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.