Today's post recaps my very first Batch Meal Prep!
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| 6 portioned meals for the rest of this week & weekend |
I'll save a lot of what I want to share for another post and keep it simple today. In short, I am feeling unbalanced and not entirely healthy these days. My stress levels are a bit higher with my girls home (more fighting, whining, crying, etc) and my adrenal fatigue is wearing on me. I had been upping my cardio the past few weeks and it really did me in. It put my adrenals into hibernation for a bit. Therefore, I decided that trying meal prepping & portioning might be in my best interest in order to keep my food intake on track...and also eliminate the stresses of making meals for myself and my kids, three times a day.
After some great inspiration from Instagram and a few Google searches, I came up with a quick (okay, it took me a few hours) and easy plan for the next 4 days or so. I learned a bit and will plan better and more accordingly next week. But this works for me right now!
My awesomesauce husband, Josh, picked up 3 organic, hormone-free chicken breasts from The Fresh Market the other day. I rinsed and patted them dry, laid them on non-stick foil on a baking sheet and sprinkled them with salt-free Mrs. Dash. Tossed them in the oven and baked at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes. They were thick, hence the baking duration.
While the chicken was baking, I added a dish with 5 really small sweet potatoes and let those bake for about 50 minutes. Halfway through the sweet potato baking time, I also put in a baking dish with asparagus. I left it plain - no oil, no seasonings. I left that in there for about 25 minutes.
I really liked being able to time out these three foods and use the oven for all of them at the same time. It reduced energy used, and also cut down on my cooking times.
While the chicken, sweet potatoes and asparagus were in the oven, I steamed 2 heads of broccoli (plain) and a package of pre-washed green beans. For a snack, I sliced up three bell peppers (yellow, red & orange). I portioned these out into 6 containers - each had half of a chicken breast (sliced), asparagus, broccoli and sweet potato (some whole, some halved, depending on size). I left the green beans & peppers in separate containers for snacks or meal additions.
Pictures follow - they show how I portioned everything out. Hope this is helpful for anyone else who might want to start food prepping & portioning!
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| So pretty! Lots of health benefits in different colored produce! |
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| Seasoned chicken, prior to baking |
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| Baked sweet potatoes |
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| I fully admit that I totally cheated and steamed these right in the bag! |
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| Steamed broccoli |
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| Chicken - after baking |
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| Asparagus - baked plain, no oil or seasoning |
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| Here's a look at the 6 portions plus green beans & bell peppers |
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| close-up of one of my portioned meals |
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