“No Buy” January

I like to kick off the year by cooking a month’s worth of meal prep by using what I have in my freezer and pantry. You know, the items you buy when you’re overly ambitious at the grocery store and then realize you are NOT that same person when you get home 😂 my two rules are I can’t go to the grocery store and I can’t order takeout.

It took the better part of 3 days. It’s mentally exhausting more than it is physically exhausting because like what do you with one orange and an open can of tomato paste and brussel sprouts?!

Now that we are halfway through the month, I can say everything I made was a success! Here’s a look into what I did! I used my vacuum sealer or parchment paper to make individual meals.

I apologize in advance if the format messes up in this post. It is so much to type 😭

Pic 1-4: pernil and arroz con gandules. Pic 3 is the recipe for the rice. If you have an iPhone and don’t speak Spanish, it will translate pretty well. This was actually my NYE dinner and I froze the leftovers.

Pic 5: I made biscuits because I had a roll of Jimmy Dean sausage, but no premade biscuits. Recipe: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013741-all-purpose-biscuits?algo=cooking\_search\_relevance\_metric\_ios\_and\_web&fellback=false&imp\_id=3696625978431640&req\_id=8140929373612627&surface=cooking-search&variant=0\_relevance\_reranking

Pic 6: Orange chicken, garam masala green beans and rice. Recipe for Orange chicken: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/765910967-seared-orange-chicken-and-broccoli

Pic 7: Taco bowl. Chicken with taco seasoning, bell peppers, corn, black beans, canned Fire roasted tomatoes, chimichurri seasoning

Pic 8 & 9: beef and cheese burritos. Ground beef with taco seasoning & cheddar cheese

Pic 10 & 11: Pizza! Homemade sauce with canned tomatoes, tomato paste, onions, Italian seasoning, garlic. Ciabatta buns. Mozzarella & parm. Bake until your liking of crispiness.

Pic 12: chicken and brussel sprouts as a ramen mix in. Baked chicken thighs with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. Baked brussel sprouts with salt. Packaged ramen.