Back to School Weekly Meal Prep Plan

My Food History

After years of nightly stomach aches I was diagnosed with a milk malabsorption in the fifth grade. That will be 10 years ago in October. For 8 years I was able to control my stomach aches. A strong antibiotic that I was given for a virus cleared out my system and caused the stomach aches to return. One of my doctors referred me to an allergist and immunologist. Through discussing what I eat each day and when I would get stomach aches, the doctor was confident that if I ate a low fodmap diet I would no longer have stomach aches. To learn more about my low fodmap journey click here. I have reintroduced some high fodmap foods, so currently my diet is not strictly low fodmap. 

I would also like to mentioned that the reason I am gluten free is because gluten causes me to have stomach aches, become irritable and my skin breaks out. I lowered the amount of carbs that I consume as a weight loss method. This weight loss method consisted of cutting out sweet potatoes, gluten free pizza crusts, oatmeal and low fodmap lemon poppy seed muffins from my daily diet. In addition to portion control, a lower carb diet and regular exercise I was able to loose 9 lbs. For me this is a significant amount of weight in a short time period of time. I would also like to mention that I only consume one meat product each day for environmental reasons.

Weekly Meal Plan

This weekly meal plan is milk free, gluten free and low carb except for fruits and vegetables. The breakfast is vegetarian, lunch is vegan and two of the three dinner options have chicken in them. 

Breakfast: 2 broccoli egg muffins and a large naval orange 

Lunch: spinach salad with black beans, tomatoes, and cucumber with a lemon vinaigrette and half an apple

Snacks: semi-sweet vegan chocolate chips, herbal tea and sometimes almond butter

Dinner 1: chicken, steamed broccoli, sautéed peppers and squash (zucchini and/or yellow squash)

Dinner 2: spaghetti squash with Fody Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce
Dinner 3: chicken tortilla soup

Items To Prep

• chicken (once a week)
• sautéed veggies (once a week)
• egg muffins (twice a week)
• wash and store spinach (once a week)
• black beans (as needed)
• lemon vinaigrette (once a week)
• spaghetti squash (night one of meal)
• chicken tortilla soup (night one of meal)

My weekly meal prep routine starts with making the egg muffins on Sunday. I make them again either on Wednesday or Thursday. On Sunday I wash and put the spinach in a container to be stored in the fridge for the week.  I buy my spinach in the organic section of my grocery store because it comes in only a zip tie. This is the lowest waste way I can buy it. At dinner time on Sunday I make two-three servings of the chicken and sautéed veggies. The amount I make depends on if I have plans to go out to eat one night, how much frozen soup I have and honestly how many times I want to eat it. I make the spaghetti squash on Wednesday and have half for dinner that night and then the other half for dinner on Thursday. I will either make the chicken tortilla soup during my night class on Tuesday or during the day on Sunday.  I only meal prep the lemon vinaigrette and black beans when I finish what I already have. With all the I meal prep that I already do and my busy school schedule I use canned no sodium black beans and just transfer the beans into a glass food safe storage container and store it in the fridge once they have been rinsed. I would love to cook black beans that I get in the bulk section. 

Recipes 

Lemon vinaigrette- low fodmap, gluten free, milk free, low carb and vegan

Egg muffins- keto, low carb, gluten free and can be made milk free

Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup

This makes 4-6 servings depending on your personal serving size.

• 28 oz of puréed tomatoes
• 1 pound of chicken (tenderloins or boneless skinless breast)
• 2 cups of chicken broth (optional low sodium)
• 2 tablespoons of taco seasoning (to keep it low fodmap I suggest using Fody Taco Seasoning)
• Green onion tops to keep it low fodmap or white onion for high fodmap (optional)
• 1 1/2 cups of frozen corn
• 1 can drained and rinsed black beans

Directions- Cook everything but the corn and black beans in the crockpot on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. Add in the corn and black beans for the last 15-20 minutes. 

Alternations- To make this vegan you could substitute the chicken for more types of beans or even chickpeas and use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. To keep it low fodmap don't add the black beans and just use the green tops of the onions. 

Meal Prep Instructions- Divide evenly into freezer safe containers. Let cool completely before storing in the fridge or in the freezer. Thaw frozen soup over night in the fridge and then reheat in a microwave safe bowl for 3-4 minutes.

Spaghetti Squash

Directions- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Soften the squash by microwaving it for 3-5 minutes. Let cool to the touch and then cut in half the long way. Scoop out the seeds of both sides of the squash. Oil the inside of the squash either using avocado oil or olive oil. Cook cut side down on a pan lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Cook from between 30-40 minutes.You know its done with the 'noodle' pull away from the side and are tender. Top with your favorite pasta sauce.

Alternations- Depending on your diet you could add ground beef, chicken or turkey to your pasta sauce.

Meal Prep Instructions- Let the second half of the squash cool completely and then scoop out the 'noodles' into a container to be stored in the fridge. Reheat in the microwave for 2-3 minutes depending on the sauce you choose to add. 

How to Change It Up Each Week

If you are looking for variations for the egg muffins I would recommend clicking the recipe link above. I have only tried adding broccoli and spinach. To switch up the breakfast fruit each week you could have low carb berries. If you aren't low carb then you could have an apple or banana.

From week to week you could switch up lunch by changing the salad toppings to different raw vegetables. Some suggestions are raw broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. If you do not follow a vegan or vegetarian diet then you could substitute the black beans for chicken or another plant based protein. I use black beans because I can recycle the tin can. I don't have to worry about prepping tofu and its a low waste and easy option. Another option to change up this meal plan each week is to try a different type of apple or piece of fruit.

In my blog post Summer Weekly Meal Prep Plan I shared different ways to change up the chicken and sautéed vegetable recipe from week to week. You can simply use different oils and seasonings to change the flavor.

For the spaghetti squash recipe you can try a different type of pasta sauce from week to week. For an easy option you can use a store bought tomato sauce like I do. Another great vegan option that can also be low fodmap is pesto. Here is a link to my favorite vegan low fodmap pesto.

I get milk free/vegan semi sweet chocolate chips from the bulk section of my grocery store. The herbal teas that I drink are the Tummy Balance Loose Leaf Tea and Organic Peppermint Loose Leaf Tea both from Full Leaf Tea Company. I purchase loose leaf tea to eliminate the waste produced from tea bags and avoid the the plastic that some tea bags contain. If you are looking for different low fodmap snack ideas I suggestion checking out this blog post Low FODMAP Snack Ideas

I hope that my back to school weekly meal prep plan gave you some ideas for and easy breakfast, lunch and dinners ranging from vegan to low fodmap. If you have any further questions about anything make sure to leave a comment below. Happy meal prepping!!!

Additional Links

Summer Weekly Meal Prep Plan
How I Survived My First 2 Weeks Of Being Low FODMAP

My Favorite Low FODMAP Grocery Store Finds

Low FODMAP Snack Ideas

What I Learned From Year 1 Of My Weight Loss Journey

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