Hi, I’m Nancy, and I have a love-hate relationship with meal-prepping.

There’s the easy, classic-IG view of meal prep that you see below. I did this in less than an hour, and it was a “set it and forget it” type thing.

But. I CANNOT eat chicken breast every day. No matter how you mix it up.

Personally, I eat more vegetarian/pescatarian for most of my meals, so these following recipes can be easily modified to fit a vegetarian/pescatarian diet.

Because I discovered how I find my groove for meal-prepping, and that involves quiet Monday mornings before I head into work, sipping a cup of coffee and listening to a podcast while I multi-task in the kitchen. #MealPrepMondays are definitely a thing!

My must-haves for meal prepping? Some sort of eggs for the morning (hard boiled, an egg bake), avocados and fruit to mix and match, all the veggies (some roasted, some raw), and some sort of protein. Cold brew concentrate and a bag of good-quality coffee (and my French press) is an easy way to save $3-$7.5 a day (hey, coffee is expensive!).

Meal Prep for the Week

Comforting Chickpea Pasta

time: 25 minutes | serves 8 | gluten free, vegan option

Ingredients

• 1 box chickpea pasta or gluten free pasta (I used Banza shells)

• 3 cups frozen broccoli

• 1 pack Clever Foodies veggie scramble (can use any mixed veggies instead)

• 1 pack ButcherBox 100% grass-fed ground beef (can omit to make this vegan — chickpea pasta has a ton of protein!)

• 2 cups kale

• 3 cups tomato sauce (no sugar added)

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 3 tbsp nutritional yeast

• Paprika, to taste

• Himalayan sea salt, to taste

Directions

1. Heat water and a bit of salt in a pot. Bring to a boil.

2. While the water is boiling, cook the beef and broccoli in a larger pot until meat is browned. Add paprika and Himalayan sea salt. Add in kale and continue cooking.

3. When the water boils, pour in the pasta and cook uncovered for ~5 minutes, or until al dente.

4. Add pasta and tomato sauce to the beef and veggies, and cook for another ~5 minutes.

5. Add olive oil, nutritional yeast, and additional spices to taste. Enjoy!

Easy Breakfast Egg Bake

You can find the recipe here.

Shaken Cold Brew Chai Latte

time: 2 minutes | serves 1 | Paleo, gluten free, vegan

Ingredients

• 8 oz Nutty Life “Oh My Chai” cashew milk*

• 4 oz Bizzy Coffee Cold Brew or any other cold brew concentrate

• 4 oz unsweetened vanilla almond milk

• Ice

*If you don’t have the chai cashew milk, you can use 2 oz chai concentrate and 10 oz unsweetened vanilla almond milk instead.

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a mason jar with ice.

2. Shake until thoroughly mixed.

3. Enjoy!

P.S. I went to a coffee shop where I paid almost $8 for this exact same thing. Yup.

Collagen Coffee Maca Muffins

time: 30 minutes | serves 12 | Paleo, gluten-free

Ingredients

• 1 box Simple Mills muffin mix (I used banana, but pumpkin or chocolate would probably taste just as good!)

• 3 scoops collagen (I used Vital Proteins)

• 1 tbsp maca powder

• 1 bar >80% dark chocolate, roughly chopped (I used Taza)

• 1/8 cup cacao nibs (I used One World Cacao)

• 2 eggs (I used Vital Farms)

• 1/8 cup cold brew concentrate (I used Bizzy Coffee)

• 1/8 cup chai cashew milk or unsweetened vanilla dairy free milk

• 1/4 cup water

• 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted

• Cinnamon, to taste

• Himalayan sea salt, to taste

Directions

1. Oil a 3x4 muffin pan (or 1 large baking pan) with coconut oil.

2. Combine the muffin mix, collagen, cinnamon, and Himalayan sea salt in a small bowl.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and other liquids.

4. Mix in the dry ingredients with the wet and combine thoroughly.

5. Fold in the dark chocolate and cacao nibs.

6. Pour into the muffin tin.

7. Bake at 375 deg F for 15-25 minutes, or until golden brown on top and a fork comes out mostly clean.

8. Cool and enjoy! These keep well in the fridge for a week, but you can always freeze them. I love them topped with dairy free yogurt (Kite Hill is great), almond butter (I love Georgia Grinders — you can use AP20 for 20% off!), and/or grain free granola!

P.S. To shop my Amazon favs, like superfoods, healthy snacks, pantry staples, and more, check out my Amazon shop page!

SmoothieBox Super Smoothie Packets

These are SUPER convenient if you’re trying to save money on smoothies. Buying one can be anywhere from $7-$13 here in Boston, and most of them are sugar bombs anyway (banana is a very cheap filler that most people use).

SmoothieBox delivers frozen smoothie packets (Green, Clementine, Cacao) to your door, along with grass-fed collagen packets. Sometimes when I get back from teaching boxing or my own workout super late, I just blend a smoothie for dinner (or to go along with dinner) and it’s super easy. It’s also great in between workouts and of course, for breakfast.

You can make SO many fun things with it, like a pumpkin spice smoothie (Clementine smoothie packet, collagen packet, unsweetened vanilla almond milk or Nutty Life pumpkin cashew milk!!!, pumpkin pie spice, Pili nut butter with lion’s mane and pumpkin spice (or almond butter).

Or how about an almond butter mocha smoothie? HECK YEAH. I used double protein since this was a meal replacement (the collagen packet that it came with + Nuzest chocolate protein), the Cacao smoothie packet, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, a hefty spoonful of almond butter (you can use PB if you’re not Paleo), some cold brew, and voila! Thick, creamy, decadent… and almost 40g of protein. AND veggies. Win.

So there you have it! What about you? What are your meal-prep go-to’s? Let me know below!

For more meal prep tips, check these out:

• The Easiest Beef and Broccoli Recipe Ever

• 9 Easy Lunches to Take to Work

• Meal Prep 101

This post was brought to you by Bizzy Coffee and Nutty Life. Some links may be affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission off any purchases you make. That doesn’t influence the price of the products, and I only show products I love and believe in! Thank you for supporting this blog.