Tips and Recipes to Save Time


One morning earlier this month, I woke as much as freezing climate and feeling underneath the climate. It was the proper day to remain cozy in pajamas—and in that second, I felt so grateful for the couple of hours I’d spent the day earlier than targeted on my weekly meal prep. Our fridge was stocked with the constructing blocks of some scrumptious meals: a comforting rooster and rice soup, recent greens and chopped veggies, creamy hummus, and a batch of morning glory muffins simply ready to be slathered with butter. My weekly meal prep had turned what may have been a tense, unmotivated day into one stuffed with nourishing, easy meals.

Certainly one of my mates not too long ago informed me that, for him, happiness is a fridge stuffed with meals. It true—there’s a sure consolation that comes from realizing you could have the makings of a scrumptious meal. However in fact, the busyness of contemporary life implies that most of us don’t have hours to spend on making ready advanced meals.

Once I get residence on the finish of an extended day, I wish to have some wholesome meals choices prepared, and I promise that when you’ve stocked your kitchen, you may make nourishing meals simpler than ordering takeout. For me, prepping substances forward is the one approach that I’m going to stay to wholesome consuming with a busy schedule. Enter: my weekly meal prep ritual.

My Weekly Meal Prep Routine

That’s the place my straightforward meal prep technique is available in. Each weekend, I make only a handful of straightforward “constructing block” recipes that I can use as a leaping off level for numerous nourishing meals through the week. Roasted veggies can prime a salad or fill a sandwich. A pot of quinoa kinds the bottom of a grain bowl, or can change into a comfortable breakfast porridge. These base recipes are infinitely versatile, and a part of the enjoyable is getting artistic and determining other 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. However first, some ideas for weekly meal prep success.

Meal prep ingredients.
camille styles meal prep
meal prep sweet potato

Prep With the Seasons

How do I resolve what substances 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 could have recent lettuces or a deep orange candy potato or completely ripe strawberries, it doesn’t take a lot to show them right into a scrumptious meal. It additionally means you’re getting the utmost diet from these complete, unprocessed meals in an effort to actually appear and feel your greatest.

meal prep egg bowl

Apply Aware Cooking

In the event 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 possibly can 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 an extended day and being met with wholesome, scrumptious choices? The last word reward.

meal prep on table_meal prep for the week
meal prep potato_meal prep for the week

Maintain It Straightforward

You don’t want tons of time (an hour or two is a lot!) or any fancy tools. Most of those recipes solely require a knife, a slicing board, and a sheet pan. I attempt to be productive and benefit from 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 gained’t even have to have a look at any directions. After doing these a couple of occasions, you’ll discover your stream.

Pleasant Reminders

  • Clear as you go.
  • Write down an inventory of what you’re going to do prematurely so you could have a plan of motion.
  • Do not forget that even for those who simply make a few these, it can nonetheless make a giant distinction through the week. Do what you possibly can!
meal prep grains

Prepare dinner the Grains

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

At the moment I’m utilizing quinoa. I really like its chewy consistency and plant-based protein, however you need to use farro, buckwheat, rice, amaranth, or any others.

How one can cook dinner good 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 convey to a boil.
  3. As soon as boiling, instantly cut back warmth to low and canopy. Let simmer for 20 minutes, fluffing with a fork midway via 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 at the least two hours. After the grains are frozen, you possibly can retailer them in a freezer-safe container. 

meal prep cauliflower_meal prep for the week
meal prep sweet potato

Roast Veggies

Just about any vegetable tastes approach higher roasted—cooking at a excessive warmth concentrates the flavour and offers a caramelization that I really like. 

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 all the time style totally different and fascinating. Typically I’ll toss mine in taco seasoning, different occasions I would drizzle with harissa or infused vinegar, and even simply maintain it easy with a pinch of Italian seasoning. Salt and pepper is all the time a should. As soon as made, they’re an ideal addition to salads, grain bowls, tacos, and sandwiches. 

How one can roast any 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 so that they roast as a substitute of steam. You need the sides to get crispy and brown.
  • Drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper (and another spices you’re utilizing) and toss them round. Roast till caramelized. (Cooking time will differ based mostly on the veg.)
meal prep salad

Make a Dressing or Sauce

That is the step that will get me enthusiastic about utilizing my prepped veggies all through the week. Grains and veggies can get a little bit boring with out a flavor-packed sauce to drizzle over every part and make it devourable. Having a mason jar stuffed with dressing on the prepared means you could have a salad dressing and a sauce for bowls, tacos, and veggie sides. You’ll be able to drizzle over a roasted candy potato or use as a dip for uncooked veggies. It’s really your greatest good friend on the subject of making straightforward and scrumptious meals in a flash. 

This week, I’m making one in all my favorites, Turmeric French dressing. It’s tremendous easy to make—simply add all these substances 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

Mix every part up, then retailer in a mason jar all week.

washing lettuce and arugula, fresh spring produce, greens, meal prep, kitchen, casa zuma gathering board
washing lettuce, fresh spring produce, greens, meal prep, kitchen, casa zuma gathering board

Prep Your Salad Greens and Uncooked Veggies

Are you 10x extra more likely to eat your veggies in the event that they’re already washed and prepped within the fridge? SAME. And my children are, too. I’ve began holding a lidded container within the fridge stuffed with chopped carrots, cucumbers, and bell peppers in order that after they come into the kitchen on the lookout for a snack proper earlier than dinner, I can level them to the crudité bowl. And we all the time have guacamole, hummus, or my weekly salad dressing (above) that they’ll pair with their veggie for dipping.

Plus, when you could have recent lettuce and different chopped veggies prepared, it’s really easy to throw collectively a salad with no matter dinner you’re serving. I’d a lot choose to do all of the prep in a single go, moderately than getting out my salad spinner and slicing board again and again.

How I prep my veggies after my weekly 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 another uncooked veggies I’ve laying round, so I can simply throw them into faculty lunches through the week.
camille styles meal prep for the week

Make the Spicy Seed Combine

I’m massive on including crunch to simply about every part—typically it’s only a handful of chopped nuts or seeds, however I like to have some sort of spicy seed combine within the fridge that I can sprinkle on every part 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 could have readily available. Typically I’m going a little bit sweeter and add maple syrup or orange zest, however at the moment I’m going savory with sea salt and coriander.

How one can make the spicy seed combine:

  • 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 every part begins to get a little bit golden brown, then switch to a mason jar and retailer within the fridge.



Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *