There are new gadgets and gizmos being released into the market every day. It can be a bit overwhelming and daunting. Some people end up buying a ton of things they don’t really need, and then they are left with less money and dozens of contraption to perfectly chop sandwiches, flip pancakes, mince garlic, brush your teeth, do your taxes…well, you know what I mean. If you’re a foodie enthusiast, you may either have a blender already or have heard “I love my Vitamix/Blendtec/Magic Bullet/Breville/Cuisinart Blender!!1” on almost every food blogger’s site out there. Why? What’s so great about a blender? “I don’t want to drink a bunch of smoothies and soup all day.” Well, once you step into the realm of high-powered / high-quality blenders, you may be surprised at just how many uses there are for them. I never even put my blender away. It always sits on the counter because I use it at least once a day, and I think having it out promotes regular healthy eating because it is already out andready to go. ~ ~ ~ “Can’t I just use a Magic Bullet or other lowered-powered blender? It is so much cheaper!” – Yes, absolutely! If your blender works for you and satisfies your needs (food-wise, heh), then there is no reason why you need to spend more money just because everyone raves about some of the more popular blenders. Among Raw and Vegan foodies, the Vita-mix is a drooled over and sought after device. After having owned one myself for a little under a year, I can say with confidence that it lives up to the hype. It is a wonderful machine, and for the things I do and the amount of meals I make from scratch, it was a worth-while investment. If, lets say, you only need or use a blender to blend juice, water or milk and protein powder and maybe another odd thing here and there, then I would say you definitely could forgo getting a high-powered blender. Something like a Magic Bullet would probably do the trick. It all depends on what you are looking for in a blender and what youneed it for. If the answer is “EVERYTHING!”, then I would consider a high-powered blender. 😉� ~ “The Vitamix and Blendtec look awesome, but they are very pricey. Is it worth it?” – This again depends on a number of factors, including your budget, your food prep needs, how often you make meals from scratch, how much power you need…etc. If you do have the budget for one a blender such as the Vitamix or Blendtec, and you do a fair bit of homemade meals and such, then hopefully this post will help you decide whether it is right for you. If you have a family member(s) that can also benefit from one, then maybe you could split the costs. ~ CONS of a High-Powered Blender? Price. They can be very pricey, even though most do have good warranties and payment plans and some brands also have refurbished and certified versions. (see bottom of post for links to cheaper blenders) You have a bunch of appliances already. If you do happen to have a lot of appliances (Food processor, ice cream maker,immersion blender, grinder etc…), then there may not be a need to invest in a blender You don’t usually make food. If you don’t make homemade meals often that require the use of a blender, then you could probably get by with a cheaper alternative like a Magic Bullet. It doesn’t do every single thing. One thing I have heard some people say is that blenders can’t “Do it all” – as in, sometimes you need to do steps to food before using it in your blender. For example, if you were going to make a creamy soup, you may want to pre-cook your veggies at least a little before blending them. I guess some people want to just be able to throw everything in there. Well, guess what? You can! There are plenty of raw soup recipes out there where you just toss everything in and let ‘er go! ~ High-powdered blenders can replace a bunch of different kitchen gadgets so that you can have one powerful and versatile appliance instead of dozens of them. They can replace flour mills, coffee grinders, immersionblenders, ice cream machines, mixers, graters, vegetable choppers and more. ~ I had always wanted to try making ice cream using frozen bananas, but my older blenders weren’t powerful enough, so finally being able to make creamy healthy ice cream is awesome! I have made things I never attempted before, since it was either not possible or too much work without a blender. ~ You may be able to substitute multiple appliances for one blender in order to make dishes that require more prep work. Less dishes to clean is always a good thing! ~ Because your options increase when you have a blender, there are more fun things to do in the kitchen. Blend, chop, puree, grind, stir, mix, combine. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Replace hand-mashing, chopping, mixing and more by using a blender. Powerful blenders also do things with much more ease and swiftness! When I had a less powerful blender, it could only handle tiny amounts of liquid/food at a time and everything took quite a long time. Things would also getstuck and I’d have to open it up and move things around multiple times and even though, I’d still have chunks of unprocessed ingredients. ~ One of the perks to fast food / take out is that it is almost instant, so we can turn to that too often. This usually means that we are eating unhealthy food and buying take out can be expensive. I find that I eat healthier much more often now that I have a good blender. Instead of grabbing a box of cookies, I’ll blend up some chickpeas and make a batch of chickpea cookies. If I don’t even feel like putting the time into that, I can blend up a healthy milkshake or ice cream using simply frozen banana. With dinners, I can either blend up a soup, make a vegan cheese sauce and pour it all over some steamed vegetables and I’ve got a darn healthy and delicious meal in hardly any time at all. ~ ~ Smoothies – Green Smoothies, Fruit Smoothies, Veggie Smoothies… A perfect healthy breakfast or meal on the go. A simple formula for a green smoothie is AlmondMilk Handful of Leafy Greens Handful of Frozen Fruit and blend till smooth. Here is a simple ! Fruit & Vegetable Juices – Mix pancake batter quickly (especially handy when you are adding banana, oats, sweet potato, pumpkin etc…) in your blender and pour right from the blender into the skillet! Waffles French Toast Batter – Vegan french toast can use banana instead of eggs, so blending the ingredients can save time instead of having to mash them by hand. Flours – Save money by grinding up your own flour. Buy Buckwheat Groats, Oats, Flax Seeds, Chia Seeds and whatnot and grind them till they are a flour consistency. Boo ya! ~ Ice Cream – Make guilt-free healthy ice cream using ingredients like frozen fruit, frozen bananas, coconut milk, almond milk, cacao powder, vanilla extract, sea salt, mesquite powder, pitted dates, peanut butter…etc. Store leftovers in the freezer. Sorbet – Blend frozen fruit until smooth and creamy. Yogurt Hummus / – Store bought hummus can be pricey, as canspinach dips, pestos etc. Get a cheap bag of dried chickpeas, soak them then blend them up with a few other ingredients and make a crap-load more hummus for the same price as a small container of store bought. Fresh tastes better too! – One way of making vegan sour cream is to use silken tofu as a base, or blended cashews. Pesto Artichoke Spinach Dip Salsa – Storebought chutneys have very high amounts of sugar. This recipe only calls for 2 teaspoons. I need to make this sometime! Guacamole – The Happy Herbivore has a great lower fat Guacamole recipe using Edamame! –> Soups – Canned soups are full of insane levels
Meal prep is the ultimate life and timer saver of the Whole30, but also such a useful skill for anyone trying to become more healthy in this new year regardless of your plan or program. It may seem like a daunting task, but the more thought and time you put into it on the front end, the more time and headache you’re going to save during the week when you’re really busy.
I got so far off the meal-prep train at the end of last year that it hardly recognizes me and I ate so much over the holidays that I barely recognize myself. But it feels so good to finally be back in the swing of things and it came right back to me like riding a bicycle.
Today I’m going to take you through the foundation of my whole30 meal prep and then later in program I’m going to go into more detail of how to do it like a pro.
You’re going to need to set aside plenty of time for this. The good news is that the longer you do it, the more it becomes second nature, but at first it can be a real pain (unless you’re like me who grocery shops and cooks for fun). I’m a big believer in preparation not only to save time, but also to prevent from making less than optimal decisions that we all make in times of runger. When you plan, you usually shoot for the best case scenario, which in this case is usually healthier and more delicious.
In this step I lay out (to the best of my ability) exactly what I plan to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner throughout the week. I start with breakfast and lunch because they are generally much easier. For these two meals I’m lucky enough to enjoy eating the same thing everyday, but you may want to come up with a couple ideas and make a rotation. Dinner is a little more tricky because I have trouble deciding what I want and what I’m going to have time to make. I usually get on Pinterest, survey the people I’ll be cooking for, and come up with about 3-5 different ideas that I’ll be able to eat for dinner and leftovers all week.
Once you decide what you’re going to eat, lay out each recipe so you know what ingredients you’ll need. This may sound tedious, but I do it to save me from a trip to the grocery store later in the week and to keep me from buying something I won’t use.
Look at the meals you just came up with and jot down each item you’ll need into categories for your grocery list. As you come up with this, it’s a good time to think about emergency food you might need like larabars, unsweetened coconut flakes, and cashews.
Here’s another part you probably don’t want to hear: I like to go to multiple different grocery stores. I usually try to stick with just two (mainly Sprouts and Kroger), but sometimes I’ll make a stock up trip to Costco or splurge a little at Whole Foods or Fresh Market. You definitely don’t have to do this to make Whole30 or healthy work, but in the end I get exactly what I want and I save a bunch of money. I could never knock out my entire list at Whole Foods because I’m 24 and poor, but I also can’t get my ghee or coconut aminos at Kroger so you see my dilemma.
Each week is a little different so this time I’m just going to give you an overview of the staples.
I start by getting all colanders on deck and washing my veggies. Then I begin by prepping for breakfast. I eat veggies with 2 eggs over-easy during the week and even on the weekends so I chop a couple onions, cube a sweet potato, cut my broccoli into florets, trim the ends off my asparagus, and shred a baggie full of brussel sprouts. If I think I’m going to be rushing that week, I’ll also hard-boil 6 eggs.
For lunch I like a kale salad with a bunch of toppings so I prep different things and choose when I pack my lunch for work. I wash and dry my kale really well and shred it like taco lettuce and store it in a gallon bag in the fridge. I also prepare some of my toppings by quartering cherry tomatoes, cutting up red bell pepper, baking a simple chicken breast in the oven, etc.
Dinner is a wild card, but there are some things that I always like for my easy go-to’s. I use a chopped up onion and throw that in a large skilled with some ground beef and seasoning. I also like to prep more veggies for easy sides like baking 2-3 sweet potatoes, shredding or halving brussel sprouts, and putting cauliflower in the food processor to chop to rice consistency.
When starting back, I had to make sure I had different size baggies and tupperware. Something I hope to do when I have my own kitchen is use more glass jars and less baggies, but for now I’m ultimately a guest in my sisters house and I have to be mindful of how I stuff the cabinets and the fridge.
I hope this prep was helpful and not too overwhelming! Reading back, it sounds like I spend all day doing it, but the grocery list is usually done within ten or so minutes and the actual kitchen prep takes no more than two hours. Plus, I never mind it and it makes cooking all three meals each day during the a breeze!
Do you like to plan ahead?
What do you do to prepare for the week ahead?
Whats your favorite recipe that you’ve tried recently?
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