Serious business: Meal prep for zombie apocalypse season

Showtime! Let's turn on the 'juice and see what shakes loose, for about $3/day

What’s this? What’s this? There’s color everywhere!

It’s one of life’s great ironies that my claim to (minimal) fame is being the Candy Corn Queen, because I’m a registered dietitian supposedly dedicated to a healthy diet. It’s actually not contradictory, because treats are an important part of good nutrition — not just acceptable, but helpful. Still, one of my dearest wishes in life is to help people enjoy their food, revel in textures and flavors and indulgence, but without hurting themselves.

And that’s why I love this $%*#$ adorable honey pumpkin goat cheese ravioli. Look at it there, in cheerfully cursed candy corn colors, as though someone said “Beetlejuice!” three times on the haunted hayride. These ravioli mean business. Post this on your Instagram, and Jack Skellington will cower at the mention of your name, lest you grind his bones to make your bread (and boil his headgear for ravioli). This kind of joy helps me stay interested in doing a little meal planning, and reduces the chances that I’ll get overwhelmed and choose meals out more often than is good for me.

Meal planning is…not exciting most of the time. I get it. I often default to a sort of grains and greens template that I can do without thinking about it, but I get so tired of the same old thing. I need this kind of totally outrageous plate to keep me entertained while watching The Exorcist for the 167th time. (It just keeps getting funnier!)

If you need an idea for a general healthy diet lunch this week*, it’s certainly a super easy one to try. It’s vegetarian and takes about 15 minutes including the watched-water-boiling time. In my area and with the brands I chose, the ingredients were about $15 for 5 meals, plus small amounts of a few staples. The sauce is seasonal af, spicy and creamy and rich, and you’ll have plenty of time to make it for packing before the zombie hordes descend or the Pumpkin King arrives to take his vengeance.

RECIPE:

Here’s the star player:

These are limited edition from Target, but anything similar will do just fine. I also used 1 package of frozen broccoli florets, a can of pumpkin puree (NOT PUMPKIN PIE FILLING), a can of light coconut milk, 1/2 c nut butter of your choice (almond, peanut, or sunflower butter fit the flavor profile nicely), juice from 1 lime, 2 tablespoons of low sodium soy sauce or coconut aminos, and about a tablespoon of red curry paste. That’s it!

Put your water on to boil. Meanwhile, mix the pumpkin, coconut milk, nut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, and curry paste in a saucepan. Simmer together over medium heat about 5 minutes, and remove from heat. Then when the water boils, cook ravioli according to package directions — usually 4 or 5 minutes. Drain and spray with cooking spray to prevent sticking if you’d like. Taste your sauce, correct seasoning if needed (sometimes I add extra garlic and ginger depending on the brand of curry paste I’m using). Add a little pasta water if you’d like it thinner, but remember that sauces usually need to be a tad on the strong side since they are eaten with other things. It should be just a little spicier and saltier than you want the final dish to be.

Put about 1/3 c of sauce in the bottom of each container, top with 4 or 5 ravioli, and about 1 c of frozen broccoli — no need to cook it since it’ll get heated up during the week. I sprinkled a few totally optional green onions and a little gomasio on top (here’s a recipe for gomasio, but I cut the salt in half — you must try it on oatmeal and scrambled eggs). It’s best not to mix in the sauce so the pasta doesn’t get squishy, until it’s heated for eating. I even try to keep the sauce mostly under the broccoli and not so much under the pasta. I’m also happier if I boil the second package on Wednesday morning rather than all of the ravioli at once, to prevent drying out.

TIPS:

You will have sauce left, and it freezes really well. I like to freeze such sauces in a dedicated ice cube tray (unless curry garlic ice water is your jam), and then pop them out and store in a labeled bag in the freezer. The next time you want to use it for meal prep, throw three cubes in your lunch container, ready for heating. It’s great with leftover brown rice and veggies, for example. On that note, if you have any pastes or sauces you don’t use often, you can freeze and label those similarly. (Just because I eat my weight in curry paste on a regular basis doesn’t mean you do.) You can even chop up fresh herbs and freeze in cubes with a little olive oil for a pop of summer in the cold dead of winter.

Meal prep’s main benefits are that it costs less and is often automatically healthier than most meals out. Don’t get too hung up on calories or perfection or being totally consistent…just start trying new things, learning to cook a little more, bringing your lunch more often. Maybe you’ll only do it one week out of the month, or maybe you’re just bringing an orange and some mixed vegetables with leftover dinosaur nuggets. I will be pleased as punch. Good job! You get a gold star!

That said, if you are keeping track, this meal with the serving sizes suggested usually runs about 400-450 calories — it depends on the type of nut butter you use, etc. It’ll be only about 20 mg of cholesterol, and under 60 grams of carbs even if you use a nut butter with sugar in it. Some people may need more calories at lunch, so adjust according to your own needs. You might need an extra bag of broccoli and a third package of ravioli.

Thanks for tuning in to this special spookytime installment of Serious Business! I believe it was our most horrible yet!

A NOTE ABOUT MEDICAL NUTRITION:

*Keep in mind that this meal prep idea is for a general healthy diet. If you have any sort of medical condition, make sure you ask your medical team for recommendations regarding your personal needs or restrictions. Many people qualify for free or low-copay visits with a registered dietitian through insurance, or you may have access through various agencies and programs, often via telehealth. It’s especially important to see an RD or RDN if you have such a condition — RDs have training in medical nutrition therapy that many other nutrition providers do not have (I like the explanation about the difference between RDs and nutritionists here). You can often read bios online of the various RDs you have to choose from, and that’s a great way to find someone who is a good fit. You get out of nutrition counseling what you put into it, but your dietitian should also meet you where you are, and help you find a way of eating that works for your time constraints, finances, preferences, and medical needs.