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.