As high school students, many of us lead very busy lives, so in order to keep my energy levels stable throughout the day, I meal prep lunches for the week and sometimes dinners for days that I have work or martial arts. Just like getting enough sleep is crucial to a person’s ability to function well, fueling your body is just as important. Since I began doing this at the beginning of my junior year, I have felt much more productive and awake; however, eating the same thing several days in a row doesn’t always sound the most enjoyable. That being said, I make sure that the dishes I prepare each week have lots of flavor and are fun to eat.
Beef bolognese
Recipe: emthenutritionist
The veggies in this dish might make some people skeptical, and I had my doubts as well before I cooked it. This meal includes finely chopped carrots, celery, onions, and mushrooms that are sauteed until they begin to soften. Then I added in the ground beef, let it brown, seasoned with oregano, basil, salt, pepper, and added a spoonful of tomato paste. After a minute, I poured in a can of chopped tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, balsamic vinegar and let it cook for a bit. The last step was to pour in the pasta. I used bowtie pasta here, but it doesn’t really matter what kind you use. To my surprise, the veggies actually added a lot of depth to the dish, making it an extra warm and cozy meal that I would definitely choose to prep again.
High protein cheesy bagel
Recipe: emthenutritionist
This meal took longer to make than most of my meal preps because I made the bagels from scratch, but I was in the mood for something a little more sandwich-like, so it was definitely worth it. The bagels I made were the 3 ingredient protein bagels, made out of greek yogurt, flour, baking powder and I added a pinch of salt. While these bagels turned out smaller than regular bagels, the extra protein in them made them more satiating. As for the filling, it was made out of cooked chicken, cottage cheese, feta, tomato instead of red pepper, red onion, garlic powder, lemon juice, honey, salt and pepper. The reason why this took so long was because I had to cook the bagels and the chicken in the oven separately. While I was waiting on this, however, I cut up a cucumber and set the slices to marinate in a bowl of soy sauce, rice vinegar, sweet chili sauce, garlic and ginger. This was a well balanced lunch for me with plenty of protein, carbs and fats. It was both a refreshing and filling lunch that kept well in the fridge Monday through Thursday. In the future, to save time on a busier day, I might simply buy bagels to shorten the process of this meal prep.
Soy ginger chicken
This last dish doesn’t have a recipe. After the ice storm, I didn’t have much food in my fridge, so I did my best to improvise and make a well-rounded meal with what I did have. I started off with chicken. After defrosting a package from the freezer and cutting it up into smaller pieces, I placed it on a baking sheet and began seasoning it. My original plan was to make a dish with soy sauce as the base of my sauce, however, I didn’t have any left.
Luckily, I was able to substitute this for coconut aminos and liquid aminos to create a similar flavor, so I drizzled my chicken with a mixture of both of these. Then, I sprinkled garlic powder, onion powder, ground ginger, and some pepper on the chicken and placed it in the oven to cook. For the veggies and sauce, I used onion, garlic, and some frozen green beans. I cooked them first in some olive oil, then in a mixture of coconut aminos, liquid aminos, rice vinegar, and hoisin sauce. I made some rice in my rice cooker, and added the chicken in with the veggies and sauce to soak up a little more flavor. It was both tasty and a quick, easy meal to make. Between the protein, carbs and veggies, this meal kept me full and my energy levels stable. Though it was an improvisation made from the few ingredients available to me, I would definitely make it again.
Meal prep sometimes gets a bad reputation, but if you cook well rounded meals that you love, it can be enjoyable. By meal prepping, I save myself a lot of time during the week, reduce stress, and function better due to stable energy levels.
