It’s August and we are still in this pandemic. Yet, things are (so very slowly) getting a little closer to normal. At least, that’s how I’m feeling as I’m able to (finally!) use my reusable produce bags AND grocery bags at my grocery store. Huzzah for small wins.

As you will notice from the packaged tofu and dates, our bulk section is not open yet, though. They have closed off that section and the staff are filling bulk orders in (100% recycled) paper bags. Some items, like the dates, they pre-bag though to make their life easier and quicker. Dates, oats, certain flours and coffees are bagged and refrigerated ahead of time. Usually in plastic.

I’m not sure how everyone else is feeling about disposables at this time but I will take all the wins I can get and continue to support the small businesses I like. Personally, I want all my favorite small cafes and restaurants and co-ops to still be around post-pandemic and if that means getting a little waste here and there, I think that’s ok? What are your thoughts on creating waste during the pandemic?

Anyway, here are the meals that I have prepped this week. As my furlough stretches on, I go through phases of meal prepping and I can definitely see I’m eating better when I put the time into prepping.

Breakfast is Mexican Egg Skillets: Saute 1/2 a red onion with corn cut off 2 ears of corn until the onion is soft. Add 1 zucchini, 1 cup of black beans, 1 tsp of cumin and salt. Saute that until the zucchini is brown (or until the zucchini is cooked if you over filled your skillet, like me!). Add 1/2 cup of salsa.

If you are meal prepping this and will be reheating the breakfast away from home, I would suggest dishing out your cooked veggies and beans into 4 containers. Scramble up 8 eggs and split them between the four containers. Scrambled eggs microwave fairly well.

If you have the ability to make your eggs at home each morning, you can just split up your vegetables and cook your eggs as you desire in the morning. I’m doing it this way and making fried eggs.

I am pairing all these with a slice of homemade sourdough. Because in 2020, you pair everything with homemade sourdough 🙂

Lunch: Vegan Poke Bowl. This is another recipe that doesn’t require turning the oven on, which I am all about when it’s 90+ degrees on my meal prep day. The only thing you have to cook is the grain. I used farro in my bowl, you can use whatever you have in stock. Also, the recipe says it serves 3. To stretch it a little further and get 4 servings, I added edamame. This actually made a really filling dish so you may not even need to do that.

Dinner: Dinner isn’t anything too crazy this week. I have left overs of these plant-based burgers that we tried this weekend. They were so-so. If I’m honest, they don’t have a ton of flavor. Once you pile on the toppings, that doesn’t matter so much but if you are looking for a flavorful veggie burger, I wouldn’t recommend this one.

I’m having the veggie burger with these homemade pickles. I know they are bread and butter pickles which are significantly less popular then dill, these pickles are amazing! This recipe is our go-to refrigerator pickle recipe and I would highly recommend.

Dessert: It’s not a meal prep without a sweet snack to get me through. Does anyone else start with the dessert when they are meal prepping? #priorities. I made Jessica Eats Real Food’s No Bake Samoa Bars. They aren’t actually no bake, you do have to turn the oven on to toast the coconut, but I bet you could do this on the stovetop if you really didn’t want the oven on.

These are AMAZING! I’m a big fan. My only suggestion would be leaving out the coconut oil when melting your chocolate. The addition of the coconut oil is delicious but it makes the chocolate very melty. If you want to travel with these at all or leave them on the counter, melting the chocolate without the oil will give them more of a fighting chance to survive outside the fridge.

You could also completely leave off the chocolate. They are good without it. The chocolate makes it taste more like a Girl Scout cookie, though!

I had a lot of extra chocolate left over after drizzling the chocolate over the top so I also dunked the bottom in chocolate. Why not, right?

This week, my mom, grandma and I are doing a very brief trip to the Cape. I like to hit up the small shops in Hyannis and give them some love. Also, I figure I should see the ocean at least once this summer? I’ll be slathered in sunscreen since I burn like crazy. Check out my instagram to see what low-waste items I’m packing and how our trip goes: trees_and_honeybees