Wendy Jo Peterson - Meal Prep Cookbook For Dummies

Use bowls, baskets, or shelf organizers to help group similar items together, from fruits and vegetables to snacks. Using glass or clear storage containers can help you identify items quickly.

Keeping a refrigerator door open too long can increase the temperature and spoil food faster. Be sure to keep the doors securely closed to keep the foods in a safe temperature zone. The ideal temperature range for a refrigerator is 34 to 37 degrees.

Here are products to keep stocked in the refrigerator:

Dairy products: Milks, yogurts, butters, cheeses.

Fresh fruit: Apples, citrus, precut fruit.

Fresh vegetables: Boxed lettuce, onions, celery, carrots, cucumbers, prechopped vegetables

Condiments: Dressings, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, Sriracha, and so on.

Jams or jellies.

Fresh herbs: Place cut herbs in a glass of water and cover with a plastic bag to prolong shelf life.

Beverages.

Eggs.

Lunch meat.

Keeping your freezer well stocked can make meal planning a breeze. Here are items to keep on hand:

MeatsChicken (whole, breasts, and thighs)Beef (steaks, ground, and roasts)Pork (chops, tenderloins, and ground)Sausage (kielbasa and breakfast)Bacon

SeafoodShrimpFish sticks

VegetablesMirepoix (mix of onions, carrots, and celery)BroccoliGreen beansSoup mixPeasEdamameSpinach

StarchesRicePotatoes (hash browns or chopped)BreadsTortillasPie crusts

FruitsBerriesSmoothie blendsBananasWild blueberries

Premixed soups

Pizza

Sweets

While stocking your kitchen with meal prep in mind, consider these convenience items to help shave time in the kitchen:

Fruit and veggie trays: If you’re having trouble eating more fruits and vegetables, consider keeping a tray of precut fruits and vegetables. This can be store-bought or made by you!

Boxed greens: Lettuce, kale, spinach, and mixed greens make for simple salads or bowls.

Hummus: Great as a dip for vegetables or add to a sandwich.

Pizza dough: Turn it into a flatbread side dish or create a main dish pizza loaded with veggies any night of the week.

Boxed broth: Great for making sauces or simple soups.

Marinades or sauces: From barbecue sauce to Italian dressing, find your favorites to keep on hand.

Rotisserie chicken: Check out Chapter 12for delicious ways to use a roasted chicken.

Berries may sound delicious in the winter, but they really aren’t in season in the Unitec States during the colder months. You may opt to buy berries in the winter, but they’ll be a lot pricier and, honestly, probably not as nutrient-dense as you may think. For produce to get to our markets off season, they’re most likely grown in Mexico or South America. Then they’re shipped long distances to get to our tables. During this process, vegetables and fruits succumb to oxidation and lose some nutritional density along the way.

There are many positive aspects to shopping local and in-season produce. The less distance the food has to travel, the better the price and nutrient density.

Here’s a condensed version of seasonal produce around the United States. If you’re in the southern or western states, this list may vary. Check with your local farmer’s market to know what and when produce grows best for your area.

Spring: Apricots, artichokes, arugula, asparagus, butter lettuce, cabbage, citrus, fava beans, fennel, green beans, peas, pineapple, rhubarb, spinach, Swiss chard, watercress

Summer: Avocados, beets, bell peppers, berries, cherries, corn, cucumber, eggplant, grapes, green beans, melons, okra, peppers, stone fruit, summer squash, tomatoes, watermelon

Fall: Apples, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, grapes, lettuce, pears, plums, winter squashes, turnips

Winter: Citrus, collard greens, kale, kiwi, leeks, sweet potatoes, rutabaga, winter squash, turnips

Part 2

IN THIS PART …

Create a meal plan right for you and your family.

Discover ways to accommodate allergies and other special meal-planning needs.

Chapter 4

IN THIS CHAPTER

Planning a week of plant-forward meals

Catering to meat eaters

Making a week’s worth of bowls

Heading to the Southwest for a week

Traveling the globe without leaving home

Making sheet-pan meals

Saving time with 20-minute meals

Giving your kids what they want for an entire week

Meal prep is simply batch cooking or preparing foods in advance for the week. In this chapter, I offer more than 40 meals ideas — eight weeks of five meals per week. You can choose how much prep you do in advance, but for consistency, I suggest the meal prep you can do, in most cases, in less than two hours. The idea behind these menus is to prepare for a couple hours in advance to significantly cut the time you spend on meal prep throughout the week. (The only exceptions are the days when you roast meat or poultry for the week.)

I also include one week focused on families. In reality, kids can eat the same foods as the rest of the family, but we all know most kids love to eat certain kinds of foods, so I offer a plan focused on those recipes. Feel free to modify the plan to meet your child’s unique demands, er, needs.

Most prepped foods are good for three to five days in the refrigerator. The fifth day can really push the limits of quality for many foods. Taking this into consideration, I provide a lot of frozen options on the fifth day.

These weeks are not meant to be eaten consecutively. You can pick and choose each week, as you like. You can easily make adjustments based on the season or what’s on sale. Turn to Chapter 3for seasonal considerations to help you pick the right produce for seasonal meal planning!

Plant-forward eating emphasizes fruits and vegetables, with an accent of meat. When serving up a plant-based meal, consider meat as a side dish. The stars of the plate are the plants — including beans, grains, seeds, nuts, fruits, and vegetables. Plant-forward eating can be high in fiber, heart-healthy, and nutrient-dense. To discover more of the benefits of plant-forward eating, check out https://fruitsandveggies.org/plant-forward-eating-guide from the Produce for Better Health Foundation.