I’ll admit, when I saw the headline for the Buzzfeed Food Clean Eating Challenge I thought it was satire. I didn’t even click through. Later a friend mentioned that the recipes actually looked pretty good, so I gave it a second look.
Though the lengthy shopping lists and daily instructions seem a bit daunting at first, I was glad to see every detail of how to logistically follow the challenge laid out in full (i.e. prep this today, defrost that, etc.).
Be prepared to spend A LOT up front ($160+). We had many expensive ingredients already on hand, like chia seeds and flax seeds, and it still cost an arm and a leg.
Clean out your fridge in advance because you are going to need the room. I wish I’d taken a pick of the packed shelves before I started the meal prep!
Shopping:
I did most of my shopping at Trader Joe’s (that’s our usual store so we were headed there anyways). I ended up making a separate trip to Whole Foods and Meijer for the remaining vegetables that either were not available, didn’t look good or were too much in quantity at TJ’s ( I had to go to Meijer’s because Whole Foods was out of Arugala, apparently that’s a hot item on Mother’s day). If you don’t mind the price tag, you could do your full shopping trip at Whole Foods and avoid the running around. We also had a number of ingredients already in the house. Be sure to take stock before you leave to save yourself the money (and space!).
Prep:
There is a bit of extra food prep on day 1 to get all of the smoothies frozen ingredients bagged up, and if you are going to need to pack your next day lunches to take with you, I recommend you start earlier in the day to prep, not 9pm. If you have any evening plans during the week you may want to pre-make or prep the ingredients for those as well.
Links:
The plan-
- The full plan and links to each day and the printables here
- Printable plan with instructions and recipes here
Shopping lists-
Daily Instructions (instructions without images are included in the printable plan as well)-
- Day 1 here
- Day 2 here
- Day 3 here
- Day 4 here
- Day 5 here
- Day 6 here
- Day 7 here
- Day 8 here
- Day 9 here
- Day 10 here
- Day 11 here
- Day 12 here
- Day 13 here
- Day 14 here
I started on Monday (the plan starts on Sunday) so I’m just shifting each day forward one. So far so good!
Wish me luck! After just shopping and prepping I’m already a little nervous about what I’ve gotten myself into. If you’ve tried a challenge like this before or are doing it now too, or eat like this on a regular basis (look at you, super star!!), please comment with any tips or tricks for staying on top of it all.
Now let’s just see if I can go two weeks cranking meals out like this. The eating isn’t the hard part, it’s definitely the prep time.
Cheers!
Ready Set Sarah 
Really useful post and interesting tips! 🙂
Thank you!
🙂
Wow, the recipes actually do look pretty good! I might have to try it 🙂 Thanks for posting and let us know how it goes!!
I’ll share as I go, for sure! I’m on Day 3 and so far I like the recipes from day 2 the most. Every single one on day 2 is delicious and filling 🙂
Thank you so much for checking this out, posting it and sharing your experience with it. I’m going to try to incorporate some of it into my regular eating plans. Good Luck!
They are really good recipes, but be sure to read the instructions and ingredient list as you go because there are a few places that seem to have typos. Still, the meals come out great though!
We give below a few tips for men to achieve this goal.
Vibrant coloured food not just provide nutrients and fibre to the body, but also make a delicious and wholesome mid-meal snack.
It is a good idea to not force your child to eat everything that they do not like, but to at least try everything.
My boyfriend and I want to do this challenge. I see you posted that it was a bit above $160 was that for both weeks or just one week (I know prices will vary but would be nice to have a general idea )
That was for the first week batch, there were additional groceries for the second week. I didn’t follow the challenge as precisely the second week so it was less expensive that week. The cost might vary if you shop savvy, I’m just a creature of habit and stick to the same stores every time! Good luck!