Finals Week Nutrition Tips
Posted by Jessica Peterson, MS, RD, CDCES on April 9, 2021
Section Links --> Nutrition Tips, Quick Recipe Ideas, Detailed Recipes
Nutrition Tips:
Listen to your body
- Hungry? Eat a snack that has some carbohydrate (crackers, bread, popcorn, fruit) and some protein (peanut butter, cottage cheese, cheese sticks, nuts/seeds, jerky). Carbohydrate gives you energy and protein helps our immune system, repair tissues, and keep us satisfied
- Thirsty? Try water or tea first! While reaching for the coffee is intriguing, too much coffee can lead to crashes later leaving you more tired than when you started
- Sleepy? Head outside, go for a quick walk, stretch, or take a cat nap
- Overwhelmed? Take 15 minutes to unwind – move your body, listen to some music, draw, catch up with a friend, read a good book, paint your nails, take a shower
Eat enough, often
- Eating smaller meals throughout the day keeps energy constant for studying staying power
- Be sure your meals include protein, grains, vegetables or fruit, fat such as salad dressing, avocado, or nuts and seeds, and something fun like candy, chips, or a cookie!
Prepare meals/snacks before the chaos begins
- Making time to prepare meals and snacks when a test or project is looming can be tough. Try planning ahead to make meals and snacks in a pinch
Grab your COVID buddy and start prepping!
Quick Recipe Ideas:
By Linda Hogg, RD, LN
Other Ideas:
Whole-grain pita, one pouch of Light Tuna, string cheese, part-skim mozzarella
- spread tuna over open pita halves, shred/spread cheese, place in oven @200, 5 min.
Whole grain bagel, small thinly sliced turkey breast, hummus, prepared (olive-oil base)
- spread hummus over bagel, place in oven @ 200, 5 min., place turkey, warmed, enjoy!
English muffin, natural peanut butter, banana Slices
- spread a tsp. of PB on both sides, evenly spread banana, warm for 10-20 seconds
Red potato, medium Amy’s Organic Chili, salsa medium
- cook potato in microwave 5 minutes, cut; evenly spread warmed chili/salsa to flavor
Corn tortilla, vegetarian refried/black beans, salsa and olives (or avocado)
- prepare as mini-pizza with tortilla as base and other ingredients in small amounts
Top ramen (non-hydrogenated), veggie mix (no added salt if canned, or fresh), a medium egg
- prepare noodles-directions; warm veggies separately – mix egg – boil all together
Amy’s Organic Macaroni and Cheese, broccoli, fresh Canadian Bacon (sliced)
- prepare noodles-directions; steam broccoli separately - combine all together evenly
Rye bread (small slices, 2-4), thinly sliced chicken breast, tomato and lettuce (or avocado)
- prepare and warm mini-sandwich (1-2) – use lite mayo for moisture as desired
Small whole wheat flour tortilla, lite cream cheese, hummus, vegetable mix (leftover)
- spread cream cheese/hummus thinly over tortilla - add vegetables as desired and roll and cut for mini-portions
English muffin (sourdough), tomato sauce, Canadian Bacon (sliced), string cheese (mozzarella)
- prepare all ingredients as a mini-pizza (toast muffin prior to using to avoid saturation from tomato sauce (keep dry)
Detailed Recipes:
Weekly Meal Ideas #1
- Chili
- Smothered Baked Potato
- Tacos/Taco Salad
Grocery List (this list is for dinners only and does not include breakfast, lunch or snack foods although you likely will have enough leftovers to use some of these foods for lunches!)
Condiments and Spices*
*If buying a large jar of spice feels daunting, buy spices in smaller quantities at the dollar store or in bulk.
- Olive oil
- chili powder
- ground cumin
- cayenne powder
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- brown sugar
- salt
- cracked pepper
Produce:
- 2 onions
- 1 head garlic
- 1 head romaine lettuce (or one bag chopped romaine lettuce)
- 2-4 baked potatoes
- Avocado (optional)
- Jalapeno (optional)
Meat/Dairy
- 2 lbs ground beef (can also use an extra 2 cans of beans of choice or ground turkey or combo of both!)
- Sour cream (optional)
- Cheddar cheese (optional)
Canned Goods
- 1 15 oz can kidney beans
- 1 15 oz can black beans
- 1 15 oz can dice tomato
- 1 6 oz can tomato paste
Grains:
- Tortillas (whole wheat, corn, or white)
- Tortilla chips (optional depending on what you want for the week!)
Frozen:
- 1 bag frozen broccoli
Prep:
Cook your baked/sweet potato
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. As your oven heats, scrub your potatoes.
- Using a fork, poke holes all around the potato (I suggested doing 4 potatoes for the week) and place on a baking sheet
- When the oven is heated, place baking sheet in the oven a cook for one hour or until a fork easily pokes through the potato
While your potato is baking, start making your chili (recipe slightly adapted from budgetbytes.com)
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 lbs ground beef (separated)
- 1 15 oz can kidney beans
- 1 15 oz can black beans
- 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 6 oz can tomato paste
- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp cayenne powder
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp cracked pepper
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic. In a large pot add olive oil, onion and garlic and cook over medium heat until they are soft and transparent. Add the ground beef and cook until fully browned (usually about 10 minutes).
- Remove ½ of the ground beef from the pan and place in a container in the fridge to use for tacos later in the week. Now continue on making the chili.
- Drain the beans and add them to the pot along with diced tomatoes, tomato paste, 1 cup water and all of the ingredients for the chili seasoning. Stir until well combined. Place a lid on the pot and allow it to simmer over a low flame for at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Serve with your favorite toppings (which will also be used for tacos and smothered potato!!)
- Tortilla chips
- Shredded cheese
- Jalapeno
- Sour cream
Chili, potatoes, and extra ground beef can be stored in your fridge for up to 1 week.
Smothered Potatoes Recipe
Ingredients
- Already prepared chili
- Baked potatoes
- Broccoli or other green of choice (spinach, cauliflower)
- Toppings: cheese, sour cream, jalapeno
- Cut potato in half and add a generous scope of chili and broccoli on top.
- Heat in the microwave until warmed through 1 min and 30 seconds to 2 min and thirty seconds
- Top with your favorite toppings!
Tacos/Taco Salad/Nachos Recipe
Ingredients:
- Precooked ground beef
- Tortilla chips (for nachos or taco salad), tortillas for tacos
- Toppings: cheese, sour cream, jalapeno, lettuce
- Heat ground beef in microwave for about 2 minutes, or until heated through
- Fill lettuce/tortilla chips/tortillas with ground beef and your choice of toppings
Weekly Meal Ideas #2
- Curry Chicken Salad Pita
- Pita Pizzas
- Sweet Chili Stir Fry
Grocery List (this list is for dinners only and does not include breakfast, lunch or snack foods although you likely will have enough leftovers to use some of these foods for lunches!)
Condiments and Spices*
*If buying a large jar of spice feels daunting, buy spices in smaller quantities at the dollar store or in bulk.
- Olive oil
- salt
- cracked pepper
- mayo
- lemon juice (can also buy fresh lemon if preferred)
- honey
- curry powder
Produce:
- 2 stocks celery
- 1 head garlic
- 3 green onions
- raisins
Meat/Dairy
- 6 chicken breasts
Canned Goods
- 1 15 oz can coconut milk
- 1 jar sweet chili sauce (in Asian section)
- Sliced almonds
- 1 8 oz can pineapple tidbits
Grains:
- 5 cups jasmine rice
Frozen:
- 1 bag frozen broccoli
Prep:
Start by making your rice first.
Ingredients
- 5 cups jasmine rice (if you want to save time, and have a little extra money in your food budget you could buy this precooked in the freezer section)
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 13.5 oz can coconut milk
- 1 cup water
- Add rice, chopped garlic, coconut milk, and water to a sauce pot.
- Place pot on the stove, with a lid, and heat on high until it comes to a boil.
- Once boiling, reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn off the heat and let the rice sit for 5 minutes with the lid on. After five minutes remove the lid and fluff rice with a fork. Note: if using brown rice cooking time will be longer. Follow package directions.
Now cook your chicken.
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- 6 chicken breasts
- Salt and pepper (optional)
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees
- Place chicken in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet or large baking pan
- Brush chicken with olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper
- Place chicken in oven and cook for 15 – 18 minutes until chicken is no longer pink in the center. Baking times will vary depending on size of chicken breast. If you have a meat thermometer chicken should be cooked until reaching an internal temperature of 165⁰.
- Once chicken is cooked, remove from oven. Chop or dice up 4 of the chicken breasts. Using two forks, shred the remaining 2 chicken breast. The shredded chicken can be placed in a container and stored in the fridge until later. Half of the diced chicken can also be stored in a container until later in the week.
Time to make Curry Chicken Salad!
Ingredients
- ¼ cup mayo
- ¼ cup plain yogurt
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp honey
- 1 tsp curry powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- cups chopped cooked chicken (about 2 breasts)
- 2 stalks celery
- 3 green onions
- ½ cup sliced almonds
- ½ cup raisins
Instructions
- Stir together mayo, yogurt, lemon juice, honey, curry powder, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
- Remove diced chicken from the fridge and combine with diced celery, sliced green onions, sliced almonds and raisins.
- Add chicken mixture to mayo dressing and stir until combined.
- Store in the fridge until ready to eat.
Sweet Chili Chicken Stir Fry
On the day you are ready to have stir fry, remove precooked diced chicken from fridge. Heat up precooked rice in the microwave.
Ingredients:
- 2cups diced chicken breast
- 1Tbsp cooking oil
- 1cup sweet chili sauce
- 1 can pineapple tidbits in juice
- 1 frozen broccoli
Instructions
- Heat frozen broccoli in microwave according to package direction.
- Add 1 tsp oil to a pan and add chicken to pan to warm through.
- Drain the can of pineapple, then add the pineapple to the skillet along with the sweet chili sauce. Stir and heat the sauce and pineapple through (about 2 minutes).
- To serve, place about 1 cup rice in each bowl, add 1/4 of the sweet chili chicken mixture, and 1/3 of the broccoli.
Can be made ahead and stored in the fridge for 4 – 7 days.