Ready to start the week? Here are a few meal prep tips from Chef Josh Boutwood to help you craft dishes that are equal parts tasty, convenient, and of course, healthy.
In today’s fast-paced world, meal prep has become an integral part of many people’s lives. For those unfamiliar with the term, meal prep involves preparing and cooking ingredeints in advance, then portioning them into containers for each day of the week. This way, you can simply grab your meal and go, freeing up time to focus on other tasks. It’s a healthier, more cost-efficient alternative to takeout or dining out, as it allows greater control of the portions you consume.
AIA Philippines recently hosted a special meal prep demo featuring none other than Chef Josh Boutwood, who shared practical tips for preparing healthy, delicious meals for the week with ease.
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Protein and Grains
During the demonstration, Boutwood made a variety of protein bowls with grains and a salad. For protein, he used sous vide chicken thigh—a technique in which meat is vacuum-sealed and slow-cooked in warm water.
Sous viding is an excellent way to cook all types of proteins, as it helps lock in flavor and maintain tenderness, especially when meals will be stored inside the fridge and reheated later. Brining the chicken beforehand enhances its flavor and moisture—Boutwood recommends a 1:1 ratio of sugar and salt, equaling approximately two percent the combined weight of the chicken and water.
To sous vide a chicken takes about an hour to an hour and a half, giving you time to focus on other tasks. If you’re not in the mood for poultry, Boutwood recommends sous vide beef flank: it has a bit of fat for added flavor, but is still lean enough to be a healthy protein choice.
You can choose which grains you want to include in your meals, though in the spirit of eating healthy, it’s good to mix in more nutritious whole grains like quinoa and brown rice.
When you’re preparing meals for the week, cooking a whole pot of rice typically takes about 20 minutes. While it’s cooking, you can focus on preparing other components for your protein bowls, such as veggies and sauces.
Salad and Sauces
As Boutwood highlighted in his demo, sauces take a bit more time to prepare. However, once made in batches, you can store them in squeeze bottles or containers in the fridge, ready to use for a variety of meals.
Some examples he had on hand included a special pesto sauce and gochujang sauce (a Korean paste made from fermented soybeans and chili peppers), both of which adds a punch of flavor that pairs well with any rice and protein combo. Using a variety of sauces in your meals helps keep things exciting and prevents taste fatigue.
As a tip, Boutwood recommends using pistachios in pesto sauce instead of pine nuts, as the latter tends to release oils that can taste rancid over time. Remember, sauces should be made with ingredients that will keep well when refrigerated, so you don’t have to prepare new batches so often.
You can also use pre-made sauces for pasta. Simply prepare your sauces in advance, cook and refrigerate your pasta, add the sauce and reheat as needed.
Preparation and Packing
Feel free to create any salad you like, but it’s best to mix the dressing with firmer vegetables like tomatoes and onions. According to Boutwood, this helps prevent leafy greens like lettuce from becoming soggy when stored in the fridge. When you’re ready to eat, simply toss the lettuce with other veggies to evenly coat everything with the dressing.
“Always save the ‘best’ meal for last at the end of the week,” Boutwood shares. “So you can look forward to prepping again.” Got that one meal you’re excited about? Save it, savor it, then start all over again.
When portioning and packing meals, the chef suggests placing labels on the sides of your containers, rather than on the tops. This allows you to stack them in the fridge while still easily seeing which meal is assigned to each day.
All in all, setting aside a couple of hours on a Saturday or Sunday to prepare your meals for the week, is well worth the effort. To add a twist to an old adage: cook smart, not hard.
Banner photo by S’well via Unsplash.
