How To Meal Prep For Gut Heal
Weekly Meal Plan Game Plan
Planning out your meals each week can feel like a time consuming, and sometimes overwhelming chore! But having a game plan for your weekly meal planning in place, can turn your week from kitchen chaos into an organized, efficient and supportive routine!
And no we aren’t just talking about making 15 servings of chicken, rice and broccoli for the week. We have outlined our go-to process for weekly meal planning below to share with you how we set our week up for success! We are going to walk you through our simple 4-step process to brainstorm your meals, preparing key ingredients and our tricks for using shortcuts when we can to make nutrient dense meals that provide variety and flexibility while making your meal planning feel easier!
We focus on meals that are exciting to eat AND will keep us satisfied throughout the day! Whether you’re a seasoned chef or are just starting out, this guide will make the process of fueling yourself a piece of CAKE!
Meal Planning: Where do I start?!
We like to keep the gut healing plate in mind when planning out meals for the week. When selecting the recipes you want to enjoy for meals, make sure they each include a protein, healthy fat, non-starchy veggie and starchy carbohydrate. This will ensure your meals are optimally nourishing all areas of your health.
RECIPE ROUND-UP:
Take a look at your week, how many nights will you be eating at home? How many lunches do you need and breakfasts? On average, we suggest preparing TWO different dinner meals with extra portions so leftovers can be enjoyed for lunch and TWO different breakfast meals for the week and ONE snack option.
So that’s a total of 5 recipes you are looking for in your recipe roundup step.
2 Dinner Meals (these will be lunch too)
2 Breakfast Meals
1 Snack Option **Remember snacks are just mini-meals so the same rules apply**
First, plan out the proteins for dinner and breakfast and aim to have variety. For instance, if one of your breakfast plans is to make a frittata then for the second breakfast aim to not choose another egg dish and maybe think about a chia pudding with hemp seeds & collagen for protein or breakfast sausages.
Then build the rest of the meal according to the Gut Healing Plate:
Make sure you have a starchy carbohydrate - For breakfast this might be fruit or berries to keep it simple whereas at dinner it could be a sweet potato, squash or sheet pan of roasted root veggies.
A hefty serving of non-starchy veggies - This is a major area for fiber intake and these can be raw or cooked depending on your preference. Maybe it's a big salad, sauteed shredded brussels, roasted broccoli or cauliflower on your sheet pan or keep it super simple with sliced veggies like cucumber and snap peas.
A little healthy fat to round out the plate - Healthy fat helps us to absorb all those fat-soluble nutrients in our foods. This category might be built into another food like salmon or eggs which are great sources of protein AND healthy fat or maybe we need a whole food source of fat to the meal like some avocado, pumpkin seeds to our salad or even tahini as the base to our salad dressing.
Look for meal inspiration in cookbooks, food blogs, or even your own favorite dishes. Meal inspo comes in many forms!
New restaurants you’ve tried with a dish you were dying to recreate
A tasty meal your friend introduced you to!
Pinterest or Instagram
Here are a couple of our favorite spots to look:
Kale Junkie - https://kalejunkie.com/
Paleo Running Momma - https://www.paleorunningmomma.com/
Rachel Good Eats - https://rachaelsgoodeats.com/
Grocery List for the grocery shop
One of the keys to kitchen success is going to the grocery store with a plan…and a list! It may seem like a simple task, but with a little organization and strategy, you can make your shopping experience much more efficient and enjoyable.
To cut down time in the grocery story, categorize and organize your shopping list based on the layout of your grocery store. Group similar items together, such as all the produce, meats, or frozen products. This will help you move through the store more efficiently and avoid forgetting something on your list.
Based on your week, aim to double or even triple your recipes to make extra of your dinners for lunch or even just double the protein and starchy carbs so you can pair those with some quick cooking veggies or other pantry staples to make a quick meal. Think about how many breakfasts you need and make sure to buy enough to make the number of servings you need for that week.
Write down and organize all the items you need to make your recipes. Maybe make a notes section in your phone, download an app like AnyList or even go old school with a pen and paper.
Pro Tip: Look for items that will save you time like pre-cooked frozen rice, frozen fruit, frozen vegetables or even pre-chopped vegetables, and BPA free canned legumes can all be great time savers.
Don’t Forget to Stock Pantry & Freezer Staples
Don’t forget to double check if you need any restocks on your favorite pantry and freezer staples, as these can be paired with your leftovers to make a new version of your leftovers or even pulled together for a whole new meal or snack.
Add in two other go-to sources of protein, snack items, and your freezer and pantry staples! This way, you won't feel overwhelmed by planning every single meal and you'll have some wiggle room for last-minute plans and leftovers!
*Some of our favorite weekly staples*
Frozen wild shrimp
Grab a pesto and/or tomato sauce
Have a jar of salsa on hand
Action! With A Dash Of Improv
Rather than thinking of “meal prepping” for the entire week, we like to set our kitchen up for success by preparing ingredients for the future meals we will be making.
Think about prepping the protein + starchy carbohydrates for one of the dinner recipes and one of the breakfast recipes. That way while you prepare your dinner, you are also prepping your breakfast, lunch and even dinner the next night and some core ingredients to incorporate with your pantry staples into new versions of leftovers later on in the week.
Preparing your starchy carbohydrates:
Pre-chop your ingredients at the start of the week.
Buy pre-chopped or shredded ingredients like onion, squash, sweet potato, zucchini, bell peppers, brussels sprouts.
Cook a big batch of whole grains or roasted vegetables at the beginning of the week.
Look for frozen, pre chopped vegetables you can stick in the oven or air fryer.
When it comes to prepping your protein:
A rotisserie chicken can go a long way!
Use a pressure cooker or air fryer to cut down on cook time.
Hard boiled eggs make a great high protein snack.
Cook your proteins at the beginning of the week and store in the fridge or freezer.
You might need to do a second prep-night during the week of your other dinner recipe and breakfast recipe but we’ve cut down considerably on the length of your cook times and frequency of them with our mini-preps.
Healthy fats don’t require as much preparation because they often work their way onto the plate through cooking oil, nuts, seeds, avocados or in animal products. HOWEVER, making your own dressing can be a great way to utilize a healthy fat like olive or avocado oil. It is also a great way to add fresh herbs into your diet to pack a powerful flavor punch to your meals. Homemade dressing can be used on pretty much anything like roasted vegetables, salads, grain bowls or as a dip! If you’d rather purchase a dressing, check out our store front, below for our favorite brands!
Feeling stumped on how to reimagine your leftovers into more interesting meals? We got you!
Pair your protein with a fresh batch of lentil pasta + pesto + any fresh veggies you have on hand
Make a big frittata using leftover veggies and add in proteins or starchy carbs
Turn it into tacos - literally anything can be a taco, we even saute up our shredded rotisserie chicken and top with salsa for the simplest and satisfying taco around
Make a bowl! We love to make a fun dressing, top with pesto or use a store bought dressing to add in some punchy flavor then combine all the leftover ingredients you have into a bowl - we swear it is more appetizing than it sounds and the sauce makes all the difference.
Now you’re ready for success!
Try incorporating these tips and tricks into your weekly routine and see how they make a difference in your kitchen success!
Tag us on IG @abovehealth with any of your newly inspired meal preps and recipes - we can’t wait to see what you come up with!
