Prepping some of your ingredients in advance can make a huge difference in how easy it is to cook for yourself all week. Just like an assembly line, it’s much faster to do the same task than to switch between jobs. Plus, it will save you a ton of time during the week. So put on a podcast or pump the jams, pull out the cutting board, and get ready to prep for a terrific week.
Grains are one of the best things you can prep in advance. They add lots of cooking time to recipes, but they store very well. Grains are also a healthful base for a very quick meal, but the healthiest grains are whole, and those take a lot longer to cook. So while you work on the meat and chop the veggies, get the grains you need for the week cooking on the stove.
Cooked rice and grains, like farro, will last in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days in resealable plastic bags. You can also freeze them in freezer bags for longer storage. Cooked pasta should be tossed with a tablespoon of oil before storing it in the refrigerator—it will also last for 3 to 4 days.
There are a few different degrees to which you can prep your meat at the beginning of the week. It all depends on how much prep time you have, and how crazy your week is going to be.
At a minimum, it’s really helpful to divide out your meat for each meal. Put each meal’s portion into a resealable freezer bag, along with any marinade you might want for it, and be sure to label what day you packaged it. Raw meat is good for a few days in the refrigerator, and if you can’t get to it before then, you can just throw it directly in the freezer. If the recipe calls for the raw meat to be cut, cut it up now. This will save you from extra meat knives and cutting boards later.
If you have a little bit more time, we recommend cooking meat on Sundays to get a big jump start on the week. Oven-roast a bunch of chicken breasts on a baking sheet to have a step up on salads and stir-fries. Make meatballs, roast a whole chicken and piece it apart for different meals, slow cook some pork or beef for tacos and quick sandwiches.
The only animal protein that we don’t recommend cooking in advance is fish. Fish cooks very quickly, and the trade-off in flavor that reheating causes is definitely not worth the minimal amount of time saved. Saving time is important—but so is taste!
When we think about how annoying cooking a whole meal is, the image that usually pops in our heads is chopping onions, tears included. But prepping veggies is actually really fun and will give you a huge head start on your meals all week long. You have two options for veggie prep: You can chop and store them individually, or you can make what we like to call meal boxes. With a meal box (or bag), you can store all of the prepped vegetables for each meal of the week together. When it’s time to cook, just pull out your meal box, and you’re halfway to a cooked meal! For example, for the Spicy Tempeh Chili, your meal box would be the chopped onion, red and green bell peppers, and serrano pepper, chopped and ready to cook whenever you want to make your chili. Just make sure that whatever storage container you use is airtight.
PREP-ABLE PRODUCE
This produce will slice and dice and store beautifully.
Broccoli
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Garlic
Onions
Peppers
Squash
Tomatoes
Zucchini
HANDS OFF
These delicate flowers are better prepared right before cooking.
Beets
Carrots
Eggplant
Leafy greens
Potatoes
As you wait between steps of a recipe, take a moment to do a few quick toning moves while you work so that not only do you get a week of food, but a stronger body and a calmer mind at the same time.
SINGLE-ARM DUMBBELL THRUSTER • While you’re waiting between steps, grab the bottle of soy sauce or another small but slightly heavy bottle (beer, anyone?). Hold the bottle in your right hand next to your shoulder, with your palm facing in. With your feet shoulder-width apart, lower your body until the tops of your thighs are at least parallel to the floor. Push your body back to standing while pressing the bottle up directly over your shoulder. Lower the dumbbell back to the starting position. Repeat this move 5 times on the right, then switch to your left side. Repeat these reps until your soup is done simmering, your food is cooked, or you’re done thrusting, whichever comes first!
GOBLET SQUATS • Grab the nearest heavy item in your kitchen (5 to 10 pounds is perfect—try a sack of flour or a milk carton). Stand with your feet hip-width apart and hold the item vertically in front of your chest, elbows pointing to the floor. Push your hips back and bend your knees to lower into a squat; let your elbows brush the inside of your knees. Push yourself back up to start. Repeat for as many reps as you can.
REVERSE LUNGE WITH PULSE • Get your legs engaged with this variation on a classic lunge. Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your hands on your hips. With your upper body still, flex your core. Then take a large step back with your left foot, and bend both knees to lower into a lunge. While you’re lowered, press your heels up so you’re on your toes, raising your body about an inch, then lower back down an inch. Press through your right heel to return to standing. Lunge again with your right foot, and continue alternating for 20 reps.
SQUAT JACKS • With your arms bent at 90-degree angles and held in tight against your body, take your feet hip-width apart, then lower your body until your knees are bent to almost 90 degrees. Then explosively jump your legs outward, and then immediately bring them back to the starting position. Repeat this quick movement until you’re ready for the next step in your recipe.
DUMBBELL DEADLIFT TO ROW • While you wait for something to cook or bake, grab a couple of beer bottles to jack up your arms. With slightly bent knees, hold the beer bottles, one in each hand, at arm’s length, palms facing your thighs. Bend at your hips and lower your torso until it’s almost parallel to the floor. Bend your elbows to pull both bottles to the side of your torso. Pause and slowly lower. Then raise your torso back to the starting position. Repeat.
Without a doubt, smoothies are the prep-ahead champions. We love to create smoothie bags, filled with all of the produce you need for the recipe, to store in the freezer. Then when it’s smoothie time, you just pull out the bag, pop the frozen ingredients in the blender, and add whatever liquid and protein are called for in the recipe. This will save you a ton of cleanup and time, and will allow you to make delicious chilled smoothies without adding a lot of ice! That’s what we like to call a win-win.
Leftovers are the curse of a cook who is cooking for one or two. With recipes that serve four, six, or even eight, we’ll sometimes find ourselves drowning in storage containers filled with meals that we’re sick of eating and that won’t store for more than a couple of days. This leads to food fatigue (aka ordering delivery just to escape the monotony of a third day of stir-fry) or, even worse, massive food waste when we throw the untouched food away at the end of the week. The cycle of leftovers is real, but it doesn’t have to take over your life. There are three steps to eliminating the tyranny of leftovers.
1 PORTION | The recipes in this book are a great first step—with only a few exceptions, we’ve created meals that are perfectly portioned to feed you, and maybe give you one extra meal. But if there are other recipes you love and can’t part with, try cutting them in half. It might take a little fourth-grade fraction math (the measurement guide should help!), but simply halving the recipe will cut down on how much extra you’ll have to eat.
2 REMAKE | The same ingredients do not need to make the same meal. For example, imagine a mix of chicken, peppers, and onions—they could become fajitas, an Asian stir-fry, or a yummy Italian pasta dish. The same goes for your leftovers—they don’t have to be the same flavors or even the same meal. Scramble your leftover dinner with eggs for a protein-rich breakfast. Add yesterday’s roasted chicken and vegetables to some stock and make a hearty soup. Turn leftover fish into fish tacos. Think of your leftovers as super-prepped ingredients for another meal, and you’ll be cooking and enjoying in no time.
3 FREEZE | What if you love your meal, but you just don’t want to eat it again in the next couple of days? That’s when your freezer becomes your best kitchen tool. Freeze your meal, making sure to label it with the name and date it was cooked, and enjoy it within the next few months. Inexpensive, individual aluminum containers (like the ones you get when you order takeout) are great for this because they can go straight from the freezer to the oven and are available cheaply at dollar stores. When we know there’s a busy week coming up, we like to prepare in advance by stockpiling frozen leftovers. That way we can still eat homemade, even when we have literally no time to prepare a meal. Keep an eye out for the Freezer Friendly notation on recipes throughout this book—that tells you they’re good to freeze and eat later!