After almost three full weeks of successful meal prep, I’ve decided it’s time to embrace my calling to be a health/fitness blogger. The balanced lunches I brought to work over the past few weeks have really changed my life, and I figured it would be selfish of me not to share my wisdom with all 17 of you (yeah, my readership has really gone up lately).
This all started when I realized my mom was right and I can’t afford to spend $15 going out for lunch every day. Shocking, I know. So off to Trader Joe’s I went, to plan delicious and nutritious meals for weeks to come.
Obviously my biggest priority in choosing these meals was incorporating all of the primary food groups. And being able to afford everything. And uh… no cooking skills required.
So yeah, fine, I’ve been eating peanut butter & jelly sandwiches every day for three weeks. But to be fair, that technically incorporates protein (ish), fruit (in a way), carbs and (somewhat healthy probably) fat. I also brought carrots, a banana and peanut butter filled pretzels, arguably the best snack available at TJ’s. Not the worst lunch I could bring.
When it all comes down to it, I’m just not motivated enough to actually cook. I tried Hello Fresh for a few weeks and ended up using the ingredients for easier recipes than the ones they sent me.
I made enough stuffed peppers for like five meals last week, but I was tired of them after day one, so how could I be expected to eat that for lunch AND dinner? Exactly. PB&J it is.
You may think, “But Maddie, if you’re tired of stuffed peppers after one meal, how have you been eating the same lunch for almost three weeks now?”
Excellent question.
First of all, I love PB&J, despite the dry, disgusting bread I bought because it only cost $1.75. Secondly, as previously mentioned, I have no motivation to cook for lunch and no money to buy lunch, so I refuse to eat anything else. As long as I put peanut butter on both pieces of bread and put jelly in the middle, I can make my sandwich the night before without risk of the bread getting soggy. Culinary genius right here.
It also helps that I have a really cute kate spade lunchbox, so I feel like a super cool 4th grader every day when I walk into work. Even though one of my coworkers said, "wait... you bought a new lunchbox during your junior year of college? Shouldn't that be when you throw away your lunchbox?" It's fine. I'm not ashamed.
I also bought some new bread at a farmer’s market (!!!) today, so I’m hoping that slightly improves the quality of my meals. I also bought plums and lil baby tomatoes to bring with my lunch for #health, plus peppers so I can make fajitas — I’m not as culinarily (is that a word?) challenged as I say I am, despite the one time I set the fire alarm off just by turning on the oven.
Chances are, I will actually be tired of pb&j by the end of this week. At that point, I’ll have to either redo my monthly budget, start bringing microwavable Trader Joe’s meals or just suck it up and get slightly more creative in the kitchen. Or I’ll starve, whatever works.
Sorry to those of you who care for making you wait an extra week for this. I got distracted with my busy agenda of doing nothing on Labor Day weekend, then my parents came to visit (more on that later, probably), and at that point I decided it was best to wait until today to post. I’d say I’ll never let you down like this again, but I probably will. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.