2 recipes that will give your friends food-envy without breaking the bank

Jan 23 2018, 1:44 am

If your biggest resolution for 2018 was to eat healthy, you’re not alone. Far from it.

It’s something that many of us try to do on the regular, right? But it can be easy to fall off track if you don’t nail the planning and preparation phases, or if you don’t shop for fresh produce in advance (a must).

Everyone’s living a busy life, always on the go; we get it. However, meal prepping twice a week can help you stay ahead of the game and have healthy dinners ready to go when you need them. The best part? You can easily slide meal prep it into your schedule at times that work for you.

With that in mind, we’ve teamed up with celebrity chef Trevor Bird to help you get inspired with fresh and healthy recipes for 2018.

Getting your meal prep and cooking game on point can be easy. These three tips will help you get started:

  • Tip #1: Make a meal plan for the next three to four days. Create your shopping list.
  • Tip #2: Save time, make one trip and shop for everything at Real Canadian Superstore. They carry the freshest ingredients so you know you’re getting great quality food!
  • Tip #3: Make meal prep a priority. Schedule one hour, twice a week and prep for the next three to four days. After all, that’s how restaurants do it!

Let’s get cooking:

Trevor Bird’s Mason Jar Chop Salad 

Mason jar chop salad/Real Canadian Superstore

This is a quick, easy and affordable lunch that can be prepared and stored ready in your fridge; all you have to do is shake the jar and pour it into a bowl! And if you’re eating on your own and want to skip the dishes, eat out of the jar (we’re not telling).

Makes: 4 servings Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes
Ready in: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Difficulty Level: Easy

Ingredients – chicken prep: 

  • 6 Chicken Club pack Chicken Breasts
  • Salt to taste
  • Pepper to taste
  • 50ml No Name Pure Olive Oil

Directions: 

  1. On your prep day, turn oven to 250F and let it preheat.
  2. Season with oil, salt, and pepper.
  3. Place chicken on a baking sheet and bake for 30 to 40 minutes.
  4. Remove from oven and let cool. Place in fridge until ready to use (up to five days).

Chef’s tip: The temperature may seem low, but you can literally forget about the chicken, it will be an amazingly moist chicken breast. At any point, cube the chicken up for the salad. 

Ingredients – salad prep: 

This salad can be made up to two days in advance. When you want it, simply take it out of the fridge and shake it. Place it in a bowl and eat it.

  • 2 tbs ranch dressing
  • 2 tbs Broccoli florets blanched, cut into bite-size pieces
  • 2 tbs No Name Naturally Imperfect peppers, diced
  • 3 tbs PC® Club Pack chicken, cubed
  • Large pinch PC® Feta Cheese Crumbles
  • ½ No Name Naturally Imperfect apple, thinly sliced
  • 2 tbs PC® Bacon cut into small pieces and cooked until crispy
  • 10 Grape tomatoes, cut in half
  • Fill to top of jar with PC® Baby Spinach

Chef’s tip: It’s very important to build the salad layers in the 1L mason jar in this particular order so doesn’t get soggy.

Trevor Bird’s Braised Rib Eye with Root Vegetables and Roasted Potatoes

This is something you can easily cook all day long, in one pot, and have a ton of leftovers to use for a braised rib pasta, or even grilled cheese sandwiches. It’s great value for money, you can cook this for Sunday night dinner and have enough for lunches or a dinner during the week.

Makes: 6 large servings Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 4 hours
Ready in: 4 hours, 30 minutes
Difficulty level: Easy

Ingredients:

  • 2kg bone in AAA Rib Eye
  • Salt to taste
  • Pepper to taste
  • No Name Beef Bouillon Concentrate to make 1 L
  • 4 Cloves of garlic
  • 2 Onions, cut into 4
  • 6 Carrots, peeled and cut into 2
  • 6 Parsnips, peeled and cut into 2

Roast potatoes:

  • 24 PC® Golden Little Gems Yellow Mini Potatoes
  • 100ml No Name Pure Olive Oil
  • Salt to taste

Gravy:

  • 1 heaped tbs PC® Whole Grain Dijon Mustard
  • 2 tbs No Name Red Wine Vinegar

Directions: 

  1. Boil potatoes until they can easily be pierced with a fork (include this in your meal prep, they’ll keep fresh in the fridge for a few days). 
  2. Preheat oven to 250F.
  3. Season the rib eye thoroughly with salt and pepper.
  4. Sear the meat in a large pot on all sides until it’s golden brown.
  5. Place in PC Dutch Oven (or ovenproof pot) and place in stock, garlic, onions, carrots, parsnips, cover with lid.  
  6. Put in the PC Dutch Oven for 4 hours until the bones can easily be pulled off take out of oven and let cool, and get the potatoes going. The beef can rest and will stay hot with a lid on till the potatoes are ready. 

Roast potatoes:

  1. Turn the oven up to 400F, take the potatoes and toss in oil and salt to taste and eat one to ensure good seasoning. 
  2. Roast them for 40 to 50 minutes until golden brown and crunchy. 

Gravy:

  1. If you want to thicken your gravy drain the liquid from the beef and skim the fat off with a ladle. 
  2. Put in a pot and bring to a simmer. 
  3. In a small bowl mix 1 tbs cornstarch and 1 tbs water. Slowly drizzle the cornstarch in and whisk, if you don’t want to use cornstarch you can use rice flour instead.
  4. Season gravy with PC® Whole Grain Dijon Mustard and No Name Red Wine Vinegar.
  5. Place all potatoes and vegetables around beef and serve.

Now that you have the recipes you need to make quick and delicious healthy meals (approved by a top chef), all you have to do is snap up all the ingredients you need.

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