This isn’t your ordinary kind of Meal Prepping. I’ve tried that before and it just didn’t worked for me in the long run. So, today I’m going to share with you some small things that I started to do, that made Meal Prepping a lot easier and less time consuming for me.
I figured that instead of preparing different, separate dishes for my Meal Prepping, I would just make a bigger batch of the meals I was already having on this day. So, today for example, we had Red Lentil Dal with Quinoa and Arugula for lunch but instead of making a small batch, I cooked for the entire neighborhood. LOL Not literally, but I made way more than I usually would. Like that we already had multiple meals for next week ready to go. And I did the same for dinner, instead of making a small batch of Pasta, I made a very large portion which will now last us for a couple of days.
It really doesn’t take any more time to cook a bigger batch of food and in fact, you can do this with every meal that you prepare. The best thing about Plant Based Meal Prepping is also that you don’t have to be worried about your food getting easily spoiled. A win win!
Dates, Carrot Sticks, Romaine Lettuce, Red Lentil Dal with Quinoa and Arugula, Homemade Nutella, Starfruit Jam and Pineapple Chunks
Another really cool tip is to prewash and cut your salad in advance. I know it’s not a lot of work to wash and cut some romaine lettuce, but for me it does make a small difference. For example, I find myself wanting to eat more salad because it’s so easy to prepare it. Just grab the already pre cut romaine lettuce, top it off with some tomato, avocado, sprouts and chickpeas and voila. If you want it to be even more efficient, you can also prepare your salad dressing in advance. I usually just have some lime juice, apple cider vinegar, sea salt, garlic powder, coconut aminos (or soy sauce) and sriracha. But experiment with a salad dressing that you may like.
Okay, let’s talk about snacks. I normally reach out for fruits as snacks which is a great choice and I encourage everyone to eat more fruits but at the same time we can’t forget about the veggies. So, a great way to remind yourself to eat these veggies, is to pre wash and cut them into little sticks. I personally love to do that with carrots, cucumber and celery but feel free to do this with your own favorite veggies. Sometimes, I also like to dip them into some almond butter or hummus, which is a great additional snack to prepare in advance.
Dates, Carrot Sticks
Do you like dates? I’m absolutely addicted to them and they are definitely a staple food in my kitchen. I always keep mine in the fridge because I really like them cold but you can also keep them in your pantry. And if you like dates as much as I do then you definitely have to try this snack! Open your date, remove the pit and fill it with homemade Nutella..OMG, delicious!! Dates are just a really awesome food to snack on and don’t require any extra time to prepare. Just grab some dates and bring them with you to school or work.
Moving on to the homemade Nutella. If you haven’t made your own Nutella yet, then you’re missing out on something. It is so much better and healthier than the conventional store bought Nutella and it’s really not that hard to make it yourself. You can find my Homemade Nutella recipe in my eBook ‘Blissful Val’, I think it’s the last recipe in the eBook hihi. Below the Nutella you can see some Starfruit Jam. I made 2 batches of this jam, last week and was actually really surprised by how good it ended up tasting. As you can see, I really like to make foods from scratch and the more you do it the more you will find yourself having a lot of different, healthy snacks laying around your kitchen.
On the bottom, I have some ready to eat pineapple chunks. I’ve been eating about 2-3 pineapples a week and I just can’t get enough of it. I included it in my Meal Prep picture because I think, precutting fruits a day before is a great way to save time and patience throughout the week. Especially, big and complicated fruits like Pineapple, Mango or Pomegranate will be a time saver!
Lastly, I made some Apricot Energy Balls. This is honestly one of my favorite snacks to recommend to people that are new to a healthy lifestyle. It always blows my mind by how delicious these energy balls end up tasting and the ingredients for it are just so simple. One of my Energy Balls Recipes is also in my eBook or if you’re interested in a fancier one than check out the Healthy Truffle Bliss Balls. Both of them make a great snack for on the go and they are definitely a must try!
I hope this blog post inspired you to start your own kind of Meal Prepping which will help you to live a healthier & happier life! Happy Monday everyone! xx
Nutella, Starfruit Jam, Pineapple Chunks, Apricot Energy Balls
Apricot Energy Balls