Instead of my weekly Sunday lunch post, I decided to change it up a bit this week. As I write this post, I am finishing the last meal from this past weeks Inspiralized Meal Plan Challenge. I had never done a full weeks meal prep like this, and it was really fun. You can purchase Ali’s Meal Plan Challenge here (its only $4.99)! There are three options available, Vegan, Paleo, and Gluten Free. Obviously I went with the Vegan version.
You can see all of my ingredients laid out here, not including the spices. Each of the three meal plans shows has instructions and recipes for 6 meals. The way that Ali has it laid out, it is portioned for one person to have half of each meal for dinner, and the remaining half for lunch the following day. Instead of portioning it out this way, I decided to just have it for dinners for me and Mike. This way there was a portion for each of us for dinner. Some of them we even had a little left over. (I still made my lunch for the week, too.) I decided to make only 5 of the 6 meals.
Ali guided you through step by step of what to prepare ahead of time, and then what to do each night for your meal. There was even a ready to go shopping list that had everything you need on it! (A lot of the items were pantry stuff that I had already, so it’s not as overwhelming as it looks) To start you spiralize everything, of course using the Insprializer! From there you partially cook some items, completely cook others, and then package and label everything.
The first meal was Brussels Sprouts and Pomegranate Sweet Potato Noodle Bowl. I am not usually a big fan of brussels sprouts, but I really enjoyed them in this dish. There was a great dressing that was drizzled on top that gave it a great flavor.
The next meal was Thai Quinoa and Zucchini Noodle Salad. This is one of my all time favorite meals from Insprialized. Zucchini Noodles and Quinoa–how can you go wrong? I have made it quite a few times, so I was happy to see it on the meal plan challenge menu! I slightly change it by adding in some steamed broccoli. It is best served at room temperature.
Up next: Vegan Fajitas Rice with Black Beans. These are some of my favorite ingredients. It has a sweet potato rice and really great homemade fajita seasoning. This was one of the meals that was fully prepared. All I had to do was heat it up and slice the avocado. It was perfect after a busy night of tutoring when I didn’t want to make anything as I got home late.
This is Buffalo Cauliflower with Rutabaga Noodles. Except, I wasn’t really sure what a rutabaga looked like. So I figured I would just google it–and I picked the closest looking thing–which turned out to be a turnip. Evidently the two are related and look quite similar. The biggest difference is that a turnip is white inside, and a rutabaga is yellowish inside. I decided to just swap it out and use turnip noodles instead. It came out great! I really love the buffalo sauce on this. I add a little extra hot sauce for more of a kick. Although I don’t love cauliflower, with the buffalo sauce, it was pretty enjoyable!
I think the final meal (which I just finished eating about 20 minutes ago) was my favorite. Mike really liked it (and wished I had added shrimp for him). It was a Coconut Green Curry. As I was reheating it, I decided to add a little extra green curry paste. It was delicious and perfect to eat on a snowy blizzard day.
It was so nice to come home each night this past week and not have to do any major cooking. All of the meals took 15 minutes or less to finish preparing. It did take a lot of time to get everything prepped (almost 4 hours) and ready for the week. However, if you are busy during the week like me, it can be worth it! Although I wasn’t sure about the brussels sprouts and cauliflower, I ended up loving every recipe. They were all full of flavor and delicious!
Has anyone done a full meal prep for the week like this before? Share in the comments below! Have a great week!
1 Comment
Wow!!! What a great post. I really love all of the different recipes and the idea of having the week’s dinners ready to go. Nice Job!!!