Jennifer Garner Shares Her Favorite High-Protein Meals

Protein is an essential nutrient that everyone needs, and getting enough of it in your eating pattern provides plenty of benefits. Things like stronger muscles, healthier hair and staying satisfied for longer periods of time are the pros to eating more high-protein foods.

And this goes for all ages, which is why Jennifer Garner’s kid-friendly food brand Once Upon a Farm just launched two new Refrigerated Protein Bars packed with 8 grams of protein for a satiating snack. The new flavors are hard to deny: Cinnamon Roll and Oatmeal Chocolate, which surprisingly include 0 grams of added sugar.

“It took so many trials to balance flavor, texture and protein,” Garner tells EatingWell. “It wasn’t easy, but we just kept going, especially when you don’t have added sugar to mask the [protein] flavor. We made two delicious flavors, and the fun thing about our refrigerator bars is that parents love them as much as kids.”

As a founder of the brand, Garner practices what she preaches and incorporates high-protein meals into her own daily life. For breakfast, the actor tells us she loves veggie-packed egg bites or scrambled eggs with a side of avocado. Either of these choices hold her down until lunchtime, where she goes for an in-season salad.

“Yesterday, I made one of my perfect salads, which is shaved, really fine Brussels sprouts, kale, a lemon dressing with Parmesan, and some pistachios and almonds. And chopped up broccoli florets; I always use whatever is hanging out in my vegetable drawer,” she shares. The combination of nuts and cheese promises a protein-packed bite, and we love that Garner prioritizes using the veggies she already has on hand.

For dinner, Garner focuses on a high-protein main with comforting veggie sides.

“My kids would say that a ‘mom dinner’ is a roast chicken, which you can make really quickly and they’re great with everything: rice, mashed potatoes, crispy potatoes, really you cannot go wrong,” she shares with us. We would bet money that she’s making Ina Garten’s roast chicken recipe, as Farmer Jen is a certified fan and friend of the Barefoot Contessa.

But for days that are more on-the-go, Garner has a different satisfying go-to for the family: “My fast dinner or lunch, if everybody is just in a hurry, would be a turkey burrito. Turkey meat with taco seasoning—I like the Siete taco seasoning—with A Dozen Cousins black beans that I absolutely adore, it’s one of my pantry staples. I’ll use that, a little cheese and there you have it, and make a little guacamole. It’s a big winner in the house.”

Those are the fulfilling meals that Garner counts on. And she doesn’t miss out on snacks! Alongside Once Upon a Time’s new protein bar, she’s known to keep chocolate and nuts in her bag—you really can’t go wrong with that delicious combo.

All in all, when it comes to eating well, the actor has a simple philosophy that everyone needs to hear.

“Eating well to me means filling your plate with veggies, having some kind of protein and just enjoying your food,” she says. “If that means eating the rest of your kid’s mac and cheese, then you enjoy it. Don’t beat yourself up about it, that’s the main thing. You don’t want food to be your enemy.”