meal prep

6 Trim Healthy Mama Lunches For Work

April 14, 2018 by Stacy Craft 8 Comments

These 6 Trim Healthy Mama lunches will make your work week so much easier and keep you on plan.

The Trim Healthy Mama plan works for weight loss but it can seem overwhelming at first.

The biggest complaints that I see on the Facebook groups regarding the plan is the large time and cooking commitment and that it costs too much. With proper planning, both of those can be easily overcome.

Here you will find six Trim Healthy Mama lunches that you can take to work that require little prep work and are fairly economical.

The other complaint that I hear is that it is hard to know which type of meal (S or E) that you are consuming.

Each of these meals will be labelled so that you can easily determine the fuel of the Trim Healthy Mama lunch that you are consuming. And if you want an extra THM S idea, read about my favorite protein packed salad here.

Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.

Need More THM Lunch Ideas?

12 Easy Low Carb Lunch Ideas

One Rotisserie Chicken, Five THM Lunches

5 THM Leftover Chicken Lunch Ideas

Lunch on Trim Healthy Mama – 35 Meal Ideas

Meal Prep Tip

I don’t like participating in the Sunday meal prep game. My Sundays are for church, family, rest and Pinterest (in that order). If it works for you great but if it doesn’t, here is what I do. I just cook extra of whatever meat that I make for dinner and then incorporate that extra into lunches during the week.

For example, I will have my husband grill a couple of extra chicken breasts which takes no extra time. I also brown my ground beef as soon as I buy it and then freeze it. Doing this makes a lunch with ground beef a cinch to pull together.

6 Trim Healthy Mama Lunches

I am trying to shed some of my leftover baby weight so I am currently sticking with one E meal or snack a day and the rest of my meals fall into the S category. If you are closer to goal weight, you may want to add in extra E meals or even some crossovers.

(That is what works for me. Some people find that more E meals aid in their weight loss. You may have to play around with it to see what works best for you)

Grilled Chicken Salad – THM S

Salad included baby spinach and shredded cabbage, grilled chicken (leftover), boiled egg, shredded cheese, 1/2 an avocado, mini bell peppers and ranch dressing.

Another of my salad favorites is the Mama’s salad. It is awesome because the protein requires no pre-cooking and you can read about it here.

Sprouted Ham Sandwich – THM E

Most of my Trim Healthy Mama lunches this week were in the S category. I do try to have at least one E meal or snack a day.

I find incorporating at least some carbs daily prevent me from getting that “Keto Flu” feeling.

This E meal included a sandwich made on sprouted bread (my favorite is from Aldi) with lean ham, laughing cow cheese spread and baby spinach.

As a side, I had baked blue corn tortilla chips with salsa and a small serving of blackberries.

*Edited to Add: these chips have become almost impossible to find. In order for the blue chips to be on plan, they must be the baked variety. No worries, the Baked Tostitos are great and also on plan!

Cheeseburger Salad – THM S

The cheeseburger salad was my favorite lunch all week.

My husband grilled the burgers for this on Saturday but if you had this during the week, you could easily make an extra to warm up during the week for this salad. I’ve also used my air fryer and a frozen burger patty to make this super quick and easy.

I put diced tomatoes, chopped dill pickles, red onion and ranch on this salad. It cured the itch for a burger on a (gasp) bun.

Tuna Salad Stuffed Avocado – THM S

Simply make an easy tuna salad and stuff it in your avocado.

My tuna salad had dill pickles, a little greek yogurt and a little mayo, and boiled eggs (from Easter, hence the blue dye!).

I thought the taste of this was really good but I did add a few pork rinds with this meal to provide a little crunch.

Loaded Pepper Nachos – THM S

I had seen many recipes for this type of lunch floating around the internet and it honestly just never appealed to me.

But one day I had mini peppers and leftover taco meat in my fridge so I gave it a chance. I was really pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

Slice your peppers and roast for a few minutes in the oven, top with your warm taco meat and cheese. Cook for just a few minutes to melt the cheese. Then top with avocado, sour cream and salsa. Yum.

You could probably prep this (roast your peppers) and then just warm it up in the microwave if you needed to take it to work.

Pickle Cream Cheese Roll Ups – THM S

I eat this at least once every couple of weeks. I love how simple it is to put together.

Simply spread some cream cheese on a piece of deli ham and wrap a dill pickle in it. Super easy and delicious.

I served it with a side of strawberries and pepperoni chips. If you have never tried pepperoni chips, you are missing out.

Just put the pepperoni slices between two paper towels and microwave for a minute or less until they are crunchy. I like to dip them in wing sauce or ranch.

Want more practical THM meal ideas? Join me on Instagram where I share my daily food diary.

I hope these 6 Trim Healthy Mama Lunches help to show you that you don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen or tons of money on special ingredients to stay on plan. With a little bit of planning, you can eat great all week.

If you are struggling with understanding the plan, I do highly recommend that you read the book. It will really help you to get a grasp of the way that they recommend that you separate fuels in order to maximize your weight loss.

Have you lost weight on THM? I am down 12 lbs in 4 weeks so far!

5 THM Freezer Meals

November 17, 2020 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

Prepping ahead really makes it easier to stay on plan when life gets crazy. These 5 THM freezer meals are easy to prep and even easier to serve at dinner time.

When I first got married, freezer cooking was something that I learned to do in order to save time during the work week. I made all kinds of casseroles, breakfast burritos and even snack foods to keep in our freezer.

The problem was that none of the things that I made were particularly healthy. So as we transitioned into the THM way of eating, I quit freezer cooking. In fact, I told a friend not too long that I couldn’t freezer cook anymore because I needed only healthy foods in our house.

Boy was I wrong. I found that I can eat on plan & freezer cook! These 5 THM freezer meals will help to make your busy days easier and keep you on plan!

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

5 THM Freezer Meals to Try

These 5 THM freezer meals are dinners that I have made for my family and that we enjoyed. It is so nice to have some freezer dinners on hand when you just don’t feel like cooking.

Here are the recipes from my latest Trim Healthy Mama freezer cooking session.

THM S Parmesan Meatballs

To Freeze: Follow the directions to make the meatballs. You can freeze unfrozen meatballs after you form them and then cook after you thaw.

I like to go ahead and fry them in a skillet. Let them cool and freeze them for 1 hour on a cookie sheet (keeping them from touching). Then place them into a freezer bag.

To Eat: When ready to use, thaw or warm from frozen in a skillet. Here are some meal ideas: Spaghetti (Dreamfields or Zoodles) & Meatballs, Meatball subs on Joseph’s Pita

THM E Buffalo Wing Chicken Chili

To Freeze: Prep and cook the chili. Allow it to cool. Place portions that will feed your family in gallon ziplock bags and freeze flat.

To Eat: Thaw in fridge and warm.

THM S Coconut Lime Chicken Legs

To Freeze: Prepare the marinade. Add the chicken to the bag, pour over marinade and seal in ziplock bags.

To Eat: Thaw in fridge and then bake or grill

*This recipe from Living Well Spending Less is already on plan even though it isn’t labeled as THM. Since the canned coconut milk makes it an S, I subbed chicken legs to make this extra frugal. Plus my kids love drumsticks – it’s always fun to pick up your food with your hands!

THM S Korean Beef over Cauli Rice

To Freeze: Slice the steak into strips (if using ground beef, you will need to brown the ground beef first. I prefer the steak because it requires no pre-cooking). Mix up the rest of the ingredients and pour over the meat in a ziplock bag. Lay flat in freezer to freeze.

To Eat: Thaw in the fridge & cook in a skillet over medium heat until steak is the desired level. Serve over cauli rice with a bag of frozen stir fry veggies.

THMify: This recipe from Love Bakes Good Cakes needs a couple of subs to be on plan. I subbed a boneless flat iron steak instead of using the ground beef. This was just a preference, either meat option would be on plan.

Sub Swerve brown sugar in place of the regular sugar. You can use the soy sauce or sub liquid aminos.

THM S Joseph’s Freezer Pizzas

To Freeze: Take one regular or mini pita. Top it with pizza sauce, shredded cheese, pepperoni, veggies or whatever toppings you like. Allow to freeze for an hour or 2 on a cookie sheet to get the sauce and toppings firm. Next, wrap in clear plastic wrap and then in aluminum foil.

To Eat: pop into the oven (400 degrees) and cook for about 10-12 minutes or until the pizza’s cheese is melted and warm.

Is it easy to just make these fresh? Absolutely. I make tortilla pizzas often but here is the problem – sometimes there isn’t even enough time to make a quick pizza.

The second reason I like to make these is because of the supplies. My Walmart doesn’t carry Joseph’s anymore so I have to order directly from the website. In order to get the most reasonable shipping rate, I have to order a lot. So I like to be able to get some of these prepped and ready in the freezer.

Freezer Prep Ideas

Freezer meals are great but freezer prep can also be a big help in the kitchen! What’s the difference between freezer cooking vs. freezer prep?

The freezer meals listed above are obviously either full meals or the main protein of the meal prepped ahead. Freezer prep is more of prepping components of meals vs. a full meal.

Here are my favorite freezer prep ideas:

Brown ground beef (or any ground meat that you use), drain the fat. Once cool, place in a ziplock bag and freeze flat.
Cook chicken in Instant Pot or crockpot and shred. Freeze in bag for use later.

Leftover Saver – Freezer Soup Bowl

This is a different way to freezer cook that my mom taught me years ago. It is a simple way to solve two common problems.

Using this freezer soup bowl eliminates leftover waste, especially those leftovers that seem like they aren’t worth saving. A couple of spoonfuls of peas or carrots etc.

And when ready, this provides you with a frugal freezer meal to feed your family! Check out all the details on how to create your freezer soup bowl here. It’s so easy!

Trim Healthy Mama Weekly Meal Plan 1

December 7, 2018 by Stacy Craft 6 Comments

A 1 week photo diary of everything I ate for one week. Dig into this Trim Healthy Mama Weekly Meal Plan 1 and stay tuned for subsequent weeks!

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

Trim Healthy Mama Meal Prep

I was planning to meal prep a few things to make my week easier. Here are the things that I was hoping to get done during my 1 hour meal prep.

Make baked oatmeal (will eat this throughout the week for breakfast or even a snack)
Make sausage crumbles for the microwave egg scrambles
Boil Eggs
Cook & Shred Chicken thighs
Chop Turkey ham for ham and beans.
Wash fresh fruit and veggies and prep in ready to go containers

Since I was also in charge of keeping my 11 month out of trouble and entertaining 747 questions from my 4 year old, getting snacks and a bottle, I didn’t quite get everything accomplished that I was hoping for.

I missed making the sausage crumbles, boiling eggs and chopping the turkey ham. Geez, I was only at 50%. I did also get our dinner made in that 1 hour prep, so it wasn’t a complete miss.

More THM Meal Plans:

7 Family Friendly Frugal THM Dinners

THM Weekly Meal Plan 2

What I Ate for A Week on Trim Healthy Mama

Here is everything that I ate for a week. There are lots of pictures and I included recipes where I could. Seeing pictures and other trim healthy mama meal plans helps me to stay on plan and get new ideas so I hope this helps you too!

I aim to keep Trim Healthy Mama ultra simple. Complicated recipes and special ingredients do not often make it to my table. The only thing remotely “special” that I frequently use are the Mission low carb tortillas and Dreamfields pasta. Those are usually in my pantry but they are easy to find at my Walmart and reasonably priced.

Day 1:

Breakfast: Jimmy Dean Simple Scramble Copycat (would typically add some berries with this but I am a mom on the go and the clock said it was time for school so I missed that) (S)

I think this is such a pretty little cup of eggs. I hardly believe it came out of the microwave in less than 2 minutes!

Lunch: Turkey and cream cheese pinwheels, pork rinds, mini bell peppers, 4 oz blackberries (S)

I don’t have a recipe for the pinwheels but they are super simple. Spread a little softened cream on the Mission Low Carb tortilla, spread on some spicy mustard on top of the cream cheese. Add some deli meat and shredded cheese. Roll the tortilla up and place in the fridge for 10 or 15 minutes to help set it up. 30 minutes is probably best but I can’t ever wait that long! Slice them up with a sharp knife. I love these for a quick lunch.

Snack: string cheese and 2 oz of nuts (S)

Dinner: Hummus crusted baked chicken with roasted carrots, bell peppers and green beans (E or XO) I am calling it an E because I only used about a tablespoon of hummus. Hummus is a crossover typically because of the oil and beans mix the fuels. However, since my meal was very low fat otherwise, I call it an E (carrots and my dessert give me the carbs to make it an E). Just be aware if you are using a lot of hummus or have other fats in your meal that you may go into XO territory which is still on plan but not as good for weight loss.

Dessert: Baked oatmeal with non-fat greek yogurt (E)

Evening Snack: Baked Tortilla chips and Salsa (E) I don’t usually eat after dinner but I was really hungry. Possibly because this was my first full day back on THM and I had gotten used to eating a sugar filled dessert after dinner? Habits are hard to break.

Day 2:

Breakfast: Baked Oatmeal (E), topped with nonfat greek yogurt

Lunch: Cold Cut Roll Up Salad (S), Ranch Dressing

Dinner: Easy 15 Minute Turkey Ham & Beans (E) – I know everyone gets scared when you start talking about E meals. My whole family gobbles this meal up with no complaints and it is literally quicker than strapping my kids in car seats and driving to a fast food drive thru.

Seriously, add this to your trim healthy mama weekly meal plan now!

Snack: Nuts,String Cheese (S)

Day 3:

Breakfast: Sprouted Toast, Small amount of greek yogurt cream cheese, All Fruit Polaner’s Jelly and a side of plain greek yogurt with a tiny bit of polaner’s mixed in (about 1/2 teaspoon). (E)

Please excuse the lighting on this photo. I was up early, working on the computer and eating breakfast. That is what us working mamas do! Am I right?

Lunch: Salsa Verde Chicken Mini Pepper Nachos (S)

My most popular recipe on this site is the 30 minute Cheesy Salsa Verde Chicken with Cauli Rice. I took the filling from this recipe and stuffed it in a pepper for lunch. Delish. Here is the recipe for the Salsa Verde Chicken Pepper Nachos.

Dinner: Grilled Pork Chop, Mac and Cheese Zoodles and Spinach salad (S)

Ya’ll – we eat this cheesy zucchini at least twice a week. And that is saying something because I am not huge on repeating recipes.

It is a macaroni and cheese sub for me. It is so cheesy and rich, it goes great with grilled chicken, pork or steak.

Day 4:

Breakfast: Breakfast Taco and strawberries (S)

After living in Texas for 5 years, I learned breakfast tacos are life! I made this one on a Mission Low carb tortilla. It’s so good and it is something you can roll up and eat in the car on the way to work.

Lunch: Loaded Tuna Salad on Sprouted Bread (E) with a small apple and raw veggies. You won’t miss the mayo in this quick and easy tuna salad recipe packed with protein!

Dinner: Spaghetti with ground beef meat sauce on Dreamfields pasta, Salad with ranch (S)

Dreamfields pasta is a personal choice item but my body does fine with it so I use it. I can usually find it at Walmart for less than $2. My kids adore spaghetti and the texture of this pasta is really similar to regular pasta. In fact, I can’t tell a difference at all. Spaghetti on a “diet” – Yes please!

Day 5:

Breakfast: Leftover baked Oatmeal with Greek Yogurt (E)

Lunch: Chicken & Cheese quesadilla on a Mission Low Carb tortilla with pork rinds and raw veggies (not pictured) (S)

Dinner: Cheesy zucchini with Ham (S)

Told you that we love this zucchini at my house. Here I just made the cheesy zucchini and added some ham that was lightly browned in a skillet. It is grown up Mac n cheese with hotdogs (don’t judge!). So good and it takes less than 30 minutes to get this on the table.

Day 6:

Breakfast: Easy 2 Minute Microwave Eggs I usually eat the same thing for breakfast a couple of times during the week. It doesn’t bother me and makes planning easier.

Lunch: Baby Spinach, Cheese Cubes, Steak and Ranch (S)

My husband brought home some leftover steak. A delicious yet simple steak salad was calling my name.

Dinner: Sausage, fried radishes and green beans (S)

No Trim Healthy Mama weekly meal plan would be complete without some weird ingredient would it? I don’t know about you but radishes were not on my list of things that I would eat before THM. I finally got brave enough to try them and you know what? They aren’t half bad.

I don’t usually make different meals for my family but my kids aren’t eating radishes. I can promise it. So I made them sausage and potatoes and I subbed radishes for mine. Now let me tell you the truth. You are not going to bite into it and think yum a potato. But if you go into it with an open mind to try a new veggie, I think you might just like it. I did.

Day 7:

Breakfast: Ham slices, scrambled eggs and berries (S)

Lunch: Sprouted Sandwich, carrots, apples and a small amount of ranch (E)

Sprouted Bread Sandwich Apple and Carrots

Dinner: Grilled pork chop, Wedge salad and Fried cabbage (S)

I hope you enjoyed this Trim Healthy Mama Weekly Meal Plan. I will continue to periodically post what I eat over the course of a week to try and give you ideas! THM really doesn’t have to be hard or complicated. If you have any questions, leave me a comment.

If you liked this weekly meal plan, check out some of my other popular posts that are THM friendly!

Cheesy Salsa Verde Chicken with Cauliflower Rice (S Meal)

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