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You asked, we answered! Hundreds of Start TODAY members told us they wanted more healthy, balanced meal ideas to help them reach their health goals. This dietitian-designed meal plan gives you the flexibility to ease into healthy eating.
Here’s a blueprint for easy meal prep this week. You’ll see that breakfasts are a mix of some make-ahead meals and some morning-of options. Lunches also utilize the mix-and-match strategy using store bought items like rotisserie chicken or simple roasted chickpeas and vegetables. While we’ve offered five different dinner options, you can streamline the menu by making enough for leftovers. From easy sheet-pan dinners to a better-for-you version of a Chinese takeout favorite, we’ve got you covered this week.
What to Eat This Week, July 10, 2023
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Monday
- Breakfast:Easy Egg Bite Muffins with Fruit
- Lunch:Rotisserie Chicken Sandwich
- Dinner: Lemon Tarragon Chicken with Brown Rice and Veggies
- Snack of choice
Tuesday
- Breakfast:Banana Berry Smoothie
- Lunch: Rotisserie Chicken and Roasted Veggie Bowl
- Dinner: Barbecue Chicken Quinoa Salad
- Snack of choice
Wednesday
- Breakfast:Easy Egg Bite Muffins with Fruit
- Lunch: Green Salad with Roasted Chickpeas and Veggies
- Dinner: Eggplant with Tomato, Broccolini and Mozzarella
- Snack of choice
Thursday
- Breakfast:Banana Berry Smoothie
- Lunch: Roasted ChickpeaVeggie Bowl
- Dinner: Roasted Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito
- Snack of choice
Friday
- Breakfast: Frozen Waffle with Greek Yogurt and Fruit
- Lunch: Leftovers
- Dinner: No-Sugar Ginger Beef and Broccoli with Rice
- Snack of choice
Breakfast
Make breakfast a no brainer. Create a simple list of go-to options or make-ahead meals that make mornings easier or simply mix-and-match these recipe ideas:
Whole Grain Waffles with Fruit
Toast a frozen whole grain waffle and spread with ricotta cheese or Greek yogurt — you can have fruit on top or on the side.
Lunch
Roasting a batch of your favorite vegetables is the key to easy lunchtime meal prep. Then, buy a rotisserie chicken (or roast your own!) to make two easy lunches on Monday and Tuesday — and then roast up some chickpeas for easy salad and veggie bowls later in the week. Make these dishes your own by leaning into easy seasonings like everything but the bagel seasoning, Italian and Greek seasoning, dried herbs and spices, lemon, pesto, low-sugar marinara sauce, tahini, and coconut aminos or lower-sodium soy sauce.
- Rotisserie Chicken Sandwich: Serve on whole-grain bread with your favorite fixings and vegetables on the side.
- Rotisserie Chicken and Roasted Veggie Bowl: Use any roasted veggies and whole grains you like and flavor with any easy seasoning.
- Green Salad With Roasted Vegetables and Chickpeas: Use any veggies (such as arugula and roasted veggies) and flavor with any easy seasoning.
- Roasted Chickpea Veggie Bowl: Use any roasted veggies and whole grains (think brown rice, farro or quinoa) you like and flavor with any easy seasoning.
Dinner
Below, we’ve put together some of our favorite healthy recipes to make meal planning easier — feel free to swap out recipes for different days of the week, or make enough of one dish to serve as leftovers to save time on another night.
The dish uses lemon zest, a little olive oil and a handful of fresh tarragon — it’s a simple 3-ingredient mixture that wows the tastebuds. It warms the soul, awakens the senses and, perhaps most importantly, can be made in 20 minutes. Serve it with brown rice and vegetables.
Barbecue chicken and quinoa are prepped in advance and then tossed with a few ingredients to create a tasty and filling lunch. If you don’t feel like making the chicken, use a store-bought rotisserie chicken instead. And choose a barbecue sauce with no more than 6 grams of added sugar per serving. You can also swap in unsalted canned or frozen corn for the corn on the cob to streamline the recipe further.
This sheet-pan dinner is a great way to eat a ton of vegetables — serve with whole wheat or bean-based pasta and jarred marinara sauce.
Packed with protein. If you have any leftover filling, freeze or refrigerate it and consider turning it into a salad topping for lunch the next day. Serve with a side salad for an added veggie boost.
You’ll get all the flavor of your favorite takeout with less salt — and no added sugar! Serve with this dish with microwavable brown rice, cauliflower rice, or a blend of each.
Snacks
Snacks that contain whole food sources of protein and fiber offer a winning formula that keeps you full for hours. Here are a few ideas:
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