What does one prep day a week make easier?

A prep day is not a day for cooking all the week's dishes. The work done is much smaller: washing, chopping, boiling, setting aside. What shortens the time spent in the kitchen during the week is not the cooking but this preparation that comes before it.

Below we cover how long a prep day takes, which jobs are moved to it, what is not suitable for preparing in advance, and how the routine is kept up.

What is gained is not time but decisions

The biggest return of preparation is not minutes but the number of decisions. Someone coming home in the evening meets not the question "what should I cook" but only the question "how should I cook it".

When the decision load drops, the chance of turning to ready and delivered options drops too. Chopped vegetables waiting in the fridge leave an option even on the most tired evening.

We covered this effect in detail in the what preparing vegetables in advance changes piece.

What is moved to the prep day

The jobs to be moved here are the repeating and time-consuming ones: washing and chopping the vegetables, soaking the legumes, boiling the grains, drying and storing the greens.

Then there is portioning. Setting nuts into small containers or dividing boiled grains into meal-sized containers removes the decision about the amount during the week.

Knowing how many meals have been set aside while preparing lowers both waste and shortfall; the defined equivalent of a portion of vegetables stands in the what a standard portion means guide. When it is clear how many meals the preparation is for, the number of items that wait in the fridge and spoil drops clearly as well.

Where preparation starts

The first step is clearing the counter. Preparation done on a cluttered counter both takes longer and is left half done; an empty surface handles half the work.

The order starts with the job that waits longest: the legumes are soaked, the grains are put on the stove, the oven is heated. While these go on by themselves, the chopping is done.

The washing-up is part of this order too. The counter being cleared as the work ends directly affects the wish to repeat the same work the next week.

How long it takes

Between forty-five minutes and an hour is enough for most homes. A prep day that goes beyond this carries the risk of not being repeated the next week.

Being able to keep it up matters more than perfection here. Preparation done half way but repeated every week does far more work than a big kitchen day done once a month.

The way to shorten the time is not trying to do everything. Starting with two or three items and widening over time is better than preparing everything the first week and doing none of it the second.

What is not prepared in advance

Not every item suits being prepared in advance. Vegetables that darken quickly and release their water once chopped are prepared at the moment of cooking, not on the prep day.

Salad is in this group too. Greens can be washed and dried, but a salad that has been chopped and dressed loses its texture within a few hours. Preparing the dressing in a separate container and adding it at the moment of serving solves this problem.

With cooked dishes the limit is the storage time. Portions that will go past a few days in the fridge are frozen; we covered what stands where and for how long in the which fridge shelf belongs to what piece.

The storage arrangement is half the preparation

Whether the preparation pays off depends not on where the work ends but on where the containers are put. A container pushed to the back row of the fridge is never opened all week, while the same container standing at the height of the door is used on the first evening.

Visibility sets the speed of the decision here. On most evenings there is no time to scan the fridge from end to end; the first container that catches the eye is used and the rest wait.

The choice of container also sets how long the preparation lasts. Containers of the same size that can be seen into line up in the fridge; how much is left of which one is understood without opening the lid. Writing the date of preparation on it decides which one will be used first and keeps the order from getting mixed up.

Is preparation done alone

If there is more than one person at home, when the preparation is shared the time gets shorter and the routine is easier to keep up. Washing, chopping and setting into containers are jobs independent of one another.

One benefit of sharing is that the knowledge spreads. Only one person knowing where what is stops the kitchen when that person is not there.

For someone living alone preparation is even more valuable. Since cooking for small amounts takes a disproportionate amount of time, preparation corrects this imbalance.

Which day is chosen

A prep day works most efficiently when it is put right after the shopping. The ingredients are prepared while fresh and go into the fridge in order.

Choosing a fixed day also makes the habit easier. Preparation tied to the weekend or to the evening the shopping is done does not have to be remembered separately.

In short: keep the preparation short, move the repeating jobs to it, set the storage up visibly and tie the day to the shopping. We covered its relation to the menu in the meal planning guide.