I like to prepare healthy meals in advance the weeks I’m in office. With a bit of planning, or even after a holiday turkey, you can store meals for the next week or two for yourself or loved one.
My trick is creating my own frozen meals ready to reheat in the office or even on a busy work-from-home day. A simple equation can turn any random leftovers into make aheads.
The ratio is usually the same, but feel free to adjust for your calorie/nutrition needs. Not only does this take the hassle out of, “what’s for lunch?” or even breakfast during the week, it can save you from throwing away good leftovers from a large meal.
I start with 4 ounces of grains, usually rice made fresh or day old.
Then 6-8 ounces lean, low sodium protein. I stick with leftover turkey or chicken, but pulled pork, hamburgers, etc. all work really well. Homemade will have the least amount of salt.
Finally, I’ll add 1 to 1 ½ cups of veggies. I buy a really big bag of frozen blend from Costco which allows me to meal prep whenever I have leftovers. This can be any veggie, even last night’s broccoli.
Because I always have rice on hand and a huge bag of frozen veggies, whenever there’s leftover chicken, pork, turkey, etc., I make up to six lunches.
Feel free to add some hot sauce. Depending on what’s needed for the week ahead, I’ll keep three in the fridge and the rest will go into the freezer. Usually 3 minutes, 30 seconds in the microwave on medium high is more than enough to reheat at lunch time.
Add in a piece of fruit or low sodium chips or crackers and you’ll have a balanced meal at the ready every time.
To mix up the meals, alternatives include:
- Grains: brown rice, lentils, beans, quinoa
- Proteins: pork tenderloin, rotisserie chicken, sliced steak, turkey burgers
- Greens: spinach, kale, collard greens, green beans, carrots, any veggie you’d like, really
Salt Swaps:
- No sodium chicken stock for the rice
- No salt added to the cooked veggies
