With a little organization, you can do the prep work for a few days worth of quick meals in about one hour per week (plus your shopping time). The key is the 3 P’s: planning, purchasing, and preparation. See our reference charts in the Real Food Answers section of the blog for bean and grain cooking charts and a shopping list template.

Spend a few minutes each week thinking about what dishes you would like to make for your family this week. What produce is in season right now?

Check your pantry, fridge, and freezer: what staples are running low?

Decide which foods you want to make as base dishes.

Make your shopping list.

Plan to shop on a Friday or Saturday so you can do the bulk of your meal preparation on the weekend.

If you have the time, plan an additional, shorter shopping trip mid-week to restock any perishables that are running low: vegetables, fruit, milk, meats, etc.
Many grocery stores now offer a relatively inexpensive delivery service. You can make your selections online and have the groceries delivered right to your door within a day or two. You can save favorite items or staple lists so that you don’t have to recreate a new list each time. Online grocery shopping can actually save you money by cutting down on impulse buys. Factoring in your saved shopping time and gas money, online grocery shopping and delivery is a convenient and reasonable option for many busy families committed to home cooking.

Set aside an hour or so each weekend to prepare your family’s base foods for the week. Coordinate this weekly staples-cooking time to coincide with your shopping day (i.e. shop on Fridays and cook Sat mornings), and make it a regular habit. Put your grains and beans out to soak the evening before the morning you wish to cook (i.e. Friday evening soak for Saturday morning prep), or put them out the morning before the evening you wish to cook (i.e. Saturday morning soak for Saturday evening prep).

Wash your salad lettuces, hardy crudités vegetables (such as cucumbers, peppers, carrots, etc) and fruits (except berries) all at once. If it’s convenient, do it right after your shopping trip so you put it away clean and ready to eat. Some other delicate fruits and vegetables, such as berries and baby bok choy, will spoil faster if washed early, so wait until just before serving to clean those.

On Friday or Saturday evening, rinse and soak one measure of grain (single or mixed) overnight in a covered pot (or the rice cooker, if you have one). Rinse and cook one batch of grain according to the reference charts in the Real Food Answers section of the site. You can puree these cooked grains for younger babies, or use them over the next couple of days to add to soups, stews, salads, puddings, or cook them into patties for your family meals. Cooked grains keep for up to 3 days in the refrigerator. If you don’t freeze any of the leftovers, you may want to prepare another batch fresh on Wednesday to get you through the rest of the week.

On Friday or Saturday evening, rinse and pick through 2 cups of beans. Place them in a large pot and cover them with cold water to an inch above the beans. Cover pot and soak overnight.

The next morning, drain and rinsed the soaked beans. Refill the bean pot with fresh water and cook according to package or recipe directions, or bean reference chart in the Real Food Answers section of the site. Plain cooked beans will keep for up to 4 days in the fridge.
Mash them for older babies or add them to soups, stews, salads, wraps, puree them for dips and spreads, or cook them into patties for your family meals and snacks.

On Saturday or Sunday afternoon, assemble a base salad out of the hardiest salad vegetables: lettuces, carrots, cabbage, radishes, etc. Then you can pull out your base each night and dress it up for that evening’s meal with the more perishable additions: cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms, avocado, roasted vegetables, cooked grains or proteins (to make a salad meal), etc. You’ll neeed to build another salad base on Wednesday or Thursday to get through the whole week.

You can also prepare a base meat at this time, such as a simple roasted chicken or poached chicken breasts.

Although it costs more, you can save preparation time by purchasing a free-range organic chicken, cooked rotisserie-style from your market.

You can also buy pre-washed and pre-cut fresh vegetables, everything from spinach to peeled and cubed butternut squash. You can even find high quality, pre-mixed salads in a bag.
Buy fresh frozen vegetables. Make sure they are high quality, free of all additives, and raw or blanched. These vegetables are generally frozen shortly after harvest, so they retain high levels of nutrients. They are also pre-washed and often pre-cut, which can save you a lot of time.

You can skip cooking your beans and simply use high quality canned beans in all the same ways.

Spending about an hour each weekend preparing these “base” foods will allow you to assemble meals for your child (and the rest of your family!) throughout the week in minutes. See our ideas for Top 10 Ways to use pre-cooked grains, beans and meats.