Written By: Cameron Cave
I am going to guess that you’re a good cook. I realize that is a broad accolade, as a good cook might be someone who knows when to flip their eggs. Having this level of culinary expertise could include understanding the right pressure to slide a spatula under the eggs and determining the perfect balance of salt and pepper to achieve the desired flavor of the eggs.
Or you may come from a different direction. You might know all sorts of recipes—interesting recipes you’ve seen on the internet that have pushed you out of your room, into the grocery store, and finally into the kitchen. Tomatoes, olive oil, and a block of feta in a glass dish made a dinner so beautiful and delicious that when you opened it, the oven glowed like a cartoon treasure chest. And you might’ve tried out one of those no-bake cheesecake recipes that involve pulverizing a sleeve of Oreos for the crust and whipping up icing to fill a whole cake tin before letting it rest in the fridge all night long.
I’m the first type with type two aspirations and a secret trick for stretchy cookies, which I’ll disclose upon my death (or in a later article). But after years of repeating every kind of omelet sandwich my fridge stock could conjure, I made a decision that finally got me closer to becoming a versatile and confident cook with ingredients other than bread, eggs, and cheese. It seems counterintuitive, but the thing that finally helped me become the kind of cook I’ve always wanted to be was... meal prep.
Meal prep, a practice largely championed by bodybuilders and college kids on a budget, has all sorts of advantages and drawbacks that may or may not resonate with various people. Meal prepping consists of buying large amounts of ingredients at once and using them to prepare meals for an entire week. Meal prepping can be beneficial because it is usually cheaper and more convenient than going to the store every night for ingredients. On the other hand, eating the same meal for four days straight may wear you out. Personally, if the food is good, I could eat the same thing for weeks, but you really won’t be prepping more than 10 meals, max., at a time, so I wouldn’t worry about that.
As a proud resident of New York, having to venture out into the world and find dinner, even while erring for affordability, can still run me up $16 or more. (Usually more.) Very early into this school year, I realized having to buy a meal out in the wild more than once a week wouldn’t be sustainable. At the same time, I was sick of eggs being my only real protein source, given how expensive deli meats can be. So since I’d wanted to try meal prepping for a while, I was finally pushed to order the leak-proof, microwave and dishwasher-safe, well-sized, internet-approved glass Tupperware of my dreams. I perused recipes while the containers were on their way, and after an exciting unboxing, I shoved them all in the dishwasher and began making a dish I had wanted to make for years.
As this isn’t a recipe article, I’ll keep it brief, but I made a large batch of mapo tofu. I used a recipe from my favorite food YouTuber—J. Kenji Lopez-Alt—after multiplying all the measurements by eight, I had 24 scallions to cut and a full wok of simmering red tofu and beef. I made 11 portions in all and fed all of my friends for the night with just two of them. Now, I’ll get into how meal prepping made me the cook of my dreams.
Staring down at my nine mapo tofu-filled Tupperware, I thought, “These could use something green.” I generally know of a few ways to cook broccoli, and in days long past, I’ve even tried some of them, but I was at a blank, so I consulted the internet and found that our microwaves, which specifically vibrate water particles at such a fast rate that they evaporate, can steam broccoli lickety-split.
So I learned to make broccoli again.
Two days later, I was tasked with making a side dish for our apartment family dinner. I’ve been away from home for about two years now, and I thought about some dishes I missed from my childhood. I decided to make the brown sugar-filled butternut squash my mom used to make. I hadn’t been stressed about food for so long, and I finally felt like I had the wherewithal to start cooking. I halved giant pieces of butternut squash and roasted them whole. I then doused them with a sugar-butter mixture and baked them again. They turned out perfect, and in the morning I mixed some of the many leftovers with one of my mapo tofu for breakfast. It was one of the first days that felt like fall, and I stared out the window as I ate the most wholesome squash mapo tofu that’s ever been had.
When I saw my prepared meals waning, I had plenty of time to scroll through some YouTube food scientists for my next big cook. I chose Kenji’s chicken curry, and as I eat this last curry a week later, I think I’ll make his stew tomorrow. Meal prepping has taken the scared-scurrying aspect out of meals. No more running scenarios of every way I could feed myself with the random things I thought might be useful from the store. Now I live a glacial food existence, considering how a meal might work for my wallet, to eat in public, what I could add to what I have, and a billion other things you think about when you make something nice.
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