Wonderful Winter Vegetables! – One Green Planet

Meal prep is a great way to have all of your food ready for the week, enabling you to make healthy choices, and save money while you’re at it! Not only does it keep you on track with your fitness goals, but it saves a lot of time. Imagine coming home after a long day of work, your meal already planned and ready to assemble in mere minutes. Does it sound too good to be true? Don’t worry, that’s why we’re here to send you Weekly Meal Prep inspo every week to get you in the kitchen!

We’ll give you a set of ingredients to work with every week and include seasonal recommendations, when possible. The primary goal with our weekly meal prep guide below is to help you focus your meals predominately around a new set of ingredients or theme every week. We’ll give you a plethora of creative ways to prep these ingredients to create healthy, quick, easy and tasty recipes, so you’ll never be bored.

This week we’re enjoying recipes that showcase amazing seasonal winter vegetables like kale, broccoli, beets and more!

1. Veggie Entrees

Image Source: Chickpea Turnip Meatballs

Meal prepping dinners is definitely useful when you’re facing a busy week, and you want to make sure that you have something nourishing and satisfying to come home to during the colder winter months. These recipes help us make sure that we’re eating plenty of vegetables by using the stellar seasonal produce that’s all around us in exciting and creative ways. For example, these Chickpea Turnip Meatballs from Ashley Madden are an awesome ways to use turnips for a take on a classic. For more awesome and seasonal veggie meatballs, try Jyothi Rajesh‘s Lentil and Beet Meatballs With Pasta! Make your meatballs ahead of time and serve them pasta, in sandwiches, even over salads – however you like them.

Comforting, creamy dishes are the best during the bad weather days that are surely ahead of us. With these dishes, you can make extra and package them up into containers for lunches the next day! Check out Kristina Jug & Mitja Bezenšek‘s Turmeric Leek Risotto and Sara Hohn‘s Sweet Potato Mac and Cheese With Spinach for dishes that taste indulgent but are full of awesome veggies.

2. Seasonal Soups

Image Source: Creamy Cheesy Broccoli Soup

What could be more comforting and relaxing than a warm bowl of soup? You can make a big pot of these soup recipes and just warm it up when you need lunch or dinner throughout the week. Soup is a staple during the winter for good reason – just look at this Creamy Cheesy Broccoli Soup from Jesse Lane Lee that feels totally indulgent. You’ll feel warm and cozy with a bowl of Savory Split Pea Soup from Charlie Rioux.

Running short on time for your meal prep this week? No problem! Make a quick and easy recipe that will result in an amazing dish with this Easy Borscht from Nikki and Zuzana! You can also cut down on your prep time by making your soup in an Instant Pot with this Instant Pot Cabbage Soup from Jordan and Clark Cord.

3. Super Salads

Image Source: Roasted Sweet Potato, Black Bean and Kale Salad

The great thing about salads is that they can be customized using whatever ingredients are seasonal or whatever you have on hand – you’d be surprised at how many things you can put on a salad! Seasonal veggies really can elevate your basic lunch. Check out this Roasted Sweet Potato, Black Bean and Kale Salad from Elsa Brobbey for an exciting dish that can be prepped by roasting your sweet potato and chopping your veggies in advance, and then just combining them when you’re ready to eat! This simple Orange Vinaigrette Beetroot Salad from Melissa Tedesco also allows you to prepare the dressing and the beets in advance.

If you’re worried that a salad won’t fill you up, try one of our favorite tricks – adding some grains to your salads! Grains can be prepped at the beginning of the week and stored in the fridge for a multitude of recipes, not just these salads. This Kale and Wild Rice Salad from Kristen Genton will make a satisfying lunch, as will Julie Van den Kerchove‘s Quinoa Salad with Roasted Carrot Fries and Smoked Paprika.

4. Vegetable Sides

Image Source: Cheesy Kale Chips

A great way to make sure you’re getting enough veggies in your diet is to pair veggie sides with your main dishes. There are so many creative ways to eat veggie sides that feel like a treat rather than a healthy snack, like these Cheesy Kale Chips from Natalie Yonan!

You can pair multiple veggies together or add fruit to them to sweeten them up and add some more dimension of flavor, like with these Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Fennel and Pomegranate Seeds from Marie Reginato! Using sweetness with veggies is always a great way to elevate the dish and change up a simple side, as you can see with Jordan and Clark Cord‘s Sweet and Spicy Bok Choy.

Hopefully with all of these ideas, you’re all set for your weekly meal prep this week! If you still need ideas or want to try other ingredients, check out our Meal Prep Archives for a variety of ingredients and awesome ways to utilize them for delicious and nutritious meals. For more meal inspiration, check out our Food Monster App. With over 10,000 recipes right in the palm of your hand, you’ll always have something delicious and new to try. It’s available for both Android and iPhone, and can also be found on Instagram and Facebook. Full of allergy-friendly recipes, subscribers gain access to new recipes every day. Check it out!

Learn How to Cook Plant-Based Meals at Home

Reducing your meat intake and eating more plant-based foods is known to help with chronic inflammation, heart health, mental well-being, fitness goals, nutritional needs, allergies, gut health, and more! Dairy consumption also has been linked to many health problems, including acne, hormonal imbalance, cancer, and prostate cancer, and has many side effects.

For those of you interested in eating more plant-based we highly recommend downloading the Food Monster App — with over 20,000 delicious recipes it is the largest plant-based recipe resource to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals, and get healthy! And, while you are at it, we encourage you to also learn about the environmental and health benefits of a plant-based diet.

Here are some great resources to get you started:

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