Lunch Meal Prep Ideas | Wholefully https://wholefully.com/meal-prep-ideas/lunch-meal-prep-ideas/ Fresh Family Meals - Made for Everyday Life Wed, 29 May 2024 06:59:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wholefully.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/favicon-150x150.png Lunch Meal Prep Ideas | Wholefully https://wholefully.com/meal-prep-ideas/lunch-meal-prep-ideas/ 32 32 Loaded Burger Bowl Salads with “Special Sauce” https://wholefully.com/burger-bowl-recipe/ https://wholefully.com/burger-bowl-recipe/#comments Wed, 29 May 2024 06:59:00 +0000 https://wholefully.com/?p=49707 One of my husband’s favorite foods on the planet is a really good greasy cheeseburger. Unfortunately, he has some health issues that make him feel terrible whenever he eats one. We realized a few years back that it was the combination of the meat with the grain-filled bun that caused the issues—so we moved to bunless burgers, using sweet potato planks or lettuce leaves instead of buns. That worked, but it was messy and hard to control all the glorious burger toppings. A fork holds a bite of salad over a large bowl of a loaded burger bowl salad. Then, a few months back, I decided to put all the burger fixin’s into a big bowl salad instead. My burger-loving husband took one bite and then looked at me and said, “Can we please have these every week?” And since that day, we have! My husband gets to eat his “burger” and still feel great—the best of both worlds. So if your body feels better with a gluten-free, grain-free, paleo, or even Whole30 diet but you’re still missing your burgers—this is the recipe for you! Read the post »]]> https://wholefully.com/burger-bowl-recipe/feed/ 2 Immersion Blender Homemade Mayo https://wholefully.com/homemade-mayo/ https://wholefully.com/homemade-mayo/#comments Fri, 24 May 2024 14:57:44 +0000 http://backtoherroots.com/?p=18915 An immersion blender makes perfect, easy Homemade Mayo every single time. The best part? It only takes two minutes! Side-angle shot of Homemade Mayo getting spooned out of a glass jar If you’ve ever tried to make mayo at home, you might know that it can be finicky and time-consuming. But using your immersion blender (this is the one I have and use to make mayo weekly) takes out ALL the guesswork and ALL the time. You can literally go from no mayo to homemade immersion blender mayo in less than two minutes, just by pushing a button. After you read this post, you’ll never (EVER!) need to buy mayo again. No more shelling out $9 for a little jar of the high-end organic mayos that you use up in one sandwich-making session. You will have the knowledge to make your own homemade mayo in less time than it takes to pull off those annoying safety seals on the jars of the store-bought mayonnaise. Read the post »]]> https://wholefully.com/homemade-mayo/feed/ 32 How to Make Awesome Grain Bowls https://wholefully.com/grain-bowls/ https://wholefully.com/grain-bowls/#comments Thu, 16 May 2024 15:17:57 +0000 https://wholefully.com/?p=29867 Grain Bowls are beautiful quilts of textures, colors, & flavors that are an absolute joy to bite into. Here's how to make the perfect bowls! How to Make Awesome Grain Bowls Call them grain bowls. Call them macro bowls. Call them power bowls. I don't care what you call them, just as long as you are making and eating them! Grain bowls are exactly what they sound like—a base of healthy whole grains in a bowl with all kinds of delicious, nutritious toppings. When done well, a grain bowl is a beautiful quilt of textures, colors, and flavors that is an absolute joy to bite into. Typically, grain bowls are improvised. Sure, there are recipes out there for them (hello, Cauliflower and Quinoa Power Bowls), but the beauty and fun of grain bowls is how free you are to experiment with your meal. Read the post »]]> https://wholefully.com/grain-bowls/feed/ 9 Best Baked Chicken Meatballs Recipe https://wholefully.com/baked-chicken-meatballs-recipe/ https://wholefully.com/baked-chicken-meatballs-recipe/#comments Tue, 14 May 2024 14:21:04 +0000 https://wholefully.com/?p=63773 These baked chicken meatballs are a crowd-pleaser. Serve them up over pasta, in sandwiches, or with a dipping sauce. Close view of baked chicken meatballs on a serving board, garnished with chopped fresh herbs. Chicken meatballs are a staple in my house. They’re easy to prep, quick to make, and they go with just about anything! Seriously, you can make these chicken meatballs and turn them into any meal you want. You can eat them as an appetizer, all by themselves, stuffed in a sandwich, tossed in some spaghetti—the list of possibilities is endless! The best part is that they’re super moist and practically melt in your mouth. Read the post »]]> https://wholefully.com/baked-chicken-meatballs-recipe/feed/ 4 Split Pea Soup with Ham (Instant Pot, Slow Cooker, or Stovetop) https://wholefully.com/instant-pot-split-pea-soup-with-ham/ https://wholefully.com/instant-pot-split-pea-soup-with-ham/#respond Tue, 09 Apr 2024 18:52:29 +0000 https://wholefully.com/?p=52950 Fancy food it is not, but Split Pea Soup with Ham is delicious, comforting, and affordable. Stovetop, Instant Pot, slow cooker—we'll show you how to make it all three ways! I’m not going to lie, Split Pea Soup with Ham isn’t going to win any beauty contests. But I think that’s okay, because so often, the most comforting, delicious, coziest foods aren’t all that beautiful. And I think that’s a wonderful life lesson—sometimes the best things in life come in the most unsuspecting packages. Just know that this soup is so delicious, so comforting, and so flavorful that it made my six year old dance in the kitchen when she tasted it. Literally. She grabbed a bowl, grabbed a spoon, took one bite, and started dancing right there on our kitchen rug because it tasted so good. And I’m dancing because you can make this Split Pea Soup in the Instant Pot, slow cooker, or on the stovetop—I love me a flexible recipe that works no matter my schedule! Close-up of finished split pea soup in a bowl.

Do split peas need to be soaked before cooking?

Unlike other beans and legumes, split peas are tender enough that they don’t need to be soaked before cooking.

Wholefully Protip

If you have a history of digestive problems from split peas, you might want to go ahead and soak them in cold water overnight before cooking—it might help!

How do you make split pea soup from scratch?

You can cook this soup on the stovetop, in the slow cooker, or in an Instant Pot, but the process is pretty similar for all of them. To make split pea soup, here’s what you’ll do: Read the post »]]> https://wholefully.com/instant-pot-split-pea-soup-with-ham/feed/ 0 English Muffin Pizzas https://wholefully.com/english-muffin-pizza/ https://wholefully.com/english-muffin-pizza/#respond Mon, 01 Apr 2024 06:17:00 +0000 https://wholefully.com/?p=77280 English muffin pizza is a kid-favorite school lunch & great make-ahead meal. You'll love these mini pizzas for their easy prep!
Top view of two mini pizzas in a bento-style lunch container with clementines and snap pea crisps.
Tired of the same old boring school lunches or after-school snacks? Look no further than English muffin pizza! This quick and easy lunch (or snack!) is a great way to get your pizza fix without all the effort. Plus, they are so easy to make that the kids can make them themselves (with some oven supervision). Read the post »]]> https://wholefully.com/english-muffin-pizza/feed/ 0 Easy Vegetable Beef Soup https://wholefully.com/easy-vegetable-beef-soup-jar/ https://wholefully.com/easy-vegetable-beef-soup-jar/#comments Wed, 27 Mar 2024 12:00:34 +0000 https://wholefully.com/?p=41440 I always make sure I have the ingredients on hand to make a pot of this nourishing, comforting Vegetable Beef Soup! This soup is packed full of flavor, and thanks to a few shortcuts (hello, frozen veggies), it comes together in just a few minutes. Combine this soup with some crusty bread and a wedge salad for a perfect nourishing meal. For me, there is something about this combo that makes me all kinds of nostalgic—it just feels cozy. Neither of these recipes are particularly fancy, and you probably wouldn’t serve them to guests. But they are warm, comforting, and über-tasty (like the best comfort food always is). A ladle holds a scoop of soup over a Dutch oven.

What kind of beef is in this soup?

To make things easy, we’re using ground beef here—it’s easy to source, affordable, and it helps you get nice beef flavor in each bite. If you prefer, you can use beef stew meat for meatier chunks.

What kind of vegetables will I need?

The biggest shortcut here? Frozen mixed veggies! They save you tons of chopping and cooking time on the soup—and bonus, they are mega-affordable. You can grab a bag of organic frozen mixed veggies for less than $2. Steal. Read the post »]]> https://wholefully.com/easy-vegetable-beef-soup-jar/feed/ 1 Sesame Chickpea Mediterranean Salad in a Jar https://wholefully.com/sesame-chickpea-mason-jar-salad/ https://wholefully.com/sesame-chickpea-mason-jar-salad/#comments Tue, 26 Mar 2024 13:32:25 +0000 http://backtoherroots.com/?p=15685 This nourishing Sesame Chickpea Mediterranean Salad in a Jar is full of bright Mediterranean flavors. You'll love this make-ahead lunch! A tall mason jar with layered salad ingredients sits on a white counter in front of a white wall. Lemon slices sit next to the jar in a small black bowl. This Mediterranean salad in a jar is bright, flavorful, and packed full of nourishing ingredients like sprouted lentils, chickpeas, and crisp veggies. And who can beat the convenience of a salad in a jar?  Read the post »]]> https://wholefully.com/sesame-chickpea-mason-jar-salad/feed/ 16 Almond Flour Banana Bread https://wholefully.com/almond-flour-banana-bread-paleo/ https://wholefully.com/almond-flour-banana-bread-paleo/#comments Tue, 19 Mar 2024 10:00:32 +0000 https://wholefully.com/?p=49665 Never in the history of my grocery shopping trips have I ever purchased the correct number of bananas to get through a week. It doesn’t matter if I buy four bananas or forty, it always seems that at the end of the week we have exactly three speckled brown bananas left over, just asking to be made into banana bread. That’s all to say that I’ve made a lot of banana bread in my life! I’d say I make close to 30-40 loaves per year, and all that banana bread baking has made me into quite the banana bread connoisseur. To me, perfect banana bread must be: (A) super, incredibly moist (B) dense as all get out—this is not the time for a light and fluffy texture, and (C) intensely banana-flavored. So when I set out to make a grain-free, dairy-free, paleo banana bread recipe, it had an incredibly high standard to live up to! A hand lifts a slice of banana bread from a stack of slices. Luckily, dense quick breads like banana bread are the perfect introduction to paleo baking. The grain-free flours like the almond flour we use here lend themselves to dense, moist breads and are easy to find at most major supermarkets. Getting fluffy, grain-free sandwich bread is an experiment in more advanced paleo baking, but getting perfect paleo banana bread? That’s easy as can be!

How do you make banana bread paleo?

Making banana bread paleo is as simple as swapping out a few key ingredients. In place of the typical all-purpose flour (or whole wheat flour, in the case of our One Bowl Whole Wheat Banana Bread), we use grain-free and gluten-free almond flour and tapioca flour. In place of butter, we use melted coconut oil. And that’s it! Magically, your banana bread has become paleo and gluten-free. Read the post »]]> https://wholefully.com/almond-flour-banana-bread-paleo/feed/ 8 Pasta e Fagioli https://wholefully.com/pasta-e-fagioli/ https://wholefully.com/pasta-e-fagioli/#comments Wed, 13 Mar 2024 19:59:09 +0000 http://backtoherroots.com/?p=20209 Love the Pasta e Fagioli soup at Olive Garden? Now you can make a delicious copycat version at home with this easy recipe! Perfect for a cozy night in. Pasta e FaglioliPasta e Fagioli, translated from Italian as "pasta and beans," is a soup known for its hearty and comforting nature. It has been popularized in the United States thanks to the soup, salad, and breadsticks combo at Olive Garden—and now, we're going to show you how to make it at home! Get the recipe »]]> https://wholefully.com/pasta-e-fagioli/feed/ 14