Meal-prep away with this quick, easy, and oh so delicious vegetarian grain bowl!
Oh my gosh. This meal is life.
I love making Mediterranean food. It can be really healthy and because of the similar ingredients, can be really cost-effective. These lunches cost about $2 each, the ingredients are what's leftover from turkey burgers and still leave leftover ingredients like the spinach, onions, and artichokes for other recipes!
Here's a cost breakdown so y'all can keep me honest on my math (which was NOT my best subject):
*My groceries came from Aldi*
Grape Tomatoes $1.99
Feta $1.99
Yellow Onions $1.79
Spinach $1.19
Cucumber $0.49
Artichoke hearts $2.59
Kalamata Olives $2.15
Long Grain Wild Rice (I chose chicken flavor, I like to eat meat. There are about 3 other flavors that are completely vegetarian) $1.69
Quinoa/Brown Rice $1.75
Hummus ~ $3 (I made my own because I had the ingredients on hand already)
Grand Total $18.63/8 meals = $2.33/meal
Compared to eating out for lunch every day, this lunch packs some crazy savings! Plus It is so healthy with all the vegetables, protein, and fiber. I think it took me 10 minutes to assemble all 8 lunches. The longest part of the process is cooking the rice and leaving it on a sheet pan in the refrigerator to cool quickly.
If the grain bowl seems a little skimpy then, by all means, add more ingredients. I tend to use my groceries in 1-4 meals each throughout the week, so rationing them is crucial. Thinking back to how fast fresh produce goes bad, I really could have added more than a handful of spinach to each bowl.
Like I stated above, I call this meal vegetarian because when it comes down to it, the choice of grains does not at all need to include chicken flavoring. I just personally like it, so I bought it. And if I'm being honest, this meal would be super easy to convert to a vegan diet! Simply exclude the feta cheese and choose a differently flavored grain.
Vegetarian Mediterranean Grain Bowl
Ingredients:
Grains
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Spinach
Onion
Artichoke Hearts
Kalamata Olives
Hummus
Optional Add-ins: Feta
1TB Lemon Juice drizzled on top
Directions:
Make grains according to box instructions. Use 2-3 boxes of flavored grains OR if you have bulk ingredients use about 2c dry grains and make how you prefer. Cool on a sheet pan (more surface area=faster cool time) in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes.
While grains cool, chop up the other ingredients, like the onion, cucumber, and possibly other ingredients according to your preference.
Put everything in the container(s), eat now, or put a lid on it and refrigerate for later use.
Mangia!
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