Get 10 Tips for Life Changing Meal Prep
Today I’m sharing 10 practical tips that will make meal prep simple and sustainable. With a little planning and a few basic skills, you can set aside a short block of time each week to prepare ingredients that make daily meals faster, healthier, and more enjoyable.
Make Meal Prep Easy
Many people feel stressed when dinnertime arrives and nothing is thawed or planned. Standing in front of the pantry can feel paralyzing. The good news is that meal prep doesn’t have to be complicated. Spend a short block of time early in your week to cook, chop, or portion core ingredients and you’ll be able to pull together balanced meals quickly on busy days.
Simple prepping lets you combine pre-cooked proteins, grains, roasted vegetables, dressings, and condiments into satisfying meals. Once you build a routine, meal prep becomes a habit that saves time, reduces waste, and improves the quality of what your family eats.
10 Meal Prep Tips
In the tips video linked above, I walk through ten strategies I use in my traditional foods kitchen. These tips streamline cooking and keep healthy, real-food options on hand all week long.
I begin with roasting a whole chicken or preparing a preferred protein, since that single step yields meat for multiple meals plus bones for broth. I end with a simple homemade granola recipe that works for breakfast, snacks, or even a crunchy dessert topping.
Between those two endpoints I cover homemade staples you can keep in your fridge, freezer, and pantry: bone broth, pre-cooked grains and beans, stovetop yogurt made with just a bowl, and easy condiments. Each item saves time later and adds nutrition and flavor to quick meals. Printable recipes and videos accompany everything I demonstrate.
These meal-prep practices help you serve real, nourishing food more consistently and reduce the stress of last-minute cooking.
Sourdough Starter is a Meal Prep Lifesaver
Keeping a healthy sourdough starter on the counter is one of the most useful meal-prep habits. You don’t need to bake bread daily, and you don’t have to discard starter waste. Discard can become batter for pancakes or waffles, a quick flatbread, crackers, or even a savory skillet topping.
Using your starter beyond bread stretches its value and gives you ready-to-use batter or dough for several easy dishes. This approach turns a single maintenance routine into many meals and snacks.
- Sourdough Starter Pancakes – What to Do with Discarded Sourdough Starter
- Whole Grain Blender Batter Waffles – No Grain Mill Required
- Sourdough Starter Flatbread using Discarded Sourdough Starter
- How to Make No Roll Sourdough Crackers
- Sourdough Skillet Dinner – What to Do with Discarded Sourdough Starter
There are also videos that show how to maintain a starter without frequent feedings or discards. That technique helps reduce waste and keeps a ready resource for quick batters and doughs.
- How to Maintain a Sourdough Starter with No Feedings and No Discards
Recipes to Get Your Meal Prep Started
Below are practical recipes and videos to help you stock your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry with items that simplify weekly meal-making.
- How to Make a Simple Roast Chicken
- Slow cooker: How to Make Roast Chicken Bone Broth for Pennies a Jar
- 5 Homemade Salad Dressings – Quick, Easy, Healthy
- How to Make a Nutrient-Dense All Purpose Seasoning Mix
- How to Make Fermented Giardiniera – Probiotic-Rich Relish
- How to Pickle Beets – Old Fashioned Pickled Beets Recipe
- How to Make Homemade Yogurt – No Machine Required
- Sugar Free Granola Recipe – Easy, Crunchy, and Tasty
FREE 36-Page Essential Pantry List
If you’re transitioning from processed foods to a Traditional Foods Kitchen, download the FREE 36-Page Essential Traditional Foods Pantry List. It outlines what to stock in four pantry areas—working pantry, refrigerator, freezer, and extended (prepper) pantry—and includes video links and printable recipes to help you prepare those staples.
Use the list to build a pantry that supports nutrient-dense meals, reduces reliance on convenience foods, and makes weekly cooking easier.
- FREE 36 Page Traditional Foods Pantry List – Printable Pantry Staples List
- What is a PREPPER PANTRY? And Why We All Need One.
Kitchen Academy Videos
If you want more traditional foods content, consider joining the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy. Members get access to exclusive videos, live streams, and additional resources that deepen cooking skills and pantry planning.
Members-only content includes practical topics such as how to practice traditional foods on a limited budget.
- Traditional Foods on a Limited Budget
Shop for items used in this blog post or video
Favorite Kitchen Supplies
- Favorite Aprons
- Whisk
- Silica Gel Packets (helps keep moisture from building in mixes)
- Cast Iron Dutch Oven
- 8-Quart Slow-Cooker
- Fat Separator (useful for decanting bone broth)
- Flour Sack Towels
- Half Gallon Canning Jars
- Masontops Fermentation Kit
- Mockmill Grain Grinder and Whole Grains
Recommended Reading
- Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and Diet Dictocrats
- Deep Nutrition
- Rosemary Gladstar’s Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide
- Spontaneous Healing: How to Discover and Embrace Your Body’s Natural Ability to Maintain and Heal Itself