Meal Prep for the Week—A Beginner’s Guide to Quick and Healthy Eating

One morning earlier this month, I woke as much as freezing climate and feeling under-the-weather. It was an ideal day to not get out of pajamas—and one factor I felt actually grateful for in that second was that I’d spent a pair hours the day earlier than filling our fridge with the constructing blocks of some scrumptious meals. There was a hen and rice soup, numerous contemporary greens and chopped veggies, creamy hummus, and a batch of morning glory muffins able to be slathered with butter.

One of my associates lately informed me that for him, “happiness is a fridge full of food.” It struck me that there’s a particular consolation that comes from understanding you might have the makings of a scrumptious meal on the prepared. Of course, the busyness of recent life signifies that most of us don’t have hours to spend making ready complicated meals.

When I get dwelling on the finish of a protracted day, I need to have some wholesome meals choices on the prepared—and I promise that when you’ve stocked your kitchen, you may make nourishing meals simpler than ordering takeout. For me, prepping elements forward is the one method that I’m going to stay to wholesome consuming with a busy schedule. Enter: meal prep for the week.

How I Meal Prep for the Week

That’s the place my straightforward meal prep technique is available in. Every weekend, I make only a handful of straightforward “building block” recipes that I can use as a leaping off level for numerous nourishing meals throughout the week. Roasted veggies can high a salad or fill a sandwich. A pot of quinoa types the bottom of a grain bowl, or can turn out to be a comfortable breakfast porridge. These base recipes are infinitely versatile, and a part of the enjoyable is getting artistic and determining alternative ways to make use of them. 

Watch the video above to see precisely how I knock out these 5 meal prep duties in about an hour, then learn on for the precise directions. But first, some suggestions for meal prep success.

Prep With the Seasons

How do I determine what elements to make use of in every of those base recipes? For me, it’s all about getting impressed by what’s in season. When you might have contemporary lettuces or a deep orange candy potato or completely ripe strawberries, they don’t want a lot to show them right into a scrumptious meal. It additionally means you’re getting the utmost vitamin from these complete, unprocessed meals in an effort to actually appear and feel your finest.

Practice Mindful Cooking

If you suppose you don’t have time to meal prep on a Sunday, attempt considering of it as a self-care second—one thing you may take your time doing and benefit from the course of. I like to pour a glass of kombucha, wine, or make a sizzling tea, activate some music, and make my meal prep a ritual. And that tremendous feeling of opening my fridge on the finish of a protracted day and being met with wholesome, scrumptious choices? The final reward.

Keep It Easy

You don’t want tons of time (an hour or two is lots!) or any fancy tools. Most of those recipes solely require a knife, a reducing board, and a sheet pan. I attempt to be productive and take advantage of my time: whereas the veggies are roasting and the grains are cooking on the range, I make my dressing and my crunchy seed combine. You’ll get in your individual rhythm and ultimately received’t even have to have a look at any directions. After doing these just a few instances, you’ll discover your movement.

Friendly Reminders

• Clean as you go.
• Write down an inventory of what you’re going to do upfront so you might have a plan of motion.
• Remember that even in case you simply make a few these, it should nonetheless make an enormous distinction throughout the week. Do what you may!

Cook the Grains

A container of cooked grains is likely one of the most versatile objects you may have in your fridge. Cooked grains like farro or quinoa make a terrific aspect dish to any protein, or use as the bottom for a grain bowl, high with an egg, and even heat it up and add nut milk and cinnamon for a breakfast porridge.

Today I’m utilizing quinoa. I like its chewy consistency and plant-based protein, however you should use farro, buckwheat, rice, amaranth, or any others. Here’s completely prepare dinner quinoa:

1. Rinse 1 cup quinoa in a mesh strainer, then place in a small saucepan.
2. Add 1 cup water and a pinch of salt, then deliver to a boil.
3. Once boiling, instantly scale back warmth to low and canopy. Let simmer for 20 minutes, fluffing with a fork midway by way of to make sure quinoa isn’t sticking to the underside of the saucepan.
4. When it’s cooked, I place a folded dish towel between the pot and a lid whereas it cools to take away extra moisture.

Cooked quinoa retains within the fridge for 5 days. To freeze cooked grains, unfold them in a single layer on a baking sheet, and switch to the freezer for a minimum of two hours. After the grains are frozen, you may retailer them in a freezer-safe container. 

Roast Veggies

Pretty a lot any vegetable tastes method higher roasted—cooking at a excessive warmth concentrates the flavour and provides a caramelization that I like. 

Here are just a few of my favourite veggies to roast:

• candy potatoes
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• butternut squash
• beets
• child pink potatoes
• cabbage
• brussels sprouts
• tomatoes
• eggplant

Add spices and herbs in order that they at all times style totally different and fascinating. Sometimes I’ll toss mine in taco seasoning, different instances I would drizzle with harissa or infused vinegar, and even simply maintain it easy with a pinch of Italian seasoning. Salt and pepper is at all times a should. Once made, they’re an ideal addition to salads, grain bowls, tacos, and sandwiches. 

Here’s the proper technique for roasting nearly any kind of veggie:

• Preheat oven to 400 F.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and unfold the veggies in a single layer, leaving some room round them in order that they roast as an alternative of steam. You need the sides to get crispy and brown.
• Drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper (and every other spices you’re utilizing) and toss them round. Roast till caramelized. (Cooking time will fluctuate based mostly on the veg.)

Make a Dressing or Sauce

This is the step that will get me enthusiastic about utilizing my prepped veggies all through the week. Grains and veggies can get a bit of boring and not using a flavor-packed sauce to drizzle over the whole lot and make it devourable. Having a mason jar filled with dressing on the prepared means you might have a salad dressing and a sauce for bowls, tacos, and veggie sides. You can drizzle over a roasted candy potato or use as a dip for uncooked veggies. It’s actually your finest buddy on the subject of making straightforward and scrumptious meals in a flash. 

This week, I’m making certainly one of my favorites, Turmeric Vinaigrette. It’s tremendous easy to make—simply add all these elements to the blender:

• 1 shallot, peeled and halved
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons heat water
• 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
• Squeeze of honey
• Teaspoon of floor turmeric
• massive pinch of salt and pepper
• ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Blend the whole lot up, then retailer in a mason jar all week.

Prep Your Salad Greens and Raw Veggies

Are you 10x extra prone to eat your veggies in the event that they’re already washed and prepped within the fridge? SAME. And my youngsters are, too. I’ve began maintaining a lidded container within the fridge filled with chopped carrots, cucumbers, and bell peppers in order that once they come into the kitchen in search of a snack proper earlier than dinner, I can level them to the crudité bowl. And we at all times have guacamole, hummus, or my weekly salad dressing (above) that they will pair with their veggie for dipping.

Plus, when you might have contemporary lettuces and different chopped veggies on the prepared, it’s really easy to throw collectively a salad with no matter dinner you’re serving. I’d a lot want to do all of the prep in a single go, moderately than getting out my salad spinner and reducing board time and again. Here’s what I do after my weekend grocery run:

• Wash and dry my lettuce in a salad spinner, then wrap in paper towels to soak up moisture and retailer within the produce drawer of the fridge.
• Peel and slice carrots, cucumbers, celery, bell peppers, and every other uncooked veggies I’ve laying round, so I can simply throw them into college lunches throughout the week.

Make the Spicy Seed Mix

I’m massive on including crunch to only about the whole lot—typically it’s only a handful of chopped nuts or seeds, however I like to have some type of spicy seed combine within the fridge that I can sprinkle on the whole lot from salads to bowls to veggie sides. It simply offers it that little one thing, ya know?

This recipe is tremendous adaptable to any seed, nut, or spice you might have readily available. Sometimes I am going a bit of sweeter and add maple syrup or orange zest, however right this moment I’m going savory with sea salt and coriander. Here’s what I do:

• In a small sauté pan, add pumpkin seeds, sliced almonds, and sunflower seeds. Toast on low till they begin to scent aromatic, then add sesame seeds, a pinch every of sugar and salt, and a few coriander.
• Toast till the whole lot begins to get a bit of golden brown, then switch to a mason jar and retailer within the fridge.