Recipe Prep – The next step in Meal Prep

A short while ago, I starting reading an article written by a blogger in which she described how she would prepare for RV trips with her husband. The preparations always including securing the meats she would need for their meals, and then packaging them for use in the Instant Pots she took along. Any fresh fruits and veggies would be purchased at a nearby store to wherever they had stopped.

This got me thinking about what she was doing. Now, because of my husband’s health issues, we can’t take the trips we might have once done, but I could still prep things in advance. Only instead of just generally packing the cut veggies in larger containers, I could pack them in smaller ones that would hold just the amount needed for specific recipes. Hmmmmmmmmm!

First steps:

1. Choose Your Recipes
2. Gather the ingredients
3. Prep the Ingredients
4. Group the Ingredients Together

Choose Your Recipes:

The first thing you need to consider is which recipes you are prepping for. For most cooks, weekday nights can be a bit on the hectic side to get a good meal on the table. Now, I don’t know about you, but I have a number of “Go To” recipes that I frequently cook. There’s more than just enough to go through a single week, but not enough to go through two weeks. This way, the recipes rotate which day of the week I use them. So, gather your favorite recipes and pick 6 or 7 to prep for.

Gather the ingredients:

Be somewhat selective on which ingredients you want to prep and freeze. A good cookbook on Preserving Foods will help you to pick and choose. I would think that you want to prep ingredients that are easy to chop/slice/dice but aren’t hard to preserve. The book I gave you a link to is the one I use. It covers not only canning, but also freezing, pickling, and dehydrating food. Obviously, I don’t prep the seasonings. For one thing, trying to find a bag small enough to hold salt and pepper isn’t happening!

Prepare the ingredients

Some foods can simply be sliced or diced, then frozen and things will come out just fine. Think onions, peppers, celery and such. Other veggies need to be blanched before freezing, such as potatoes or carrots. Don’t quote me on this, but I think it would depend on the amount of water in the vegetable. If you’re unsure, check with your local county extension department. Try this link to find your local extension office.

Group the Ingredients

In a previous post, Meal Prep for Country Cooks , I explained how I would prep my food. I also gave a link to a site where you could convert a recipe from individual pieces to cups for many veggies. Let me give you it again. How Much is in Produce Converter . This way you can measure out how much of the produce you need for the recipe and package just that much. Gather all the individual ingredients and package them together. Depending on how many ingredients you have, a large freezer bag might be all you need. Just make sure you LABEL it!