I love cooking. What I don’t always love is reaching the end of a busy day and discovering that dinner still needs to be invented.
And although meal prepping sounds wonderful in theory, I don’t particularly want to spend my entire Sunday cooking food for the rest of the week.
Instead, I’ve become a fan of doing one small thing now that makes another meal easier later.
Not a complete meal plan. Not twenty identical containers lined up in the fridge.
Just a little favour for tomorrow.
1. Cook extra rice
If you’re cooking rice tonight, consider making enough for another meal.
Extra rice can become fried rice, a grain bowl or a quick lunch with leftover vegetables and an egg.
Cool it quickly, refrigerate promptly and use it within 24 hours. Rice needs careful handling because harmful bacteria can grow if cooked rice is left at room temperature.
2. Roast extra vegetables
If the oven is already on, why not roast another tray of vegetables?
Pumpkin, carrots, sweet potatoes, onions and cauliflower all work beautifully.
Use them in tomorrow’s pasta, a frittata, salad, soup or a quick wrap.
It’s one of the easiest ways to make the most of the oven while it’s already hot.
3. Make extra pasta sauce
A good tomato sauce is worth making in a larger batch.
Use some for dinner, then freeze the rest in meal-sized portions.
The next time everyone is hungry and you’ve got no enthusiasm for cooking, dinner is already halfway there.
Remember to label the container. Mystery freezer food is rarely as exciting as it sounds.
4. Move tomorrow’s protein into the fridge
This might be the smallest job on the list, but it’s incredibly useful.
Before going to bed, check whether tomorrow’s chicken, fish or meat needs defrosting.
Move it from the freezer into the fridge in a covered container, ideally on the bottom shelf.
It’s much safer than leaving food on the kitchen bench, and it saves that horrible late-afternoon discovery that dinner is still frozen solid.
5. Bake an extra potato
If you’re baking potatoes, make another one.
Tomorrow it can become a loaded jacket potato, potato salad, breakfast hash or a quick lunch with tuna and cheese.
Refrigerate cooked potatoes promptly and reheat thoroughly when needed.
6. Portion your leftovers
Don’t leave a large container of leftovers in the fridge and hope somebody will deal with it.
Portion them into useful amounts.
A single serving of soup becomes lunch. A small portion of curry can be frozen for another day. Leftover roast meat can be used in wraps or sandwiches.
Label and date everything before it goes into the freezer.
7. Chop a few extra vegetables
Already chopping carrots, capsicum or broccoli?
Prepare a little extra and store it safely in the fridge.
Tomorrow’s stir-fry, omelette or pasta suddenly requires much less work.
You don’t need to prepare an entire week’s vegetables. Just make the next meal easier.
The trick is to keep it small
I think this is where traditional meal prepping sometimes goes wrong.
We imagine that being organised means preparing every breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next seven days.
But most of us have changing schedules, children with changing appetites and days when we simply don’t fancy what we planned.
A much more realistic approach is to ask:
What’s one thing I could do now that will make tomorrow easier?
It might take two minutes. It might happen while you’re already cooking.
Either way, Future You will appreciate it.
That’s the idea behind Make the Next Meal Easier in the EAT by Mrs E app: one small action today, less thinking tomorrow.