Tag: meal prep

eats, life

Van Life: Reaction Video

ledtreats

Yesterday we posted about our friends, Courtney and Bryce, who are traveling the United States in their van. They recently posted a video of the meals they eat during a typical day on the road. To celebrate (and lovingly mock) them, we thought it would be fun to replicate their meals in our full-sized kitchen and document our reactions in this 9-minute video. Enjoy! (Because you probably won’t get many more of these.)

We made oatmeal, chickpea salad sandwiches, and peanut butter stir fry! You can find more details about those recipes here, as well as see the full video from Courtney and Bryce, which gives you a better idea of how to make them.

What we learned from making their meals:

  • There are delicious plant-based recipes out there you can make and love to eat. (This may sound blasphemous, but not everything has to be made on the Big Green Egg.)
  • It’s hard to make yourself vulnerable to an audience on camera.
  • Documenting your life on camera is consuming, so it’s important to take moments to just enjoy what you’ve created.
  • We don’t live a cool, van life, so we have the time to make reaction videos to our friends’ lives, apparently.
  • Our friends are adorable and funny, and we love them for putting up with us (and this video).
  • Oatmeal doesn’t fill you up. But peaches on your oatmeal are by far the best fruit to put on your oatmeal. (Tehehehe.)
  • You can make the chickpea salad sandwich your own by swapping out ingredients, as Courtney mentions in their video. Melissa suggests swapping tomatoes for grapes!
  • Make the peanut butter stir fry with just a half bag of rice noodles for more saucy and veggie goodness! Also, dabbing Sriracha or sprinkling some cracked red pepper could add a little spicy kick.
  • Two people can eat on $22/day and have leftovers to spare.
  • We are incredibly proud of our friends, Courtney and Bryce, deeply respect what they have been able to accomplish in the last five months on the road, and look forward to seeing what else is in store for them!

$22/day for 6 meals = $3.68/meal

We went to KROGER to buy all the ingredients to make these meals, and it cost us a whopping $22, and we even had leftovers! We think that’s amazing. Courtney and Bryce get a lot of questions about how they afford to take a trip like this. It’s because they make sacrifices all the time by 1) making everything themselves even when it means the inconveniences of doing dishes at a campsite, and 2) not spending money on going out to eat along their trip. We’re not sure that’s something we could do!

The last thing we want to point out is that their meals are healthy. Yes, they have a lot more carbs than we’re used to, but because they are healthier grains, we burned through them fast – especially on a VERY hot Houston day. Typically, people make excuses for not eating healthy. “It’s too expensive or too hard to cook.” But their videos  prove healthy meals can be affordable and easy (especially if you’re not living in a van).

Dear Courtney and Bryce,

Thanks for being such an inspiration! We are literally telling everyone we know to SUBSCRIBE to your page. We love you!

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eats

Simple Spatchcock Chicken w/ Salt & Vinegar Potatoes

ledtreats

Earlier this week we planned a simple, yet delicious, meal consisting of a full chicken which we can stretch into lunches the next day (surprise, surprise). For those of you who are unfamiliar with what a “spatchcock chicken” is, it is a whole chicken which has had the backbone removed so it can lay flat while cooking or roasting. When preparing the chicken we like to use a sharp pair of kitchen scissors  and simply cut up both sides of the backbone until it is removed. By doing this you allow the chicken to cook quicker on the grill, opposed to a beer can or rotisserie style.

Ingredients:

Directions

  1. Remove the backbone from the chicken, rinse thoroughly, and pat dry leaving the skin on.
  2. Season chicken with Meat Church’s “The Gospel” All Purpose Rub until thoroughly coated and dust with Wassi’s Maple Reserve rub for a touch of sweetness.
  3. Set the Big Green Egg to 400 degrees direct and place the chicken breast side down for 15 minutes or until the skin becomes crispy.
  4. After the 15 minutes, flip the chicken to the back side with the legs/thighs fanned out and let roast for 30-40 minutes until the breasts reach 155 degrees.
  5. While the chicken is on the egg, wash the red potatoes and place into a pot of water and set the stove to high and boil for 25-30 minutes until they are soft.
  6. Strain the potatoes and water and let them cool briefly.  Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, use a heavy glass/mug to press them into small circles.
  7. Heat butter in a pan on medium-high heat until  melted and then place the pressed potatoes in the pan and rotate them until crispy on both sides.  Salt and pepper to taste.
  8. Once the potatoes are crispy add the white vinegar and turn off the heat letting the vinegar soak into the potatoes.
  9. Remove the chicken after reaching 155 degrees and let rest for 5-10 minutes.
  10. Serve with a side of Trader Joe’s Sriracha & Roasted Garlic BBQ Sauce and ENJOY!

This is a great recipe for hosting and/or meal prepping! You should get around 4-5 servings, dependent on how many scraps you end up feeding your dog. If you try it, let us know what you think!