Anti-Inflammatory Meal Planning 001

 

This week I figured out I can stay ahead of meal planning by following (loosely) "The Perricone Prescription", and preparing all of our meals for the day between 6 and 7 AM. 

Of course I won't remember, if I ever abandon this and decide to return to it, so I decided to put it on my blog. This has been helping me take care of both of us so well. I'm really proud of myself and happy for us. I hope I keep it up. 

Here is the menu for this week:

Breakfast:

• 2 fried eggs over-medium 
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
• 3-inch slice cantaloupe 
• 1/4 cup fresh blueberries 
• Coffee for Kyle, hot green tea for me.

Lunch:

• 4 chicken tenderloins for Kyle, 2 for me.
• 1/2 large head of romaine per person, dressed with 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp EVOO, 1 pinch each of salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
• 3-inch slice cantaloupe.
• 1/4 cup fresh blueberries. 
• Iced green tea, or Limoncello La Croix.

Mid-Afternoon Snack:

• 2 ounces hickory smoked turkey lunch meat.
• 1/2 Granny Smith apple.
• 5 green olives, like pitted castelvetrano, or Mezzetta Smoked Paprika.
• 5 walnuts.

Dinner:

• Quarter pound ground beef, per person, seasoned with butter, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. 
• 4 oz Sautéed spinach, per person, seasoned with the same.
• 1/2 large head of romaine per person, dressed with 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp EVOO, 1 pinch each of salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
• 3-inch slice cantaloupe.
• 1/4 cup fresh blueberries. 
• Hot green tea for Kyle, or iced decaf coffee.

Before-Bed Snack:

• Greek God's Plain Yogurt with Wyman's Wild Blueberries (frozen) for Kyle, decaf latte for me.

And here's how I get it all done for the day. Right now I'm not working, so I meal prep from 6-7 AM for everything except the dinner meat and veg. Then at 4:30 PM, I'll start making dinner to be ready by 5 PM. 

When I start working next week, I'll have to figure out a new plan. 

Directions 6 AM:

1. The first thing I do is cut up a whole cantaloupe. Then I divide it into 6 servings; 1 for Kyle's breakfast, 1 for my breakfast, and the remaining 4 servings go into separate storage containers for each of our lunches and dinners. I use medium deli containers for this.
2. Then I rinse the blueberries. I pour a pound into a large sieve, and spray them well, under the tap. Then I repeat what I did with the cantaloupe; 1/6th for Kyle's breakfast, 1/6th for mine, and the remaining 4/6th's into separate storage containers with lids for each of our lunches and dinners. I use small deli containers for this. 
3. Then I trim the root end off a head of romaine, and add the rest of it to a large bowl. I cover the romaine with cold tap water. Then I fish out each leaf, 1 by 1, to make sure the bugs stay behind in the water. I toss each leaf into a colander. Then I dump the water from the original bowl, and rinse it out. Then I grab about half of the romaine and tear it (over the colander so the water drips there) into bite-sized pieces, and toss it back into the big bowl. I repeat with remaining half. I toss this around with my hands to make sure the green leaves get mixed with the crunchy stalks. Then I divide this between 2 large deli containers for mine and Kyle's lunch. Dry up the water under the colander. Repeat this whole process with another large head of romaine for mine and Kyle's dinner. Before placing the lids on the deli containers, place 1 to-go lid upside down over each of the 4 portions of romaine. This is going to be a "table" for your separate container of salad dressing. Get out 4 small sauce containers with lids, and add to them; 1 tsp jarred lemon juice, 1 tbsp EVOO, 1 pinch of salt, pepper and garlic powder. Top with lids, and place each one into it's separate "table". Top all 4 salads with lids and store in the fridge until ready to serve. Kyle will take one for lunch, and I'll be able to grab real easy for my own lunch, and both of our dinners. When ready to serve, shake the dressing really well in it's own container, then pour it over the salad, replace the salad lid and shake really well. Eat it out of the container for lunch, but pour it into a salad bowl for dinner. 
4. Heat a skillet over medium heat, and melt 1 tbsp butter, and 1 tbsp EVOO. Add 6 chicken tenderloins, and fry until just done on both sides. Transfer to a dinner plate and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Allow this to rest while you make breakfast. 
5. Now it should be about 6:40 AM. In the same pan as you cooked the chicken, add another tbsp butter and EVOO, and heat over medium until hot. Now, add 4 eggs. While that's cooking, make the oatmeal.
6. In a small sauce pan, add 1 cup old-fashioned oats, and 1.5 cups filtered water. Heat over medium until boiling, stirring regularly, while watching the eggs, and remove from the heat. 
7. Flip the eggs when they're almost done, and cook each egg on it's flipped side for no more than 15 seconds. Flip 2 eggs per person onto the dinner plates that have your previously prepared cantaloupe and blueberries, and season with salt, pepper and garlic. 
8. Stir oats and divide between both dinner plates. 
9. It should be 7 AM now. Make the coffee for Kyle. 
10. Transfer 4 of the chicken tenders to a small glass lunch container with lid. Add the other 2 tenders to another glass lunch container with lid. Store in the fridge until lunch, at which point you'll just nuke them for 30 seconds each.
11. While you're waiting on him to get up, make the mid-afternoon snacks. Cut the hickory smoked Applegate turkey lunch meat into thirds, crosswise. Add each third to a medium sized deli container. Cut a Granny Smith apple in half, then cut each half into 4 wedges and de-core it. Place half the apple in one storage container, and the other half into another one. You'll save the apple-less container for tomorrow. Add 5 olives and 5 walnuts to each of the containers. Cover them all with lids, and store them in the fridge. 
12. Now you can make yourself coffee, and have breakfast with Kyle. Make sure he takes all 5 containers you made for him to work; the chicken container (with 4 tenders), the salad container, the cantaloupe container, the blueberry container, and the snack container (with the apples). 
13. Wash pans at some point. 

Eat lunch at 11:00 AM for me, and noon for Kyle. 

Eat the mid-afternoon snack at 2 PM for me, and 3 PM for Kyle. 

Directions for Dinner 4:30 PM:

1. In the same pan as you cooked the eggs, which has since been washed 😉, heat 1 tbsp butter over medium heat. 
2. For the spinach, I buy a large 1-pound container of it, and I'll just use half of it for each night. So divvy out half the spinach, or 8 ounces of it, into a large bowl and rinse and drain well. 
3. Add this to the butter pan and sauté until most of the water cooks out and you're worried it might burn. At this point add a splish of filtered water and continue sautéing, adding water (when it's completely dry), as necessary until it's thoroughly cooked. Add another tbsp of butter, and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder, and stir until butter melts. Add this to 2 separate dinner plates. 
4. Add 1/2 pound ground beef to the same pan, add fry until done - breaking it up and stirring as necessary. Season with 1 tbsp butter, and a pinch of salt, pepper and garlic. Stir until melted, and divvy this up onto the 2 dinner plates next to the spinach. Make sure your dinner plates are sat on a flat potholder to protect the table.
5. Get out your salad, and shake up your dressing in each of the little containers. Open the sauce lids, remove the "tables" from atop the salad, and pour dressing over each salad. Replace the larger lids. Shake each salad well, then transfer each one to a dinner bowl. 
6. Get out your cantaloupes and blueberries, and add them to the dinner plates. 
7. Make beverages and wait for Kyle to get home.

Pat yourself on the back! 

At the bedtime snack, we'll usually go to the coffee shop after dinner for my decaf latte. Kyle serves his own yogurt and blueberries.