You can prepare each meal the day before, and if you don’t have time for cooking, just prep more in advance and store it in the fridge. We’ve included meals with meat, vegetarian meals and plant-based recipes.
1. Jar salad
Have your home-made salads ever turned into the mushy soggy mess after a few hours? With this recipe, this will no longer be a problem!
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup cooked roasted buckwheat groats or quinoa
- a large handful of spinach or Romaine lettuce
- a handful of cherry tomatoes
- 1 medium cucumber
- 1/4 red or yellow bell pepper
- optionally: 1/4 feta-type cheese.
Dressing: olive oil, salt, erythritol or any other sweetening agent and lemon juice.
Dice the cucumber and bell pepper. Halve the tomatoes. Prepare a one-litre jar and layer all ingredients. Start with the groats, add the cucumber, bell pepper, tomato, green leaves and cheese. Close the jar and bring it along. Mix the dressing ingredients and put them into a separate small jar. Toss the salad onto a deep plate or into a bowl and mix with the dressing. It makes for excellent brunch but you can also eat it for lunch.
2. Nutritious smoothie
A fruit smoothie for brunch should be filling enough so that you do not feel hungry too soon. That’s why it is a good idea to prepare a special version that will give you an energy boost.
Ingredients:
- 1 glassful of plant drink (traditional milk can do too)
- a half of banana
- a handful of seasonal fruit (you can use frozen fruits or kiwi in the winter)
- 3 tablespoon oat flakes
- 1 teaspoon nut butter
- a pinch of salt.
Get a tall dish and put the oat flakes, add the plant drink and put aside for at least 30 minutes. Next, add the remaining ingredients and blend them well. Pour the smoothie into a plastic water bottle and bring with you.
3. Sushi-style muffins
Now it’s time for something that is easy to whip up, delicious, healthy and very surprising! You will taste the traditional sushi flavour, yet in a slightly different form.
Ingredients for around 10 muffins:
- nori sheets – 5
- 1 cup of dry rice, ideally sushi rice
- fresh salmon fillet – approx. 500 g
- 3 tablespoons of soy sauce
Cook and cool the rice. It should be sticky rather than loose. Dice the salmon and use a bowl to mix it with the soy sauce. You will need a muffin pan or silicon muffin cups. Put a half of nori sheet at the bottom of each cup. Put rice on the nori sheet so that it covers half of the cup and put the fish on top. Bake for approx. 30 minutes. at 180 Celsius degrees. You can eat it with fresh cucumber and avocado.
4. Chicken sandwich
Home-made chicken cuts that can be prepped in no time at all? It comes in useful to make delicious sandwiches that you can pack for school or work. Here’s an easy recipe for something really healthy and light.
Ingredients for home-made cuts:
- chicken breast
- salt
- your favourite herbs, for example thyme.
Rub the chicken breast with salt and herbs. Refrigerate overnight. Steam your chicken and put aside until cool. Refrigerate again so that it can “bind”. Thanks to the marinade, the meat is juicy and can be easily sliced, even in very thin slices. You can refrigerate that dish for about three days.
Ingredients for sandwiches:
- a whole-grain roll
- dried or fresh tomatoes
- a few slices of fresh cucumber
- lettuce or Romaine lettuce
- a few slices of avocado
- home-made chicken cuts
Put the avocado, tomato slices, lettuce, cucumber on the roll. Top it with any number of home-made chicken cuts. All done!
5. Cold omelet
A fluffy cold omelet is the perfect brunch idea. It is nutritious yet light. It tastes well with some extras, and it takes just a few minutes to prep it.
Omelet ingredients:
- 3 eggs
- salt to taste
- optionally: extras, such as chopped chives, diced cold cuts or dried tomatoes.
Crack the eggs into the bowl and add salt. Heat up a small non-stick pan. You don’t have to add any fat. Whisk the eggs carefully; the mixture should get some air. Add the extras and pour the mixture into the pan. Cover it for around 4 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the omelet congeal.
Once it is cool, you can add it to your sandwiches or eat on its own. Eat it with a vegetable salad or spread some cottage cheese, put some lettuce, bell pepper slices, cucumber or other vegetables of your choice and eat it tortilla-style.
Read also: “Top 5 Healthiest Ways to Eat Eggs From a Dietitian”.
6. Bagels with sunflower seeds cottage cheese
An original idea that is really easy to prep. Sunflower seeds are a source of healthy fatty acids and vitamins, and they are rather inexpensive.
Ingredients for the sunflower cottage cheese:
- half a cup of shelled unsalted sunflower seeds
- 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
- salt and pepper to taste
- extras: radish, fresh dill, freshly-pickled cucumbers or pickles.
Put the sunflower seeds into a tall dish in the evening or in the morning, and add water. Leave it for 8 to 12 hours. Drain the sunflower seeds, add lemon juice and salt, and mix carefully. If the mixture is too dry, add some water.
The cottage cheese spread is ready. You can use it on a bagel or any other type of bread, and put some extras on top. You can also chop the extras, add them to the cottage cheese and mix if you prefer.
7. Chickpea-based chocolate spread
Finally, a recipe for the sweet tooths. An incredibly healthy spread that can be used on bread, pancakes, waffles, and even on the rice waffles. The vegetable cuisine lovers call it a “dessert hummus” or “chickpea Nutella”. It’s a good thing to have on hand!
Ingredients:
- 1 can chickpeas
- about 10 pitted dates
- 3 tablespoons dark cocoa
- 1 tablespoon nut butter without additives
- optionally: erythritol or any other sweetener.
Pour boiling water over the dates and leave for a few minutes (keep the water). Drain the chickpeas and put them into a food processor or into a bowl. Add the cocoa, the nut butter and the drained dates. Start processing the spread. If it’s too dry, add some date water. Check for flavour. If the spread is not sweet enough, you can add some erythritol or maple syrup.
Check also: “4 recipes for fit nut butters and creams you can make in 1 minute”.