Weekend Meal Prep (and an offer from Noom!)

What's for dinner?

For me, it's usually a meal for one. My husband travels during the week, and Sam has such a busy schedule that he's often popping in a pizza or making a sandwich to go.

I want to eat well, but sometimes that gets tough when you are trying to come up with single serve meals.

That is where meal prepping comes in handy.

My oldest son, Luke, lives here in town. He has a pretty busy work week, and he often eats solo, too. I thought it might be a good idea if Luke and I start doing some meal prepping together. That way, we can cook together, share the meals, and we won't have to eat the same leftovers five days in a row.

Win win!

We purchased these meal prep boxes from Target last week. They are dishwasher safe, microwave safe, freezer safe, and BPA free. The lids snap on easily, too.

Last week, we made some freezer meals that Luke could take to work and heat quickly while on break.

Southwestern style quinoa with chicken and salsa:

Super easy when we used Meijer frozen oven roasted cubed chicken breast and Meijer Quinoa blend! Luke said he brought along the salsa and sour cream (I'd use Greek nonfat yogurt) and put it all on top of a big tossed salad. Perfect!

Chicken with riced cauliflower and stir fry veggies:

Again, we used the same chicken, this time pairing it with Meijer Riced Cauliflower combo, and topping with Kraft Lite Toasted Asian Sesame dressing. I threw mine on top of salad, too.

Last night, we decided to prep using oven roasted vegetables: broccoli, red onion, garlic, grape tomatoes, zucchini, olive oil, salt and pepper, and fresh basil and parsley. We will pair this one with Spicy Italian chicken sausage. I think I will try mine over some brown rice. I like how these boxes make portion sizes easy to control It helps me stay on plan.

And speaking of plan, let me tell you how I'm doing on Noom!

Eight weeks in to the program, and I am down ten pounds. Woo hoo! On my 5'3" frame, ten pounds makes all the difference!

Last summer, I could not fit into this t-shirt or these white jeans. But this weekend? Wearing them with room to spare. YES!

Ideally, I have five more pounds to go. But honestly, if this is where I plateau, then I feel good. Healthy, active, full of energy, and eating well.

Recently, I found that if I switched to hydrating in the morning, I could push breakfast to 10am, and push lunch to 2pm. This way, when dinner hour rolls around, I am really not hungry for a big meal and typically have a snack instead.

I have been happy with Noom for a few reasons:

1.) I kinda like tracking my meals, calories, and fitness. This app makes it easy.

2.) Every day, Noom gives you science-backed studies to read. We call ourselves Noom Nerds, and this is so me. I am all about the research. Short, ten minute articles. I have time for that.

3.) Noom looks at the psychology of food to get to the core of why we make the decisions we make on food choices and eating.

4.) You have online coaches and an online community to help you reach your goals.

5.) No weird foods. If I want a cookie, I eat a cookie. I eat bread. I eat pasta. But I also eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, with plenty of fiber and whole grains and protein. I watch my sugars and processed foods and restaurant eating, but that's nothing new.

If this sounds like something that would work for you, then I have good news!

You can use this link to get 20% off the program!

https://friends.noom.com/YVpQVVdUMzIFOmNW

Blessings on your week ahead, cafe friends!