F.I.T. 4 All is a nonprofit organization that works to create access to healthy living. They do this through free or low cost fitness classes and personal training, as well as, education for eating healthy food affordably. They don’t believe in counting calories and dieting but rather creating lifestyle changes that make you feel like the best you. For more information on fitness events, partnering with their organization, or affordable fuel recipes, visit their website.
As a treat, F.I.T. 4 All has included a recipe written by one of their team members, Isabel Miranda. But before we get to the actual recipe, let’s take a look at the benefits of meal prepping:
Why Bring Your Own Lunch?
• Cost – A delicious and satisfying homemade lunch can easily cost less than $5. Now think, on average how much do you spend eating lunch out? I know when I lived in New York City it was at least $10 a meal.
• Portion sizes – This is a great way to work on weight change and lifestyle change goals.
• Ingredients – You get to control what goes into the food, which means you can better track the calories and added sugar.
Three Ways to Meal Prep
- Making the food over the weekend and storing in the fridge or freezer
- Preparing the night before by making extra dinner, then either use the leftovers, or make a second meal while preparing dinner
- Making in the morning before you leave to work, possibly while making breakfast
Ways to Motivate Yourself
• Have Obtainable Goals – Ask yourself what you are already doing and make small changes to that. Bringing your lunch one more time a week is an amazing first step and you can always make a new goal when you complete the old one.
• Make a Lunch Club – Have a day when everyone in the office brings in their lunch together. This is also a great time to share recipes and learn new cool things to pack for lunch.
• Have Incentives – When you are successful in your goals treat yourself, with non edible items. Things like a new pretty lunchbox or kitchen gadgets are a great way to motivate yourself.
Recipe: Zucchini Rolls
Ingredients:
- 2 Large Zucchini
- ½ Cup of Ground Turkey (or protein of your choice)
- ½ Cup of Brown Rice
- ¼ Cup Quinoa
- 1 Cup of Sliced Carrots
- 1 Tbsp Salt
- 1 Tbsp Black Pepper
- *Onion powder or oregano if you want
For Sauce:
- 2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
- 2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes
- 2 Cloves Minced Garlic
- Salt and Pepper to Taste
Directions:
- Add the brown rice and 1 ¼ cups of water to a pan. Bring the water to boil on medium high heat then reduce to low heat and cook for 30-40 minutes
- Rinse the quinoa with water and in another pan, add the quinoa and 1 cup of water. Again, bring to a boil and then reduce to low heat and cook for 20 minutes.
- Turn a third burner on to medium heat and in a large, flat pan, add ground turkey. Season with salt and pepper, as well as any other spices you want.
- While everything is cooking, prepare the zucchini by using a peeler and slicing down vertically to create ribbons. Peel until you start to see the seeds of the zucchini and then put in a tupperware to use another time.
- Add the carrots, cooked rice and quinoa to the pan with the ground turkey. Mix together.
- Lay out 3 to 4 of the zucchini ribbons on a cutting board and begin filling with the turkey and rice mixture.
- Only place enough in the middle that you can roll the zucchini around it
- Once you have filled all the ribbons move place in tupperware containers
- To make the sauce add Dijon mustard, olive oil and pepper flakes to a bowl and whisk together with a fork
- Put the sauce directly on the rolls or in a small container, so that you can add it to the rolls at work
It is also an option to freeze the rolls and heat them up when you bring them to work, so that you can make more servings and have less days of meal prep. If you decide to do this, blanch the zucchini by putting it in boiling water for a minute and then moving it straight to ice water. Also wait to add the sauce and keep it in a separate container in the fridge.
