Foodsaver

Everyone knows that Costco is a great place to go and buy bulk. When we make our weekly menu list, one thing we spend a lot of money on is meats.We'll spend around $75 dollars on bulk meats/fish from Costco, divide out the meat/fish based on each meal. Costco already sells frozen chicken breast prepackaged around 17 breast in a bag. We spend our Sunday afternoons doing our meal preps, we use our Foodsaver to vacuum seal the meats/fish. After doing all the leg work, we shouldn't have to buy any meat for the next month and half (we try to add 2-3 vegetarian meals) Here is what we do:

We took the pork and cut them up medallion and roast style

Each package is one meal

The Foodsave works great!

Amazing how much salmon you can get for the same price you'll pay for two fillets at a store

We prefer lean turkey over beef for meals, each package is a pound and half, we cut those in half making it about 3/4 pound per meal.

Here you go, 30 meals for the next month, for the price of $75, that'll save us $25-30 dollars during our weekly shopping = $100 or so dollars back in our pocket.

Portion Lunch

 

Introducing our new lunch boxes to portion control our meals during the day at work. We will be doing breakfast, lunch and snacks. We bought two Jaxx FitPak with Portion Control Containers and Shaker Cup 

One of our lunches packed for the next day, we are having a whole wheat crispbread with some spreadable cheese (like Laughing Cow but healthier), low-fat, sugar free Greek yogurt (1/2 cup), 1/4 cup Pumpkin Flax Seed Granola, leftover Thai salad with coconut curry dressing, carrots and celery with hummus, fresh fruit, fruit and veggie twist and finally fruit and nut mix.

 

They have measuring lines on the containers so you know what you are eating

All packed for the morning 

Thai Tilapia Coconut Curry Salad

This a yummy salad we chose to use tilapia to ensure we got some fish into our diet. You can use whatever meat of your choice or vegetarian. One of the big things we do is not add salt to our diet, we tweak any recipe by not using it. We also buy salt free seasoning blends or make our own. 

All of our yummy ingredients (forgot the mango)

Use a blender or food processor to make the dressing

One can light coconut milk and 1/4 cup organic unsalted peanut butter

One of favorite companies as they are salt free. 

Add a bit of sriracha to taste (1-2 tsp)

Two tilapia fillets with a bit of curry seasoning

Healthy kale

Some shredded carrots and angel hair cabbage (don't mind our intense dog in the back)

A whole mango cut up

Chopped green peppers and cilantro

Cooking the fish and dressing

All done

Thai Coconut Salad

Meat of choice

1 can light coconut milk

1/4 cup all natural peanut butter

1 tbsp curry powder
1 clove garlic

1 lime, juiced
sriracha to taste
3 cups chopped kale
2 cups chopped napa cabbage
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup chopped mango
Handful of unsalted peanuts
Handful of chopped cilantro

Mix coconut milk, peanut butter, curry powder, garlic, lime juice and sriracha in blender or food processor. Then add to pan and bring to boil, then simmer for 10 minutes to thicken. 

While the dressing is simmering, make the salad and cook the meat of your choice. Add all to large bowl. Toss in peanuts and then dressing and mix to serve all. You can make them into individual servings and reserve the dressing.

BELT! (Bacon, Egg, Lettuce and Tomato)

Since our morning was going to busy with running errands, we elected to make our favorite healthy breakfast sandwich. We found this guy at a restaurant in OBX and have been recreating it ever since. It's called BELT (Bacon, Egg, Lettuce and Tomato). We add Swiss cheese to ours, but you don't have to. This is a great high fiber and protein that keeps you full.

Eureka Grainiac Bread is a middle ground bread, it's between low carb and high fiber bread. Many of those choices are often high in sodium for just one piece. This brand is good for portion control and doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup as many other brands do. Below is the nutritional information. 

Awesome seeing all the grains in it

Cooking the egg and turkey bacon. Our preference is low sodium variety which is one slice per serving.

Scrambled the eggs and cooked them like an omelette 

Just a smear of real mayo (if you read ingredients of brands, you'd be surprised what is in it)

We like to buy baby Swiss as it has the lowest sodium of many other options

Complete with a side of bananas and strawberries

Who needs IHOP?

First food post yay! Breakfast is very important meal as we all know. However going out isn't the best choice. We decided for our Saturday breakfast will be our knockoff IHOP. Fiber is important to add to ever breakfast along protein to keep you satisfied. Try to stay away from sugar as that will make you hungry. We love to add a lot of fruit and vegetables to our meals.

   

Two bananas two eggs pancakes with cinnamon and vanilla extract to taste

Smash bananas and add eggs, mix and add cinnamon and vanilla to taste

Use a small pan, add a fist size to each batch. You should make 4 total.

Cook until brown on each side, 2-3 mins each side

We also made what we call mess, which is two eggs, little bit of milk, two pieces of low sodium turkey bacon chopped, peppers, onions and tomatoes. We sauté the vegetables and bacon, until cooked.

Then we add the scrambled eggs with a dash of milk.

Then we added a pinch of shredded cheese to complete

Once done we enjoyed with some fruit on the side with some honey drizzled on the pancakes.

Healthy Chicken Chili

It was a rainy football Saturday so we opted to make a tasty chili. We decided to make a white chicken chili. As you can see in the picture below, we are making sure to use low sodium options. Ro-tel just started making a no salt added option! Yay! If you have high blood pressure, no salt added or low sodium is what you are looking for. Once you cut it out of your diet, you can definitely tell when you eat something with it. You don't really realize how much salt/sodium is in foods until you look at labels. We also try to buy chicken with no added salt or antibiotics. 

You can also buy no salt added spices, we have found that Whole Foods carries many options for them. If you don't have one, just look, you'd be surprised by how many options there are now.

We also learned a little trick, rinsing canned beans/food will eliminate about 80% of the sodium.

Everything added to our crockpot. Those liners are great! We cooked on low for about 8 hours.

Who doesn't want crackers in their chili? We found these fantastic healthy ones. We split it in two and each had one in ours. 

Yummy chili! One cup each with a pinch of cheese on top.

White Chicken Chili

1 lb chicken tenders

1 can no salt added Ro-Tel

2 jalapenos, diced

1 med onion, diced

1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth

2 cans cannellini beans, rinsed

1/4 cup no salt chili powder (recipe below)

2 teaspoons cumin powder

Add everything to crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Enjoy! One cup per serving.

No Salt Chili Powder

3 tablespoons paprika
2 teaspoons dried oregano, crumbled
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1⁄4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Bruschetta Chicken Pasta

We made a very simple dish for our start. Bruschetta Chicken Pasta

All our yummy fresh ingredients

This is great pasta, high in fiber and low in sodium

Sauteing garlic

Cooking the chicken

The remaining ingredients

Cooking everying

Draining the pasta

Complete with side salad