This school year I wanted to do serious nutritional meal prepping once or twice a week but last semester I fell off the bandwagon. I just got tired and lazy and I either ate fast food or whatever was leftover from the day(s) before. NOT THIS SEMESTER. There are about 3 months of school to go for the year and I hope to meal prep for the majority of that time. Meal prep is so important to me, especially as a full-time student who also works part-time. Taking a couple hours over the weekend once a week, in the long run, will save me so much money and is also way healthier than buying something pre-made.
Yesterday I went grocery shopping but I went without a plan. I had no idea what I was going to make for myself this week. I decided that I'd poke around my kitchen to see what sort of foods I have and go from there. In the future, I will definitely go more prepared and with some recipes or food inspo in mind. This is what I came up with today:
A Mediterranean inspired brown rice salad.
My favourite styles of food are Italian, Mediterranean, and Mexican so expect to see a lot of that stuff. Earlier today I pre-cooked some brown rice and let it sit out because I wanted it to be cold for when I made the salad so it didn't wilt any of the vegetables.
This yielded from 1/2 cup of uncooked rice.
The prep for this meal was incredibly simple, it was basically just chopping vegetables. I included bell peppers, cucumber, red onion, and avocado. I also added some crumbled feta cheese.
Can we take a moment to appreciate this perfect avocado? I like to use avocados that are a little on the green and immature side for meal prep because oftentimes it sits in the fridge for a few days before getting consumed and I don't like when it gets mushy and starts to turn brown.
When all of my prep was finished, I dressed it with some simple and light homemade vinaigrette (recipe below) and packed up the salad in some tupperware containers with a 2 cup capacity.
I usually make enough food for at least 4 meals, sometimes 5, because that is how often I eat lunch or dinner at school or work. My meals usually consist of mostly vegetables (fiber) along with some sort of grain or protein. This meal contains mostly vegetables with a kick of protein from the brown rice and the feta cheese. It also has some healthy fats from the avocado and the olive oil in the dressing. In addition to the good macronutrient ratio, this salad is pretty hydrating as the majority of vegetables I used have a high water content. This week I happen to have used fresh vegetables but I sometimes also used canned or frozen.
Looking back, I really wish I had thought of a plan earlier instead of thinking of something last minute, I really wanted to put tomatoes in this salad but unfortunately, I didn't have any left. On the bright side, at least now I know for the future to start thinking about the next week's food a few days beforehand. I think I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself considering the last-minute circumstances.
You can find the recipe for my salad below! I hope you enjoyed this post & let me know in the comments if you try out this recipe.
MEDITERRANEAN BROWN RICE SALAD RECIPE
For the salad:
- 1/2 cup of uncooked brown rice, cooked as per package directions
- 1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 2 baby cucumbers, chopped (can also sub for about 1/2 a full sized cucumber)
- 1 avocado, chopped
- Approx. 100 g feta cheese, crumbled (for me it was half the brick)
Combine ingredients in a large bowl.
For the dressing:
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 3/4 tsp dried basil
- dash of salt & pepper
- dash of dill
Whisk together ingredients and pour over salad. Stir to combine.
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