Tips To Meal Prep Like A Personal Chef
Chef Whitney Aronoff shares her tips to help you feel more confident in creating healthy meals at home. Use these tips to help you get started. Tune into episode 98 of the High Vibration Living Podcast for more insight on how to meal prep like a personal chef.
FIVE TIPS TO MEAL PREP LIKE A HEALTHY PERSONAL CHEF
Learn to meal prep like a pro.
Everyone needs to learn how to cook one, two, or three meals for themselves. Because the healthiest meal you will ever eat will always be the one that you make at home. And sometimes we just find ourselves in situations where having food in the fridge is a lot easier than placing an order, going to get pickup, and it also makes us just feel so much better afterwards.
So my goal has always been, since graduating culinary school in 2015, is to share what I learned with others, because I felt like… everything that I gained by going to the Natural Gourmet Institute, a health supportive culinary school in New York City, were life skills, were basic skills that we all deserve to know so we can better serve and support ourselves as we navigate life and the experience that our soul craves.
So I’m gonna dive in and share you guys five tips that really come from how I work as a personal chef.
TIPS FROM A HEALTHY PERSONAL CHEF
If you aren’t familiar with what I do, I work full time as a personal chef for six different families in the Orange County area, from Laguna Beach, Corona Damar, Newport Beach, that tends to be the area where I support my clients. And I go to their home and I prepare all the food for them in their home.
So I do their grocery shopping in the morning, I go straight to the house, I prepare everything fresh. If they’re home for lunch, I serve them lunch and put the rest of the salads away in the fridge and then I leave them with a printed recipe and they’re all set with meals, usually lunch and dinner for their week ahead. And every family is a little bit different.
Some families like the portions to be just enough for that one meal. Others like to have a double serving so that way they can have the meal twice. So I share this with you. because you guys can keep that in mind as you prepare your own personal menu for meal prep.
Now, I cook for six different families, so that’s a lot of cooking. So I do some double days where I work for one family in the morning, one family in the evening, and then I also have to feed myself. And if you know me, I don’t eat out much.
The only place you’re probably gonna catch me eating out is at Erewhon Market when I’m up in LA. Occasionally I’ll order from Goop Kitchen, Bear Flag, La Sirena, Fermentation Farm and some other places, but I really cook all my meals and I eat at home most of the time and I really save eating out for vacation and travel.
So these are gonna be some of my tips, five tips to meal prep just like I do as a personal chef. You know, this is what I do for myself and this is what I do for others.
So without further ado, I’m just gonna jump right into it for you guys.
MEAL PREP TIP 1: MAKE A MENU & A SHOPPING LIST
So number one, make a menu and make a shopping list. So that’s the way I start my weeks for my clients. So I put together a menu with them with a bunch of suggestions. And it’s all in line with how they like to eat, their food preferences, their food cravings. I email that to them. And it really just serves as inspiration to get their wheels turning and thinking about what do you really wanna eat next week. They choose their choices.
So I suggest with most families, entrees with sides. So if you’re going to bake your first meal prep menu, go with four to five entrees with sides. You know, start yourself in that arena and then once you put together, once you put together your menu and you solidify that, then you want to do your grocery shopping list.
So you have your five menu items and as you put together your grocery list, I go down my menu and I block that on my grocery shopping list. I like to do the old school way, pen to paper. So that way I can take it into the store with me and I can cross off as I go. And then I also keep the printed menu with me when I go into the grocery store.
That way I know how I need to pivot if I can’t find a certain ingredient. Because in this day and age, I really prefer going to one grocery store and maybe a second shop. stop if that’s like to a butcher shop.
So I usually go to Whole Foods, that’s my one-stop shop, and then I also go to a butcher shop where I pick up the rest of the quality proteins that I need to finish the dishes. So make a menu, put together your shopping list, double check to see if there’s any of those ingredients already in the house so you don’t overbuy.
As you put together the shopping list, group things together according to what you’re cooking. and take a copy of your menu with you so when you see that there’s something in the shopping list that is no longer available, you can figure out a way to pivot. This usually comes up the most with vegetables.
So you’ll have a certain vegetable on the menu and suddenly it’s not available and is it worth going to a few other grocery stores to find your rapini, your broccolini, your asparagus? It’s totally up to you, but I like to put together the menu in a way that I can easily pivot if I have to.
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MEAL PREP TIP 2: START COOKING WHEN YOU RETURN HOME FROM THE GROCERY STORE
You want to start cooking as soon as you return home. Plan on going grocery shopping when you know that when you get home, you can immediately start cooking. That way you’re not spending all this time putting away the groceries and then pulling them back out to cook later in the day or the next day or the following day.
You will save time if you go to the grocery store, you come home, and you get to work. Because as you start pulling groceries out of the bag, you can start cooking. When I’m at my client’s house, I really multitask.
If I’m unloading all the groceries, and I’m getting my kitchen started, I’m putting out my cutting board, I’m putting out my kitchen towels, I’m pulling out all the tools that I’m going to need for what I have on the menu that day. That’s when I’ll just immediately start hard boiling eggs. Maybe I’ll throw the quinoa on. I’ll do a few little things as I’m pulling all the groceries out of the bag and washing the vegetables and laying things out on the towels.
You’ll save so much more time that way and it’ll help your pantry and your fridge stay more organized. So don’t go to the grocery store until you know that you can immediately cook when you get home.
MEAL PREP TIP 3: KNOW WHAT NEEDS TO BE COOKED ALL THE WAY THROUGH & WHAT TO COOK FRESH
Number three, my third tip for meal prepping like a personal chef, know what needs to be cooked all the way through and what you can cook the day of (cook fresh).
Here is what I mean by that. When I’m cooking for my clients, I know the items that I need to cook all the way through for them and what to cook halfway (because they will reheat it). If I’m doing my Starseed Kitchen baked pork chops with 11 Magic Herbs and Spices and fresh rosemary, I season the pork chops with the spice mix. I put the fresh rosemary underneath and under on top. I put it in a baking dish in a nice big Pyrex dish. I put the parchment paper down. I put the seasoned chops with the rosemary. Maybe you put some baby potatoes around it, drizzle a little olive oil, some sliced carrots, cover it up and I put it in the fridge. And I know that has to be cooked within three days and my clients know that. I don’t pre-cook it because the pork chops are done in 20 minutes. It’s a really quick baked item so I don’t cook it.
If I’m doing fish, in most cases I don’t cook the fish. I do the marinade. I get it all ready to go for baking. Put down the parchment paper. Prep it on the baking sheet. Get it ready to go. Cover the fish in the marinade. That way when they come home from work, put it in the oven, dinner is ready, fast. I wouldn’t cook that fish and then have them reheat it.
Always think, how would you want it?
Know what needs to be cooked and know what can wait until you’re ready to eat. Like steaming broccolini, steaming asparagus. That cooks really fast. So I won’t prep things like that ahead of time. I’ll just make sure that I have the asparagus and the broccolini and those type of vegetables in the fridge to make it easy for me when I get home from work to put together dinner fast.
But what I will do is if I have meatballs on the menu for myself or for a client and I know that they’re like me and sometimes you just wanna be able to pull some protein out of the fridge and have a bite and have it already be cooked through for dinner and you can just lightly warm it up in the oven.
Meatballs, paleo meatballs, chicken breasts, sometimes grilled steak, those types of things I will have cooked all the way through to make it really easy for me or for my clients to be able to grab and eat something really fast when they’re hungry.
Other things that I like to cook all the way through and have available for my clients in the fridge are brown rice and quinoa. I fully cook that for them so they can just reheat that on the stove in a pot with a little bit of water. That reheats really fast.
If we’re doing hard boiled eggs, I make a full hard boiled egg. I don’t stop by parboiling it, but I do leave the shell on because the hard boiled egg’s last in the fridge for seven days with the shell on versus if you peel them, they’re going to spoil fast. If we’re doing baked sweet potatoes, baked yams, a baked potato, a twice baked potato, all those things I cook all the way through.
QUICK TIPS TO MEAL PREP LIKE A HEALTHY PERSONAL CHEF
MEAL PREP TIP 4: HAVE VEGETABLES ON YOUR MENU THAT COOK FAST
My number four tip for meal prepping like a personal chef is have some veggies on your menu that cook really fast. So similar to what I was mentioning before, you wanna make sure when you’re making personal meal prep menu that you have a few items on there that allow you to be able to walk through the door and heat them up in 10 minutes or less.
My favorite cooking technique for vegetables is blanching. And that just means taking a medium pot, filling it with water, I would say about three inches of water, bring to a boil, add a little salt, and you wanna add the salt because the salt cuts the bitterness from vegetables. If you’re blanching any greens, there’s a natural bitter on there, and when you add the salt, it helps take away that bitterness and it also helps keep the vibrancy of the green color of the vegetables.
As you look into the different ways that you can solidify the color of blanched vegetables, you’ll find that if you do cauliflower and you wanna keep it that white white, it’s best if you add vinegar. That’s the chemical reaction that will help the cauliflower stay white. But if you add salt, it will create a better flavor for the steamed or blanched cauliflower, but it’s gonna leave the cauliflower with a little bit of a yellow tint. Just somethings to keep in mind. I’ve tried the vinegar trick before if you really wanna keep your white cauliflower florets nice, white and bright, but I just find that I don’t like the little vinegar aftertaste that I just prefer the taste of the salt.
The vegetables that I really like to keep in my fridge for really quick blanching is broccolini, asparagus, chard, spinach. Those are the ones that I usually stick with. It makes it really easy, really easy for a greens during the week.
Others that I always keep in my fridge as well is green cabbage because you can saute that up with some onion or just plain with some coconut aminos, ginger, garlic, salt, pepper. Really fast if you need a vegetable to go with your pre-cooked white rice or quinoa or sweet potatoes or a veggie.
Asparagus anyway steamed, blanched, roasted if you have a grill that’s great too. Green beans or French green beans cook up really fast. I blanch those and I love them in a nice potato salad with a little vinaigrette. You can also roast your green beans.
So if you’re getting bored of vegetables that you always steam, try roasting them. And depending on your oven, ovens actually heat up really fast. They heat up in 15 minutes. You really don’t need an air fryer. And if you want it to cook faster, just increase the heat by 25 degrees. So I bake everything at 400 degrees. And then if I’m using an oven that has convection setting, I turn that on.
The convection setting is just the fan that’s in the back of the oven that rotates. That allows the hot air to rotate, which is what makes everything crisp up faster when you put it in the oven. But if you don’t have convection setting, it’s okay. Or if you notice that it really takes a long time for your oven to cook, it probably means the temperature is off. So you can go and pick up a temperature oven thermometer and check the real temperature of your oven, or you can just increase the heat by 25 degrees and see if you like the results that you’re getting better.
Never forget also if you’re looking for a quick vegetable side when you get home from work, you can always just blanch a medley of vegetables. So some broccoli florets, some sliced carrots, some cauliflower florets, some green peas. You can always do a medley and just throw them into the boiling water with salt. Let them go for about 30 seconds, strain them, and you’re good to go.
Remember, once you strain the vegetables, once you pour them out in the colander, they’re still going to keep cooking. They don’t have to be perfectly tender when you put your fork into the boiling water to check them. They still cook after you pour them into the boiling water. After you pour them out of the boiling water and they’re sitting in the colander, they’re still cooking for a good few minutes afterwards.
I always lean towards under cooking them, than overcooking them. I like a little crunch to my veggies.
MEAL PREP TIP 5: MAKE MULTIPLE SALADS FOR LUNCH IN ADVANCE
The fifth and final tip to meal prep like a personal chef is just make it easy on yourself and prepare some salads in advance and that includes your salad dressing.
If I’m making myself a salad for lunch tomorrow to take with me to work, why make one? Let’s just make three. Find a container that you really like. My favorite container are the large round Pyrex bowls. I believe they’re the ones that hold 10 cups. You can find it in my Amazon shop
I use the glass Pyrex bowl or rectangle dish with the plastic lid and I just line them up. If I’m making one, I’ll just go ahead and make three. You go ahead and you just dice the chicken or dice whatever protein that you’re putting on top.
The big saver is just make your salad dressing. If you’re someone that loves a dressing, just make it ahead of time in a jar and it will last you two weeks in the fridge. I’m someone that overall I can get by without a dressing. I usually just do a drizzle of olive oil and a drizzle of vinegar or a squeeze of half a lemon. And that’s my dressing most of the time. I would say majority is I’m leaning towards the squeeze of half of lemon and the olive oil.
I usually doctor up my salads with lots of fresh herbs and let that be the flavor profile. Or I season my chicken with Starseed Kitchen Adobo. That’s my ultimate favorite spice for salad dressing, or for salads. I’ll put that spice all over my chicken or my salmon, and that’s what I usually add on for my protein for my lunch salad.
If you’re making one, just go ahead and make three. If you really want to, you can make four or five, but it will make your life so much easier. Especially if you’re someone on the go, to be able to wake up in the morning and just grab it and take it with you is the best.
MEAL PREP IDEAS – BONUS TIPS
I wanted to give you some additional bonus tips on meal prepping like a personal chef and just let you into my refrigerator and tell you about some of the things that I always have cooked and in there.
I don’t do all these items every week, but I would say you can find at least one of these items every week in my fridge. I’m constantly rotating them, but I’ll always, you know, have a baked Japanese yam. That’s really my favorite is I’ll do a bunch of baked Japanese yam wedges, hard-boiled eggs, and short grain brown rice.
I love to be able to reach in when I need breakfast in the morning or I want to do something different for lunch, and I can grab the short grain brown rice, which is delicious cold. I can grab the hard-boiled eggs. I usually always have some mixed greens in there. I always have some sort of kimchi or sauerkraut, and my favorite kinds are from Gold Mine or from Fermentation Farm. Add avocado, then you just add a little olive oil, a little sea salt, a little sprinkle of dulse or seaweed, and I always have cilantro and parsley in my fridge. A week doesn’t go by without cilantro and parsley. They are two good things to have in case you just ever need to add green to a meal and you don’t have anything else in your house. That makes for a great breakfast or a great lunch.
Those are really truly staples that are always in my fridge. Sometimes I’ll prep a batch of quinoa, but I usually go with my short grain brown rice. I would say every few weeks I do a nice long grain white rice. If you guys have been listening to my podcast for a while, you know I always soak my rices for at least four to eight hours or overnight, strain them really well, cook them up. Sometimes I’ll grill some hanger steak or skirt steak, have that sliced up in the fridge. That’s really nice to lean into whenever you need to cook protein.
I love a paleo meatballs, whether it’s made with ground turkey or with bison. I usually never do beef. I usually reserve enjoying my beef through steak or a burger that I grill. I really like making my meatballs with turkey and with bison. And I have a ton of recipes like that on the Starseed Kitchen recipe page. I love prepping them. And they’re so easy just to take out of the fridge and eat when you need something to hold you over as you’re making dinner. It also reheats really fast in the oven and is great for a fast dinner.
I love preparing my root vegetable mashed potatoes. So I either do a base of parsnips or parsnips and white sweet potatoes or just white sweet potatoes. Even in the winter time, you can add a little rutabaga in there or any other root vegetables and you just steam them and then use the water that you cooked them in with the vegetable, a little ghee, white pepper and sea salt, a great… makes for a great mashed potato and is delicious paired with any protein and any steamed vegetable.
I love making a batch of that. It lasts in the week in the fridge for a week. That’s a great meal prep item. I also make them with purple sweet potatoes. If you’re looking away for a way to finally try purple sweet potatoes, I highly, highly suggest that recipe which is on the Starseed Kitchen.
I also like to always have carrots and celery in the fridge. I go through phases where I have cucumber. Cucumber, especially Persian cucumbers, do turn quickly. I only buy them when I know I’m definitely gonna snack on them, eat them, throw them in salads.
Lastly, a salad dressing that you can specifically use as a dip as well is fun to make at least once a month. I usually lean into making my whipped avocado salad dressing. So that’s equal parts lemon juice and olive oil. with a ripe avocado, a garlic clove, and a little sea salt. And then if you have extra herbs like parsley, cilantro, dill, mint, you can throw that in with the blender as well. And it makes a great salad dressing and it makes a great dip with carrots and celery.
Those are five big tips that I truly apply to my work as a health supportive personal chef. As someone that has to prepare older meals for themselves as well. I hope these tips served you. I wish you guys many, many delicious meals ahead.
If you are ever looking for a fast and easy way to season your proteins, definitely check out Starseed Kitchen 11 Magic Herbs and Spices. It’s a great spice to put in your paleo meatballs, to use when you’re making a chili, to use on chicken thighs, to smother all over roasted cauliflower and roasted carrots.
Starseed Adobo is just one of my favorites over chicken breast, chicken thighs, whole roast chicken. I love it on some grilled salmon or baked salmon. It’s amazing on shrimp. So check out those organic spices.
And thank you guys so much for being a part of this community and letting me share what I’ve learned as a personal chef with you. Cheers.
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