I’ve been vegan off and on for over two years. Lately, I’ve been back to full veganism minus some pasture-raised eggs occasionally. Right before I got pregnant with Sienna, I tried eating some meat again and really wasn’t a fan. During the first trimester of my pregnancy, I had a lot of bad nausea and cravings and ended up eating a lot of meat/dairy, far more than I would have liked. But once I got out of that trimester and was feeling a lot better, I’ve been back to being vegan. In the end, it really comes down to the animals for me and that’s what is driving me to keep on this path.
Now that I’m 12 weeks postpartum, I feel that I’ve gotten into a bit of a rhythm for meal planning/prepping throughout the week to be sure that I have plenty of healthy foods to keep me full and energized. My appetite definitely goes up with breastfeeding, especially in the first couple months. It has gone down some but generally, I need to eat more calories to keep up with baby’s needs.
I’ve started being really consistent about meal prepping on the weekend and that has helped me avoid a lot of processed/convenient foods both for myself and my kids. Now that Enzo goes to Pre-K 5 half-days a week, he has to have snack and lunch packed every day. I get him involved in helping prep some of his food too which has been helpful. I premake oatmeal or smoothie packets for breakfast and I’ve been making one lunch for myself throughout the week. Joe eats that same lunch a couple of days too. For dinner I’ve been choosing 3 different meals to make throughout the whole week and that has cut down on my cooking time for sure. Below is what I meal-prepped for this week. I hope it’s helpful!
Breakfasts: For the kids, I already have some baked pumpkin oats in the freezer that I’ll thaw for them. They’ll also probably have toast with peanut butter and fruit or homemade granola (we make a big batch and freeze it and it usually lasts about 3 weeks) with coconut milk yogurt or almond milk with fruit. I’ve been making big batches of the baked oatmeal and freezing it for easy breakfasts in the morning. I have some steel cut apple oats in the freezer that I’m eating for breakfast throughout the week.
Lunches: Roasted vegetable meal prep that I found here. On the weekend, I roasted some chickpeas, asparagus and butternut squash as well as made the sauce. I already had some quinoa in the freezer that I had prepped and made a while go with the Instant Pot. Then I laid out 8 containers (5 for me, 3 for Joe) and layered spinach, veggies, chickpeas and roasted pumpkin seeds. Then I put the dressing in some smaller containers. Now all I have to do is pull one out at lunch time and pop it in the microwave. Super easy!
For the kids lunches, I use these bento-style boxes which are great for them. You can also buy cheaper plastic containers that have dividers in them. Typically, I do a mix of protein, fat, veggie and fruit. An example of Enzo’s lunch this week: whole grain gluten free crackers, hummus, cucumbers, raisins and bell peppers. I usually have the kids help me prep these on Sunday. For their snacks, we’ve been doing cut-up grapes with homemade nut-free energy balls or a small bag of this vegan Hippeas (kind of like “healthier” cheetohs). I usually make a big batch of the energy balls and freeze them and they last quite a while. I like to snack on them too!
Dinners: Thai chickpea salad, southwestern salad and tacos or nachos with this lentil taco meat. For the chickpea salad I already had quinoa in the freezer and I used the same chickpeas that I roasted for lunch. I shredded some zucchini and carrots since I don’t have a spiralizer and mixed up the peanut dressing. Then it was ready to assemble and eat topped with some avocado. For the salad, I roasted some sweet potatoes and blended up the dressing as well as washed some romaine lettuce. Then when we eat it, I’ll have to thaw some frozen corn and rinse off some beans. We’ll probably have some chips and guac with it. For the tacos, I already have cooked lentils in the freezer that I’ll thaw and so I’ll mix up the “meat” mixture and use some corn tortilla shells and whatever leftover veggies we have on hang to make tacos.