Wait, WHAT? A What I Ate Wednesday Post!?!?!? I know, the insanity. I cannot remember the last time I did a WIAW post! I mostly stopped because 1) it’s hard to remember to take pictures all day and 2) I didn’t really love the idea of people comparing what they ate to what others ate. But WIAW was started in the spirit of sharing meal ideas, so today I want to share my meal planning prep for this week!
If you’re new to What I Ate Wednesday, head on over to Peas and Crayons to see what it’s all about, as well as all the other bloggers who participate!
This weekend I was browsing through Pinterest and came across a link to a meal planning post from Runaway Apricot. In her post, Robyn hosted her friend, Sean Peters, who posts his meal planning ideas on his instagram account. Sean gave ideas for putting together quick, simple meals for both lunch and dinner for the week. It looked so easy I thought I’d give it a shot!
It took me longer than I expected, but that was more because I only have one large pan and one shelf in my tiny oven… which makes cooking multiple things at once more difficult. But I managed to get it all done while I was doing other things during my Sunday afternoon, and now I have lunch and dinner for 4 days this week! I only did 4 so I’d have some flexibility. Breakfast is, as always, oatmeal, and snacks were a bar in the morning and an apple and almond butter in the afternoon. I also usually have a snack after dinner and this week it has been yogurt with protein powder mixed in and frozen berries. And chocolate, of course.
Now don’t think I don’t deviate from this plan at all, no one is perfect and I definitely am not either. This is the PLAN, aka what I TRY to make happen, hopefully I can keep it up this week!
For lunches I made some quinoa, sauteed chicken sausage, zucchini, and roasted carrots. It’s really simple food and easy to make but I enjoy eating it while working!
For dinner I went with fish since I had several frozen fish filets in my freezer. I sautéed the fish, as well as the spinach and then I baked the sweet potatoes and mashed them up in my vitamix with a little almond milk (you could also do this by hand… I think? Haha I’ve never made mashed potatoes). It was quick, easy and delicious!
And there you have it! 8 simple and easy lunches and dinners and for very little cost! I got all of the ingredients (except the fish) at Trader Joes, and the snacks at target!
Do you meal plan for the week?
Have you ever made mashed potatoes?
Love your meals they all look so yummy, especially that sweet potato mash!
The sweet potatoes were SO good!
I meal plan every week without fail! I also love planning for leftovers, it makes life way easier during the week.
That’s great that you meal plan every week! I hope I can keep it up!
YUM to all the meals you prepped! I’m actually cooking some chicken in the crockpot right now. Love that thing!
I need to start using my more again! It is so simple!
I am all about easy, simple food especially during the week. It’s the best! I’ve become a master of making simple meals out of random things. And yes, you can mash sweet potatoes by hand. I usually cut into chunks, steam, add some coconut oil and sea salt and mash with a fork. One of my favorite side dishes!
Ah okay, mash with a fork! Haha I had no idea what to do, which is weird since it’s really such a simple thing…
Loving your meal prep skills! 🙂 I definitely have to make a plan for the week, at least for dinners — or else I end up eating everything in sight!
I’ve only made mashed potatoes once — mashed sweet potatoes with banana and OJ!
Haha That’s my problem too – I’ll just start eating everything!
Great ideas here! I do some meal prep, but mostly just for breakfasts and snacks. I like to make more of what we’ll actually eat for dinners so that we’ll have leftovers for lunches throughout the week.
That probably works best for more people! I make a regular dish that would feed 4, and then just eat it myself all week.
I meal plan for a couple nights/week but not every night! I do it when I know my husband will be home for dinner but when I’m eating alone – I just go with the flow and eat a salad or eat a ‘brenner’ of some sorts! 🙂
It probably makes it harder when you’re working with someone else’s schedule, but for me it’s just me, myself and I!
I meal plan weekly and prep on Sunday! I don’t think I’ve ever made mashed potatoes.
The mashed sweet potatoes were so good!
I wish I could be that organised! I do have to be flexible with my meals, as every day is so different and I don’t know what might come up in the week, but having some freezer-meals on hand is always something I have!
Freezer meals are great for a flexible schedule!
i basically eat the same as you, that means we are twins! lol
haha yes!
I usually just wash and cut veggies for the week and sometimes make homemade granola bars or muffins for snacks. Oh, and I make baby food! I would love to have a few meals like that on hand though
Yes, it was so great to get home and just have dinner there and ready without having to figure it out.