Making lunch and dinner meal prep pose different problems. For lunch, you don’t have time to cook and for dinner, you have time but may not have the energy to cook an entire meal. Having faced these problems myself when I moved to the Philippines, I have been able to devise a system that works for us and satisfies our need of eating fresh home-cooked meals every day.
In this article, I will focus on dinner ideas that are easy to prep for. The focus is minimising active cooking time, and actual cooking time may be more.
Table of Contents
Pasta and Noodles
This is my go-to dish when I want to get by doing the bare minimum. The only prep you need to do to is to chop vegetables and boil pasta or noodles. The boiled pasta and noodles can be stored in the fridge for up to five days. I usually use the store-bought sauce as it is quick and easy. You should store cooked pasta and sauce separately.
One Pot Rice Dishes
These dishes and easy to pull off if you have chopped vegetables in the fridge making it the easiest Indian dinner meal prep dish. The process is simple.
- In a pressure cooker or instant pot, heat oil.
- Add the spices you want. I add tej patta, whole black pepper, cloves, and cumin.
- Add onion and shallow fry till they become translucent.
- Add chopped vegetables.
- Add rice, water, and salt, and cook for up to two whistles.
Similarly, you can make
- Fried rice
- Khichadi
- Schezwan rice
- Vegetable pulao
Make Chole, Rajma, or Dal Makhani using Gravy
This tomato-onion gravy recipe is a great way of making chole, rajma, or dal makhani in less than 5 mins of active cooking time. The reason I normally plan this dinner recipe is that it still takes 20 to 30 mins to cook. You can make rice with it and eat a delicious meal with minimal effort.
Freeze Bhaji of Pav Bhaji
Bhaji is a great way of utilising all the vegetables left in the fridge. What is even better is that you can a big batch of bhaji and freeze it. Whenever you want to eat it, you simply need to thaw and reheat it. Use pav or buns from your bakery next door and you are good.
Make Chutney
A simple yet great way of elevating your dinners is to make a chutney. It not only the enhances flavour of your meal but also has health benefits. I like to use these chutney recipes by Sanjyot Keer depending on what I am making. You can also buy or make achaar for the same benefits.
Conclusion
At the end of a long working day, all you want to do is have a hearty meal, watch your favourite series, and go to bed. With dinner meal prep done on the weekend, you will be able to do just that. These five dinner ideas are easy to implement and give you enough variety to work with.
