Once you’ve cracked the clean eating code, and you’re planning and prepping each week, you can fall into a bit of a food rut. If you’re like me, a lot of your weekly groceries revolve around the same foods every week – the same proteins, the same fibres, the same veggies. This happens for a few reasons, but usually it’s because you discover a few versatile ingredients and keep finding them in your grocery cart.
When you’re changing lifestyles and eating clean, it’s easy to feel restricted. But you definitely don’t need to!
Every week, I buy boneless skinless chicken thighs, broccoli, and zucchini. But every week, I make delicious meals every night that are wildly different from the night before – just by changing the seasoning!
This is the real secret to meal planning and prep: Find ingredients you like and portion out your protein and veggies, so meals are super quick and easy to make each night. Once everything is washed, cut, and ready to go, you can decide on seasonings (even at the last minute if you need to).
These are the three quickest, easiest, tastiest meals we make at my house. They’ve become staples of our diet because they are easy to adapt, taste different every time you make them, and are done in 30 minutes. Who doesn’t love that??
Packaged Meal Solutions
When you think “packaged meal”, I bet you think of a frozen casserole from the grocery store, but that’s not what I mean. Instead, I use fresh ingredients and Epicure’s meal packages to make a quick, delicious dinner.
My favourites are: Thai Green Curry, Red Curry, Butter Chicken, Pad Thai, and Thai Peanut Stir-Fry. All of these just need my wok, coconut milk, my fresh ingredients, and the seasoning packet. We’re eating in 20 minutes or less.
(Stir) Fry It Up!
This dish is super versatile because it’s so easy to adapt and make your own. I use Epicure’s Sesame Ginger Dressing, Italian Seasoning, or our Lemon Dilly Dip Mix, along with that evening’s whole foods, a little bit of oil – I use grapeseed – some vinegar of your choice, and soy sauce. It’s the perfect dinner!
One-Pan Meals
One-pan cooking is awesome – not only to prep ahead for meals later in the week but having only one piece of cookware it’s super easy to clean up, too! No standing over the stove watching and stirring, just lay out on a pan, season, toss into the oven and set the timer. A delicious meal will be ready in 20 minutes.
At my house we season the protein and veggies with things you might not expect, like coconut curry, Cajun or fajita spice, SPG (salt, pepper and garlic), or pizza seasoning!
See? It’s so easy to make delicious dinners with simple ingredients you use all the time. No need for boredom because your imagination is the limit!
I would love to hear what your base groceries are and how you change them up every week. Hop on over to my Instagram and let me know!
