Today was such a great day! Hellaciously long – but great! I made my day much easier by packing my breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner (that’s right – freaking dinner) before leaving for class this morning.
Mondays are my long days. 14 hours on campus. 9am-11pm. Brutal. The key to making it through such a time-intensive day, is to plan for meals. I’m basically a rogue honeybadger, and completely fit for a Snickers hangry commercial, when I lack sustenance. In an effort to keep myself from fast-food lunch runs, or snapping at my peers for chewing too loudly, I made the effort to pack my lunch.
I’m trying to eat healthy, without breaking the bank. Student loans are enough debt for me to be in, without adding in eating out and coffee runs. Don’t get me wrong – splurging every now and then is awesome; I simply can’t live every day that way. My world would crumble and my credit score would, presumably, implode.
Foregoing chaos to my financial situation, it made much more sense to prep my meals. It’s simple. Either pack something you made for dinner the night before; or, put together a set of five protein boxes on Sunday night. My inspiration came from the Starbucks box, which is tiny and compact. I needed a bit more oomph in my meal, so I added turkey and an extra cheese stick instead of the grapes.
4 slices of turkey + 1/2 apple + 2 Mozz sticks + 1 egg + grape tomatoes + Cucumber slices
That’s all.
Since I don’t like eating the exact same thing every day for a week (unless that something happens to be Chicken Alfredo with Broccoli), I made 3 boxes; there are just enough to get me through the hectic part of my week. On Wednesday night, I’ll make sandwich pinwheels!
In addition to my protein box, I packed some snacks! They were perfect to munch on during class. I did feel a bit like a chubby squirrel though, and I’m not entirely sure I wasn’t making too much noise while trying to woodchuck the pretzels. No one complained. Hopefully.
See? Meal prepping is easy! Don’t let the “prep” scare you. Just pick a few things you love to eat, place them into a portable container, and voilà! Personally, I do not enjoy eating the same thing every day – which is why small-batch cooking works well. I’ll be sure to post some recipes for breakfast sandwiches, tacos, and lunch boxes – SOON!
In the meantime, tell me – what are you planning on taking with you this week?
