Easy Nutritious Dinner Idea
It's strange to think that many people today consider preparing their own food to be an inconvenience. And so many others think it's expensive to eat healthy. Here's my meal prep from today that proves both of those wrong.
Chicken breast 10.68 lbs $21.15 London broil 1.7 lbs $11.63 Salmon 2lbs $9.56 Baby Bella mushrooms 8oz $2.17 Asparagus 1.64 lbs $5.86 Frozen broccoli 52 oz bag $3.96 Sweet potatoes from my garden free! Brown rice 2 lbs $1.88 (I only used about 1/4 bag) Wild rice 1lb about $5.00 (again used about 1/4 bag) Total of 23 meals (15 chicken, 4 beef, 5 salmon) cost $56.05 approximate cost per meal $2.44. Beef & salmon are much more expensive sources of protein than chicken so the cost per meal could have been lower, but I wanted to also demonstrate that you can still have variety & keep it affordable. Some kind of white fish (cod, tilapia, founder, etc) would be a cheaper substitution as well.
Each meal contains 6 oz of protein and either 4 oz of sweet potatoes or 1/2 cup brown & wild rice mix along with a serving of vegetables (I don't measure greens). Total prep time was about 2 hours & that includes packaging the meals & cleaning up all dishes afterwards.
Sweet potatoes are diced into cubes approximately 3/4 inch in size. Place in a large bowl, add about 2 tbsp of olive oil & your preferred seasoning. I like red & black pepper mix & chili powder on mine, I find the contrasting sweetness of the potato & the spiciness of the seasoning to be perfection. Stir the cubes around to spread the seasoning evenly & place on a shallow baking pan. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes. Simple & delicious!
Rinse the asparagus in cool water. Trim the ends of the stalks, about 1 inch is what I cut off & throw away. You can tell the part not to eat because it will be hard to cut through where the rest of the stalk will be firm yet easily cut. I cut the rest of the stalk into approximately 1 inch pieces & spread them on a flat baking sheet. Drizzle a little olive oil (I didn't measure, maybe 1-2 tablespoons)over them, stir the pieces around so the olive oil is evenly dispersed. I sprinkle a pepper mix on as well. Bake for 15 minutes at 425°.
