welcome back if you are looking to get
back into a routine now that school is
back in session meal prepping is a great
way to save time and money and also to
eat a healthier diet that's right so
today we're doing a little bit different
twist on motivation Monday we're
tackling the grocery store Meli
Mary Ellen Phipps from milk and honey
nutrition took me to the grocery store
to stock up on the best ingredients for
meal prepping ok meal prepping not my
favorite thing Mary Ellen Betts is gonna
walk me through all of this you are the
Guru when it comes to meal planning I do
like my meal prep game but we're here
today at sprouts I'm gonna show you a
few of my tricks and I've already loaded
up a few things in the basket for you
okay so one of the things you want to
think about with meal prep is what can
you do on the weekend to save time what
takes the longest would on a weeknight
so we've got some of our whole grains in
here like brown rice whole wheat pasta
quinoa some of our staples like some
canned beans there and then you also
know think about sauces to jazz it up a
little bit in a quick easy way and so
we've got some marinara sauce and some
pesto ready to go and I want to show you
kind of some areas of the store that we
want to hit but before we do that we're
right here by these sprouts 1 p.m.
you'll these are a new thing ok and so
basically it's all fresh ingredients
prepped here in sprouts in house don't
have to worry about any other
preservatives or anything like that
stick it in the oven dinner is done in
15 minutes and your favorite is the
shrimp right shrimp scampi one amazing
it
great my husband and I split it if
you've got a family of four maybe some
older kids maybe grab two but if it's
just a family of three years just you
and your husband definitely one will do
the job okay let's put that in the
current and where are we heading next
we're gonna head took produce I'm gonna
show you some of my favorite in season
picks and what to do when things are out
of season let's do it
[Music]
okay so now that we're in produce I
already grabbed some sweet potatoes for
you we want to think about good staples
that you could add to the side of a meal
they're a great one to prep on the
weekend along with some other vegetables
whether you want to roast them or saute
them and then we're looking at all of
our different vegetables here one of the
reasons I love sprouts is because
they're the best produce prices in town
so you can really think about what you
want to serve I also picked up some
Brussels sprouts they've got a great
price on them right now they're easy to
roast ahead of time they keep fresh all
week in the fridge I also grabbed some
garlic down in there garlic and onions
specifically it's sauteing those onions
adds so much flavor to dishes but it
takes so long okay so saute some onions
and garlic on the weekend a punch like
maybe 2 or 3 onions keep them in the
fridge you can toss that with some of
the grains we picked up you've got a
great tasty side great ok now what are
we getting here so here we've got our
cucumbers our red peppers our green
beans I really wanted to stop here
because specifically onions red peppers
and green beans are easy to roast
altogether you can do them in about the
same amount of time you can also do them
in an air fryer if you have an air fryer
you can saute them super easy to do big
batches ahead of time on the weekend
okay well let's shop let's get our stuff
[Music]
okay and so this is one of my favorite
time savers I've already grabbed some
butternut squash here but buying things
tree chops okay saves you time you can
just toss it on a pan roast it ahead of
time they've also got some onions and
some bell peppers here we'll grab the
onions we're gonna saute those with our
garlic like we talked about it'll just
save you some prep steps on the weekends
so you're not having to slice and dice
them absolutely ready to go okay so now
we're gonna talk about some frozen
options that you can do to help with
meal prep a couple things to keep in
mind there's always a little bit of
concern about frozen vegetables and
produce in general they're just as
nutritious as the threat they're fresh
counterparts sometimes even more
nutritious because when we think about
frozen produce it sticks and then it's
frozen right at the peak of its
freshness so it kind of locks in those
nutrients it's a one thing you can look
for pre-made medleys like these sprouts
ancient greens med leaves we love these
you pop them in the microwave they're
done like that you can also look for
just your basic bags frozen vegetables
one of my little white packs if you will
is I'll just pop vegetables straight
from frozen onto the pan when you put it
in the oven and then you spray with oil
and season afterwards and it's super
quick not a lot of cleanups good to go
having a plan as I'm roaming the aisles
here at sprouts is helping me keep
focused is that really the plan of like
meal popping exactly so
meal prep allows you to create a menu
for the week you know exactly what you
need to buy not too much not too little
never the excusive we don't have
anything at home so it just really kind
of sets the tone for the week okay and
then meal prepping Rick basically
there's two components to think about it
right right so you can do where you
follow an exact recipe you have
everything ready to go or you can prep
components which is kind of what we
talked about today where you've got your
veggies your grains on your meat and
then you can kind of mix and match how
you want throughout the week gives you a
little more creativity okay
you said meat we've got a do protein
let's do it
okay so now that we're in the meat
section we're gonna stop at the seafood
so remember we want to try to get
seafood twice a week okay and so but
seafood can be pricey at time so you
always want to check what's on sale here
at sprouts you'll notice the sale tags
are the little kind of yellow and
reddish tags so like right now salmon is
on sale pick two different cuts fish can
be kind of intimidating but if you have
it on hand you can freeze it and it
cooks in like ten minutes and we're
looking for wild whenever we can right
right you want wild caught salmon
sometimes you're gonna find salmon
that's been farm raised that you want to
check sprouts is really good about
having quality producers so we really
don't have to worry about that okay so
we've got fish and then also I love
these little chicken dishes here right
so these are great examples of they've
kind of their semi-homemade they've kind
of done part of the work for you so you
can just pop them in the oven you can
pop them in a pan this is a great one
easy you could do on like a Sunday
afternoon cook them keep them in little
containers throughout the week if you
don't want to have to do anything on a
weeknight they've also got as we move
along here some great like little
patties already made you could throw on
the grill we've still got some cut
temperatures for a while so we could do
that and then grow meat there's always a
great thing to have on hand it goes
great with breakfast lunch dinner you
can cook it ahead of time and then
freeze it or you can freeze it raw
however you like to cook things
depending on which way you want to go
with it so we walk through the entire
sprouts we have our groceries we finish
with protein
now comes the planning and you take care
of that for us as well
right so you can find you can go to my
blog to find all the different recipes
you want to use I actually have a blog
post totally on meal prep walks you
through kind of like an hour's worth of
meal prep what to do step by steps great
recipes to use all of this stuff we just
talked about all right let's get cooking
thanks so much of course oh and by the
way we did link that blog post it's up
on our Facebook page right now so that
will help you with all the information
as you get ready to cook for the week
all right you made me hungry
I know milk and honey nutrition thanks
so much Mary Ellen