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Well, I decided to give you all another dose why people like preparing their meals in advance. I asked a friend from college, Tsui, what she likes about preparing her meals ahead of time. Here are her responses:
1. How long has you been preparing your food for the week in advance?
I started during my first year of law school, about 3 years ago.
2. What made you start doing this?
I started doing this because I was in classes a majority of the
day. I woke up at 7 am for 8 am class, continued through the day, and
then went to the library until it closed at 11 pm. With all my
extracurricular activities, I usually only had 15 -30
minutes between classes/meetings. We had a fridge and microwave on
campus, so after I finished my cooking on Sunday afternoon, I would
place all my containers for the week into a reusable grocery bag (with
my name written on the outside of the bag), and stick
it into the fridge on my way to candlelit yoga class. That way I had
all my meals for the week in the fridge already. I would grab them
between classes/meeting, microwave them and eat in class.
3. Is there a specific day that you like cook?
I would prep my meals every Sunday after lunch, from 12:30 until
4:30 pm. This time includes prepping the ingredients, cooking, and
clean up. I only had two burners and a half sink in the dormitory so
everything took longer. Now that I have a dishwasher
and 4 burners, I still allocate the same amount of time but I cook more
food, and freeze it.
4. Are you multi-tasking while you are preparing your food? (i.e. watching TV, listening to music, talking on the phone)
I like to listen to music when I cook. I usually sort the laundry
the night before I cook, and then put it into the wash before I start
cooking. I chop up all the vegetables for the food, assemble the baked
dish/stick it in the oven, start boiling the
soup. This usually takes about 30-45 minutes, and the laundry wash is
ready. I put the clothes in the dryer. Cook some more, and take the
clothes out of the dryer. After cooking, I put all the food into
ready-serve tupperware. Stick it on a table by an
open window to cool. Fold my laundry. By the time the laundry is all
folded, the food is usually cooled. So I put that away. Mission
accomplished!
One tip I have is to break the laundry into small loads. I never
do more than 1 or 2 loads of laundry while batch cooking. Otherwise, it
is too much. By keeping the same habit every week, it keeps everything
manageable. If someone else can help such
as a significant other that's great. For example, sometimes you're
cooking something on the stovetop, but you know the laundry needs to be
put in the dryer before the clothes get too wrinkled. So that's a task
that my significant other helps with. Don't
hesitant to ask for help with other tasks, especially if both of you
will benefit from the food. However, I find that cooking with another
person usually makes it less efficient unless you have a routine down
for a specific dish (like dumplings below). Also,
I have tried talking on the phone, but it's also not very efficient
because sometime the water is running, or you have to touch meat.
5. How has this been beneficial to you?
It has been beneficial because during a busy workday, I would end
up eating what was readily available which would usually be a pastry or
pizza. I would often make decision about what I was going to eat while
already hungry. This usually led to poor
decisions about nutrition. However, by having all my meal choices
already prepared and in the fridge, I would grab a tupperware box out of
the fridge and it would a low sodium, fiber-filled meal with lots of
vegetables. Even though occasionally I would make
rich meals like macaroni and cheese, I purposely put them into small
containers for portion-control. The second factor was cost. By grocery
shopping all at once and having ingredients and spices that I could use
over and over again, I knew each month how
much I was spending on food. I could invest in quality ingredients and
incorporate more vegetables into my meal (which are relatively cheap).
Sometimes a classmate would invite me to lunch, which would often be a
$8 sandwich or salad at the school cafe that
was not very delicious. Since we were eating on campus anyway, I would
sometime just offer a tupperware box to my friend instead. They would
usually jump at the opportunity to have a home-cooked meal. Food for
the both of us would often be below the $8 sandwich
and taste much better.
6. What is your favorite item to prepare?
Freezer meals. The idea behind the freezer meals is that ANYONE
can eat them such as when your vegan, gluten free aunt who drops by the
house. You have some options in the freezer to pop into the oven or
boil the soup. Make a meat dish, sandwich or
side, and you're ready to go!
1. Pasta Bakes such as vegetable lasagna, low fat baked ziti, mac
and cheese. In my experience, frozen cooked meat loses flavor when you
freeze it, unless it's high in fat and seasoning like sausage (which is
not so good for you). So, I try to make
my pasta bakes vegetarian, and have a fresh meat dish on the side such
as roasted chicken drumsticks. For the pasta bakes, I go to a
restaurant supply store and buy small disposable aluminum containers
with lids (enough for 1-2 servings). I do not boil the
pasta because after baking, it will be mushy. Rather, I boil a pot of
water, turn OFF the heat. Then I soak the pasta in the hot water for 10
minutes. Drain and rinse it, coat with olive oil and salt. It will
cook as it bakes. As for the instructions,
I make a grid table in word. Type the instructions once with oven
temperature, cook time with the lid (to bake), when to take off the lid
(to crisp). Copy and paste it, print, and tape label to the lid.
2. Soups - I usually make the classic chicken noodle soup (no
noodles added) the late fall in preparation for the winter because
someone usually gets sick. I also usually make turkey chili. I prefer
turkey as opposed to beef or pork because sometimes
others have dietary restrictions. Turkey chili also goes with
everything, by itself with sour cream and toppings, on top of macaroni,
or added to spaghetti sauce. I like to freeze my soups in these Ziploc
Twist n Loc containers because they are spill-proof.
3. Dumplings - my boyfriend and I really like dumplings because
you can prepare 200 of them and they only take 10 minutes to boil. It's
easiest to have one person make the filling, and then two people
assemble them. Freeze on cookie sheets as you assemble.
Transfer to gallon-sized ziploc bags after they are frozen. Write on
bags before you freeze them or else the ink will rub off. We have one
dumpling assembly food prep day every month or two.
4. Kimchee fried rice - can be made with brown rice also, and also can be frozen. I sent you the recipe already.
5. Congee - it's like a rice stew. I make a large pot either
plain or with peanuts. I put into glass jars/plastic containers (I just
reuse pasta sauce jars, yogurt containers or large take-out soup
containers). For breakfast, we just bring the amount
we want to eat to a boil. Some people like adding topping like dried shredded meat/fish, or pickled
vegetables, ginger, or scallion. Since there's no meat in dish itself, it keeps for a long time, up to a week.
7. Do you any tips for anyone that wants to start preparing their food in advance?
I
love making use of my freezer because it allows me to make more food
without worrying about it going bad. Think about what you currently eat
now that can be made in batches, and
perhaps frozen. Always test the recipe before you make it in a large
batch. That's why I recommend starting with something you've made a
million times. This is especially true if you plan to freeze it because
freezing may change the flavor profile or texture
of something. It also usually makes it more bland, so you have to pick a
dish already with a lot of flavor (like kimchee fried rice) or add
extra salt and spices.
And there you have it! SALUD!!!
