Beginning meal prep!

I've finally found a few moments to start getting my life together. My first move. Meal prep. With working full time and driving about 3 hours round trip, the last thing I want to do is cook when I get home.

During my day off today I made some quick easy food so that I can come home and have food ready. Instead of stopping at McDonald's every night because they are the only thing open.

Here is what I have waiting for me for the next two days. A side of fresh raspberries. The main course is a little more complex, but still very easy, and affordable to boot!

First I made a batch of rice, roughly 1 cup total. (Before cooking ) I layered that at the bottom of my container after it had cooled. Then I cooked up some chicken in coconut oil. I used tenderloins because they were on sale and easy, you could use whatever you like. I'm sure shredded rotisserie chicken would be great here too. Then I drained and rinsed some canned corn. Again, it wad on sale, use whatever veggie you prefer. I did the same with a can of black beans.

That's it. Super simple but a fairly well rounded meal.

A step in the right direction

Whelp, work has dumped hours on me and I haven't done much the past week outside of sleeping and working. So now that the location is open, I can get back to caring for myself. That means re-banning myself from fast food. And of course get back to excersie.

Today, I was able to wake up and make myself something simple. Even better, it didn't cost me much.

Pardon my poor images, it's real food though. Haha.

So here I have a waffle, some turkey sausage, and an egg.

Total cost for this breakfast, about 50 cents. It was filling and full of protien. And butter, but that's just a personal preference.

Quick can be a good reminder.

     Something I have found that keeps me on track is anything that is quick to eat. Lately I have been neglecting myself, especially in the mornings. I've always had a problem remembering to eat something in the morning. I'm not a big morning eater and normal breakfast is just way too much for me.

     Recently, I have found a bit of magic that is getting me to eat more often in the morning. Something that is quick. If I have to cook, it won't happen. So I'm starting the habit with things like toaster strudels, frozen waffles, and bagels. I would add cereal, but I'm not a huge fan of the stuff, even as a kid I could never finish a box.

     Is it healthy for me? Probably not. Is it at least getting me into the habit? Yes. Over the past few weeks I have found myself waking up and feeling hungry. That didn't even happen in high school.

     What are some of your favorite quick meals in the morning?

Self control

Sometimes it's all about putting cheese puffs in bags because you know that you will always finish the bag. No matter what size.

I know myself well enough to know that this is the part of food prep that I can't skip. I must always portion out my food. Especially my snacks.

I don't fight the cravings, no matter how healthy I want to be, I just make sure to limit myself. And pre-portioning is what I find works best for me.

It doesn't take much, just some small resealable baggies. Toss a serving in and move on. When craving hits, not only areason they fresh, but in limited portions.

Dreams Come True

While writing has always been my actual passion it doesn't make enough for me to live off of it. At least not yet. However, something has changed. I got a promotion at work.

Why post that here?

Because it means that I will be a lot more stable. I'll also be getting 40 hours a week and that means I will have to bring myself food on a daily basis.

That means, more cooking!

It will be like back in the old days when I would post recipes all the time, and pics and actually be active and helpful and I can't wait to get back into doing that again.

Is 'bad' food better than no food?

In our current health conscious world it seems like eating a non-organic banana is a death sentence. First off, I won't go into my rant about organic, at least not today. Second, is eating 'bad' food really that bad?

If I can afford only $10 worth or groceries wouldn't it be better to buy 6 non-organic bananas instead of just 3 organic? In personally think so. More doesn't always mean better, but while you are making more healthy choices, realize that it could be worse.

Some people might argue here that said organic banana has more nutrients so you wouldn't have to eat six in a week. While that might be true or not (I'll be sure to do some more research on this at a later time!) when it comes down to it eating every day matters. Having six bananas for a week's worth of breakfast is by far better than only eating every other day.

While improving your health yes, the better the food, the better it is for you, sometimes you just have to do what's within your budget.

Don't feel bad that you can't buy organic.

Don't feel bad that you shop for whatever is in season.

Don't feel bad for buying whatever is on sale.

Don't ever feel bad about making sure that you eat. Even if it's not the best, you could be doing worse.

My First Grocery Haul

     The poverty line comes to something like only being able to spend $1.50 on food per person, per day. That’s not a lot at all. So I want to share with you all what I buy, how long it should last me, and how to make that work the best we can.

So first some simple math. $1.50 a person, for a week. Now for me, I personally work away from home for days at a time. Normally 3 days a week I don’t even see my house. So I’m going to plan for a week, even though I might not take things up with me. Some food travels better than others.

1.50x7=$10.50 per week for food.

I personally am aiming to stay right around there, give or take a bit depending on what I already have at home. I also highly recommend shopping at Aldi if you don’t already. Their selection is amazing and their prices are really hard to beat. Another tip, one I will go into more detail in future posts, is to buy what’s in season.

Here is what I got:

Blueberries .99

Navel Oranges 1.99
Blueberry Bagels 1.89

PB Crackers .89

Turkey lunch meat 4 at .49 each

Sliced Swiss Cheese 1.79

Cereal Bar 1.49

Cream Cheese .79

Total spent $11.79. So not to far off from poverty line. Let’s look at how many meals I can get out of that.

Breakfast. I already had eggs, so between those and the bagels I can have breakfast for more than 7 days. Six bagels with cream cheese and some eggs to finish up the week.

Lunch. I have enough meat for four sandwiches. I can also make grilled swiss cheese sandwiches as well for between those days. So there’s at least 7 days worth.

Snack. There is at least 7 oranges in the package I bought. I could also swap out some blueberries or some of the peanut butter crackers. The cereal bars are also great for between meals.

Dinner. Now yes, you have noticed that I have used up everything I bought already. That’s because I am lucky enough to have rice on hand, a few eggs left over, and some frozen veggies that I can easily make a weeks worth of dinners out of.

This first run wasn’t bad, I’m fairly proud of myself that I at least have breakfast and lunch now for the next week. Those are the meals I normally skip most often.