4 Ingredient Salad

Hello Clean Eaters!

Let me start off by saying that I LOOOOOVE a good salad! When I say a good salad, I mean one that is full of different flavors and textures, throw in some nuts with my crisp lettuce and you have a winner! I used to love going to a certain deli because they made the BEST salad (I mean it had feta cheese, walnuts, sunflower seeds, apples, grapes) and wanted to recreate it. I have always wanted to make a great salad at home but have always thought that I needed a lot of money to do so. In fact, to make these four different salads below, I only used four different ingredients!

The basic 3 ingredients in all these salads are baby spinach, grape tomatoes, and Romano cheese. Below are ingredient and price breakdowns for all four salads.

Spinach - $1.99 bunch
Grape Tomatoes - .99c
Grated Romano Cheese - $2.70 package
Unsalted Sunflower Seeds - .64c from the bulk section
Haas Avocado - .58c each
Total - $6.90 (before taxes) / $1.73 each

For the price of less than 1 deli salad, I have made 4 different salads for the week. The same philosophy can be attributed to meal planning across the board! You save money and gain nutritional points when you make your own meals at home instead of eating out- and these salads are just one example!

-Eating Clean in College

Weekly Meal Prep Tips!

Hello readers! This is my first post of the new year so I had to make it a good one! I know that losing weight or getting healthy is a popular New Years Resolution and I hope that you all have remained dedicated. As for myself, I know that I have not been eating too healthy. I recently graduated from college and like many other poor, unfortunate souls, I have not had the best luck in finding a job. Well, what do you do when your future is threatened and it looks like you'll have to a homeless hottie or a stripper? Well you give up luxuries that you cannot afford anymore. It is basic survival. Humans live to protect themselves and my physiological need for shelter and security were being threatened. Sadly, I was at a crossroads where I knew I needed to eat but didn't know if I could have risked losing the money. It was a sad place to be and can only imagine what other students or unemployed undergrads are going through. Thankfully, my family came to visit me and I was able to get a ton of groceries (plus my mother cooked some delicious foods so I have leftovers). It was literally the best thing to ever happen to me since all I had in my fridge was a jar of salsa and three frozen tilapia fillets. The struggle was mad real for ya girl but back to the topic at hand...

1. When it comes to meal prepping, I like to start out by dividing my animal proteins. That means that my beef, pork, chicken, salmon all get divided into two day portions. I buy a bulk bag of chicken breast but I have found that fresh beef, salmon, and pork is cheaper and freezes and thaws out perfectly! If I buy ground beef (which goes perfectly with corn tortillas) I cook and season the meat before freezing it. Then, whenever I want to cook it, I just heat it up on the stove top and voila!
2. Buy fresh and frozen produce. I like to eat the fresh foods first and then dip into the frozen stockpile. While it is tempting to devour the edamame immediately, I know that I have to finish my fresh green beans first.
3. Cook your vegetables and carbohydrates. My grainy sides usually consist of brown rice and more brown rice. I always cook  more vegetables than grains since I love having a colorful plate. 
4. Portion out your plate! I am not sure what dietary restrictions or plan you are on but the key step in meal prepping in putting all that delicious and healthy food into Tupperware! Storing it makes it super convenient to grab and eat on the go and it might prevent you from overeating. 
5. Don't forget to prep your snacks too! Things as simple as portioning out nuts in a sandwich bag or making smoothies/juices ahead of time makes it easier (and cheaper) to get through the next day. If you don't know what kind of snacks to prep, below are some of my favorites

• Mango's and berries
• Bananas and crunchy peanut butter
• Almonds
• LARA bars
• Kale juice (recipe below)

Homemade kale juice

Kale Juice Recipe

-1.5 C green tea

-1/2 bunch of kale

-1 extra large green apple

-2 kiwis

-1 banana

-1 cucumber

-splash of fresh lemon juice to taste

09/15 Shopping Trip

Hello readers! It has been well over a month since I have officially been grocery shopping! Over the past few weeks, I have supplemented my diet with a few quick trips to CVS here and there but nothing to serious. Well...I finally got the chance to head to the grocery store so here is shopping list!

1 lb of green beans - $1.51

1 tub of Dannon plain yogurt- $2.38

1 can of corn- $.48

Baby carrots - $1.44

Chicken drumsticks - $2.55

Top sirloin steak- $4.33

2 Cans of store brand tuna- $1.36

1 Cucumber - $.58

1 White onion - $.57

2.35 lbs of red apples - $2.75

2 Avocados - $1.16

1 Potato - $.50

1 Jalapeno- $.06

Air freshener- $.88

Total- 20.55

Stay tuned this week so see what I cooked!
-Eating Clean in College