I have survived my first week of my dietetic internship, and I truly couldn’t have done it without my meal prep! I will write another post about my wonderful first week at WIC in Lake County, Florida. The drive from Tampa for me was 4 hours per day, and the food I prepared in advance really helped maintain my energy levels throughout the day and week. Meal prepping also saved me a lot of money (My favorite part!). The average cost of my meals was $1.70 for 1 lunch and 1-2 snacks!
In addition to a general meal prep routine, I have decided that each week I will feature a different cultural cuisine. My meals and snacks will be inspired from a specific region’s foods and cooking styles. They often will be simplified and healthy-fied! For my first week I chose Cuban Cuisine, as I am from Tampa and we have some of the best Cuban food around! Follow via my pictures below to see what I made, ate, and some food cost calculations!
- coconut + pineapple energy cubes
- chopped romaine
- roasted pork (slices and chunks)
- quinoa
- plantain chips (store-bought, next time I am baking them!)
- roasted red pepper hummus
- bananas (froze the leftovers)
- bread-less cuban sandwiches
- brown rice with sweet peas (get more authentic and cook yellow rice!)
- onions marinated in red wine vinegar with oregano
- cooked black beans
- black bean brownies (see picture below)
these black bean brownies are chocolate covered katie’s and are so divine! In regards to her recipe, I used maple syrup as my sweetener and coconut oil // this round I added shredded coconut to half // as you can see one is missing -I gave that to the mr. right before he left for the library 🙂 //
roasted pork- so easy and delicious // I used a lemon rosemary rub I was given at my bridal shower and followed this recipe
these were my absolute favorite of the week // bread-less cubans costing $1.01 per roll // each roll = 1 slice of roasted pork + 2 slices of ham + 1 slice of salami (traditional cubans can be made with or without salami) + 1 slice of swiss cheese + 1 sandwich sliced pickle + mustard (you can add mayo if you like it!)
coconut + pineapple energy cubes // just $0.25 per cube= follow my cranberry + cacao energy cubes recipe and replace the cran+ cacao with 1/4 cup shredded coconut & 1/2 cup chopped dried pineapple // I ate these fresh granola cubes as breakfast and snacks throughout the week // they are just below 100 calories per cube // I chose coconut and pineapple for the cubes this week, because they are 2 tropical fruits of Cuba
a favorite meal compliment and snack of the week // roasted red pepper hummus with plantain chips for dipping // just $0.50 per serving (2 Tbsp of Pepper Hummus & 1/3 cup plantain chips) // plantains are a large domestic crop of Cuba & are a source of Potassium and Fiber!
^My different meal combinations from the week // I was able to enjoy 4/5 meals outside, so I was an especially happy girl! // Oh, I also made little sunflower butter cups!
I hope you have enjoyed my first meal prep post and are inspired to begin some meal prep routines yourself!
Happy, Healthful Eating and Prepping!
-the mrs.
Love love love this! Especially the idea of meal prep being Cuban cuisine inspired!
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Thank you Victoria! Got to represent our area with my first meal prep post! This week is Vietnamese! I am going to play catch up with your posts this week! ❤
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