Ingredient prepping saves time and money in the kitchen and allows you to prepare quick meals with more versatility than meal prep!
Meal prepping is a popular strategy for saving time in the kitchen, but I prefer ingredient prepping, which is what the name says it is. Instead of having complete meals ready to go, you have a variety of ingredients prepped, allowing you to pull together meals quickly and with little effort!
If you follow me on Instagram stories, I often show my weekly food prep and the meals I make with it. I love having a variety of produce, proteins, and dairy prepped and ready to go, and I can’t stress enough how time-saving it can be!
Ingredient Prepping Versus Meal Prepping
While the two sound similar, they’re very different and cater to various needs. Meal prepping involves preparing entire meals ahead of time and eating the same or very similar things all week long. This works for many people, especially those with little time in the kitchen. If you’re interested in meal prepping, we have an easy five-step planning process to get you started!
On the other hand, ingredient prepping involves prepping individual ingredients like vegetables, proteins, grains, and dairy. You can prepare meals much quicker by having separate ingredients prepped and ready to go. This is especially helpful on a busy weeknight when you need dinner quickly. This process allows for more flexibility in your meals, and it is best for those who need to save some time in the kitchen and don’t want to eat the same thing every day.
To summarize, the key benefits of ingredient prepping over meal prepping are:
- Prepping individual ingredients rather than preparing complete meals.
- More versatility throughout the week instead of eating the same things.
- Encourages healthy eating, especially when you’re hungry and need something quick.
- Ingredient prepping requires less storage than a refrigerator full of prepared meals.
- It is less time-consuming. Preparing complete meals takes several hours, while ingredient prep can be done in about an hour, depending on the ingredients you choose each week.
How Does Ingredient Prepping Prevent Food Waste?
We all know I’m passionate about preventing food waste. In fact, I wrote a whole blog post about it. In my experience, perishable food, especially produce, can too easily get pushed to the back of the refrigerator and spoil quickly. By having it prepped and ready to go in clear containers that you see every time you open the fridge, you’re more likely to use it.
You should invest in some good-quality glass containers. Not only will these last years, but storing your ingredients in clear containers that you can see through will help you choose ingredients without having to open all the containers.
This is a great way to use up things that need to be used. One of the first things I do when choosing ingredients to prep is inventory what I already have. Anything that needs to be used goes on the list, and this week, that was two avocados. Since a dressing or a sauce is always part of my weekly ingredient prep, I used them to make an avocado sauce!
How To Prep Ingredients For The Week
My prep centers around what’s on sale and what I already have.
- Start by inventorying your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry. After going through everything you already have, jot down what needs to be used first and plan around those ingredients.
- Make a plan. If you prep a bunch of food that doesn’t go together, you’ll struggle when putting together meals. So, you’ll want loose plans that allow you to use the ingredients you prep in different ways. This will make more sense when you see my meal prep for the week below.
- Pro tip. When cooking your main protein, keep the seasoning simple so it can be used in various ways. For example, if you heavily season it with Italian seasonings, that limits the dishes you can use it in,
- Brainstorm some meals. For example, if you want to prep ground beef, rice, and roasted veggies, think of a few meals you can make with those ingredients.
- Make a shopping list. Once you have your main protein and a list of easy meals you want to make, add the ingredients you’ll need to buy and/or prep for each dish to a shopping list.
It is an individual decision how many meals a day you want to prep. I typically prep breakfast and dinner. Lunch usually consists of leftovers, a quick tuna salad, a cottage cheese bowl, or something random.
I suggest storing all your prep ingredients in clear glass containers meant to be stacked. This way, you can easily see what you have without opening each container. You’ll be surprised how time-consuming this is. I’ve included some affordable options below!
How To Prep Ingredients
Multitasking is your BFF here. Get what will take the longest going first, and prep everything else while it cooks.
- Cook your protein. This usually takes the longest, so I get that going first. This is also when I start my water for hard-boiled eggs, pasta, etc…
- Set a kitchen timer to remind you to stir the protein every few minutes, if necessary.
- Cook your grains. My oven-baked rice is in regular rotation at our house. Since it has to be in the oven for a bit, I get that going after I start the protein.
- Prep your produce. How you prep your produce depends on personal preference. I prefer to keep it raw so I can use it in salads. If you need to cook it like in the cottage cheese bowl picture below, it goes quickly since it’s already prepped.
- Extras. Grate cheese, toast nuts, and make a sauce or dressing. Your future self will thank you on a busy night when these little things are already prepped.
- By now, your protein is either done or almost done, and so are your grains. At this point, I usually take everything out of the oven or off the stove and let it cool down a bit before transferring to the fridge.
Tips For Storing Prepped Produce
How you store your produce can make a big difference in maximizing its life and maintaining freshness.
- Diced or shredded carrots must be covered with a damp paper towel to prevent them from turning brown and drying out. As you use them throughout the week, dampen the paper towel if you notice it is drying out.
- Bell peppers, onions, and hearty greens like kale do better when moisture is kept to a minimum. I typically line the bottom of the container with lint-free paper towels to absorb any excess moisture.
- Fresh herbs have such a short shelf life, but I have found what I think is the best way to store Italian parsley, which is the only one I buy weekly. When I get home from the store, I plunge it in ice-cold water, leave it for about 15 minutes, shake out the excess moisture, and store it in a container between several paper towels. I’ve tried every method imaginable for storing Italian parsley, and I’ve been doing it this way for years.
My Ingredient Prep + Plan This Week
Now that you have a loose plan and your ingredients are prepped let’s review what I prepped this week and how I plan to use it to inspire you!
Food Prepped
- Two pounds of ground beef sautéed with simple seasonings
- Six hard-boiled eggs
- One can of black beans, rinsed and drained
- Three bell peppers, diced
- Two large carrots shred
- One red onion, marinated
- Two containers of fresh mushrooms, quartered and sauteed
- One cup of pecans, roughly chopped and toasted
- One block of sharp cheddar cheese, grated
- Avocado ranch. I make a sauce or dressing every week. This week, I have two avocados that need to be used up, so I made an avocado ranch sauce using my homemade ranch dressing mix, Greek yogurt, lemon juice, and avocados. This can also be used as a dressing.
Things I Purchased & Already Had
- Scallions & Italian parsley. These are always in my refrigerator!
- Canned protein. Tuna and salmon are essential for quick meals like my avocado tuna salad.
- Cottage cheese. It’s a great source of protein and can be worked into many dishes.
- Banza pasta. It’s high in protein and fiber and can be used in quick pasta salads.
- Frozen vegetables. They’re prepped and ready to go.
- Lettuce. I always have a package of pre-washed lettuce for salads, rice bowls, and wraps.
- Condiments. Condiments can completely elevate a dish, so keep your favorites on hand.
- Greek yogurt. I love a high-protein yogurt bowl or fruit and granola parfait—and the variations are endless!
Some Of The Meals I Made This Week
- Veggie egg bake. I loved this so much last week that I made it again using the peppers, scallions, and cheese. For extra protein, I added some of my homemade Italian chicken sausage.
- I made an egg and veggie scramble with black beans, peppers, mushrooms, scallions, and cheese. with avocado sauce on top. It’s not pretty, but it was good!
- Rice and eggs. I make this all the time. It’s a quick and delicious savory breakfast that always hits the spot!
- Ground beef rice bowls. I make a batch of oven-baked rice every week, which is the base and some lettuce. I used peppers, beef, eggs, carrots, and avocado sauce for this bowl.
- Bean and pasta salad. I love having an easy bean or pasta salad that I can quickly throw together. I mixed the black beans with peppers, marinated onions, carrots, scallions, and parsley, then tossed everything with a simple Dijon vinaigrette.
- A savory cottage cheese bowl with beef and peppers. To jazz it up, I seasoned the meat with Za’atar seasoning and Aleppo pepper. The cottage cheese became the sauce, and this was SO delicious!
That’s it. I don’t like to plan too many meals because I also like the flexibility of making things on the fly. That said, having some things planned will help you on those nights when you need something quick and don’t even have time to think about it!
You’ll notice there’s nothing for dessert here, and that’s because we don’t eat dessert every night. In our house, desserts are more of a treat and not something we have often.
Helpful Tips
- Don’t overcomplicate it. Your food prep doesn’t have to be done all at once or on the same day. The picture above shows the food prep I did over the weekend to set myself up for Monday. Just be aware of the ingredients’ shelf life. For example, the beef and eggs were the last things I prepped because they have the shortest shelf life.
- Frozen produce is hugely underrated. It’s prepped and ready to go. If you’re guilty of letting fresh produce spoil, consider having a variety of frozen produce on hand. You can use as much or as little as you need and pop the rest back in the freezer.
I hope this post has inspired you to start ingredient prepping. If you have any suggestions, please share them in the comments below!
I hope this is helpful! If you have any tips you'd like to share, please let us know in the comments below. Be sure to follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, or Facebook, and sign up for my email list so you don’t miss anything new. Thanks for being here, friends ♥ |
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