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Tips for Cooking Ahead

A friend recently asked for some pointers on how to "cook meals for the week on the weekend", so I'm going to jot a few ideas down here for future reference. You can also click on the 'Cook's Notes' or 'Recipes' keywords in the left hand panel to find more posts about food & cooking.

PREPARATION:
1) Make a menu plan and grocery list by Friday (I do mine on Thursday night), so that food shopping can be done after work on Friday night or first thing on Saturday morning. The menu plan should be based on the assumption that there will NOT be time to cook on the weekend. If 1-2 meals get cooked ahead of time then it's an extra bonus, but you don't want to set yourself up with meals that are impossible to make at 6pm when you get home from work.
2) Select meals that will have leftovers - and make sure it's something that no one will complain about eating at least twice.
3) Try to select streamlined menus. The days of 3-component meals are pretty much gone around here (except for 1 night/week when Derek is home to help cook/kid wrangle). I make a lot of one-pot meals - as I write this post I have One-Pan Farro with Tomatoes simmering on the stove.
4) In order to make step #1 easier, implement a system to organize your "go-to" recipes. For me Pepperplate does this very well!

EXECUTION:
1) Keep your weekend meals pretty simple so that you can make at least two meals each day - one for that night and one for the week (or better yet, order pizza!). In the winter I find that we stick closer to home. Pretty much every spare moment at home is spent in the kitchen, either prepping to make a meal (think mise en place), cleaning up from cooking or eating, or doing things that will make my weekday life easier (roast a huge pan of vegetables, make a batch of rice, etc.).
2) Shortcuts are your friend; I can't live without frozen chopped onion and minced garlic since becoming a parent. I've started keeping a bag of frozen stir-fry vegetables in the freezer. Along with a couple of other pantry items I whipped up this easy Thai Red Curry last night, opting for Crispy-Fried Tofu instead of meat protein.
3) Invest in kitchen workhorses. For us the two biggies are a Vitamix and a rice cooker.
4) Get the kids involved when you can (Silas is much more interested than Zoe, and he now knows the difference between thai curry paste and indian curry powder); also give yourself permission to use television strategically. If a small child is driving you nuts while you're cooking, let them watch a 30 minute show while you finish whatever it is you're working on :) We also have the play kitchen set up in the kitchen, so a lot of times they will start making "dinosaur soup" or "chocolate mint curry" while I cook.
5) Try making one huge pot of soup each week, or throw together a crockpot meal on Sunday morning.
6) Recognize that "cooking for the week" is a lofty aspiration. More often than not I settle for "cooking one day ahead".

These are things that have worked for me, but there are lots of ways to approach this problem. Leave a comment on what works at your house!

Alright, I'm off to make Lentil-Sausage Casserole!


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