Week 1 July Meal Prep Ideas

The first week of July is here so that means another round of weekly meal prep recipes. YEA BUDDY!

I also wanted to include a little extra detail in the post this week because I hear this a lot : I don't want to get bored of the same foods over and over again. THAT MAKES 2 OF US!

Heck no I don't want to eat the same meal over and over again. I've been there...

Chicken.

Brown rice.

Broccoli.

3 times a day.

Every. single. day.

But you know, that's what worked for me at the time! Except I kept running into "situations" where I would go ham sandwich over variety probably because I was depriving myself of that but anywhoo! Another reason I had to break free of the typical bro-meal prep foods was because I love to cook! I love to make yummy food, I love to eat it, share it with friends and family.

Now I definitely have my staple foods. Chicken is still in my meal plan, so are sweet potatoes and I loooooove love love oatmeal and eggs for breakfast. Over the years I've learned how to change it up because well, boredom made me do it. I know that meal prep is the best way to get all my nutritious and delicious foods ready to keep me on track so I don't have to eat convenience foods. No, thank you.

So I wanted to share one of my meal prep tips! The easiest way to change up your meal prep to keep you form getting bored is to USE SPICES!

YES. ALL OF THE SPICES. They are so worth the huge investment (sarcasm). Really though, spices are a very affordable way to spice up your life (Hey, Spice Girls!). Anyways, in this meal prep I included the spice I used in that meal.

Breakfast: Steel Cut Oats with Red & Blue Berries, Egg Whites and Spinach Spice I used: Cinnamon

Steel Cut Oats are a little change up form my usual oatmeal. They take longer to cook so if you have some extra time, give them a try! I poured 1/4 cup of dry oats and 1 cup of water into a small saucepan. I turned on the heat and let it get to a boil. Once it was boiling I turned the heat down to the lowest setting and stirred it every so often. It thickened up to the right consistency in 25 minutes.

While it was thickening up I cooked up 5 egg whites in a pan and threw on some fresh spinach leaves. I add hot sauce to my eggs after cooking (not pictured).

I stirred in some cinnamon just before I served it into a bowl. Then I sliced up some fresh berries.

Mid AM Snack: Apples with Tuna with chopped Rosemary Spices: Lemon Pepper

Yes, I really said apples and tune. Don't knock it till ya try it. Apples add a crispy, slightly sweet crunch to tuna which can be pretty flat to the bite. Adding in some apple with lemon pepper spice makes canned tuna feel like a fancy snack. I take this hiking because it's a great source of protein and the apples give me a good source of carbohydrates. Leaving the skin on the apple adds some fiber. All around good, quick snack!

Lunch: Meatless Monday Worthy Salad Spice: 21 Seasoning Salute from Trader Joes

Meal Prep Basics 101- Make a big ass salad. Lettuce, tomatoes, onions. It doesn't need to be fancy! Although, the fancy ingredients will keep you from getting bored. But I can't stress enough that having a big salad in your fridge is one of the easiest ways to make sure you have a plant-based meal ready to go.

I wanted to include a 100% vegan option for my animal-free friends. One of my go to complimentary protein power couples is chickpea + quinoa! I bought some roasted chickpeas because love the crunchy texture they add, but regular canned or cooked chickpeas work just as well! Then I spooned out a 1/2 cup of cooked quinoa and there you go! A salad with 13 grams of protein. Four from the quinoa, 9 form the chickpeas. GET SOME!

What is 21 Seasoning Salute, well, as the name suggests it has 21 different spices in it. Onions, Black pepper, celery seed, cayenne, parsley, basil, marjoram, bay leaf, oregano, thyme, savory, rosemary, cumin, mustard, coriander, garlic, carrot, orange peel tomato

granules, lemon juice powder, oil of lemon and citric acid.

Mid PM Snack: Hard Boiled Eggs

Spice: Everything but the Bagel Sesame Seasoning Blend

Okay, this seasoning is so bomb that when it first hit the shelves at TJ's they ran out!! So I had to make sure to buy 2 of them the next time they were in. Everything about this....Everything but the Bagel Sesame seasoning (no pun intended) is spot on and makes everything taste better! There is salt so that alone makes everything taste great but the sesame, garlic, onion, poppy seed combo is just MUAH!

This should be a stocking stuffer for every foodie out there. Jussayin. Hint Hint.

How I hard Boil My Eggs:

Put eggs in a sauce pan with water covering the eggs. Cover the pan. Turn on the heat. Wait till it boils. Turn off the heat and let it sit for 8-10 minutes. Das it!

Dinner: Herby Chicken with Sauteed Kale and Chile Lime (Jalapeno) Sweet Potatoes

Spice: Chile Lime Seasoning Blend

This dinner represent my favorite combination of food! Nutrient dense, extremely colorful, filling, easy to make. Its a meal you feel really good about eating. Kale makes me feel like a dinaosaur, and who doesn't think dinosaurs are cool? I empty a full bag of those leafys in a pan with olive oil or coconut oil (but most of the time olive) onions and let it cook. Sometimes I add water to steam the greens faster, but be careful doing that because water and oil are not friends.

I slice chicken breast thinly and lay it on a baking sheet and cover it with all the dried gree herbs I have. I let it bake in the oven at 375 for 35 minutes. Make sure it hits 165F internal temp and then that's it!

While thats cooking I chopped up 2 sweet potatoes. Put them in a bowl. Poured over some more olive oil and added this Chile Lime Seasoning. Then i chopped up a jalapeno peper and garlic and tossed those in. Gave the entire mixture a good stir and once the chicken was done I cranked the oven up to 425F and put the potatoes which I laid on a baking sheet, into the oven for 25 minutes.

Dinner is done pretty much when the potatoes are done!

Late PM: Cereal and Cacao Covered Bananas without the Cereal

Spice: 100% Cacao

Haha, okay. Yeah kind of a weird thing to call this but I was slicing up the banana and immediately I was like mmmm Cheerios and bananas. Such a comfort food, amiright?

But I don't have Cheerios and I really don't eat cereal all that much since I'd rather have a hot cereal like oatmeal. But it doesn't mean Ic an't enjoy a spoonful of banana and crunch!

So after i sliced up 1 banana, I threw in some walnuts and hemp seeds. I poured over some almond milk and this combination of resistant starch from the bananas and unsaturated fats from the walnuts make this a really slow releasing snack so it keeps me form getting hungry at night. (Yea, that happens to me!). I sprinkle on some chocolate because that's how I get a cholatey fix. If i did that before a photo it wouldn't look that great!

So that's it for Week 1 July Meal Prep!!

More recipes comin' atchya soon and if you are looking for a meal plan, head on over to the Meal Plans tab f. Make Meal Prep even easier with a collection of recipes picked for you!

#mealprep #mealplan