Meal Prepping Snacks and Lunch

Meal Prepping

One theme I'm sure you'll see me going back to again and again as you read my blog is meal prepping.  I'm a HUGE fan of meal prepping.  Lots of people do this in lots of different ways but everyone needs to do what works for them.  For some that's not at all, for some it's everything, even dinners for the week, but for me, it's somewhere between those two extremes.

I LOVE to meal prep my snacks and my lunch!  Making 1 lunch that will last me a few days really helps me out when I'm so busy I can't even pick my nose up from out of the computer screen (and I'm sure we ALL have those days).  To meal prep my snacks, I usually keep it simple.  I always have fresh, cut up, fruit and veggies.  I find that sometimes I just need a quick bite between meals and if you don't have fruit and veggies cut up, I will ALWAYS go for the kids snacks which are healthy for them but will not help me reach my weight-loss goals.

One thing I always try to have on hand for rushed lunches is cut up chicken I can throw into a salad.  So many people I know do this and make it in all different ways, from grilled, to baked but I love to poach my chicken.  What does that mean?  I cook it in water.  Basically, what I do is take a medium pan, fill it about half way with water and bring the water to a boil.  Then I throw in 2-3 thin sliced chicken breast and let it cook for about 7 minutes.  Drain the water, run the chicken under cold water to it stops cooking, take a great kitchen shear, and cut it up.  That should be enough for 2-3 days worth of chicken salad.  I like it this way because I find it keeps a lot more moisture then if you bake or grill it.  I often season it with some sea salt and pepper.

This is one of my favorite recipes for chicken salad.  I LOVE mayo but it's so unhealthy for you!  Even the healthy one that advertises that it's olive oil mayo has canola oil, or soy oil or some other unhealthy, processed oil for you.  I'm not perfect but I do try to eat clean as often as I can and that means limiting processed food.  I'm no scientist, but here's some info about canola oil and why you should try to avoid it in your diet.  So here's a mayo free chicken salad that I absolutely love and make almost every Monday to get me through the week.


Cilantro Lime Chicken Salad

INGREDIENTS

2-3 thin sliced chicken breast (I like poached, see above for how that's done)
1/2 avocado - should be ripe but not brown.  If you keep the pit in the other half and put it in the fridge, it will stay green for a few days.
1/2 lime
cilantro
Optional - 5-6 crackers I like back to nature b/c it's clean and only 5 ingredients (box shown below)


DIRECTIONS

1.  Mash avocado, lime, and cilantro in small bowl.
2.  Add avocado to chicken and mix well.
3.  Optional - Serve with crackers or whole wheat wrap
4. Enjoy the simplicity of it all!  You have lunch prepared for the next 3-4 days!!

1 Red container is equal to 1 red and 1 blue
5-6 crackers is 1 yellow container