Meal prep doesn’t have to mean cooking every single meal for the week in one day.
Although I regularly do a weekly meal prep, there are lots of smaller things you can prepare in advance that can make cooking throughout the week so much quicker and easier.
Sometimes it’s the repetitive jobs – chopping onions, preparing vegetables or making a curry base – that take up more time than we realise.
So here are six simple meal prep hacks that I use to save time in the kitchen.
1. Chop and Freeze Onions, Garlic & Ginger
I use onions, garlic and ginger in so many of my meals, particularly curries, so preparing them in bulk is a really easy way to save time.
And I absolutely hate chopping onions, so if I can get them all done in one go, even better!
I start by chopping a large batch of onions in my mini food chopper.
I then portion the chopped onions into a muffin tray. Each section holds roughly half a medium onion, which makes it really easy to work out how much I need later.
Once they’re frozen, I remove the individual portions and transfer them into freezer bags.
I do something similar with fresh ginger and garlic, except I use an ice cube tray. This gives me handy little portions that I can take straight from the freezer when I’m cooking.
For example, when making a curry I might use one portion of frozen ginger and one or two portions of garlic.
Make sure you label your freezer bags with what’s inside and the date you froze them.
It’s such a simple thing, but it means that next time I’m cooking, a lot of the chopping has already been done.
2. Make & Freeze Your Own Curry Base
If you make curries regularly, this is one of my favourite meal prep hacks.
Instead of making the curry base – or tadka – from scratch every time, you can prepare a larger batch and freeze it in portions.
For my usual curry, I use around two onions. Because each of my frozen onion portions contains approximately half an onion, I can simply take four portions from the freezer.
I can also use the garlic and ginger that I’ve already prepared and frozen.
Sauté the onion, garlic and ginger mixture and then add your usual spices, salt and tomatoes.
Cook everything together until the mixture is nicely cooked and the oil starts to separate.
Your basic curry base is then ready.
Allow it to cool before dividing it into suitable containers and freezing it.
You could make several portions in one session so that the next time you fancy a curry, you already have the time-consuming part prepared.
Simply heat your curry base and continue your recipe using whichever meat, fish or vegetables you’ve chosen.
It’s basically your own homemade version of having a jar of curry sauce ready to go.
3. Prepare Your Vegetables, Salad & Snacks
Think about how much time we spend throughout the week washing, peeling, chopping and grating things.
If you already know what meals you’re planning to make, you can get some of this preparation done at the beginning of the week.
In this meal prep, I prepared ingredients including aubergine, carrots, spring onions, tomatoes and lettuce.
Some vegetables can be prepared appropriately for freezing depending on how you plan to use them, while salad ingredients and other fresh items can be stored in the fridge ready for the coming days.
I also cut some cheese into sticks for the children to snack on and grated the rest ready to use in meals and sandwiches.
You can adapt this completely to your own family.
Look at your meal plan for the week and ask yourself:
What can I wash, chop, grate or prepare now to make things easier later?
Even preparing a few ingredients in advance can make a big difference when you’re trying to put together a quick lunch or dinner.
4. Prepare & Freeze Naan or Pizza Dough
If you regularly make homemade naan, chapatis or pizza, preparing your dough ahead of time is another useful trick.
I tend to make something like naan, chapatis or pizza once a week, so having the dough prepared makes that meal much easier.
Make your dough as usual and then divide it according to the portions you’ll need.
I use my muffin tray again to keep the individual portions separated while they freeze.
Once frozen, I transfer the portions into another freezer container.
On the day I’m going to use them, I take the dough out ahead of time to allow it to defrost and then continue with my usual cooking method – rolling it out and cooking it as normal.
It means you can still have homemade naan or pizza without having to make fresh dough every single time.
5. Make Pasta Sauce Ahead of Time
Pasta is already a brilliant option for a quick family dinner, but having homemade pasta sauce prepared makes it even quicker.
For the sauce in this meal prep, I used:
- 1 red onion
- Garlic paste
- Salt
- Coarse black pepper
- A little red chilli powder
- 500g passata
- A little lemon juice
- Sweetcorn
I cooked everything together to make a simple homemade pasta sauce.
Of course, you can change the vegetables and seasonings according to what your family enjoys or what you already have in the house.
Once the sauce has cooked, allow it to cool before transferring it to a suitable storage container.
You can keep it in the fridge if you’re planning to use it soon or freeze it for later.
Then, when pasta is on the menu, you’ve already got your sauce prepared.
6. Freeze Cookie Dough for an Easy Sweet Treat
Meal prep doesn’t only have to be about dinners!
You can prepare some of your family’s favourite treats ahead of time too.
One really easy option is homemade cookie dough.
Make your cookie dough as normal and then divide the mixture into individual portions.
Once again, a muffin or cupcake tray is really handy for this.
Freeze the individual portions and then transfer them to another suitable freezer container.
When you fancy a homemade sweet treat, you already have portions of cookie dough prepared and ready for baking.
It also means you don’t necessarily have to make a whole batch of cookies every time you want a few.
Meal Prep Doesn’t Have to Take All Day
I think we sometimes imagine meal prepping as spending an entire day cooking dozens of finished meals and filling the fridge with containers.
But it really doesn’t have to be like that.
If preparing all your meals for the week in one day doesn’t appeal to you, try preparing parts of your meals instead.
Chop the onions you’ll use regularly.
Prepare your garlic and ginger.
Make a few portions of curry base.
Chop some of your vegetables.
Grate the cheese.
Prepare a pasta sauce.
Freeze some homemade dough.
These are all little jobs that your future self won’t have to do!
The trick is to look at the meals your family eats regularly and identify the jobs you find yourself doing over and over again.
Do some of those jobs in bulk, and you can still cook fresh meals throughout the week without starting completely from scratch every day.
I hope these meal prep hacks give you a few ideas and help make your week in the kitchen that little bit easier.
