Prepping Ahead - Yea or Nay?

[Porthos]

I couldn't find any previous threads regarding this topic. Moderators, please merge this into the existing thread if there is one. Thanks.

 

I was reading some internet pages on basic meal planning. I have gotten back to meal planning because deciding what to have for dinner any given evening was getting to be a major chore. I am doing my planning old school, a word document. Something that was mentioned, and I have read this in the past also, is about doing prep work in advance, up several  days in advance, for ingredients that need chopping, slicing, etc.  I can't get my head around that. I like to freshly dice my onions and other such ingredients as part of starting a meal.

 

Is my reluctance to prep in advance foolishness as if it were based upon an old wives tale or such or not? Who preps in advance and how do you keep things fresh enough to not notice the difference?

 

As a reference point specifically for onions, the coarseness of fineness of the dice is dictated by each dish I am preparing.

Edited July 20, 2017 by Smithy
Corrected title spelling (log)

[kayb]

I generally don't do it, because I'm not that organized, but I have done so in advance of my Saturday at the soup kitchen. Don't do potatoes, obviously, but I will certainly do onions, pepper, carrots, even meat if I have access to it; usually the meat is at the church, so generally not unless it's a pre-cook (I've done two or three Instant Pots of chuck roast, for instance, and then shredded it, though).

 

Stuff like squash, eggplant, etc., is easy enough to prep I don't bother with advance. But any hard veggies may get done a day or two in advance, and refrigerated.

 

We did something, I forget what, that called for caramelized onions, so I did those at home in the slow cooker well in advance.

Edited July 19, 2017 by kayb
to fix grammar. (log)

[Shelby]

I prep a lot of veggies ahead.  I'm always glad when I do that.  I do a lot of onions ahead...I'm not super picky about how big my onions are chopped.  I currently am prepping a ton of squash ahead.  Nice to have some already diced up to go in sauce or for a side dish.  Peppers stay great all chopped up.  Oh and I prep lemons and limes, too...though they aren't veggies.

 

I never prep a tomato ahead.  I do not want this to go off topic so I'll just say that YES the 'maters taste different after being in the fridge and I don't like the taste.

[Lisa Shock]

I do it for big special meals, not so much for everyday meals. That said, there are things i enjoy using where I prep a quantity in advance and then freeze it. I make various vegetable stocks and freeze then vacuum seal in cup and quart sized bricks. I make spaghetti sauce and freeze it in 4oz and 8oz chunks. I make tomato soup and freeze it in 8 oz blocks. If I make rice for dinner, I make a couple of extra portions for the freezer. I make a large pot of onion confit and store it in smaller portions in both the fridge and freezer. I don't usually prep vegetables in advance unless I accidentally make too much for a dish and save it for later.

Edited July 20, 2017 by Lisa Shock (log)

[gfweb]

Stock is about it for me.

And smoked/cured meats...but that's different.

[Porthos]

4 hours ago, Shelby said:

...I'm not super picky about how big my onions are chopped.

 

I am very picky. For Chili I want a very coarse chop so that there are visible pieces in the finished dish. At the other end of the scale is risotto where I add extra vertical and horizontal starting slices and then slice the overall onion as thin as I can get it. Other things fall in between.

[chileheadmike]

I can usually have my veggies chopped by the time the pan heats up. So, pretty much just stock. 

[Anna N]

I find I am much more challenged now than I used to be in terms of getting a meal on the table. One of the main things I do is grate cheese. Often by the time I am ready to add some cheese to whatever I'm making I have run out of the energy needed and being able to reach into my refrigerator for a container of cheese already grated can make the difference between a good meal and a really good meal. At home I keep grated cheddar, gruyere and Parmesan on hand (all grated by me!).  

Edited July 20, 2017 by Anna N (log)

[lindag]

Once you've grated these cheeses how long do they hold in the fridge?

I made the mistake (just once) of Foodsaving a bag of shredded cheese....as you can guess, what I got when I opened the bag was one big lump that was in no longer grated cheese.

[Shelby]

I grate cheese ahead, too.  Cheddar and parmesan.  The parm lasts forever it seems.  At least 2 months.  I've never had the cheddar mold or anything either, but I use it quite often so it doesn't sit around too long--I know it's fine for at least 2 weeks.

[Porthos]

I regularly grate 2 lb blocks of sharp cheddar divided into 8 oz portions. They go into quart Ziplocs and get frozen. We pull them out one at a time to keep in the fridge. We've been doing this for years. There are four adults in our household at the moment but even when it was just my DW and myself we went through the cheese fast enough for mold to never be a problem. Right now we're also grating 2 lb blocks of Monterey Jack. All of this grating is done using a food processor. I do have one timing requirement for when to grate. I want an empty dishwasher so that I can immediately rinse off the parts of the food processor and get them into the machine.

 

Today I am going to make our chicken enchilada casserole (freezing it for a future meal)  so I will pull out an 8 oz bag of sharp cheddar just for that. Dinner tonight is make-your-own-taco-salad so I will make sure to have bags of sharp and jack out for that.

[ElsieD]

1 hour ago, Porthos said:

I regularly grate 2 lb blocks of sharp cheddar divided into 8 oz portions. They go into quart Ziplocs and get frozen. We pull them out one at a time to keep in the fridge. We've been doing this for years. There are four adults in our household at the moment but even when it was just my DW and myself we went through the cheese fast enough for mold to never be a problem. Right now we're also grating 2 lb blocks of Monterey Jack. All of this grating is done using a food processor. I do have one timing requirement for when to grate. I want an empty dishwasher so that I can immediately rinse off the parts of the food processor and get them into the machine.

 

Today I am going to make our chicken enchilada casserole (freezing it for a future meal)  so I will pull out an 8 oz bag of sharp cheddar just for that. Dinner tonight is make-your-own-taco-salad so I will make sure to have bags of sharp and jack out for that.

 

The cheese doesn't clump together?

[Norm Matthews]

I frequently do partial prep earlier in the day so it is ready to finish at the last minute, ie when my son gets home from work.  I'll have everything ready so there is nothing left to do but the final cooking. 

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, lindag said:

Once you've grated these cheeses how long do they hold in the fridge?

I made the mistake (just once) of Foodsaving a bag of shredded cheese....as you can guess, what I got when I opened the bag was one big lump that was in no longer grated cheese.

 What Shelby said. 

[Porthos]

17 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

The cheese doesn't clump together?

 

No, never an issue. I do gently press the cheese to spread it out into a flat shape for freezing.

 

If I remember I'll take some pictures in a couple of weeks when I grate more.

Edited July 20, 2017 by Porthos (log)

[Anna N]

18 minutes ago, Norm Matthews said:

I frequently do partial prep earlier in the day so it is ready to finish at the last minute, ie when my son gets home from work.  I'll have everything ready so there is nothing left to do but the final cooking. 

That more or less describes how I work these days.

 

 Edited because such a simple sentence didn't need re-iterating.

Edited July 20, 2017 by Anna N (log)

[Porthos]

1 hour ago, lindag said:

Once you've grated these cheeses how long do they hold in the fridge?

I made the mistake (just once) of Foodsaving a bag of shredded cheese....as you can guess, what I got when I opened the bag was one big lump that was in no longer grated cheese.

 

Do you use the terms shredded and grated interchangeably? I am not sure that shredded cheese would freeze nearly as well as grated cheese.

[Porthos]

1 hour ago, Porthos said:

Dinner tonight is make-your-own-taco-salad so I will make sure to have bags of sharp and jack out for that.

 

I will slice the olives and chop the green onions and the cilantro within a half hour of serving.  I guess what I consider very freshly prepared is one of my idiosyncrasies.

[scubadoo97]

I'm an off the cuff cook.  Get home from work and then think about what I'm going to make with what's available in my fridge and freezer or occasionally go to my favorite fresh fish monger.   The prepping for dinner is a stress reliever after a day's work 

Edited July 20, 2017 by scubadoo97 (log)

[blbst36]

For meal prep(*See note): I do it every week.  I plan out what I want to eat on the day the flyers come out.  Go grocery shopping.  Cook and package everything on Sunday.  Grab and go during the week.  Since it's only a week, I rarely get bored.  If it is more than that or I get bored, I'll freeze portions or give them away.  I am someone who is a little more lax than most with how long leftovers can be eaten.  Basically, if it doesn't smell, I eat it 

 

For ingredient prep: You already know what you are making based on your meal plan, so you should already know how the onions, or anything else, need to be chopped to fit your tastes/needs.  If I am having salad for a meal and I want more than just the pre-cut lettuce, I'll cut it up at the beginning of the week and put it into containers.  Some vegetables last longer than others, but if I didn't do that, then I would never have anything other than lettuce on my salads.  I am not going to spend 15-20 minutes to get all the different vegetables out, clean, cut, put away, to assemble my salad.  The idea is to cut everything once.  Take out a vegetable that's used in multiple dishes, cut it multiple ways for the recipes you are making, and you don't have to cut it again until next week.  The other thing is that it isn't necessarily just vegetables.  You can prep cooked meats (if recipes call for it), cut the meats, marinate, clean meats, etc.  

 

Most of the prep-ahead things that I have seen are for people who don't have the time to freshly prepare ingredients every night (or don't want to).  They can still get the benefit of a home cooked meal without having to come home and work from scratch every night.  There are also those that cook once a week because they are on a specific nutrition/diet plan, so it's easier to make it all at once and not have to think about it every time they go to eat.

 

It all comes down to what you are comfortable with doing.  If you have the time/like doing the day of prep, then just do that.

 

*NOTE - I am single and live alone, so I don't have to have a different meal every day to satisfy anyone else 

[lindag]

1 hour ago, Porthos said:

 

Do you use the terms shredded and grated interchangeably? I am not sure that shredded cheese would freeze nearly as well as grated cheese.

 

Yes, I guess I do although I realize they're not the same.

I most always shred my cheese because the amount I need just doesn't warrant firing up the food processor (it's the washing up that is too much).

Howeve, now that I read that's possible to store pre-grated/shredded cheese, I may have to change my ways.

[Alex]

I think I read that alliums (onion, garlic, etc.) lose their flavor on the bedpost overnight. Wait, that's chewing gum. Alliums lose intensity if they've been cut too early, I think.

Edited July 20, 2017 by Alex (log)

[Porthos]

@Alex You've caught me in my one big cheat (although it never crossed my mind when I started this thread). I dislike dealing with garlic so I buy the big jars of chopped garlic from Costco and add to taste since their potency is less than fresh. I never go through that much garlic but at the price when I decide it's getting old I toss it and buy a new jar. Costs me maybe $10.00/year.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I prep most anything involving knife work or arithmetic before the mai tai.

 

[lindag]

14 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I prep most anything involving knife work or arithmetic before the mai tai.