pot of soup or risotto and freezing half of it to eat throughout the week, it saves so much time and I don’t usually have much motivation to cook when I get home from work/university 🙂
Thanks! And that’s a great idea.
It will be nice to have deserts and wine back even if everything else is the same. Funny how we wind up not changing all that much. Putting some chocolate on your fruit or making paleo cookies will seem so decadent 🙂
I know, I can’t wait! I’m starting to get in the mindset that I’m done even though there’s 2 more days. I feel like I got enough out of it and now I’m just ready to be able to indulge when I want to:)
The sweet potato and apple sauce mash sounds amazing!! I am going to make that. Only 3 days 🙂
It was so good and really easy!
This meal prep makes a lot of sense to me. The thought of having breakfast ready to go (frittata) as well as all veggies and fruits washed and cut accordingly would make life a lot easier during the week, and cut down on the times that I eat less than healthy dinners because they are low-effort when I don’t feel like spending time prepping vegetables.
Exactly! I am realizing that those types of prep are the most important and most useful.
We double recipes and freeze meals whenever we’re about to travel—it’s so nice to have a healthy and quick meal in the freezer when we return!
I’ve been making lots of meals similar to what’s on your meal plan lately: meat + potato/squash + veggies. So simple and so satisfying!
I need to start doubling recipes and freezing stuff more! It would be nice to have more options on hand, especially when we don’t have time to cook or food prep!
I am impressed! Everything looks so good. How long did it take you to do the prep? It’s great you are so organized. Yay for coming towards the end of Whole30! A glass of wine and a Paleo cookie is going to be the perfect treat. 🙂
The prep I posted about yesterday took just over an hour I think…I was also making dinner for that night at the same time, so that added on a bit but still not too bad!
It is so true, it really is so much more time consuming and expensive to eat healthy. But it’s great that you found ways to save some time! Roasted veggies are always so good and so easy….the trick is remembering to get them in the oven in time 🙂
I’ve been really liking roasting a whole bunch of veggies over the weekend and then eating them cold during the week- they make for a great lunch along with a leftover meat from dinner!
At the risk of sounding repetitive, YOU AMAZE ME. I wish I had more of an oomph for eating this way. I can imagine I’d feel so.much.better than how I currently feel eating chocolate chip cookies and ketchup chips every day. You inspire me, lady!
Thanks! I never used to care about this stuff but now its just become part of my routine. I know I would feel really “off” if I didn’t eat relatively well.
It’s not the healthiest, but my favorite meal from last week was oven-fried chicken! I also made a cold broccoli salad to go along with it. It was a little different than what I usually do. Awesome job on all the prep!
Sometimes its nice to have something completely out of the ordinary!
That whole week of meals sounds great! I need to get better about doubling batches and freezing half – but I usually make enough for dinner so that we can have it for lunch the next day.
I just really thought about how I should be freezing stuff more often. It would be nice to not have to meal prep certain things once in a while!
Lisa, I saw the paleo meatballs on your meal plan last week and we made them on Saturday. Not bad, but I think I’ll try some additional spices in the marinara…it was a little too plain jane for me. If you make any modifications, I’d love to hear about them!
I’ve never done a Whole 30 because I don’t think I could eat that clean for that long of a period, so congrats to you! Plus, I love an occasional glass of wine!
I didn’t do any modifications but I’m sure you could just add more italian spices! The one thing I did was add some plain tomato sauce to the recipe because I felt like there wasn’t enough marinara to cover everything.
You’re a meal prep machine! I like to plan meals that will have leftovers but I’ve never planned to freeze. It’s a great idea so I have no idea why I’ve never done it.
WTG with the Whole 30! I was curious about how much the Whole 30 program changes the way people eat long term.
I felt the same way when I realized should be freezing some food when I’m already doing the meal prep- it won’t really take more time to double the recipe!