What I Meal Prepped for a Random Week ~ #DayInTheLife of a 2nd Year Med Student

Hey Friends!

Welcome back to my foodie universe with another post about meal prep! I did my first meal prep post over what I prepared for my first week of M2, and now I'm continuing the series featuring meal prep from a random week. As a reminder, this is not nutrition advice. I'm not a nutrition professional. This is just me sharing some things I decided to eat in a given week. Every body has different needs, so please focus on your own personal journey & relationship with food.

This meal prep is going to be a little less intense than my first post, because on this random week, I was in less of a mood to spend hours cooking. It was also a Sunday leading into an exam week for me, so I don't usually do as much house stuff during those times. My priorities are more in line with 1) pass the exam, 2) clean up after you pass. With that being said, I was in the mood for some really yummy stuff this week, so let's dive into the scrum-deli-umcious goodness!

Breakfast:

I've mentioned my philosophy about phased breakfasts before (check out my first meal prep post for the deets, link button below), so this week I decided to go for some yummy overnight oats to fuel my LOVE of oatmeal, and a repeat of Abbey Sharp's delightful smoothie recipe.

First Meal Prep Post

Overnight Oats:

Overnight oats are a really easy breakfast prep item for when you don't want to spend the time meal prepping, but you still want something delicious. It also has opportunities for creativity as far as what you include in your oats, so you can easily mix it up day by day! It's also a stupidly easy thing to prep on a weeknight for the next day if you need to. In case you've never made overnight oats before, here's a good link regarding the oat to milk & yogurt ratios: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/overnight-oats-3416659

I went for 1/2 cup of Muesli oats, 1/2 of oat milk (that's some oat-ception right there), and a big ole spoon full of greek yogurt. (Greek yogurt is another one of those foods I could eat all day every day). I then added a tablespoon of chia seeds, a drizzle of honey, a ton of pecans (pecans are my favorite thing to add in oatmeal), a very generous amount of blueberries, and some cinnamon. In the morning, I will just throw them in a bowl and heat them up a bit, and boom: a tasty, cozy breakfast awaits!

Smoothies:

I won't spend tooooooo much time rambling about smoothies, since it's literally the same as my first post. But once again, I love Abbey Sharp (@abbeyskitchen on instagram) and her food inspiration, so I went for her classic smoothie once more. I meal prepped this by doing my famous smoothie dump bowls.

Ingredients: mixed frozen berries, banana (I did a half banana), handful of spinach, hemp hearts, some oat or almond milk, and greek yogurt this week instead of peanut butter, since I'm actually out of peanut butter right now (insert crying emoji here).

Lunch:

I actually didn't do any lunch meal prep since my plan was to make quick sandwiches everyday, so there's nothing I really needed to do to prepare for that. So onto the next thing!

Snack Time:

Besides my usual snacks that I have on hand (again, see the first post to read more about that), I went ahead and meal prepped a DELICIOUS snack option for my high stress exam week. I literally love this recipe so much, I could eat a million of them.

Without further adieu, it is Pick Up Lime's Energy Ball Recipe: https://www.pickuplimes.com/recipe/peanut-butter-cookie-dough-energy-balls-650

Friends, these are SO GOOD. It's also why I didn't have peanut butter on hand for my smoothies, cause I used it all in this delicious, day-dreamy recipe. So even if I'm freaking out over my exam all week, at least I have one of my favorite snacks at the ready.

Dinner:

This was one of those weeks where I sort of 'meal prepped' dinner by making myself dinner and just having leftovers ready in the fridge, lol. I told you - I was not in a cooking mood this week!

I made myself a yummy salmon bowl - one of my go-to dinner options when I want something that I know will be delicious & balance out my energy levels. I essentially put brown rice at the bottom of a big bowl, top it with a cooked salmon fillet, cover the salmon fillet in a delicious pink sauce (a mix of sriracha, mayo, and sour cream), add sliced avocado, seared brown mushrooms, red cabbage, bean sprouts, sliced cucumbers, and throw some sesame seeds over all of it. I eat it by mixing it all together, leaving each bite full of different flavors and textures. It's truly one of my all time favorites, and now I have leftovers for the next few days!

Dessert:

This may be cheating, and I know I emphasized how important having sweet options on hand were for me, but I 'meal prepped' dessert this week by having some leftover crumble cookies in the freezer to thaw when I want, and some trader joes vanilla ice cream. I thaw the cookies by wrapping them in a wet paper towel, and warming them in the microwave.

Sometimes you just have a craving for some delicious cookies, what can I say!

I know this week wasn't as thought out and thorough as my first post was, but I wanted to share this particular week for that exact reason. It's important to me to emphasize that it's okay to have weeks where you don't have the energy to cook, and where your mind is somewhere else. It's okay to do some 'cheating' meal prep. Sometimes you're gonna have weeks were you are on top of it, and sometimes you're not, and that is completely normal. Even without putting nearly as much effort in, I still have meals at the ready that nourish my body and most importantly, make me feel good.

Our society teaches us to be so hard on ourselves. To compare ourselves to unrealistic standards of "wellness" and feel guilty when we can't achieve it. This is just my reminder to you that you are allowed to have ups and downs, and it's completely okay. People so often use food as a way to judge others or themselves, so let's make the conscious effort to change the habit.

I hope these meals can give you a little food inspiration if you need it, or even just give you something fun to read. Thanks for taking a few minutes to hang out with me - and may your gas prices drop, may your summer's not be to scorching hot, may your freezer have your favorite ice cream, and may the odds be ever in your favor! <3

Sincerely,

Natasha LaGrega