I’ve all the time liked meal prep in concept, however the act itself has let me down so many occasions. What’s mostly often known as “meal prep” normally entails getting ready two to a few full meals to eat all week lengthy. That’s nice for time financial savings—normally, you simply have to reheat and dig in—however not a lot for my enjoyment: I discover myself unable to abdomen stated dishes after only one or two days of consuming the identical factor.

To not point out, I really feel like there’s a noticeable decline within the high quality of those premade recipes after they’ve had a couple of days to settle within the fridge. Crispy roasted greens turn into soggy, grilled meats tackle a humorous taste (even when that’s simply in my head), and issues like burrito bowls and stir-fries simply don’t style pretty much as good as they did recent off the range.

After a number of makes an attempt to include this cooking type into my life, I used to be about to log out on it for good. Then I stumbled upon an fascinating different on the Naturally Ella weblog: part cooking. Seems, culinary specialists like cooks, meals bloggers, and registered dietitians have sworn by this course of for fairly a very long time—it’s the explanation your meals finds its approach to your desk so shortly in eating places, as an example.

So why’s it so in style? As a result of it’s handy and inventive. Slightly than requiring you to make full meals without delay, part cooking is all about getting ready particular person recipe parts that you would be able to then mix in a bunch of various methods. That might be absolutely anything so long as it boosts the flavour of a dish and cuts down on lively cooking time—like making a giant batch of hard-boiled eggs upfront so as to add to salads and sandwiches or whipping up a French dressing or two for all of your weekly saucing wants.

Element cooking also can meet your dietary wants simply in addition to conventional meal prep can—all lengthy as you retain a couple of issues in thoughts, Rhyan Geiger, RDN, proprietor of Phoenix Vegan Dietitian, tells SELF. Primarily, you wish to be sure to have completely different choices available from every meals group so your meals are balanced and satisfying. In observe, she says, this could appear to be two to a few proteins, one to 2 complete grains, and three to 4 greens.

“At every meal, decide at the least one from every of the teams after which add a fat-like sauce or avocado to the highest,” she says. That manner, you all the time have numerous sources of protein, wholesome fat, and carbs on the prepared for quick, filling, and, most significantly, diverse meals.

The next information provides you with a glimpse at a few of the hottest recipe elements to prep upfront—and some meal concepts for every to place them to work. With this methodology by your aspect, you’ll shortly notice that “meal prep” might be something however boring.

1. Pesto

Roya Shariat, Brooklyn-based author, dwelling cook dinner, and coauthor of the forthcoming cookbook Maman and Me: Recipes from Our Iranian American Household, tells SELF that she all the time preps a batch of pesto for her weekly consuming wants due to how versatile it’s. “Pesto is nice on heat pasta or a chilly pasta salad, smeared on a sandwich, become a salad dressing, or smothered onto roast greens,” she says. Even including a spoonful of the inexperienced stuff to yogurt or labneh makes a wonderful dip or sauce for grain bowls, she says.