When it comes to eating healthy
the real secret is being prepared
and for me that means Sunday night meal prep.
Now, this is a process that I go through
every single Sunday night.
It takes a couple of hours but when I'm done
I have a ton of healthy foods
already prepped and ready to go.
They can be thrown into different recipes
or eaten on their own throughout the week.
It's super simple.
It takes just a couple of hours
but it will absolutely be your savior
come Wednesday night when you get home from your work
and you're absolutely famished.
Now, the first step in my Sunday night meal prep
is to prepare a whole chicken for roasting.
Now, if you're a vegetarian,
of course you can skip this step
but if you do eat meat
roasting a whole chicken is the best way
to ensure you have high quality protein ready
all week long.
Now, I like to start with a whole chicken like this
and keep it really, really simple.
Just a drizzle of olive oil
and some salt and pepper will do.
You could also amp this up by adding some herbs
like thyme or rosemary or some onions,
carrots, and celery, but today I'm keeping it super simple.
Olive oil, salt and pepper, that's it.
This bird's ready to go into the oven at three seventy five.
Once your chicken is in the oven and cooking away
it's time to prepare your potatoes.
Now, you can do this with regular potatoes
or sweet potatoes.
Basically, I just cut them into bite sized pieces,
toss them in some olive oil, salt, and pepper,
and a little rosemary,
then I put them on a baking sheet
and put them with the chicken
and they totally take care of themselves.
After about thirty minutes
I check on them, flip them around
and then give them another twenty minutes to cook.
They'll be beautifully done
and ready to eat all week long.
My next step is to prepare my quinoa.
Quinoa is one of my favorite things to have on hand
'cause you can throw it in all sorts of recipes
throughout the week.
Basically, I start with one cup of quinoa
and two cups of vegetable stock
and then I bring it to a boil on the stove.
Once it's boiling, I reduce the heat to minimum,
put the heat on,
and then leave it for fifteen minutes.
After fifteen minutes is up
I turn off my heat and let it sit for another five minutes.
It's as easy as that.
Your quinoa is ready for the week.
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While my quinoa is cooking I start to boil my eggs.
A half dozen for me is plenty for the week.
I boil my eggs for eight to ten minutes
then run them under cold water
and peel them right away.
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I store them in an airtight container
and they're good to go for up to five days.
Next, I like to turn my attention
to my steamed green vegetables.
Now, I start by chopping my broccoli
and my asparagus and then just trimming up my green beans.
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Then I start my steamer.
I steam each type of vegetable one
at a time until they're cooked through.
Quick word of warning, when you're doing
three rounds of vegetables
you want to make sure you have plenty of water
in the bottom of your steamer.
Trust me, I learned this lesson the hard way.
You'll know they're cooked through
because they turn bright green
but still retain some good crispness.
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Once they're done, I store them in jars in the refrigerator
and I can either snack on them or add
them to all sorts of recipes and they're already cooked.
What could be simpler?
Next, I chop up all my raw veggies
to snack on throughout the week.
I like to do some bell pepper,
some celery, and some cucumber.
I find these are perfect for munching on between meals.
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Now, I'm using a digital thermometer
to give me a good read on this chicken
because it's really important to make sure
your chicken is cooked through.
What we're looking for is an internal temperature
of a hundred and sixty five degrees in the breast
and a hundred and eighty five degrees in the legs.
The last step in this process
is to rinse and prep my fruit.
Now, I love mixed berries all week long.
So, basically, I rinse them in a colendar
and then I give them a quick chop.
Mix them all up and store them in the refrigerator.
I can honestly eat them by the handful.
Or I'll bring them to work for lunch.
I'll hope you give this Sunday meal prep a try
and that it makes your life easier
all week long.
Thanks so much for watching
and be sure to subscribe to the Domestic Geek
for lots more deliciousness just like this.
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