Meal Prep on My Mind
And a new product for ya.
Hi there,
How are you doing in your kitchen over there? As the subject of this email indicates, I’m thinking a lot about meal prep in mine for a couple different reasons. First, I’m in the early stages of stocking my freezer with nourishing meals for my postpartum recovery. I’ve been reading The First Forty Days and loosely planning my meals around it. This is a niche recommendation, I know, but I highly recommend grabbing a copy if you happen to be planning for your own little one or will be supporting a loved one in their postpartum days anytime soon.
Second—and probably more relevant to you—Abigail and I have an exciting meal prep-related announcement: as of this morning, we’re offering a major discount on our two best selling e-books when you buy them together! The Meal Prep Bundle includes:
Meal Prep Made Simple, the e-book we created together with over twenty five meal-prep-appropriate recipes and the game plans and grocery lists to go along with them. And…
The Beginner’s Guide to Meal Prep, my very first e-book with recipes of course, but also with step-by-step instructions for meal prepping efficiently, guides for crafting your own meal prep menus, and tips and tricks to get you working very efficiently in the kitchen when working with multiple recipes at once.
Meal Prep Made Simple typically retails for $20, but you can grab both books for just $24. And forgive me, I cannot resist the trite marketing tool…nowadays, that extra $4 barely gets you a small coffee (*cries in inflation*), let alone a very no-frills latte, but it can get you access to a whole extra stellar meal prep ebook! What a deal.
Abigail and I have excerpted recipes and resources from Meal Prep Made Simple frequently for the past few months, so today, I want to give you a little taste of what you’ll find inside The Beginner’s Guide to Meal Prep.
Let’s talk about the two different meal prep styles—this little excerpt from Beginner’s Guide will help you understand the difference between the two, plus decide which style will work best for you and your family. Let’s take a peek:
What Is Meal Prep
(Excerpted from The Beginner’s Guide to Meal Prep, find it in The Meal Prep Bundle)
Family Style/Buffet Meal Prep
Picture yourself in the Italian countryside at the height of summer. You find a seat at the table situated on your villa’s sprawling patio just as the setting sun turns the sky pink-y orange. Platters heaped with fresh pasta, still-warm focaccia, and a bright salad of bitter greens are whisked to the table then passed amongst your family. Everyone takes a bit of whatever they’re interested in eating and conversation momentarily pauses as you all enjoy the first few bites of your meal. You catch Armie Hammer smirking at you out of the corner of your eye and you avert your gaze.
Oh, what’s that? Call Me by Your Name fan fiction seems out of place in this cookbook, you say? Well, I guess I can see your point, and while family style meal prep won’t transport you to Timothée Chalamet’s Italian Villa, my general point is family style meal prep is about interacting with large portions of food, selecting what and how much you’d like to eat right before you are about to eat, and enjoying it in that moment. When it comes to meal prep, what this means is that you will be making discrete dishes and storing them separately in large containers, then making a meal by mixing and matching those items throughout the week. The major upside of this type of prep is that you can shuffle your main and side dishes to create variety that will keep you interested throughout the week. This is the style of prep that works best for me and my family because I crave variety, and work from home enough that plating my meals is feasible. But read on--composed may be your preferred method.
Family Style/Buffet Meal Prep
If you’d prefer to have ready-made meals you can pull right out of the fridge, composed meal prep might be right for you. Composed prep involves pre-selecting a main and side dish that pair well and storing individual portions in smaller containers for you to pull out of your refrigerator and eat without worrying about plating anything. While you lose the variety inherent in the family style method, you gain the convenience of having something ready to grab and go. This is great if you’re interested in prepping for your lunch at an office job or you’re very busy and don’t want to put any thought into your meals after you’ve done your prep.
Each style has its advantages and disadvantages, but know that whichever you choose, the important thing is that you’re making meal prep work for you and you will ultimately spend the same amount of time on the prep itself regardless of style. And I’m happy to say that this book can be used to create both family style and composed meal preps.
You’ll find detailed meal prep info like this throughout The Beginner’s Guide (plus two complete menus and recipes to go along with all the tips and tricks). And if you want to keep the good food coming, Meal Prep Made Simple is much more recipe and menu focused, with five full menus and over twenty five recipes to execute them. You can get both in The Bundle at a big discount.
Alright, we have covered it for today! If you’ve also got meal prep on your mind, I’d love to hear what you’re cooking up—shoot me an email, leave a comment, or drop in via my DMs over on Instagram.
As always, wishing you a well-fed week ahead.
xx
Erica
Want more? I’m so flattered! You can also follow me on Instagram or TikTok, or check out my tips-laden e-book collection. The newest addition, Meal Prep Made Simple, is available to order now!
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