Meal Prep 101

So this week I really focused on trying to get back into meal prepping again, I went to the grocery store on Saturday after an intense workout and I bought everything I could need for 2 weeks worth. Now some people may be able to prep 2 weeks at a time but...and maybe this is just me, I can't handle knowing my meals having been sitting in the fridge for over a week before I can get to them... Is it just me?

Now that doesn't mean I won't buy all the ingredients I need at the same time, I do that I just keep the turkey, chicken, shrimp and other meats frozen until the week of. Now I know what you are thinking, Why don't I just freeze the meals? Well......lets face it. Tupperware doesn't exactly freeze well and when you don't have a lot of extra freezer space to share you do what you can. What is also really nice is my meal prep staples don't take very long to cook. I can bang out my rice, asparagus and ground turkey in about an hour which for someone who works 40 hours a week and then spends another 12 hours in the gym that is a nice thing to know. Now I'll be the first to admit I didn't exactly eat all my pre-prepped meals this week, there is still 5 meals sitting in my fridge. It isn't easy working in a medical office when you get drug reps who like to bring you lunches almost every week. And that's not even including the donuts and starbucks they also like to drop off as well. (Lord help me, I've done good I don't get coffee I usually will get a berry refresher or a blended crème) But still talk about temptation, this week we also had a co-workers birthday so we had Tempe barbeque sandwiches, chips, soda, and of course birthday cake. I could have eaten that entire cake but I subdued myself and only had 1 piece of cake. But still...cake is cake.

Anyways lol back to meal prepping, I went to Winco for 99% of my supplies because lets face it, they have really good prices (a lot cheaper than Safeway, Fred Meyer....you get where I am going) and I stocked up on everything and only spent around $54!! truth be told however I still had most of my meats at home so that is where a significant cost reduction came from. One thing I struggle with however is the price of the liquid egg whites..... $5 for a carton of egg whites?????? and yet $5 for 5 dozen eggs???????? I have purchased the liquid egg whites and I have to say it was pretty awesome not having to separate the egg whites. I'm still trying to find the cheapest ones and so far Costco seems like the only legit place that isn't trying to rob you over them, however going to Costco for one thing is as we all know....a death sentence...No one lets you cut in line and you most of the time you spend more time parking and waiting in the checkout line than you would going to Safeway for an entire cartful of food. My hope is to eventually get most of my meats, egg whites  and things of that sort that I can get good use of in bulk at Costco and then save the minor fresh fruits and veggies for Safeway or my local produce stand since I am the only person in my household who currently meal preps.

So fast forward to today, I decide (against my better judgement but hey i'm a glutton for punishment) to meal prep my egg white muffins for next week because I didn't have time to do it last week, which normally is no big deal I usually just have a protein shake with peanut butter and oats. But I forgot that since I am having a colonoscopy on Monday I was not allowed any visible, nuts, seeds or grains, (ugh) so of course that meant no oats in my protein shake, no bread, no tomatoes, no cucumber, no bell peppers....... So I opted for some Corn Chex cereal, not the healthiest BUT better than having a bowl of fruit loops. Keep in mind today and tomorrow until after my procedure I am on a CLEAR LIQUID DIET........ I spend a good 30 minutes separating 24 egg yolks from the whites just to get 12 cups of whites in order to make my muffins (another reason why I have decided I will be purchasing both the liquid egg whites along with regular eggs in the future and designate which will be used for which because let me tell you, this was a headache.) I dice and chop up some green bell pepper and mushrooms which I toss into the muffin tins and then pour the now separated egg whites over them and pop them in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes and I cannot tell you how good they smell........ I wanted to pop 2 or 3 in my mouth and just savor the flavor but of course.... I can't so here I am sipping my chicken broth watching Food Network....I don't know why lol like I said i'm a glutton for punishment clearly. Well that's all for today! I will post an update once I've actually eaten one and let you know if I need to tweak the recipe or not. So until next time!