Make Ahead Meals
I get asked the question almost daily in practice how do we find the time to eat healthy? With everyone’s busy schedule, kids, and activities trying to find time can be a challenge. One weekly tradition I always tell everyone to put into place is make ahead meals. Set aside one day a week and make some meals and snacks giving you no excuse during the week to grab the wrong items that will pack on the pounds. This weekend I chose to make pasta sauce and meatballs, grilled chicken, pulled pork, brussel sprouts, stewed beans and rice. The pasta sauce I also used as a base to make minestrone soup by just adding beans and spinach the next day.
I also bought granola, greek yogurt and plenty of bananas, oranges, apples, grapefruits and pomegranates to be our snack fruits for the week. I have a four year old so I make them easily accessible in the bottom fruit draw. For myself and my husband the snacks can be the soup I made the next day or celery, carrots cucumbers and cheese. We have these items cut up, portioned and ready to go for ourselves and our son in an easy accessible draw.
Sunday
Sunday Make-Ahead Meals
Prep all meals for the week.
Make egg cups, as well as cold oatmeal and keep in the fridge.
Make pasta sauce and meatballs (mine is chicken broth mostly with just one can of tomatoes and a small can of tomato paste, weird I know but wait till you try, its delicious! Doing mostly chicken broth allows this sauce to be a base with other items during the week)
Make rice for the week I usually make about 4 cups of cooked rice that will last us till the end of the week.
Stewed beans are also a great starch side dish, and when making these I cooked them in the pasta sauce base.
Chicken and brussel sprouts were easy I cooked 4 pieces of chicken in an iron skillet just using a tsp of coconut oil. Seasoning the chicken prior with salt pepper and paprika. After they were cooked through I than added 1 tsp coconut oil or you can also use two slices of bacon (this is also a great side dish for thanksgiving) Add brussel sprouts and cook for about 5 minutes, After the brussel sprouts have a slight crisp to them I added the pasta sauce about ½ cup and cooked for another 5 minutes.
Minestrone soup take the pasta sauce add, beans whichever you would like and spinach. If you really want to spice things up add a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.
That day in the crockpot I also had a pork shoulder that I just added ¼ cup white wine, 5 cloves garlic, onions, and celery. I placed a pork shoulder in the crockpot that I had in the fridge overnight with paprika, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. This I used with Asian coleslaw later in the week.
Monday
Breakfast
Choose one:
Egg Cup, Cold oatmeal, or yogurt and granola
Lunch
Chicken salad over greens and a piece of fruit
Dinner
Chicken breast, brussel sprouts and rice
Tuesday
Breakfast
Choose one:
Egg Cup, Cold oatmeal, or yogurt and granola
Lunch
Meatballs and rice with side salad
Dinner
Pulled pork with Asian Slaw, and Spanish Rice. I used the pulled pork the next night and made tacos.
Pulled pork with stewed beans and asian slaw
Wednesday
Breakfast
Choose one:
Egg Cup, Cold oatmeal, or yogurt and granola
Lunch
Minestrone soup and side salad
Dinner
Spaghetti and meatballs with salad (remember to portion out your meals)
Thursday
Breakfast
Choose one:
Egg Cup, Cold oatmeal, or yogurt and granola
Lunch
Grilled chicken sliced over a salad with some pecans and goat cheese
Dinner
Pulled pork tacos with rice and beans ( just mixed the rest of the stewed beans and rice together) with coleslaw and a salad
Friday
Breakfast
Choose one:
Egg Cup, Cold oatmeal, or yogurt and granola
Lunch
Minestrone soup and salad
Dinner
Spaghetti squash bake with a salad
*For snacks this week choose from fruits, cut up vegetables, cheese, yogurt and soup during the week. I was craving something sweet one day so I had peanut butter and apples with a couple of chocolate chips on top. Of course as always remember your portion sizes!!
Pasta Sauce
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 3 stalks celery diced
- 2 carrots diced
- two onions diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 8 cups of chicken broth
- 1 large can of diced tomatoes
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp basil
- 1 sprig of thyme
Saute onions, celery and carrots in 1 Tbsp olive oil, cook until onions are translucent. Next add chicken broth and one can of diced tomatoes as well as all herbs cook for one hour reducing the sauce, it will thicken. Use this sauce throughout the week in your dishes and as your pasta sauce for pasta and meatball night as well as spaghetti squash night.
Cold Oatmeal
Cold Oatmeal
- One Mason jar
- fresh fruit of your choice
- ½ cup oats
- ½ cup milk
Place milk and oats in jar add fruit on top. Place in fridge overnight and enjoy the next day!