Roughly 90% of my clients want to know how to get real food on their table in the most efficient way possible. So I give them tips like menu planning, grocery store survival, and prepping. Prepping is the big one. I tell my clients to come home and chop up everything that they will need for the next few days. The idea is that you are already in the mindset of grocery shopping and food, so this next step is the natural progression in getting it all ready. Now my confession. I never do this. I simply make my menu, shop and throw the food in the fridge. Then when it is time to cook, I am starting from the beginning. Now my schedule is flexible, so it isn’t a big deal. But what about when it isn’t?
This week is Passover. I adore the holidays, and my best memories of my childhood are of the holiday meals my mother would prepare. And by prepare I mean spending days in the kitchen cooking multiple meals simultaneously. A whirling dervish of smells, cooking sounds, and culinary sensations. I do the same thing at the holidays. But this year, I took it up a notch. I prepared multiple meals on multiple days in conjunction with my families’ regular meals. How did I do this? By planning and prepping. And while I happen to be cooking for a specific function, you can apply these tips to your everyday cooking.
1) Organize yourself
You need to know which foods take the longest to cook. When I make brisket, I know I am setting aside three days of oven time. Roasted chicken requires 1 1/2 hours of cooking time. Chicken soup takes anywhere from 2-8 hours stovetop time (if you are making a bone broth, the longer it sits, the better). This cooking is amplified by breakfast, school lunches and regular dinners is a lot. So I schedule it. I write down on my calendar what is to happen on each day. I figure out what can be made in advance, and what will taste best day of. I made a dessert that stayed fresh in airtight container for up to a week. That was made 4 days before my dinner. Soup was 48 hours out, matzah balls 24 hours out. Meatballs were 24 hours out and sauce was day of… Chicken was day of because I don’t like when it gets dry.
In real life, you can look at your menu for the week and figure out what items can go towards different days and make enough of it in advance. Whole grains are a good one. I use rice and quinoa in burrito bowls, as a binder for turkey burgers, as a layer in eggplant parm. If I make enough for one meal, I simply add more and that is one less thing I need to deal with during the week.
2) Chop chop!
I use garlic and onion almost every single day. Peppers pop up regularly as well. And yet, I find myself chopping them for each and every meal. This is just silly. If you know you will be needing these things for multiple meals, instead of spending 5 minutes each day chopping, spend 20 minutes one day and store them in the fridge. For my holiday, I chopped up tons of garlic and onion for my seder, but used them in the meals that preceded the seder as well. Less prep means more time to play. What do you use a ton of? Once you recognize that, you can allow yourself to make it in advance and use it through the week.
3) Make lunch
If you have school age children or are trying to eat better at work, make your lunch with your dinner. This might mean taking a portion out before even serving dinner. But once it is set aside, that is one less meal you need to think about. Even though I was making soup and meatballs and chicken for the holiday, I was simultaneously freezing soup for later use, setting aside little bites here and there for lunch boxes.
4) Clean as you cook
If something is simmering, clean up. If something is roasting, clean up. If something is baking, clean up. Even if you take 5 minutes to dump your peels and wrappers, etc., elsewhere, you are freeing up work space. If you clean as you cook, you will have less to do later when the last thing you want to do is clean. Making multiple meals showed me that my workspace was as important as the recipes themselves, but I needed it clean so that I could be organized to cook.
5) You don’t need a holiday as an excuse – Cook in Bulk!
You can, with enough planning and organization make the bulk of your meals for the week over a weekend. Chop and prep anything that is used regularly. (onions, garlic, pepper, carrots, etc.) Cook once, eat twice or thrice. Whole grains like rice and quinoa can be used in several different ways. I can stretch one day’s worth of rice into 3-5 meals. Same goes for quinoa. Plan on making each meal last at least two meals. So that is 2 nights of dinner, or dinner and lunch. Use your food in different ways. The chicken soup I made resulted in broth, boiled chicken that I made into chicken salad (and some dog food), plus I used some of the broth to flavor my quinoa. My quinoa went with roasted veggies that I also used as a base for sweet and sour meatballs. ( I threw the roasted veggies into lunch boxes for the kids.) And since there is no bread on Passover, I also used leftover over rice from taco night to make veggie burgers on a regular week night. You freezer is also your friend. By cooking 3 pounds of meat as opposed to the 1.5 the recipe called for, I was able to have an entire meal frozen for later use.
It sounds overwhelming and time consuming. But it really isn’t. Like with most things I coach people on, it is about goal setting and action steps. What do you need to do to accomplish your cooking goals? What are the action steps needed to get there? Try this technique. Plan your menu and figure out what you can chop up in advance and items you can use in multiple ways. It is a first step but that first step is the most important one. Plus, once you get into the groove, think about all the fun stuff you will have time to do!
What tips do you use for cooking in bulk or making cooking during the week easier? I’d love to hear in the comments or suggestions!
Happy Spring! And Happy Cooking! 🙂
