The best foods for meal prep components
Meal prep can be made as components or separate ingredients instead of complete meals. It allows for more flexible options later in the week and beyond. Also, some foods can become a simple side dish or snack. Here are the essential foods you can prepare to make life easier.
DIY Pre-Cut Fruit
Prep lots of pineapple. Have pieces in the fridge for snacking. Keep more in the freezer to blend into drinks and desserts. Image: Pixabay creative commons, edited.
Chop up favourite fruits once or twice in the week for accessible snacks. Cut a large pineapple or melon. Carefully peel and dice oranges or kiwi fruits. Maybe even make a fruit salad. Keep the fruit pieces in reusable glass jars. They are such a crucial food to prep, especially for families. These bite-sized healthy treats can be added to lunch boxes or snacked on throughout the day. Choose seasonal fruits to be extra sustainable.
Cut pieces of fruit, such as watermelon, to have snacks prepared for upcoming days. Image: Pixabay creative commons, edited.
Veggie Sticks for Snacking
Set up convenient sticks of carrot, celery and other vegetables for snacking on the go. This is another basic element of lunch boxes for people of almost any age. It's pretty straight forward really. Just also store them wisely. Keep carrot in water, maybe in a jar, in the fridge. The same could be said for celery.
These raw foods are best paired with a dip. That can be another thing to make for various purposes...
Prepare veggie sticks and dips for simple healthy snacks. Image: iStock/Getty
Dips and Spreads
Guacamole. Hummus. Creamy style white bean spread. These favourite snacks, and many more, can become important parts of meals. Add the guac to a nachos. Have the hummus with falafel. Stir a white bean dip with pasta as a sauce. Dips and spreads are more than snacks. They are healthy go-to lazy foods.
Boil Your Own Dry legumes
Cook your own lentils and beans as ingredients for future meals. Cook simple main meals in advance and then add sides when enjoying these nourishing foods. Image: iStock, edited.
Cook lots of dry legumes (aka pulses) to enjoy in a variety of ways throughout the week. They should be cheaper than pre-cooked varieties from tins and jars. Rinse and soak dry beans overnight and then boil them. Freeze the beans to gain even more abundance for a month or a few.
White beans
Pre-cook your own white beans. They will be a great ingredient for dips, spreads, sauces and homemade baked beans. Image: Pixabay creative commons, edited.
Any sorts of white beans, ideally a variety, are important for a weekly preparation of ingredients. On a longer morning, get some white beans (ideally smaller ones) from the freezer and heat them in a simple tomato sauce for DIY baked beans. Have any white beans ready for the moment when the avocados ripen, to blend those into a dip or spread. Blend some white beans into a creamy pasta sauce for a quick week-day dinner.
Black beans, pinto and red kidney beans
Prepare black beans as a meal-prep component, to include in meals throughout the week. Image: iStock, edited.
When these beans come to mind, I think of Mexican-inspired food and health bowls. They can also be used to make your own bean burgers. Use black beans to make your own refried beans on a taco night. Toss some of these beans into burritos. Have some red kidney beans ready, maybe even in the freezer, for the evenings when you want a quick Mexican chilli dish. These beans are just so good to have either refrigerated or frozen.
Green lentils
Prepare green lentils to save an extra half hour later in the week. Have some in the fridge to mix through a salad or cook into a meal in the moment. Green lentils are very versatile. Image: Pixabay creative commons, edited.
Boil these lentils in advance to then mix with pasta, salads and nourishing bowls when desired throughout the week. Pre-cook them for an even faster homemade curry. Try mashing up lentils in a pan to make a plant-based version of savoury mince for breakfast. Green lentils are truly versatile.
Chickpeas
Boil dry chickpeas at home to then add them to meals or season them as snacks on their own. Image: iStock, edited.
Wonderful chickpeas are perfect for more than meals. They also can be delicious snacks. Rinse, soak and then boil them (just like the other beans) to create these treats whenever you want. Roast them with seasoning, or plain to then coat in dairy-free chocolate.
Pre-cook rice, grains and quinoa in advance
Grains (and seeds that serve the function of grains) are such an important part of daily meals. Some can take a while to cook. I personally feel a bit impatient when waiting for rice to boil. That's why I like to pre-cook brown rice and quinoa. I also sometimes prepare couscous in advance. Sure, those tiny wheat-based pieces take barely a minute or a few to cook. But it's then one less thing to do when I just want to dive into dinner time.
Pre-cook grains, such as brown rice. Refrigerate or freeze portions to use with meals. Image: iStock, edited.
Get your grains (and similar) ready to serve on the sides of meals or mix them into salads. Grab rice from the fridge on a busy night to then heat it with a fast homemade curry or throw together a stir dry. There are plenty of ways to use rice. Give yourself the freedom to choose your style of dinner when you're ready. Prep separate servings of grainy goodness ready for any meal.
I'm not claiming to be an expert on food. But, from what I learned, I believe carbs are good. Some sort of equivalent grain could be gluten-free or not. They are great ways to balance out a meal. I personally feel more filled up after eating whole grains. Set up portions of a grainy food to be organised and satisfied.
Cook up some quinoa to enjoy with meals. Image: Pixabay creative commons, edited.
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