Weekly Meal Prep- and other slightly neurotic kitchen habits

It is no secret I am a lover of lists, multi-coloured post-it-notes, pens, and any other whistles and bells marketed towards slightly-compulsive-disguised-as-organised people. Weekly meal prep makes me feel accomplished, prepared, ready to take on the world through my refrigerator and wipe board (only exaggerating slightly). And the pretty vegetables, matching-lid tupperware, and labeled containers- they are the stuff of dreams.

Last Sunday morning, while Isla napped and Nell watched Winnie the Pooh I began my weekly prep.  By making separate items, rather than a few casseroles, I’ve recently found it gives me more creative freedom during the week to change things up  a bit.  It makes for a nice variety of dishes that everyone seems to really enjoy, rather than attempting to dress up 3-day-old casserole. This week for instance, we tried golden beetroot for the first time!  It’s milder than the normal purplish-red stuff, and incidentally stains your hands less when peeling and chopping it.

Here was the breakdown, as well as the recipes I wanted to make a version of with our provisions:

Roasting

the major part of the prep during the winter/early spring

5 sweet potatoes with butter

700g/1+lbs carrots with fresh & dried thyme and vegetable oil

6 golden beetroots with honey and vegetable oil

5 chicken breasts, marinated overnight in balsamic, tamari, honey and tamarind

1 butternut squash with salt and butter

I also chopped 2 heads of broccoli down into florets, and made our weekly loaf of whole wheat and raisin bread.

Through out the week I had high hopes these ingredients would magically became a version of one, some or all of the following ;

Savoury Vegetable Crumble

Crostini with Root Vegetables & Ricotta

Chicken Pad Thai

Balsamic & Honey Chicken

Even if nothing came of my recipe aspirations, the prep resulted in enough finger-food size vegetables to dip into yoghurt, lentil dip, or mix into pasta with pesto.  Which was good enough for me.