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Espresso and Ambition

A not-so-serious gal with some serious dreams.

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A Week of Vegetarian Meal Prep

September 22, 2017 by Taylor 4 Comments

A Week of Vegetarian Meal Prep - Espresso and Ambition

Eating healthy in college isn’t always the easiest. When you’re constantly running from class to events to work, making time to eat nutritious meals sometimes slips through the cracks. I can be the worst at this – I’ll eat something small for breakfast and totally forget to eat until 8 pm, or I’ll end up buying something on campus or from a convenience store that isn’t the healthiest. I’m making a conscious effort to be better at this (SB2k18, anyone??) and I’ve discovered that the best way to eat healthier during the week is through meal prep.

With meal prep, you essentially make all of your meals for the week in one go. I like to set off a block of time on Sunday afternoon/evening to put everything together – once you’ve dedicated an hour or two of your Sunday to making healthy meals, the rest of the week becomes a breeze. Just grab your food from the fridge, reheat if necessary, and you’re good to go. Stress-free healthy eating!

 

Creating a meal plan

A Week of Vegetarian Meal Prep - Espresso and Ambition 

The first thing I do whenever I’m getting ready to meal prep for the week is to sit down and find the recipes and meals I want to make. I got this gorgeous May Designs notebook that’s specifically designed for meal planning, so I write out my meals for the week on the left page. Then, I’m able to create my grocery list based on my meals for the week. I typically get most of my food at either Trader Joe’s or Kroger, and my total is usually around $60 for the week. Trader Joe’s, in particular, is a haven of cheap options and quality fresh fruits/veggies.

 

Breakfast: Egg Muffin Cups

A Week of Vegetarian Meal Prep - Espresso and Ambition

I’m eating eggs? Yes, I know I’ve mentioned in the past that I try to cook fully vegan, but recently I’ve been struggling to hit my protein goals, so I decided to add eggs (and some cheese) back into my cooking regimen. These are quite possibly the easiest recipe in existence and actually do a really great job keeping me full all morning. Basically, I chop up some spinach, throw it in a muffin tin with some cheese and salt/pepper, and add an egg to each muffin cup. Stick it in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, and you’re good to go.

A Week of Vegetarian Meal Prep - Espresso and Ambition

Calories: 173, Fat: 12g, Carbs: 1g, Protein: 15g

 

Lunch: Protein Boxes

A Week of Vegetarian Meal Prep - Espresso and Ambition

I’m a huge fan of those little boxed lunches you can buy at Starbucks or the fresh food section of a convenience store, so I’ve started making my own! These are so easy to assemble – I usually put these together while my other food is cooking. My current go-to combination is an English muffin with peanut butter, carrots/celery with hummus, a little cheese, and apple slices. It’s a good bit of variety and it’s nice to have the option to eat all of it at once or to snack on the individual pieces throughout the day.

Calories: 509, Fat: 27g, Carbs: 43g, Protein: 30g

 

Dinner: Roasted Veggie Bowls

A Week of Vegetarian Meal Prep - Espresso and Ambition

While I’m usually not super-creative with my breakfasts and lunches, dinner is where it’s fun to experiment. I’m a huge proponent of chopping up veggies and throwing them into the oven, so any meal with roasted vegetables is something I’ll probably cook. This week, I did the Roasted Veggie and Grain bowls that I found on a Buzzfeed Tasty video (recipe here). I was actually really happy with how they turned out – they’re way more photogenic than what I usually cook up, which worked out pretty well since I ended up photographing them for this post.

A Week of Vegetarian Meal Prep - Espresso and Ambition

Quinoa Bowl – Calories: 615, Fat: 24g, Carbs: 87g, Protein: 17g

A Week of Vegetarian Meal Prep - Espresso and Ambition

Brown Rice Bowl – Calories: 650, Fat: 24g, Carbs: 89g, Protein: 23g

 

Meal prepping is such a good strategy for anyone who’s super busy, and I’m really trying to make it a regular habit. Any other meal-prep lovers out there?

xo, Taylor

A Week of Vegetarian Meal Prep - Espresso and Ambition

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Filed Under: Food

Comments

  1. Indya | TheSmallAdventurer says

    September 23, 2017 at 1:11 am

    These sound like great meals, but I thought most people froze their meal preps, which can limit what you make because not everything is that great once it’s been frozen.

    Do you find that keeping your meals in a fridge makes them go stale or bad by the end of the week – especially the roasted vegetables – or are they usually still good?

    Indya || http://www.thesmalladventurer.blogspot.com.au/

    Reply
    • Taylor says

      September 25, 2017 at 11:21 am

      I’ve never had a problem with refrigerating my meals instead of freezing them! I think if you’re trying to meal prep for any amount of time longer than a week, freezing is the way to go, but if it’s just for a week it should be fine.

      Reply
  2. Ambereleigh says

    November 30, 2017 at 9:24 pm

    Hey girly! Just discovered your blog and I love it. Quick question- with the egg cups, do you microwave them or heat them in the oven? I’ve been wanting to try these but have been nervous about how they’ll taste reheated.

    Reply
    • Taylor says

      November 30, 2017 at 9:40 pm

      I usually cook them in the oven but microwave them to reheat! They taste fine out of the microwave, but it’d also be super easy to stick them in the oven instead if you’re worried the microwave will make them rubbery.

      Reply

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Meet Taylor

A real-life combination of Elle Woods and Hermione Granger. Recent graduate of the University of Georgia, currently living and working in DC. New blog posts every Monday, new YouTube videos every Thursday. Subscribe by clicking the link below for post updates and exclusive content!

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tayy_kay

📍 dc
🔥 nasm certified personal trainer
✨ self-love + balance
🎥 2 new workouts per week!

tayy_kay
without heavy weights, it’s sometimes a little c without heavy weights, it’s sometimes a little challenging to really feel like i’m working at my full potential on leg days 😶 enter: single-leg movements. since all the weight is in one leg, you’re putting way more emphasis on it than you do during two-leg movements - and you’ll definitely feel that 🔥 you also get some added bonuses in the form of ensuring you’re working each side of your body equally AND a balance challenge!!
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you can add in weights or bands to up the challenge level, or do it all bodyweight like i am here!
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1️⃣ 15 single-leg box squats per leg (use other leg as a kickstand for an easier modification!)
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2️⃣ 15 bulgarian split squats per leg
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3️⃣ 15 single-leg hip thrusts per leg
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4️⃣ 15 single-leg deadlifts per leg
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throw on at the end of a longer leg day workout or do it 3-4 times as a workout all on its own!!
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👚 @girlfriend 🎧 numb - neffex
🖤 go easy on yourself 🖤 this is a weird time 🖤 go easy on yourself 🖤 this is a weird time to be alive, and it’s more important now than ever to listen to your body and stop being so hard on yourself. motivation is a fickle thing and working out when you don’t have all the equipment you love is weird. give yourself permission to take a break when you need it. don’t beat yourself up for missing workouts - exercise should be something you do because it makes you happy, not because you feel like you have to punish yourself. if it doesn’t make you happy that day, that’s okay. give yourself a break, come back and try again tomorrow. 💪🏼
circuit-style upper body workout 🖤 honestly not circuit-style upper body workout 🖤 honestly not kidding about how much i love this long resistance band, it’s so versatile! definitely worth getting your hands on one for home workouts 😊 (although almost all of these can be completely with dumbbells or heavy objects if that’s what you’ve got in hand)
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also please watch to the very end of the fourth video for quality footage of greg 😂
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1️⃣ 12 long band shoulder presses to standing chest presses
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2️⃣ 12 upright rows to bicep curls
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3️⃣ 12 overhead triceps extensions per arm (the one leg stance is some bonus balance work!)
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4️⃣ 12 rear flies, featuring greg trying to fight my shadow
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5️⃣ 12 commandos
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6️⃣ 12 side-to-side pushups
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repeat 4x total!!
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👚 @underarmourwomen
🎧 best of me - neffex
giveaway 🔥 we’re all handling this weird, cra giveaway 🔥 we’re all handling this weird, crazy time in the world a little differently, and for me, it’s looked like a lot of establishing to and sticking to routines (seriously, sometimes it feels like my skincare routine and workout split are the only thing still giving meaning to days of the week, lol). my morning smoothies have been another important one - there’s a recipe in my story highlights and surprise surprise it uses this protein powder 😛
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anyways, onto the real reason you’re here! i’m giving away 25 $20 giftcards for @310nutrition with NO STRINGS ATTACHED 🤯 you hear that? you ain’t gotta do a thing to win - the first 25 people to use the code KAYGC20 on their order automatically win. get your hands on some fire plant-based protein powder, courtesy of me and 310 😋 (p.s. if you’re still seeing this caption, there are still giftcards available!!)
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#310gc20 #310shake
sometimes you just gotta get hella dressed up and sometimes you just gotta get hella dressed up and hold a fake photo shoot just to prove to yourself that you’re still a real human
posted a new youtube video. this picture is tangen posted a new youtube video. this picture is tangentially topical. link in bio.
upper body circuit ‼️ i’ve been gravitating upper body circuit ‼️ i’ve been gravitating towards circuit-style workouts lately, because they really work up a sweat and home workouts just don’t feel as legit to me unless i’m hardcore sweating 🤷🏼‍♀️ i don’t mind not breaking much of a sweat at the gym, but it feels weird not to when i’m working out at home - anyone else feel this or am i just weird?? 😅
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do all exercises back to back with no rest in between!
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1️⃣ 10 push-ups to renegade rows
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2️⃣ 12 alternating bicep curls
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3️⃣ 12 diamond front raises
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4️⃣ 8 sets of 3 tricep pulses to this lil cross-body weight move that doesn’t have a name {keep your core tight to feel it on your obliques!}
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5️⃣ 15 bent-over rear delt rows
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6️⃣ finisher!! 🥵 10 burpees with 2 shoulder taps and 2 toe taps in the middle of each rep
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repeat 🔁 for a total of 3 rounds!!
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👚 top from @gymsharkwomen, shorts from @nike 🎧 dangerous - neffex
would be nice if both sides of my head could agree would be nice if both sides of my head could agree on whether my hair is wavy or straight, but apparently that’s a little too much to ask of it 😂
got a circuit-style leg workout for you today! 🥳 there are 3 sets of 3 exercises that you’ll complete back-to-back - once you’ve done those three moves, rest for 30 seconds before repeating them all over again 2 more times! rest for 1-2 minutes in between each circuit - keeping your heart rate up is the goal here, i was driiiiiiipping sweat by the end of this one 🥵
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circuit 1️⃣: 10 step-ups to reverse lunges per leg
10 reverse lunges to curtsy lunges per leg
20 lateral lunges
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circuit 2️⃣:
10 squats to surrenders (stop in a squat position before standing up at the end to really feel this one)
10 stagger-stance rdls
20 criss-cross squat jumps
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circuit 3️⃣:
15 leg lifts per side
10 single-leg glute bridges per side
15 frog pumps
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👚 top from @fabletics, joggers from @gymsharkwomen
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