Yes...some of this is a repeat. I feel like this gives me a lot more ready made options, less room for excuses! Sometimes I still do the big salad preps that I used to do and detailed in earlier posts, but lately I have really been digging a new way! It's a good mix of raw and roasted, with a wide variety of colors and veggies!
Because we stick to a predominantly Paleo diet, and a 40/30/30 macro ratio, I prepare most everything separately, giving us options for proteins and carbohydrates. This makes it easy to put together snack and meal options and even allows for easier grab-n-go mini meals! And, it makes it really easy to adapt to a Vegetarian or Pescatarian diet! ;)
If you are one who enjoys a Nutritional Support System, there is much less to do! Scale down to allow for as many mini-meals as you need! We consume 16 mini-meals for the Work Week, so I prep a lot!
*Please keep in mind this original post was before we began implementing the Nutritional Support System so I did A LOT more*
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| Look at all the colors! |
Yes, yes, yes! It is a lot! It's a lot of food, a lot of ingredients, and a good couple hours of time you have to lay down on Sunday. But, I really, honestly think this is the MOST IMPORTANT part of my routine. If I don't do this on Sunday...we have quesadillas, take-out, or some poor excuse for a thrown together meal most of the week - TRUTH! And that is just NOT how I want my family to be fed! I want my children to learn healthy food habits now, so they keep them!
I have learned that I have to be proactive, because as soon as someone comes home sick, we are reactive, and diet is usually the first thing to go! Stressed and pressed for time, the kids begging for dinner, and you order that pizza, right?! If this is prepped and in the fridge your diet doesn't suffer, it's cheaper and faster, and most importantly, you won't feel the guilt or the bloat!
Spending this time in the kitchen with only good food choice items, and letting the kids help, is showing them how important this is to us! I choose 1 person as my Sunday Sous Chef, and let them help! It is special time for them and really makes a healthy impact on them! Plus, I promise they are more likely to eat the things they helped prepare! They are great at getting items from the fridge, counting out grapes and bagging them up, measuring out goldfish or other items and bagging those! At this age, it helps with math too! ;) They also do a great job at getting things to the trash or the dishwasher!
And...once this is done, most of the kid's lunches are practically done! For us, we can just grab 2 veggies and a protein and have a healthy meal at the ready for several days! No excuses! This was my breakfast this morning, perfectly balanced 40/30/30 ratio of Paleo foods - it took me 3 minutes to toss together AND reheat! The nice things is, this amount of food will usually get us through at least Thursday without me having to do much cooking! And keep in mind....this is for a family of 6!
Sometimes I will sub in some Horizon Mac & Cheese or Alexia Frozen Veggies for the kids at dinner!
I have learned that I have to be proactive, because as soon as someone comes home sick, we are reactive, and diet is usually the first thing to go! Stressed and pressed for time, the kids begging for dinner, and you order that pizza, right?! If this is prepped and in the fridge your diet doesn't suffer, it's cheaper and faster, and most importantly, you won't feel the guilt or the bloat!
Spending this time in the kitchen with only good food choice items, and letting the kids help, is showing them how important this is to us! I choose 1 person as my Sunday Sous Chef, and let them help! It is special time for them and really makes a healthy impact on them! Plus, I promise they are more likely to eat the things they helped prepare! They are great at getting items from the fridge, counting out grapes and bagging them up, measuring out goldfish or other items and bagging those! At this age, it helps with math too! ;) They also do a great job at getting things to the trash or the dishwasher!
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| I choose 1 person to be my Sunday Sous Chef - they LOVE the honor! Trying to teach good food choices early! |
And...once this is done, most of the kid's lunches are practically done! For us, we can just grab 2 veggies and a protein and have a healthy meal at the ready for several days! No excuses! This was my breakfast this morning, perfectly balanced 40/30/30 ratio of Paleo foods - it took me 3 minutes to toss together AND reheat! The nice things is, this amount of food will usually get us through at least Thursday without me having to do much cooking! And keep in mind....this is for a family of 6!
Sometimes I will sub in some Horizon Mac & Cheese or Alexia Frozen Veggies for the kids at dinner!
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| 40/30/30 Breakfast - 3 mins! 21g Protein, 27g Carbs, 5g fat |
For the last several weeks I have been keeping pretty much the same shopping list for this and just reorder it! Cut and dry, it is working, so I am sticking for now! So much of this is veggies, this will certainly work for a vegetarian too! I do grill A TON of chicken, but it's totally separate, so you can just omit that and sub in fish, shrimp or whatever protein you like!
The list is long...but don't panic almost all of it is simply just roasted with olive or coconut oil! I don't even clean the pans in between veggies, sharing the yummy flavors makes them even better! I have 3 big roasting pans and 2 jumbo muffin pans and I just crank up the oven and go!
We store most everything in Large Rubbermaid/ Ziploc containers or Sistema boxes, which I love! I feel confident that all of it keeps very well and is consumed before it can possibly go bad, as long as you are eating this and not ordering takeout instead! lol! This is usually gone when by the time Thursday rolls around, which is normally our cellular cleanse day anyway, and that gets us to the weekend! And, we usually plan a fun family meal for Friday nights!
Yes! This is time laid down on Sunday, but it gains me back SO much time during the busy week nights and takes the thought process out! The best part is, you lay down the chunk of time on your terms...during the week making the time to do these things won't be so easy! It sounds like a lot but this takes me less than 2 hours! Usually, a little over an hour if I have it all ready to go! At first it takes a little longer, until you get used to it! Trust me, it's way better knowing that dinner is planned, prepped and almost ready while you are doing homework, baths and next day prep!
The Shopping List
1 dozen eggs
5-6 lbs. of chicken breasts/boneless skinless thighs (depends on what's on sale)
2 lbs. of broccoli florets
dried cranberries
sunflower seeds
1 shallot
2 sweet onions
3 red bell peppers
1 head of garlic
1 package uncured bacon
4 sweet potatoes
2 lbs. asparagus
2 lbs. brussels sprouts
3 pints Nature's Sweet Cherub Tomatoes - these are my favorite, but don't refrigerate unless you slice them, they are best kept out! They make a fantastic, fresh, raw side for anything!
2 heads cauliflower
1 avocado
2 english cucumbers
1 package Love Beets or Melissa's Beets - these are organic steamed ready to eat
4 cans of chunk light tuna in water
2 packages of Al Fresco Chicken Sausage
Apples
Quinoa Salad - This is another great go to for lunch and dinner - you can easily swap out ingredients, for example this week I used tomato/basil/spinach and the same dressing from this recipe!
I start by doing the egg white muffins. Just pour the egg whites in and add toppings! Just don't forget to spray them with olive oil first! They are really quick and I can pop those in the oven while I wash, peel and chop the next batch of stuff. (Egg Whites + diced bell peppers + a spoonful of salsa or pesto is the easiest). Another awesome thing about these is that you can use this recipe to clean out of the fridge of veggies that need using up! Pretty much anything works!!
I also go ahead and boil the eggs. My trick is to put them in the pot, cover with water, pop the lid on, turn to high and as soon as they come to a full boil, turn them off and leave them covered for about 30 minutes, they will be perfectly cooked and easy to peel! By the time you are done with the rest of your prep, they are cooled and ready to go into the fridge. Easy!
Cook up that quinoa at the same time! It's also just a matter of boil and leave too! And get to chopping!
While all the eggs and quinoa are going, I get the sweet potatoes prepped. Peel, chop into bite-sized pieces and add to the baking pan. Drizzle with a 3-4 count of olive oil, then toss then with a spatula and roast at 400F until fork tender, about 30 minutes. Toss them around with tongs or a spatula a couple times during baking and they'll be perfect!
Exact same process with a whole pan of brussels sprouts or a pan of cauliflower/mushrooms/onions, a pan of mushrooms/onion/garlic, a pan of asparagus (only 10 minutes). I actually don't even use s/p. I prefer to add spices depending on what I end up using them in and I rarely add salt. Most days I end up with brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes for breakfast! They are so yummy in combo with the Apple Chicken Sausage and /or Eggs! Plus, it gets those good cruciferous veggies in early! The mushroom combo I log ahead and get ready to serve piled high on top of a piece of grilled chicken or a naked turkey burger later in the week for dinner! Yummmm....
I even do the bacon in the oven. I line the baking sheet with foil and roast the bacon for 10 minutes then flip with tongs. Bake until desired crispiness. Once that is done I remove the foil and trash it.
Then toss together the broccoli salad. This one only keeps for a couple of days, so we usually eat it for lunch/mini-meals Monday/Tuesday with grilled chicken.
Then, I go ahead and make up the quinoa salad. It keeps well for 3-4 days, but it never lasts that long! It makes for a great dinner, just reheat and add chicken or fish! Sometimes I will hold this one and make it Tuesday night or Wednesday just for something to hold us through until the weekend!
I put together a few containers of tomatoes/cucumber/oil/vinegar for afternoon mini-meals, that 3:30pm fade!
The chicken all goes into the marinade in the morning and then we grill that up in the afternoon, let it cool and then put it into one big container for the next few days.
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| Mounds of chicken ready for lunch, dinner or snack! |
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| There is plenty at the ready! No takeout this week! |
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| Fiesta and Pesto Veggie Egg White Muffins |
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| Raw broccoli salad. |
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| Individual breakfasts of chicken sausage, egg muffin, sweet potato and asparagus. |
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| Roasted asparagus, roasted carrots, bacon, roasted peppers & onions, roasted mushrooms/garlic/onions, cherry tomatoes... |
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| Huge pans of roasted veggies! |
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| 5 sweet potatoes chopped, drizzled with olive oil, tossed to coat, baked at 400F for 30 minutes. Remember to shake them around a couple times during the cook time! |
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| After 30 minutes they are slightly brown and fork tender! Such a nice sweet compliment to anything! |
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| Snacks in the fridge so you don't even have to think! 1/2 cucumber + 1 cup sliced tomatoes, salt/pepper, 1 tsp olive oil and 1 tablespoon vinegar! Shake! Pair it with a couple oz. of grilled chicken! |
Lunches for the kids...
Horizon Cheese Sticks
Nitrate Free Ham
Tuna Salad (tuna, mayo, relish) on baby pitas or with crackers
Chobani Yogurt Tubs
Lifeway Probugs Kefir Packs
Goldfish
Fig Bars
Kind Bars
Olives
Avocado
Nature Sweet Cherub Tomatoes
Broccoli
Carrots
Cucumber sticks
Otria Greek Yogurt Dip
Grapes
Apples
Cantaloupe
Strawberries
Trail Mix
Capri Sun Waters
Nalgene Water Bottles - they all take these everyday
Confession!!!! I despise making lunches! It's like pumping gas...it doesn't take long, you have to do it, but it is just annoying. So, I do as much ahead as possible so that I can just grab and go. It makes me so much happier to have it all done ahead. More Lunchbox ideas! I REALLY like to let them help! It's so good for them in so many ways, and hopefully it will pay off in the future! ;)
I use the PlanetBox lunch boxes and alternate with Sistema Boxes so that I can fix 2 days worth at a time! I bag up goldfish, grapes, carrot chips, and trail mix on Sunday. I usually roll-up a dozen ham/cheese rolls and keep those stored in airtight containers.
They love the Tuna Salad I make for my lunch, so I let them have that with relish in a sandwich or on pita! As much as I can do ahead, saves us all in the afternoon while we tackle homework, baths, etc. it's just one less thing to worry about with 4 kids running circles around me! ;) As a general rule, I let them pick a couple of fruits, a protein (tuna, ham, cheese), a fat (which is always almonds, olives or avocado), a snack. I figure it's fine for them to have a normal kid's snack item as long as the rest of their lunch is balanced!
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| The kids are great at measuring out snacks for school! It helps them leaner to measure and they love to be included! |
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| Snacks and fruit for lunches for the week! |
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