Happy Monday, once again, friends! This is sort of an anti-meal prep Meal Prep post.

I decided this week that I had way too much stuff in my pantry and the last thing I needed to do was go grocery shopping! So I decided this week would be a leftovers/ shop your pantry week. My shelf is a mess and I need to work through some of what I have and I’m not always great at doing that. So, #usewhatyouhave is this week’s theme!

So, first up, for breakfast I made smoothie packets. I didn’t have enough ingredients to do the same smoothie each day, like I normally do. Instead, I pulled out the frozen fruit and vegetables I had in my freezer and made a bunch of different flavors.

Monday: Strawberry Banana

Tuesday: Cherry Almond

Wednesday: My go-to Chocolate Mint

Thursday: Pineapple Matcha

None of these followed a recipe. I tried to do my best to stick to the base recipe I have for my Chocolate Mint which is: 1 c. cauliflower, 1/2 c. zucchini/summer squash, 1/2 c. greens, 2 TBSP flaxseed, 1 scoop protein powder, 1 c. non-dairy milk, then I’d add in fruit and extras based on what I had. That didn’t last long though. I think I only had cauliflower and greens for 2 smoothies each so I mixed them up to give a variety of nutrition per day. I’ll post what is in each smoothie on my IG story for those interested. My IG is trees_and_honeybees.

Today, in the spirit of trying to get rid of items that aren’t staples, I swirled some Granola Butter into my smoothie instead of peanut butter. I’m not a huge Granola Butter fan- it’s REALLY oily- but it worked well in my smoothie and froze really nicely when I mixed it in the smoothie so it was sort of like having a fudge swirl in my breakfast. Kind of? Ice cream for breakfast? When it’s all fruits and veggies, why not??

For lunch, I wanted to use these homemade pitas I made last week for a breakfast sandwich. I had a bunch left over so I’m doing sandwiches all week for lunch. Today and tomorrow, I am doing a salmon “BLT” (pictured above). I had 1 salmon fillet frozen in my freezer and I paired that with a tomato, the last of the lettuce in my fridge, some vegan bacon, avocado AND a little dairy-free ranch- all things I had in my fridge.

I only have enough of everything to make 2 Salmon BLTs so I also cooked up some dried chickpeas and will make some smashed chickpea sandwiches. TBD on the recipe for that because I’m not 100% sure. That’s what happens when you shop your fridge.

FYI- I ALWAYS keep my fresh breads in the fridge or freezer. When you make fresh bread for only one person, there is no way you can go through it before it goes bad.

For dinner, tonight I am having some leftover soba noodles. I paired the noodles with some frozen edamame, corn and leftover carrots and some ginger sesame dressing.

The rest of the week, I have some frozen homemade sweet potato gnocchis I think I’ll be eating.

Of course, meal prep would not be complete without something sweet. I have a few Tony’s chocolonely bar kicking around that I can certainly snack on. If you are looking for ethical chocolate for Valentines Day, Tony’s is on a mission to make the chocolate industry slave-free and free from child-labor, which is all too common in the majority of chocolate. Check out their mission page for more information and if you are looking for some really food chocolate, I like the dark chocolate, the salted almond and the pecan coconut flavors! (the caramel is more like a toffee, just an FYI)

I also made Oat Flour Brownies from The Whole Food Diary. I love that they make a smaller batch because sometimes I just don’t want 16 brownies laying around! Kezia, who is the brilliant mind behind The Whole Food Diary, is also one of my Beautycounter mentors, which is very exciting for me because I love her recipes and her blog. I didn’t have any eggs so I substituted a flaxseed egg. These brownies came out VERY chocolatey because I maybe decided to throw some cut up chocolate bar in there and it melted into the brownies and made them very ooey-gooey. Whoops! I popped them in the freezer to help solidify them a little more and I’m sure that they will be delightful anyway! You can’t go wrong with chocolate.

What is on your menu this week?

As this week is very unconventional, definitely follow me on IG to see what I’m eating when everything isn’t planned out and I’m trying to work through leftovers. Don’t be surprised if you see popcorn one night for dinner.