- 1 day ago
In this edition of Epicurious 101, professional chef and culinary instructor Frank Proto shares meal-prepping hacks that will make you a more efficient cook. From make-ahead breakfasts and freezer-friendly meals to batch-cooked sauces, perfectly portioned rice, and smarter food storage, learn how to meal prep like a pro.
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00:00Today I'm going to show you my favorite meal prep hacks that's going to help make your day-to-day
00:03cooking easier and faster.
00:06I feel like when it comes to meal prep, people neglect breakfast.
00:10These are the leg bites you make ahead, you freeze them.
00:13They're super easy to make, and here's how we do it.
00:15I preheat my oven, and I have a tray with muffin tins that have been sprayed with nonstick spray.
00:21So I'm going to take a dozen eggs, crack them into a big bowl.
00:25Right, so we got our eggs there.
00:26Add some milk, some shredded cheddar cheese.
00:30Some scallions, a nice pinch of salt, and some black pepper.
00:35I'm going to whisk it together.
00:38Get our muffin tins.
00:40Make sure everyone gets a little bit of ham.
00:42You get a ladle, and we're going to fill up each cavity.
00:45And we go right in the oven.
00:48So these are out of the oven.
00:49Pop them onto a tray so that they can cool, and then throw them in the freezer.
00:54Quick three minutes in the microwave.
00:55We got breakfast for days.
00:57Maybe you need something a little more substantial.
00:59This is a make-ahead egg sandwich.
01:01I toasted an English muffin.
01:03I made a slab of eggs that I cooked in the oven.
01:06I have some breakfast sauces and some cheese.
01:09I let everything cool.
01:10I put it together to make a sandwich.
01:12I wrap it in paper, and then I freeze them.
01:14The reason I use parchment is because it is microwave-safe.
01:18Heating the sandwich in the parchment paper is going to retain some steam.
01:21It's going to help your sandwich heat up really quickly, and it's going to be melty and delicious.
01:26Make a big batch of these, store them in a Ziploc bag, label your bag, throw them in the freezer,
01:31grab and go, and you're done.
01:33Soup is your friend.
01:35And when it comes to meal prepping, especially soup, I like to store it in a very specific way.
01:39I get the Ziploc bag, I roll the edges over, put your soup in.
01:48You seal it most of the way, and then get all of the air out.
01:55Seal it all the way, lay it on a sheet tray, and freeze it flat.
02:00When your soup comes out of the freezer, it's thin, it's stackable, and it defrosts quickly because it's flat.
02:07Soup is your friend.
02:09The rotisserie chicken is the queen of meal preparation.
02:13From one rotisserie chicken, we get three separate things out of this.
02:16With the leg and thigh meat, we're going to make a chicken salad.
02:19With the bones, we're going to make a stock.
02:21And with the breast, we're going to make a hiney-style chicken rice.
02:23We have the leg and thigh meat from our rotisserie chicken here, and I'm going to make some chicken salad.
02:28And I'm going to give it a rough chop.
02:31Season this up with some salt and pepper, garlic powder, some scallions, Dijon mustard, and some mayonnaise.
02:40Mix that together, and you've got chicken salad.
02:43So I always save the bones from my rotisserie chicken to make stock.
02:47If I didn't use them right away, I would put them in a Ziploc bag just like this.
02:51And I'd label it bones for stock.
02:53What I do here is I take any vegetable trimmings I have, onions, celery, garlic, and I freeze them for
03:01stock.
03:01Making a stock is a really easy process.
03:03You're just cooking some bones with aromatics, and you get a stock within an hour.
03:07With the chicken breast, we're going to do a Pionese chicken.
03:09It's like a soft, velvety chicken on top of rice.
03:13It's a simple dish, but it makes a really great dinner or snack.
03:17I have my rice cooker here, and I have some rinsed rice.
03:20I'm going to add some Chinese rice wine, soy sauce, salt.
03:24And then I have some of the stock that I made earlier.
03:27I'm going to give it a good mix.
03:29And then I'm going to layer some ginger, scallions, and some cloves of garlic just to kind of flavor my
03:37rice.
03:37Put the lid on, and I'm going to let it steam for about 30 minutes.
03:41So the rice is done and cooked.
03:44Take one of my chicken breasts, put it on top.
03:46And I want to reheat the chicken breast in the steamer, maybe seven or eight minutes.
03:51So I'm going to take the chicken off of here, put it on my cutting board because I'm going to
03:54slice it up.
03:55A nice pile of rice, chicken breasts, a little bit of scallion on top, cucumber slices, cilantro leaves to finish
04:03it off.
04:04Serve this with sweet chili sauce, some soy sauce.
04:08That is a finished dish from our rotisserie chicken.
04:11Something that home cooks can carry over from the restaurant industry is label and dating their food.
04:17This is something we do in every professional kitchen, and it saves you a lot of waste.
04:23I have a sharpie, a paring knife, and masking tape.
04:28So I'm going to lay it out on my cutting board.
04:30Give it a cut on the end.
04:32And then I'm going to label and date 420.
04:38And then we take our knife, cut our labels, tomato sauce right on top, pickled onions, salsa verde, and gravy.
04:49A sharpie and some masking tape is going to save you a lot of time.
04:52It's going to save you a lot of waste.
04:54And it's going to stop you from having to guess what's actually in the container.
04:57Please, please, please label your food.
05:01One thing I'm a huge proponent of is using plastic deli containers.
05:05We use these in the restaurants extensively all the time.
05:08Quarts, pints, half pints.
05:11They're super versatile.
05:12They stock well.
05:14They're reusable and recyclable.
05:16You can basically store anything in them.
05:17And in the restaurant industry, this is where we keep our drinks.
05:24How often do you make a recipe and it asks for a tablespoon of tomato paste and then you have
05:28all this tomato paste in a can and you don't know what to do with it?
05:31One of the things I really like to have is silicone storage containers.
05:35You just pop off the lid, put your paste in there.
05:38And what's great about the silicone is that it's soft enough that you can just pop the stuff out, put
05:44the lid back on, throw it back in the fridge.
05:46It's super convenient, super easy.
05:48Now you have your tablespoon of tomato paste without wasting the recipe.
05:53And then if you have something that's a larger portion, I have some bolognese sauce here.
05:56You can buy one cup, two cup versions of this.
05:59Again, take it out.
06:01Look at how that pops out.
06:02Once it's frozen, take it out, put in a Ziploc.
06:06You can reuse this and your sauce is secure in the freezer.
06:09A well-stocked pantry is a key component in meal prep.
06:12I use canned beans all the time and I stock my pantry with them.
06:15They are good for you.
06:16They taste great.
06:17They're perfectly cooked because they have the science down.
06:20They're super easy to upgrade.
06:22I can throw some protein in there, some vegetables, and I have my meal prep done for the day.
06:26Stock up anytime your supermarket puts them on sale.
06:29Keep your pantry stocked with beans.
06:31Another thing I do for my well-stocked pantry is to have rice on hand.
06:35Anytime I make rice, I make a little extra.
06:37I get a Ziploc bag.
06:40I pack my rice in there.
06:44I take it, take the air out, flatten it out, and then I throw it in the freezer and I
06:52get something like this.
06:53This is basically a single portion of rice.
06:56Stacks nice and easy in the freezer.
06:57I can have 10 portions of rice ready to go at a moment's notice.
07:02Reheating rice is something I've done on this show before.
07:05Basically, you're going to throw in the microwave.
07:06It's going to be hot in minutes.
07:08Probably one of the most convenient things you could put in your freezer.
07:11Finally, for a well-stocked pantry, frozen fruits and vegetables.
07:15A lot of people might look down on frozen fruits and vegetables, but I think they are great.
07:19Sometimes they're cheaper than fresh.
07:21They store really well.
07:22And sometimes when you buy something like frozen berries, they're a little bit sweeter than the fresh.
07:27They pick them later in the season or they pick them later in their ripeness.
07:31So you'll get a little bit of a sweeter kick from them.
07:34When things like these are on sale, make sure you're stocking your freezer up.
07:37Another really big time saver is having your sauces ready to go.
07:41I like to make big batches of sauce, quart them up or pint them up, freeze them or refrigerate them.
07:47And then I can just grab and go anytime I want.
07:50I prep ahead so that I can make meals quickly.
07:54It takes one day of cooking and then I have all my sauces lined up.
07:58I can do this with tomato sauce, pickled onions, salsa verde, some gravy.
08:04But basically you can put these sauces in the freezer and be ready to go within minutes.
08:10A lot of times when you batch cook, you have a lot of portions of a single item.
08:14And what I like to do is make single portions.
08:17So I have some little burritos here.
08:19If I just take all these burritos and throw them in a Ziploc bag, whatever condenses in the bag, they
08:24get soggy and it gets weird.
08:26So I like to take all my single portions, wrap them in plastic wrap, nice and tight.
08:35And then a piece of foil.
08:37And this avoids freezer burn.
08:39This avoids crystallization on the food.
08:41It stays good a lot longer.
08:44You can also use something like a vacuum sealer.
08:46But that's one of those things that's a specialty equipment.
08:49And not everyone has one.
08:51Short of having a vacuum sealer, this double sealing method or the double wrapping method works really great.
08:57One of the concepts I like to introduce when I'm meal prepping is mixing and matching your carbs, your proteins,
09:03and your vegetables.
09:04So I have these three proteins, some chicken thighs, some meatballs, and some salmon.
09:08And I can put those in the fridge and prep the rest of my stuff.
09:12So for my starches, I have some soba noodles, I have some steamed rice, and I have some roasted potatoes.
09:17And for my veggies, I have some salad, some roasted carrots, and some sautéed vegetables.
09:24I like everything to be cold before I pack them up.
09:27It just stores better and lasts longer that way.
09:30And now we mix and match.
09:32I'm in the mood for salmon with noodles and stir-fried vegetables.
09:36Super simple.
09:37I get my soba, get some of my veggies, and I have a really nice piece of salmon here.
09:43And there you have it.
09:44A ready-made meal that I've mixed and matched.
09:47I've prepped it ahead.
09:48I mean, come on.
09:49You pay a couple of bucks for that in a restaurant, right?
09:52Maybe I'm in the mood for chicken tonight.
09:53I have everything ready to go.
09:55I'm going to have a little bit of greens, potatoes, some chicken.
10:00All the flavors are compatible.
10:02You get a ton of variety.
10:04And you don't have to eat the same thing every single night.
10:07I promise that if you incorporate a couple of these hacks into your daily cooking,
10:10it's going to save time, waste less, save money,
10:14and basically make you a better cook all around.
10:16I'm going to stick with the egg one for.
10:16I'm going to let you know this animation is just about...
10:17And there you go.