Weekly meal prep

Icelandic soup, vanilla protein pudding, gluten-free banana bread, and grindr salad. Here's everything I bought, the details, and the recipes. Hope you enjoy!

What’s on the shopping list?

Staying on a budget for grocery shopping can be a challenge. Something that’s helped me budget well is internalizing how grocery stores work. One of the biggest ways that grocery stores lose money is wasted produce. A grocery store tries to predict what customers will want, in what quantity, and when. A sale is when they overestimate those amounts and need to get rid of the product before it goes bad. I have found that shopping for the same products, at the same stores, every week is the best way to get discounts. Especially if you use the app! I use the Safeway app and every week they’ve started giving me deals on things I buy consistently as a way to essentially reward me for minimizing waste. Grocery shopping on Monday or Tuesday is typically also much cheaper than on Sunday in my experience

Grocery List

Meats

• 5 lbs flank steak

• 1 rotisserie chicken

• 1/2 pound genoa salami

Dairy Products

• coconut milk

• mini mozzarella balls if you want them for the salad

• butter

• eggs

• 1 container of vanilla yogurt

• 1 block of cream cheese

Vegetables

• 1 container of raspberries

• 5 red bell peppers

• 2 tomatoes

• 2 white onions

• 1 red onion

• 1 head of garlic

• 1 green bell pepper

• 1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley

Dry Goods (I have a lot of these in my pantry but including what you might need if you don’t!)

• vanilla protein powder

• chia seeds

• gluten-free flour

• baking powder

• baking soda

• 1 can chickpeas

• 1 can white beans (like white northern beans)

Nuts

• 1 container of nut butter, if you think this is something you might use only for this recipe single-serve peanut butter packets are much more affordable

Oils and sauces

• olive oil

• red wine vinegar

• chili sauce

• Dijon mustard

• chili paste

• 2 qts chicken broth

• canned banana peppers

• canned roasted red peppers

Other

• dark chocolate chips (the Guittard dark chocolate chips are 10/10)

• Bourbon

The Recipes

Let’s get to the good stuff!

Vanilla Protein Puddings

These little protein puddings are the best grab-and-go. I take them with me to pilates and it’s a great way to hit my protein goals for the day. I like to switch the recipe up a bit each week. This week I added a little bit of almond cashew butter and some raspberries and topped it with crunchy almond slivers.

Ingredients

• 5 cups of the milk of your choice (I used coconut almond milk, it’s super creamy and fatty and works perfectly for this recipe)

• 1 cup of chia seeds (I get them in bulk at Costo)

• a pinch of sea salt

• 1 cup of vanilla protein powder, I use the one from Ritual. I did a partnership with them on TikTok and that’s how I discovered it and it’s so delicious and doesn’t upset my stomach

• 1 container of raspberries

• nut butter of your choosing

• almonds

Instructions

1. In a large bowl mix together the milk, chia seeds, protein powder, and sea salt. Whisk it thoroughly to break up the protein and let it sit for about an hour so the chia seeds can soak up the liquid and thicken to the point where you can layer it.

2. Once it’s thickened scoop about 1/3 cup of the chia mixture into a to go container, add a layer of raspberries and nut butter, add more chia mixture, and top with almonds.

3. Store in the fridge and enjoy!