Lunch: Spaghetti Bolognese
Total time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- Salt (2.5g)
- Pepper (2.5g)
- Sunflower Oil (15g)
- Beef Meatballs (30g)
- Whole Meal Pasta (100g)
- Half an onion
- Half a courgette
- Spinach (100g)
- Half can of chopped tomatoes
- Parmesan cheese (Grated) (7g)
Equipment:
- Saucepan
- Pan
- Sieve
- Wooden Spoon
Pasta:
- Bring water in saucepan to boil
- Add in pasta and sprinkle in sold
- Once cooked, drain and mix in with bolognese sauce
Bolognese:
- Put pan on medium heat adding a teaspoon of sunflower oil
- Throw in the meatballs until the until there brown all over
- Dice the halves of onion and courgette
- Throw in onion and courgette until golden
- Mix in chopped tomatoes
- Throw in spinach
- Reduce heat, to a simmer, leave the sauce for 7 minutes
- Once done, it is ready to be served with parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper to your liking
This meal provides 28.9g of protein and 68g of carbohydrates. As mentioned previously, it is important for our athletes to ingest around 20-25g of protein and 68 g of carbohydrates every 3-5 hours to enhance refuelling and repair. Water is served alongside this meal for hydration.
Dinner: Beef Steaks and Sweet Potato Quinoa Salad
Total time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
- Sweet Potatoes (150g)
- Quinoa (150g)
- Fresh parsley (3.8g)
- Spring Onions (20g)
- Beef Steaks (60g)
- Olive Oil (12.6g)
- Salt (3g)
Equipment:
- Mixing Bowl
- Saucepan
- Wooden Spoon
- Knife
- Baking trays x2
- Silver Foil
- Tongs
Sweet Potato Quinoa Salad:
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees
- Peel the sweet potato and slice them into thin slices
- Place in a bowl, and trickle over olive oil and salt, then transfer to the baking tray and cook to 15 minutes
- Bring water (250ml) to a boil in the saucepan, and add the quinoa, turning it down to simmer for 10-12 minutes
- Finely chop the parsley and spring onions
- Once the quinoa and sweet potatoes are cooked, mix together in the parsley and spring onions
- Ready to serve
Beef Stakes:
- Put pan on medium heat adding in the rapeseed oil
- Fry the beef steaks until browned and fully cooked (for ten minutes), using tongs to flip every two minutes
- Once cooked, it’s ready to serve
This meal provides 27.4g and 67g of carbohydrates. As mentioned previously it’s important for our athletes to ingest 20-25g of protein and 68g of carbohydrates every 3-5 hours to enhance refuelling and repair. Water is served alongside this meal for hydration.
Snack: Chocolate, Banana and Oats Smoothie
Prep time: 1 minute
Total time: 4 minutes
Ingredients:
- 8 oz of Chocolate milk
- 1 Tablespoon of almond butter
- 1 Large banana
- 26 g cup of Oats
Equipment:
- Blender
Smoothie
- To a blender, add the chocolate milk, almond butter, banana and oats.
- Blend until smooth and serve in a cup or glass container and enjoy!
Chocolate milk states Pritchett and Pritchett (2015) consists of electrolytes such as sodium and a 4:1 carbohydrate and protein ratio which has been shown to be ideal for post-exercise recovery. Milk according to Rondaneli et al. (2021) contains 0.377 g of leucine per 100g and 3.5g of protein per 100g. As previously stated, leucine and protein play an important role in muscle protein synthesis, which is why this chocolate banana oat milk smoothie was chosen as an ideal snack for our recovering athlete.
Bedtime: Casein Smoothie
Ingredients:
- 1 and a half scoop of golden standard casein powder
- 4 I cubes
- 1 Large Banana
- 1 tbsp of coconut powder
- 1 tbsp of flaxseed oil
- 170ml of whole milk
Equipment:
- Blender
Smoothie:
- Combine all ingredients, and blend until combined
Casein is a dairy protein that is digests slowly and is frequently used as a supplement. Athletes often take it before bed to aid in muscle protein synthesis, and lessen muscle breakdown, as amino acids are delivered slowly (Levy, 2021). This is why we’ve decided to give our athlete a casein smoothie.