How to Cook Once and Eat Well for the Whole Week
Spending hours every night in the kitchen is exhausting, and come on—most of us would rather be doing just about anything else after a day of work. Sitting through the ritual of finaglin’ what’s for dinner, grocery shopping, cooking, and doing the dishes night in and night out can exhaust you and your wallet.
What if you could put all that work into one weeknight cooking marathon and ride out the rest of the week on ready-to-eat bliss? Preparing one meal for the entire week doesn’t equate to eating the same bland chicken and rice seven straight days.
This is how you can make it work without sacrificing flavor or diversity.
Pick versatile proteins you can use multiple ways
Cook a large quantity of plain or seasoned protein, such as grilled chicken breasts, ground turkey, or roasted chickpeas. These tabula rasa become a whole other meal depending on what you put with them.
Monday night’s chicken becomes Mexican with salsa and beans, and Wednesday night’s portion becomes Mediterranean with tzatziki and cucumbers.
Cook your vegetables in bulk
Take an hour to wash, chop, and portion out all your vegetables for the week. Mark clear containers so you can tell at a glance what you’ve got.
If they’re already prepared, preparing a stir-fry or salad is five minutes instead of thirty.
Like Home As We Make It‘s content? Follow us on MSN.
Prep grains and legumes in bulk
Prepare a ginormous batch of rice, quinoa, or dried beans at the beginning of the week. All of these starches will last five to seven days in the refrigerator and reheat wonderfully.
They are the foundation that turns a few ingredients into a full meal.
Prepare flexible base sauces
Create a variety of sauces, such as pesto, tahini dressing, or homemade tomato sauce. A batch of protein is three different dinners after you have switched the sauce.
Put them in little jars and they’ll keep all week long.
Use sheet pan meals for ease
Toss different proteins and vegetables with oil and seasoning in separate sheet pans and roast them all together. Three other components of a meal can be prepared simultaneously in one oven.
It is similar to running multiple errands on one trip, rather than taking individual trips.
Like Home As We Make It‘s content? Follow us on MSN.
Purchase good storage containers
Select containers that seal tightly and are microwave-safe, ensuring your food stays fresh and reheating is easy. Clear containers let you easily see what you have without refrigerator roulette.
Having the proper containers is the difference between food that will last the whole week and food that goes bad by Thursday.
Portion everything immediately after cooking
Divide your cooked food into serving portions while it’s still hot or once it has cooled. This prevents overeating and is as simple as grabbing lunch or dinner from the fridge.
You’re essentially having your own healthy frozen meals, only that they’re fresh and delicious as well.
Freeze half for future in the week
Not all items need to stay in the fridge, taking up space. Freeze half of your serving and transfer it to the refrigerator a day before you plan to eat it.
This prevents food from going stale and keeps you from having that ‘I’ve had this for days’ feeling while making meal prep feel like a burden.
Like Home As We Make It‘s content? Follow us on MSN.
Make soups and stews that improve with age
Certain foods simply taste better once they’ve had a few days to stew as the flavors meld together. Chili, curry, and stew soups are perfect for this trick.
Make a massive pot on Sunday, and you’ll be giving thanks by Friday when it’s even more decadent.
Make individual ingredients for breakfast ready
Prepare a batch of hard-boiled eggs, portion out overnight oats, or make a big container of breakfast burritos. Mornings are already chaotic enough without adding cooking to the mix.
Having breakfast already prepared, ready to grab and go, will help you skip breakfast less and save you money on drive-thru foods.
Keep raw ingredients ready for fresh additions
It need not all be pre-cooked. Keep fresh herbs, cherry tomatoes, avocados, and citrus fruits on hand so you can add a touch of freshness to pre-cooked meals.
The fresh ingredients make food that is one day old taste freshly cooked, and the splash of color makes the meals more appealing to eat.
Like Home As We Make It‘s content? Follow us on MSN.
Master the strategy of seasoning
Season your basic foods lightly and add intense flavors when you eat. This way, you can change cuisines halfway through the week.
Plain roasted vegetables can be transformed into Italian dishes with parmesan and balsamic, or Asian dishes with soy sauce and ginger.
Arrange for a fresh-cooked night
Treat yourself halfway through the week with a simple, fresh meal that doesn’t require much effort. This prevents meal prep burnout and rewards yourself with something.
Even just heating fresh pasta with jarred sauce is decadent when you’ve had three days of reheating.
Date everything
Slap a strip of tape with the cooking date on every container. Five seconds, but it puts an end to the guessing game of ‘is this still good?’
You’ll be eating your food more efficiently and wasting less because you’ll know precisely what to eat first.
Like Home As We Make It‘s content? Follow us on MSN.
From Sunday prep to weeknight ease
What starts as a few hours in the kitchen on Sunday afternoon becomes the present that keeps on giving throughout the whole week. Your evenings are yours once more, your food expenses go down, and those ‘what’s for supper?’ questions disappear altogether.
The cherry on top is that you’re consuming legitimate food cooked by your own hands, not whatever the nearest takeout place is serving up, and your future self will appreciate it every single evening.
More from Home As We Make It
- 14 Flooring Trends We’ve Moved On From
- 17 Thrift Store Finds Worth Big Money
- 20 Items You Should Never Throw Away Because They Could Become Valuable Collectibles
- 18 Forgotten Snacks from the ’80s and ’90s
- 20 Things That Make a House Look Cleaner Than It Is
Like Home As We Make It‘s content? Follow us on MSN.
