After getting Cook90 for Christmas, I’ve become someone who meal preps. Prior to this, Zak would do all of the grocery shopping and do 99% of the cooking during the week. I would sometimes cook on the weekend, but just never really had the energy to do it during the week. When Zak had to travel for work or something – I would legit feel a tiny pang of panic because I was on my own. And I’m a pretty decent cook!
Meal prepping has been sometimes a chore, but mostly a leisurely way to spend some time over the weekend. And – it’s helped me actually use the cookbooks we own. I was apprehensive at first that meal prepping would make me feel overly boxed in. But something that David Tamarkin said was that planning out every meal for the week helps you feel prepared – that leaving the grocery store, you know you have food and options for every meal of the week.
To do the whole shebang, this is the ideal:
Saturday
- Walk Tina to the farmer’s market on Saturday
- Go through my cookbooks and favorite food blogs and start populating Zak & my Google doc. Form a grocery shop at the same time
- Grocery shop! I’ll usually just go to the local C-Town but we’ll do a Whole Foods run once a month for the good shiz
Sunday
- This is your meal prep day. I usually make breakfasts, clean kale, make a batch of rice, other things depending on how ambitious I’m feeling and then try to do something more “special” for dinner
- I should also list doing dishes as a specific step because meal prepping creates A LOT of dishes
But – you do the best you can. I think any amount of prep helps you feel more ready for the week and definitely don’t overtax yourself or feel guilty if you don’t get to it. As my mom says, we all need mental health days sometimes.
Jane & Zak: Meal Prepping from Williamsburg, Brooklyn 