Fitness has been a goal of mine for a long time now. I’ve always struggled with loving my body for how it is, like most girls my age do. We’ve all heard it before, “look good, feel good, do good” this goes for eating as well. When you are putting healthy nutritious foods into your body you simply feel better.

I’ve decided to make a positive change in my life and start meal prepping. I feel like I’m always on the go and never have time to make a healthy meal, so I always end up at McDonald’s or whatever other unhealthy fast food restaurant. Meal prepping has been a blessing for me. It makes eating healthy easy and convenient which is the opposite of what most people think when it comes to adjusting their diet.

For my meal prep this week (which is always made on sundays) I put together smoothies bags for breakfast, a Buddha bowl for lunch, and enchiladas for dinner.  What’s great about all these meals is that they’re all vegan. I know most people hear vegan and think “oh… vegan.. must be good..” well the fact of the matter is, it is!! Eating vegan doesn’t have to be this big ordeal or struggle to find good tasting food, it’s all around you! You just have to find what you like. I still love my buffalo wings, but I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything eating vegan, I can make vegan meals taste like my favorite meat dishes.

I know I already mentioned that I made smoothies bags as my breakfast meal prep. Hearing smoothie bags probably sounds strange, but trust me it’s not as weird as it sounds. I make two different smoothie flavors to add variety into my week. One is a green smoothie and the other is a classic strawberry banana smoothie.

Green smoothie: serves 2

Ingredients

1 frozen banana

1 cup of kale or spinach leaves (I prefer spinach over kale because it’s sweeter)

1 cup of almond milk

1 tbsp chia seeds

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp almond butter

pinch of ground cinnamon

2-3 ice cubes

Directions

For the purpose of meal prepping you will need gallon zip lock bags. I like to label my bags with the flavor and date it was made. Put all the ingredients inside the bag except the liquids, then place the bags in the freezer. When the time comes to make the smoothies, dump the bag into a blender then add missing ingredients and blend all together.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie: serves 1 

1/2 frozen banana

1 cup of frozen strawberries (easier to buy a bag of frozen strawberries)

1 cup of plain vegan yogurt

1 tbsp chia seeds

1 cup of almond milk

Directions to make this smoothie are the same as the green smoothie above.

Vegan sweet potato Buddha bowl with almond butter dressing (lunch) 

14 ingredients, serves 4 (I double everything to make 8 servings which is good for a full week)

Produce 

1 large head of broccoli

2 cloves of garlic

1 large mango

2 large sweet potatoes

Canned goods

1 cup or coconut milk

Condiments

1/4 cup almond butter, natural creamy

2 tsp pure maple syrup

baking and spices

salt and pepper

Oils & Vinegars

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 tsp coconut oil, unrefined

1 1/3 tbsp sesame oil toasted

Liquids

3 tbsp orange juice

1 cup of water

Overall the ingredients for this dish weren’t terribly hard to find at all. This meal is good for lunch or dinner and taste amazing. Directions to make meal will be posted below.

https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/2016/09/vegan-sweet-potato-buddha-bowl-almond-butter-dressing/

Black Bean Vegan Enchiladas (dinner) 

12 ingredients, serves 4-6

Produce

2 cups of cooked black beans

2 bundles of fresh cilantro

2 cloves of garlic

1 jalapeño pepper

1 yellow onion

Canned Goods

2 cups tomato purée

Baking & Spices

3 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp salt

2 tsp cumin powder

Bread

12 5.5 inch corn tortillas

Dairy

8 oz vegan cheese

This is another great meal I love! It’s full of flavor and makes you forget it’s vegan. Directions for dish will be below.

https://lightorangebean.com/black-bean-vegan-enchiladas/

I hope you all love these meals and give meal prepping a try! It’s easy to become unhappy with your diet/eating habits, but it’s never to late to make a change!