This Vegetable Prep Method Sets You Up For A Week Of Effortless Dinners

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Meal prep can be a game-changer for anyone who is short on time during the week. Spend a few hours planning meals on the weekend, and you have food ready for the whole week. But this method isn't going to work for everyone. Perhaps your days are unpredictable, you have a family of picky eaters, or maybe you just don't find the meals you made on Sunday to be appealing by the time Friday rolls around.

If batch meal cooking is too restrictive, but you still want to save time, try steaming just the vegetables in advance. Par-cooking vegetables separately means you have ingredients ready to add to whatever dish you opt for on the day. This technique is more flexible than you might think — it's not just about adding a side of veggies to your plate. Par steaming is the trick to crispy roast vegetables that don't take all night, a stir fry whose ingredients are all cooked at the same time, or grilled artichokes that are nicely charred outside and cooked all the way through.

Some vegetables, such as potatoes, benefit nutritionally from this method. The cycle of cooking, cooling, and then reheating helps to increase resistant starches for easier digestion and reduce blood sugar spikes.

In our experience, you always need more vegetables than you think when meal prepping, so set aside a bit of time for this. You'll also need a steamer pot or steaming basket, and a large bowl of iced water.

To give yourself the most flexibility with ingredients, it's best to steam the different vegetables one at a time. This might seem like a slow process, but if you play it smart and chop the next batch as the current vegetables are cooking, you'll have something of a production line.

For even cooking, cut your veggies to the same size. For a vegetable like broccoli, which has different textures and therefore cooking times, you will want to start the stems before the florets, so they have enough time to cook. As these vegetables are going to be cooked or at least reheated again later, remove them from the steamer basket when they are only half-cooked. They should be plunged immediately into iced water to stop the cooking process and help retain the color and texture.

Once the steamed vegetables are cooled and, more importantly, well drained, transfer to airtight containers in the fridge. Softer veggies should be eaten within three to four days, while sturdier items like potatoes, broccoli, or carrots will last up to a week.