What I Ate Wednesday: High-Protein Vegan Meals for Weight Lifting (Including Meal Prep!)
Hello all and welcome to the new and improved Courtney Loves Carbs blog! A lot has happened since I last posted, mainly, I packed up all my stuff and relocated from Boston, MA to Nashville, TN!! Although I am loving my new life down south, the relocation totally threw me off my meal prep and weight lifting routine and I ended up taking four months off. However, I'm ready to get back in the saddle and to keep me motivated I've actually joined Fit Nika's Spring Challenge! So far this challenge has not only challenged me in the gym, but also in the kitchen. Nika provided my macros and a sample meal plan, but it took some experimenting these first fews weeks to figure out how to hit my macros, while using foods I like, on my budget, and how to meal prep for it - which is what I'm going to detail in this post!
The first thing I noticed when Nika sent my macros for this challenge is that the protein is much higher and the carbs are a lot lower than what I normally eat. I also wanted to avoid using protein powders or any supplements simply because yah gal is on a serious budget right now!
Here's the meal plan I ended up with (modified slightly from the original one provided):
Breakfast: 1/3 c (measured dry) steel cut oats, 1 c frozen berry mix, 1 c unsweetened vanilla cashew milk, 1 tbsp peanutbutter, 2 tbsp chia seeds
Post-workout shake: 1 c kale, 1 frozen banana, 4 oz tofu, 1 tbsp peanutbutter, 1 c unsweetened vanilla cashew milk
Lunch: 4 c spinach-kale mix, 3 oz cauliflower, 3 oz brussel sprouts, 1 serving chick'n seitan, 2 tbsp lite Italian dressing, dash of balsamic vinegar, drizzled with lemon juice
Dinner: 4 oz brown rice, 3 oz edamame, 3 oz broccoli or stir-fry veggie mix, 1 serving plain seitan, 2-3 tbsp lite soy sauce, drizzle of Sriracha
This all comes out to ~1,760 calories | 120 g protein / 195 g carbs / 55 g fats
Meal Prep
So, how did I meal prep for this? The first thing I had to do was figure out how much of each ingredient I would need. I did this by creating a simple Excel spread sheet (right.) When you're cooking for one person any extra produce tends to go bad before it can be eaten, so buying exactly what I need is really important to keep my food waste down. Additionally, to keep my budget in check I try to buy in bulk and buy frozen foods as much as I can. All my veggies except for the salad greens were bought frozen; I bought my bananas in bulk and froze them; I bought my dry rice, oats, and peanut butter in bulk; and because I know I'll be making a lot of seitan over the course of this challenge, I bought a large 4 lb bag of vital wheat gluten off Amazon. I did all my grocery shopping at Walmart as well since the one by me has quality produce for way cheaper than Kroger or Publix!! Buying in bulk can mean that your first grocery haul is a bit more expensive than you're used to (mine was just over $100 compared to my normal $30/week grocery bill) but it ends up being cheaper in the long run, so that's just something to keep in mind.
Because I now have a bit more time to cook during the week, I decide to do more of an ingredient prep than a full meal prep. Honestly, it was just as much work as prepping the full meals, but I like throwing everything in a pan and cooking it right before I eat than just throwing a tupperware in the microwave. However, if you have a busier schedule, prepping all the meals at once is probably a better option. I also only prepped most of the ingredients for the first few days instead of the full week.
From top to bottom, left to right, here's what I prepped:
Cut my bananas up into slices and froze them
Steamed 1 bag of frozen stir-fry vegetable mix
Pictured is a batch of "chorizo" seitan that I actually ended up not liking, so I made this chick'n seitan the next day as a replacement and it came out awesome
Steamed 1 bag of frozen edamame
Steamed 1 bag of frozen cauliflower
Made 3 servings of my breakfast (instructions later in this post)
Steamed 1 bag of frozen broccoli
Cooked ~3 days worth of brown rice
Steamed 1 bag of frozen brussel sprouts
More oatmeal
Made a batch of seitan for my stir-frys (recipe here) and froze half of it
Keep in mind that veggies and seasoning are totally customizable to what you like!
Breakfast
Ingredients: steel cut oats, unsweetened plant-milk, frozen berries, peanut butter, and chia seeds.
To prep ahead of time: measure out your oats and plant-milk (or water) and cook according to package directions. I wanted three days worth so I did 1 c dry oats, 1 c cashew milk, added 3 c of my frozen berry medley, and cooked on the stove top on low-medium heat until the liquid was absorbed (~20-25 minutes.) Portion into individual servings and store in the fridge.
Day of: add 1 tbsp of crunchy peanut butter to one serving, reheat in microwave for 90 seconds, and add 2 tbsp of chia seeds before eating.
Per serving: 550 calories | 19.5 g protein / 72 g carbs / 21 g fat
Post-workout
Ingredients: frozen bananas, kale, tofu, unsweetened plant-milk, peanut butter, toppings of your choice.
To prep ahead of time: cut and freeze your bananas, wash kale if needed.
Day of: add 1 banana (~100 g of slices), 1 c kale, 1 c plant-milk, 4 oz tofu, and 1 tbsp peanut butter to blender and blend until smooth. I currently don't have a blender so I used a hand-held immersion blender and then transferred to a glass. Optional: top with a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg. Can also add some agave for more sweetness.
Per serving: 390 calories | 22 g protein / 40 g carbs / 18 g fat
Lunch
Ingredients: spinach-kale salad mix, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, chick'n seitan, lemon juice, cajun seasoning, and lite Italian dressing
To prep ahead of time: make chick'n seitan according to recipe (I split mine into 6 servings), steam cauliflower and brussel sprouts, store everything in separate containers in the fridge.
Day of: add 1 serving chick'n seitan, 3 oz brussel spouts, and 3 oz cauliflower to heated and oiled pan. Add a generous dose of cajun seasoning and a drizzle of lemon juice. Sauté on medium-high heat until throughly heated through (~5-7 minutes.) Meanwhile, add 4 c of the spinach-kale salad mix to a large bowl and toss with 2 tbsp lite Italian dressing. Top with heated seitan-veggie mixture, mix well, and eat! You also have the option to not reheat your seitan and veggies and eat the salad completely cold, but I personally like to juxtaposition of the hot toppings with the cold, crisp greens.
Per serving: 392 calories | 40 (!!) g protein / 36 g carbs / 8 g fat
Dinner
Ingredients: brown rice, seitan, edamame, broccoli or stir-fry veggie mix, soy sauce, Sriracha (optional.)
To prep ahead of time: cook brown rice according to package directions (LPT: rice cookers are totally worth the investment!), cook seitan according to recipe and freeze half (makes 10 servings), steam edamame and veggies, being careful to not overcook them, store everything in separate containers in the fridge.
Day of: heat 1 tbsp water or oil in a medium pan over medium-high heat. Add 4 oz cooked rice, 3 oz edamame, 3 oz broccoli or stir-fry veggie mix, 1 serving of the seitan (~100 g for me) to pan and heat for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until throughly heated through. Add 2-4 tbsp lite soy sauce and give one last stir right before taking off the burner. Finish with a drizzle of Sriracha for some heat.
Per serving: 450 calories | 40.5 g protein / 51 g carbs / 5.5 g fat
So far I have already seen some vast improvement in my skin and digestive system since adding all these vegetables back into my diet. It feels really great to be back into a meal prep and fitness routine and I can't wait to see my results at the end of this challenge (which I will of course be posting here!)
I hope you like the new blog and I'm looking forward to hearing any comments, questions, and suggestions you may have.
Hope everyone has a fantastic hump day!!
xo
Courtney
