Amanda and I decided to do another Whole30 this January. We like to “reset” after eating and drinking too much over the holidays to cut some weight, feel better, have more energy, and prevent the usual winter sickness from a weakened immune system.
The TL;DR of Whole30 is to only consume meat, vegetables, seeds, and fruit for 30 days. No dairy, added sugar of any kind, legumes, grains, or alcohol.
This isn’t our first rodeo. We knew that we both have a jam-packed work schedule, so the only way we’d make it through is by prepping. We decided to start on January 2 this year so that we could get back from the New Year’s party, go grocery shopping, and prep as much as we could before we start.
We uncharacteristically planned out our breakfast and dinner menus for the entire week in advance. I made frittatas in advance for breakfast and Amanda chopped up vegetables so they’d be easy for me to roast.
Snacks!
Snacks are always our downfall. We can’t seem to eat enough at main meals to hold us until the next one and need to fall back to snacks. That is probably because we aren’t big breakfast people and we tend to eat dinner pretty late, usually around 8pm. Snacks hold us over.
If we don’t have Whole30 compliant snacks on-hand, it is not good. We planned ahead this year.
Here are the Whole30 compliant snacks that saved us this week:
- Carrot hummus
- Magic green sauce (h/t to Hannah Wegmann) We couldn’t find pistachios without shells, so Amanda and I cracked a ton of pistachio shells while watching Netflix one night…
- Carrot sticks, celery sticks, pepper sticks, and cucumber sticks. We prep these all at once and keep them in the fridge. Perfect to pack for work in tupperware.
- Plantain chips of all varieties. I think we’ve had 3 different brands this week.
- Trader Joe’s Root vegetable chips
- Trader Joe’s fruit wraps
- Satsuma oranges
- Almond butter
- Almonds
- Cherry Pie Larabars
What are your favorite Whole30 snacks? Let us know in the comments!
Our meals this week
| Day | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2 | Black coffee | Western Omelets from the corner bodega | Spaghetti squash cooked in the Instant Pot with a quick veal and pork bolognese made from home canned tomatoes |
| Jan 3 | Black coffee, Frittata with breakfast sausage, potatoes, peppers, and onions | Leftover spaghetti squash | Whole Foods’ hot counter before we did our grocery shopping across the street at Stew Leonard’s. I had pork loin, broccoli, and cauliflower. Amanda had salmon, broccoli, and mashed potatoes |
| Jan 4 | Black coffee, Frittata with breakfast sausage, potatoes, peppers, and onions | Leftover spaghetti squash | Chicken Enchilada Soup (h/t to Hannah Wegmann) |
| Jan 5 | Black coffee, Frittata with breakfast sausage, potatoes, peppers, and onions | Chuck: Leftover spaghetti squash, Amanda: leftover chicken enchilada soup | Instant Pot pork and cabbage bowls with avocado, cilantro, and onions |
| Jan 6 | None | Black coffee, Veggie omelet with a side of bacon and winter vegetable hash at Sweet Grass in Tarrytown | Flank steak and roasted vegetable bowls with pico de gallo and avocado |
| Jan 7 | Black coffee, Frittata with Italian sausage, potatoes, and onions | Chuck: Leftover pork and cabbage bowl, Amanda: Salmon and leftover roasted vegetables | Curried cream of broccoli soup |
| Jan 8 | Black coffee, Frittata with Italian sausage, potatoes, and onions | Chuck: Roasted vegetables, Amanda: Curried cream of broccoli soup | Chuck: Curried cream of broccoli soup, Amanda: Salmon and roasted vegetables |
Here are a few photos from this week’s meals:
(The hot sauce you see is Crystal, which is compliant.)
Challenges
We are doing completely fine on sugar/carb cravings right now and our workouts are going fine. Our main challenge right now is that our work schedules are crazy. Planning is the only thing that kept us from eating Chipotle fajita salad bowls five days in a row.
See you next week!
Cook Like Chuck 