August 13, 2024 | Hui Hui Lee, RD/LD
Hello my friends! It is August, the summer break is over now (maybe soon to be over). How was your summer break? Hope you had a great memorable summer break over the last few months. It is time for our busy back-to-school routine. One important component of a back-to-school routine is meal prepping. I don't know if you ever get annoyed when being asked “what is there to eat later?” repeatedly (more than once daily), I am especially irritated with that question. One thing to solve this problem is to practice weekly meal planning. By doing meal planning, it will also help to save a lot of time and money on food, as well as to maximize our chances to eat healthy.
There are many methods to carry out meal planning successfully. I especially like the idea of setting daily meal themes (like Monday sandwich/wrap theme; Tuesday meatless theme; Wednesday Asian stir-fried theme; Thursday pasta theme; Friday salad theme), and then prepping the food on the weekend. There is no one method of meal planning that fits for all, the best way to nail down meal planning is to keep trying until you find the one that works the best for you! If you have no clue about meal planning, the easiest way is to select an easy recipe every week, and then start with only one meal prepping each week. Once you get comfortable, then you can consider working on two meals weekly, and so forth.
If you are interested in looking for some meal ideas, I invite you to visit all my previous posts. Most of the recipes that I shared in the past are easy to follow.
This month, I am sharing four simple recipes to kick start our back-to-school meal planning.
Healthier Crunchwrap: Looking for a flavorful breakfast wrap? I highly recommend this turkey crunchwrap recipe! Why? The recipe is highly adaptable, you can modify the ingredients to your liking, and repurpose the leftovers into a new dish (such as a taco bowl by adding some grain, such as rice or quinoa). When testing the crunchwrap recipe, we used ground turkey instead of ground meat, for a leaner option. It tasted just as delicious as the original recipe. The recipe is adapted from Pinch of yum.
Honey Mustard Chicken Salad: The weather is too hot to cook? No problem! This honey mustard chicken salad works best for you! What’s better than having homemade fresh salad at home? The recipe is inspired by Damn Delicious.
Soba Noodle Salad: This soba noodle salad is loaded with veggies and tossed in a tangy savory sesame dressing. I also served this soba noodle salad with extra protein - my favored crispy tofu! This is a delicious vegan-friendly recipe. The recipe is inspired by Feasting at home.
Easy Homemade Chicken Ramen: I enjoy having a scrumptious bowl of ramen without paying an absurd amount of money for the meal. This easy homemade chicken ramen recipe not just satisfies my craving, but also saves me a lot of money! The recipe is adapted from The flavor bender.
***Other easy sandwich/wrap recipes that I shared previously which I thought you might be interested in:
 | Baked shawarma chicken wrap (recipe adapted from Feasting at home) |
 | Korean street toast (recipe adapted from Maangchi) |
 | Honey mustard chicken avocado chipotle ranch sandwich [recipe adapted from Feasting at home (chipotle ranch dressing) and Half-baked harvest (sandwich)] |
 | Quinoa chickpea sandwich (the recipe adapted from Feasting at home) |
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