Meal prepping has become an essential part of modern life. Busy schedules, long work hours and the desire to eat healthy have all contributed to the trend of prepping meals in advance. We’ve been lucky enough to take a closer look at how our Recipe Development Manager, Rachel, preps a week’s worth of meals and stocks her freezer in just one weekend! With a keen focus on multi-tasking and minimising food waste, it’s both efficient and sustainable.
Rach's meal prep made easy
Saturday
Step 1: Make Tandoori Paste
Rachel begins her meal prep by starting off with making Tandoori Paste. This versatile paste can be used in a variety of recipes, and it keeps well in the freezer. Rachel recommends making a large batch and portioning it into small containers for future use. This way, you'll always have Tandoori Paste on hand when you need it.
Use some for the following recipes and keep the rest in the freezer. Good news, if you already have this in your freezer, you can skip this step!
Step 2: Silverbeet Dahl and Basmati Rice
Next up is Rachel's Silverbeet Dahl recipe. This hearty lentil stew is full of flavour and makes a huge two litres. Once cooked, put aside 300g to stir through your pumpkin soup (don’t worry, you’ll be making that tomorrow). Rachel recommends portioning the Dahl into containers with rice and storing half in the freezer and half in the fridge. The fridge portions can be used for lunches or a quick dinner if you get home late one night. You can also serve straight away for dinner if you’d like!
Sunday
Step 3: Bake a batch of Gluten Free Artisian Bread with your Firra Dutch Oven
"This is the best gluten-free bread recipe I have ever tried and I'd love more people to make this recipe."
Step 4: Layered chicken dinner with pumpkin soup
One of Rachel’s go-to dinners is a layered chicken meal paired with a tasty pumpkin soup. She usually serves the chicken with vegetables and gravy, complimented by a slice of delicious gluten-free bead.
“This recipe also makes a Pumpkin soup while the chicken and vegetables are steaming so I love this recipe for its multi-tasking ability! It also saves energy not needing to turn the oven on.”
Stir through 300g of dahl you set aside yesterday into the pumpkin soup. Not only does this add extra flavour, but it also adds more volume and provides an additional source of protein and fibre. Here’s dinner for the next couple of nights, served with your gluten-free bread!
Top tip: Rachel uses her warm up mode in her TM6 to gently reheat the soup and if she’s feeling fancy, she’ll add a flavour topping to her pumpkin soup.
Later in the week
Step 5: Ribolita
Rachel makes Ribolita using the leftover pumpkin, carrots, potatoes and silverbeet, along with any leftover gluten free bread. She also stirs through the leftover chicken from the layered chicken dinner recipe instead of adding bacon (or sometimes adds in both… yolo!). Don’t forget to check out our Less waste, more food with Thermomix® cookbook for some ideas on how you can create a low waste and sustainable approach to cooking.
Some extra tips when it comes to minimising food waste!
- Plan to stay ahead – check your fridge and cupboards to create a meal plan with items you already have
- Think before you shop – write down a shopping list for what you need
- If you have any leftovers, use Cookidoo to search for your ingredients to cook another meal
By following Rachel's simple process and using her delicious recipes, you can easily prepare a week's worth of meals and stock up your freezer in just one weekend. So, why not give it a try? Your future self will thank you for it!