MY MEAL PREP ROUTINE + FOOD STORAGE TIPS | How to Store Ingredients for Meal Prep

If you'd like to meal prep more regularly but struggle with knowing what to prep ahead, then this video is for you. Today I'll be showing you how to do some ingredient prep over the weekend and actually store your food correctly so that it stays fresh all week long, right up until the moment you go to make your meals. Hey guys, welcome back to my channel. It's Taylor from The Girl on Bloor. I'm all about sharing easy meal prep strategies that you can save time, money, and stress. Food storage is a huge concern I hear from so many people when they first start meal prepping. As you probably know from watching my other videos, I'm really big into ingredient prep as opposed to spending a full day cooking several meals from scratch in the kitchen. My meal prep method helps you get organized over the weekend but cuts down on the time you spend cooking during the week because you're doing half the work ahead of time. It's like mini meal prep, all the benefits without the crazy time investment. You probably don't like the idea of eating leftovers all week long and want to be able to cook fresh meals each night without spending an hour in the kitchen after a long day. So this meal prep method is much more sustainable in the long run and is something that you can easily stick to. But a question I get all the time is how the ingredients stay fresh before I go to use them all. So today I'll be showing you my exact food storage tips and tricks, including the best way to store produce. And to do this, I'm going to show you my weekend ingredient meal prep routine. I'll show you the containers I use to store it all and then walk you through four easy, healthy recipes that you can whip up within 15 or 20 minutes each night during the week. I've got an easy prep ahead checklist along with the recipes for the week, so be sure to head to the link in my description to get that if you want to follow along and make the meals from this weekly meal plan yourself. Now, here's what we'll be prepping for. We'll be making peanut chicken bowls, scallop tacos, hibachi chicken, and a copycat of Wendy's taco salad. We're going to start by prepping as many of the ingredients as we can for the recipes in advance, and I'll show you how to store them properly along the way. So the first thing that I do is take a look at each recipe and then make a prep ahead checklist. I sort it into grains, proteins, sauces, and veggies. First up, you're going to make the rice for the fried rice component of the hibachi chicken. I always start with grains since they take the longest to cook and cool before you can refrigerate. Just add one cup of rice, one and a half cups of water, one pinch of salt, and one teaspoon of butter to a rice cooker or a pot on the stove, and cook until the liquid has absorbed. Let it cool for about an hour, then put the rice cooker container right into the fridge. Once your rice is going in the rice cooker, you can start on the sauces. Mix together half a cup of light mayo, one tablespoon of soy sauce, one tablespoon of rice vinegar, and one tablespoon of Dijon mustard in a mason jar. Store that in the fridge for the hibachi chicken. Then you'll whisk together one third of a cup of peanut butter, one tablespoon of soy sauce, one tablespoon of lime juice, one tablespoon of honey, one teaspoon of dried ginger, and one quarter of a cup of water in another mason jar for the peanut chicken sauce. I like using mason jars for sauces because most sauces can be kept in the fridge for a few weeks if they use shelf-stable ingredients. Plus, if you have leftovers, you want containers that take up less space and won't be used as often for meal prep. Now you can start on prepping your veggies. Peel and slice one carrot, then slice one cup of mushrooms, chop one yellow onion, and chop one zucchini for the hibachi chicken, storing all these veggies in a large container together. You'll just add them to a skillet the night you go to make the recipe. Then you can mince eight cloves of garlic for the hibachi chicken. Store half in a small container for the fried rice, and the other half you can leave out on the cutting board to go in the chicken marinade for the same recipe, and we'll be making that later. Finally, slice four green onions and store those in a small container for the fried rice component of the hibachi chicken. Now you'll slice up two cups of red cabbage. Half will be stored in a large container for the peanut chicken, and the other half will be stored for the scallop tacos. Then you'll chop up one red pepper and one cup of romaine lettuce for the peanut chicken. Store the red pepper for the peanut chicken in the same container with the red cabbage, then store your lettuce in a reusable bag, squeezing out all the air. Finally, slice up one jalapeno pepper and store it in the same medium-sized container as the red cabbage for the scallop tacos. Now you'll make the mango salsa for the scallop tacos. Dice one cup of pineapple, half a cup of red pepper, and one small red onion. Mix it all together in a medium-sized bowl with one tablespoon of lime juice, two tablespoons of chopped cilantro, and half a teaspoon of salt, and you've got your pineapple salsa. You'll also wanna make the guacamole for the scallop tacos if you don't want to buy store-bought guacamole. Mash one avocado in a small-to-medium-sized container, then mix with one clove of minced garlic, two teaspoons of lime juice, and a pinch of salt. And the last bit of veggie prep is to dice two small yellow onions, dice three stalks of celery, and mince two cloves of garlic, storing it all together in the same container for the Wendy's taco salad. Okay, last we'll prep the proteins. I like to do the chicken last so you don't have to worry about contaminating the veggies with raw meat. Cut one pound of chicken breast into one-inch pieces and add them to a medium-sized container. Add one tablespoon of sesame oil, two tablespoons of soy sauce, two tablespoons of hoisin sauce, the remaining minced garlic you prepped earlier, and one teaspoon of minced ginger. Stir it all together, then store in the fridge for the hibachi chicken. And the very last step is to cut one pound of chicken breast into one-inch pieces and add them to a medium-sized container for the peanut chicken. All you have to do is dump in a skillet and cook the night up. Okay, you saw me using mostly glass containers with lids for all these recipes, and that's what I recommend because glass is dishwasher, microwave, and usually oven-safe, and it does keep food fresher than plastic. I like how you can stack them in your pantry so that they're easily organizable and you can see through them easily when your ingredients are in the fridge. I have the variety pack of Anker Hawking bowls which come in one cup, two cup, four cup, and six cup sizes. I use all of them for ingredient prep, so I would say get one or two variety packs and you'll be set for life in terms of food storage. I also like having mason jars kicking around because they're good for sauces and dressings and they are super affordable. Then of course, I've invested in some stasher bags because they're a great way to save space in the fridge and will totally replace your Ziploc bags. I keep them for ingredients where a large container may not make the most sense. They're great for freezer duck meals too. I'll have to do another video on that soon. Okay, once your meals are all prepped for it, let me show you how easy it is to make each recipe once you've got all the ingredients prepped. This is the real game changer. We'll start by making the peanut chicken. I have you making this first because chopped up lettuce will only last in the fridge for a day or two. Part of food storage is knowing what will go bad and when. This takes a little bit of practice. If you take a look at my food storage blog post, which is linked to in the description, I'll give you even more tips to keeping your food fresh for longer, such as storing chopped up lettuce in resealable bags, storing fresh herbs in water, adding a wet paper towel over top of spinach and other greens, and storing cut up potatoes in water so they don't dry out. Of course, the meal plan and prep ed checklist is in the same blog post for easy access. Okay, so for the peanut chicken bowls, you're going to take a medium sized skillet, then heat one tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat. Add your chicken and saute for seven to eight minutes until brown and cooked through. Add one tablespoon of soy sauce and one teaspoon of sriracha and cook another couple minutes before removing from heat. In the meantime, take your prepped peanut sauce and your prepped veggies out of the fridge. When the chicken is done cooking, add it to a bowl along with your lettuce, red cabbage, red pepper, some carrot matchsticks, and then drizzle your peanut sauce over top. Top your bowls with chopped peanuts and sesame seeds if you'd like, and then dig in. See how easy that was? You can see now why I love ingredient prep so much. Dinner comes together in a flash. Next, we're going to make the scallop tacos. If scallops are a bit too pricey for you or you failed to get them on sale like I did, you can always use shrimp. Because you made your guac and pineapple salsa ahead of time, all you have to do is cook the scallops. Defrost them and dry them using a clean paper towel, then season them with salt and pepper. Next, heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a medium sized skillet over high heat. Add your scallops to the pan once the oil starts smoking, searing for one minute on each side. Make sure to set a timer for this, trust me. While the scallops are cooking, you can get out your corn tortillas, guacamole, pineapple salsa, red cabbage, and jalapenos. Microwave the corn tortillas for a few seconds to warm them, then spread each one with guacamole, topping with red cabbage, four or five scallops each, your pineapple salsa, and your jalapenos. Easy peasy. This meal is so hands off once you've done the ingredient prep. Moving on to recipe number three, which is our hibachi chicken. This restaurant quality dish will come together faster than you can order takeout with the prep you did over the weekend. First up, take your chicken and cooked rice out of the fridge. Heat a medium sized skillet over medium high heat, then cook your chicken for 10 minutes or so until cooked through. Remove it from the heat and wipe the pan clean. And at the same time, you'll melt another two tablespoons of butter in a large skillet, then saute the garlic you prepped over the weekend for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add in your cooked fried rice, and then three tablespoons of soy sauce, cooking for five minutes until the rice is heated through. Then you'll make a hole in the center of the rice and crack in an egg, scrambling until it's just set. Toss your rice and stir in the green onions you prepped on Sunday, then remove from the heat and set aside. The final step is to saute the veggies. In the same skillet you used for the chicken, add one tablespoon of olive oil, then add the carrots, mushrooms, onion, and zucchini that you prepped on Sunday. Season with salt and pepper and one tablespoon of soy sauce, cooking for five minutes or so until the veggies are tender crisp. Remove those from the heat, and now it's time to serve it all. Add your chicken, rice, and veggies to a plate with some mustard sauce in a small bowl on the side, then you're ready to dig in. You're gonna love this dish. Now onto our final recipe, which is my favorite Wendy's taco salad. First things first, you're going to make the chili, which you can technically also prep on Sunday if you'd like. Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions, celery, and garlic you prepped on Sunday, sauteing for two to three minutes until the veggies soften. From there, you'll add one pound of ground beef and brown for another two to three minutes before adding one tablespoon of chili powder, one teaspoon of cumin, one teaspoon of coriander, one teaspoon of salt, and half a teaspoon of pepper. Finally, add one can of drained kidney beans, one can of drained pinto beans, one can of diced tomatoes, and one cup of beef broth. Cook that for 20 minutes, and you can assemble the rest of your salad. You'll cut up your remaining head of romaine lettuce, dice up one tomato, grate some cheddar cheese, and then get out some tortilla chips. When your chili is ready, add it over top of your lettuce, add on some tomatoes, sprinkle on some cheese, and add your chips. Boom, another restaurant favorite made healthier at home. How easy were all of these recipes once you had your ingredients prepped? This is hands down my favorite way to meal prep, and I hope I showed you just how simple food storage can really be. There's no secret to it, just solid glass containers stored in the fridge for up to five or six days. Avocado, tomatoes, and lettuce are really the only produce that don't last that well for that timeframe, so go ahead and start prepping and storing your produce ahead. You'll be surprised by how fresh everything stays once you try my method. Okay, guys, that's all from me for today. I hope you enjoyed watching my ingredient prep and food storage tutorial, and don't forget, if you wanna try the recipes, make sure to head to the link in my description to get the full meal plan, recipes, and prep ahead checklist. And if you enjoyed this video and want to learn more about meal prep, make sure to give this video a thumbs up and send it to a friend who wants to learn how it's done. Thanks for watching, and I will see you in my next video.