Get 10 Tips for Life-Changing Meal Prep
Here are 10 practical tips that will simplify meal prep and help you build a dependable routine for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. With a little planning and a few simple preparations early in the week, you can assemble quick, nutritious meals every day.
Make Meal Prep Easy
Meal prep doesn’t have to be intimidating. If you often find yourself with nothing defrosted at dinner time, try setting aside a short block of time once a week to prepare a few core ingredients. Roast a protein, pre-cook some grains and beans, make a batch of broth, and portion out vegetables. These simple steps will let you combine components quickly into balanced, flavorful meals all week long.
10 Meal Prep Tips
In my tips video I share ten approaches I use in a traditional foods kitchen that save time and improve meal quality. They include methods for roasting proteins, prepping staples like bone broth and grains, and making versatile items such as homemade yogurt and granola without specialized equipment. Each suggestion is designed to be approachable and repeatable.
Start with a roast chicken or your preferred protein; it becomes multiple meals and a base for stock. Make bone broth from the carcass, cook a pot of grains and beans, and prepare a few condiments or dressings to freshen meals quickly. Homemade granola is another multitasking item—use it for breakfast, snacks, or even a crunchy dessert topping.
These meal-prep basics create a foundation of real foods that are both nutritious and convenient. I provide video tutorials and printable recipes for each of these staples to help you implement them at home.
Sourdough Starter Is a Meal Prep Lifesaver
A sourdough starter is incredibly useful beyond bread. You don’t need to bake daily or discard excess starter. Use the discard to make pancakes, waffles, flatbreads, crackers, or even a casserole topping. These recipes turn what might feel like waste into ready-to-eat or easily reheated foods that stretch your time and ingredients further.
- Sourdough Starter Pancakes – What to Do with Discarded Sourdough Starter
- Whole Grain Blender Batter Waffles – No Grain Mill Required
- Sourdough Starter Flatbread using Discarded Sourdough Starter
- How to Make No Roll Sourdough Crackers
- Sourdough Skillet Dinner – What to Do with Discarded Sourdough Starter
For tips on maintaining your sourdough starter with minimal feedings and no discards, see the related video and guide.
- How to Maintain a Sourdough Starter with No Feedings and No Discards
Recipes to Get Your Meal Prep Started
Below are video tutorials and recipes that help you stock a functional refrigerator, freezer, and pantry. These foundational items streamline midweek cooking and reduce stress at mealtimes.
- How to Make a Simple Roast Chicken
- Slow cooker: How to Make Roast Chicken Bone Broth for Pennies a Jar
- 5 Homemade Salad Dressings – Quick, Easy, and Healthy
- How to Make a Nutrient-Dense All-Purpose Seasoning Mix
- How to Make Fermented Giardiniera – Probiotic-Rich Italian Pickle Relish
- How to Pickle Beets – Old-Fashioned Pickled Beets Recipe
- How to Make Homemade Yogurt – No Machine Required
- Sugar-Free Granola Recipe – Easy, Crunchy, and Tasty
FREE 36-Page Essential Pantry List
If you’re transitioning from a processed-foods kitchen to a traditional foods approach, download the free 36-page Essential Traditional Foods Pantry List. It outlines the four corners of a well-stocked pantry—working pantry, refrigerator, freezer, and extended (prepper) pantry—and includes suggested items, videos, and printable recipes to help you prepare nutrient-dense meals at home.
- FREE 36 Page Traditional Foods Pantry List – Printable Pantry Staples List
- What is a PREPPER PANTRY? And Why We All Need One.
Kitchen Academy Videos
For deeper instruction and member-only content, consider joining the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy. Members receive access to exclusive videos, live streams, and additional resources that expand on the techniques and recipes shown here.
One members-only video covers practical strategies for keeping traditional foods on a limited budget, including prioritizing staples and using leftovers strategically.
- Traditional Foods on a Limited Budget
Shop for Items Used in This Post or Video
Favorite Kitchen Supplies
- Favorite Aprons
- Whisk
- Silica Gel Packets (helps keep moisture from building up in your mix)
- Cast Iron Dutch Oven
- 8-Quart Slow Cooker
- Fat Separator (useful for decanting bone broth)
- Flour Sack Towels
- Half Gallon Canning Jars
- Masontops Fermentation Kit
- Mockmill Grain Grinder and Whole Grains
Recommended Reading
- Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and Diet Dictocrats
- Deep Nutrition
- Rosemary Gladstar’s Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide
- Spontaneous Healing: How to Discover and Embrace Your Body’s Natural Ability to Maintain and Heal Itself