The menus I share here are literally what I am eating every week, so you will probably notice the leftover ingredients match what I used last week, and so on. I’m doing something slightly different this time, so I figured this would be a good chance to show how buying certain things now can help plan next week’s meals as well. You’ll see what I mean. Or maybe you won’t. I don’t know. I’m not bulimic.

If you’re looking to get started with meal prepping, you can find my guide here.

So… Following my meal-prep process (explained in part 5 of the guide), I checked my fridge and pantry for leftovers. You might recognize some of them from last week: tomato-basil wraps, matchstick carrots, and eggs. After looking at sales and consulting my all-knowing belly, I came up with this menu:

Breakfast : Roast beef and cheddar breakfast quesadillas

: Roast beef and cheddar breakfast quesadillas Lunch : Pho-inspired instant noodle jars

: Pho-inspired instant noodle jars Dinner : Avocado chicken salad (“but Sky, avocado browns and stuff!” yeah, I know, I’ll get to it…)

: Avocado chicken salad (“but Sky, avocado browns and stuff!” yeah, I know, I’ll get to it…) Snack : Trail mix #1 (I know, really creative name…)

: Trail mix #1 (I know, really creative name…) Fruit: Kiwi, mangoes, and apples

The Haul

5 avocadoes

1 rotisserie chicken

1 bag of shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 lb of low-sodium deli roast beef

1 bag of shredded or matchstick carrots

1 big yellow or white onion

1 bag of rice noodles (I used vermicelli)**

1 lemon

2 limes

2 small jalapenos or red chilies

1 red delicious apple

2 mangoes

3 kiwi

1 bread loaf of choice

1 handful of fresh basil*

1 handful of green onions*

5 eggs**

Tortilla wraps of choice (I have sun-dried tomato here)

1 cup of peanuts

1 cup of other nuts of choice

1 cup of dried cranberries

1/2 cup of chocolate chips of choice

*From my herb garden, not pictured. ** Ingredients I already had, forgot to picture

Let’s talk about the chicken for a second. I would have roasted some chicken in the oven myself, but I wasn’t feeling too well the day I prepped. The good thing is that rotisserie chickens are cheap and have infinitely many uses. Just remove the meat from the bones, cut or shred it up, and store it. For even more brownie points (or chicken points?), you could even go further and use the skin, wings, and carcass to make chicken stock that you can use later.

The Recipes

If you’re curious, the process for optimizing prep and cook time is explained in part 6 of the guide.

Breakfast

You can obviously do whatever you want with this recipe and use whatever ingredients make you happy. The main difference between this version and most other breakfast quesadillas is that I’m using boiled egg as opposed to scrambled. I find that scrambled eggs tend to dry out and change their texture, but to each their own. Also, this is the method I use for making quesadillas in bulk. Sure, you could use a skillet to make every single one, but that takes quite a bit of time and I don’t have that kind of patience.

One last thing: I’m trying to cut down on dairy because I’m not very lactose-tolerant and it upsets my stomach, so I used juuuuuuuuuuust enough cheese to barely hold things together, then complemented the cheesy, umami flavour with nutritional yeast. If you don’t know about it yet, look it up. It’s awesome.

Roast Beef & Cheddar Breakfast Quesadillas Ingredients: 10 tortillas of choice

5 hard boiled eggs, chopped

1 handful of green onions or chives, chopped

8 oz bag of shredded cheddar cheese

2 1/2 cups of deli low-sodium roast beef

Sprinkle of crushed red pepper or hot sauce of choice (optional)

Coconut oil spray or PAM Directions: Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a parchment-lined baking sheet, lay out four tortillas and cover them with a layer of cheese. Put them in the oven for about 5 minutes, or just until the cheese is just starting to melt. Layer the ingredients in order of heaviest to lightest on two of the tortillas, add a bit more cheese to bind everything together, then cover them with the other tortillas. Repeat the process with the rest of the quesadillas. Once you have all five assembled, set the oven to broil. Lightly spray the tops with oil and put them in the oven, watching very carefully for the tortillas to crisp and brown (should only take about 30 seconds). Flip and repeat. Slice the quesadillas and wrap them in foil for storage. They can be reheated in the microwave or a skillet, but the toaster oven would be ideal.

Lunch

My office is colder than the Ice King’s balls most of the time, so warm comfort food is always nice. I found out about DIY instant noodle cups some time ago, but I decided to add a slight twist to them. I am a big fan of pho, but I knew I couldn’t recreate the broth flavours because they involve simmering bones, tendons, and organ meats for god-knows-how-long… So, I added the typical pho spices to the base that instant noodle cups use, which is usually a chicken (or beef) bouillon. Make sure you get low-sodium bouillon cubes, they taste far better. All of the flavour and a fraction of the sodium. Hooray!

To make this vegetarian, use vegetable bouillon cubes for the base and switch the chicken for mushrooms. This way, you get to keep the umami flavour and protein. If you want to go even further and make this vegan, make sure you get vegan soy sauce and fish sauce.

Pho-Inspired Instant Noodle Jars Ingredients: 2 1/2 cups of shredded cooked chicken (dark meat works best for flavour)

2 cups of shredded or matchstick carrots

5 handfuls of rice vermicelli or kelp noodles

2 handfuls of basil leaves, chopped

2 handfuls of green onions, chopped

1 cup of yellow onions, diced or julienned

1 thumb-size knob of fresh ginger, cut into 5 pieces (or grated)

1 red chili, cut into 5 even pieces

1 lime, cut into wedges

Broth base: 2 chicken bouillon cubes 1 tsp fish sauce 1 tsp sesame oil 1/2 tsp soy sauce dash of ground cinnamon dash of ground nutmeg dash of cardamom dash of coriander water as needed

Directions: Making the broth base: in a small bowl or ramekin, mash up the bouillon cubes with the back of a teaspoon. Add all other broth base ingredients and mix as thoroughly as possible, turning it all into a paste. Add small bits of water as needed to soften the mixture, until it reaches an almost syrup-like consistency. All of this can also be done with a mortar and pestle, if you have that. Separate your broth base into 5 pint mason jars. It’s quite condensed and flavourful, so you only need about a teaspoon’s worth in each jar. Layer in your carrots, yellow onions, noodles, basil, and green onions. Put one piece of ginger, chili, and lime on top. Store shredded chicken in separate containers. When you’re ready to eat it, add the chicken on top, take out the lime, and fill up the jar with boiling hot water. Shake up the jar and let it sit for at least 5 minutes. Add lime juice, take out the chili and ginger if desired, and enjoy.

Dinner

Let me explain something real quick here. I knew I would be home early every weekday this week, so my avocado chicken salad wasn’t entirely prepped. Instead, I cut up all the ingredients (minus the avocado) and kept them in the fridge. When I’m hungry, I just mash up the avocado and mix everything together, then throw it on the toasted bread. Minimal effort.

If you find that this isn’t quite hearty or filling enough, you can throw some chopped hard-boiled eggs in there to bulk it up.

Avocado Chicken Salad Ingredients: Sandwich bread of choice

1/3 cup of shredded or cut chicken, cooked

1/4 cup of diced onions

1 avocado

salt & pepper to taste

dash of chili powder

splash of lemon juice Directions: In a bowl, mash up the avocado and mix in the seasonings and lemon juice. Mix well. Add the chicken and onions, mix again. Spread on bread and enjoy.

Snack

Last but not least, the trail mix. I am not a fan of packaged trail mixes because they often have ingredients I don’t like, plus all the added sugars… So I make my own. Nuts are usually available at places like Trader Joe’s or in the bulk bins in most big stores. My general rule for trail mixes is:

1 part peanuts, toasted and unsalted

1 part other nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts, pistachios, etc), toasted and unsalted

1/2 part seeds (pumpkin,

1 part carbs (I usually use cheerios or something to that effect)

1 part dried fruit

1/2 part something sweet (chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, etc)

This is the mix I made this time. It’s really easy to end up mindlessly snacking on it, so I highly recommend portioning it out.

Trail Mix #1 Ingredients: 1 cup toasted unsalted peanuts

1/2 cup toasted unsalted almonds

1/2 cup toasted unsalted pecans

1/4 cup toasted unsalted pumpkin seeds

1 cup honey nut cheerios

1 cup craisins

1/2 cup white chocolate chips Directions: Mix it up and eat it!