Prep Guide — Week of 23 September

YKGrub · By station, not by day · 25 min today, 8 min Saturday

Everything for the week, worked one station at a time. The big session already happened on the 22nd; what is left is a 25-minute top-up today and one short mid-week pass.

WedFrijoles & rice
ThuSardine pasta
FriSheet-pan salmon
SatRoasted plate & Olivieh
SunPoached cod
MonChard & bean stew
TueUse-up

Already done 22 Sept session

(Wed + Sun) Frijoles Colombianos — 3 fridge portions, 3 frozen. recipe
(Wed–Sat) Salad Olivieh — 5 portions. Keeps to Saturday, improves to Thursday. recipe
(Fri) Mast-o-khiar — the shortest fridge life of anything here. Eat it first. recipe
(Sat + Sun) Butternut tahini dip — ~2½ cups. recipe
(daily) Chia jars ×4, apple mini muffins ×24 — muffins freeze flat.
(Fri + Sat) Roasted potato wedges, sweet potatoes, butternut cubes, pumpkin purée

Today, Wednesday ~25 min

Instant Pot — rice (Wed + Tue)
¾ cup dry white rice + 1 cup water. High pressure 3 min, natural release 10. Fluff, spread to cool, portion into 3 and freeze flat. This is the week’s only anchor grain, under the 1-cup cap.
Eggs on the trivet (Sat + Mon)
1 cup water, 4 eggs on the trivet. High pressure 5 min, natural release 5, ice bath 5. Refrigerate unpeeled — they keep far better that way and peel easily on the day. Run this straight after the rice; the pot is already hot.
Green base (Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) — 10 min
1 head romaine chopped, 2 cups shredded cabbage, 2 cucumbers diced. Undressed, in a lidded box with a paper towel on top. Holds all week. This is the greens the CSA box did not carry.
Lemon-Dijon dressing (all week) — 3 min
4 tbsp olive oil · juice of 2 lemons · 1 tsp Dijon · 1 tsp dried oregano · salt, pepper, garlic powder. In a jar, kept separate from the greens. Holds all week.
Chard (Mon) — 4 min
Wash and stem 2 bunches, bag them. Do not massage or dress — it goes into a hot stew, not a salad.

Order matters only here: start the rice first so the pot is running while you chop. Everything else is knife work.

Mid-week, Saturday morning ~8 min

Two things deliberately not done on prep day, because they would be sad by the weekend.

Slice cucumbers and halve cherry tomatoes (Sat + Sun) — sliced cucumber weeps after two days. Leave the rest whole until now.
Thaw a frijoles freezer portion (Tue) — move it to the fridge Saturday and it is ready by Tuesday with no microwave rescue.

Day-by-day assembly 1–8 min each

Wednesday — frijoles and rice
Grab: frijoles · a frozen rice portion · egg · cilantro · lime
Reheat the beans with a splash of water, rice from the freezer, fry the egg while it warms. Cilantro and lime at the table. 8 min
Thursday — sardine pasta
Grab: pasta · 2 tins sardines · arugula · capers · lemon · garlic
Pan sauce while the water boils. recipe. Baby’s plain pasta and a little arugula come out before the capers and lemon. 15 min — the one real cook of the week
Friday — sheet-pan salmon
Grab: salmon fillets · cherry tomatoes · olives · roasted potato wedges · mast-o-khiar
One tray. recipe. Wedges go in for the last 10 min to reheat. Baby’s flake of salmon and a roasted tomato come out before the olives. Finish the mast-o-khiar tonight. 25 min, 5 hands-on
Saturday — roasted plate, then Olivieh
Grab: sweet potato · butternut cubes · both dips · 2 boiled eggs · green base · last Olivieh portion · shrimp
Lunch is the reheated roast with both dips and the eggs. Dinner is the last of the Olivieh over dressed greens with shrimp on top. 6 min each
Sunday — poached cod
Grab: cod · baby bok choy · quinoa · ginger · lemon
recipe. Baby’s cod and bok choy come out of the poaching liquid before the soy. Last of the frijoles goes at lunch. 20 min
Monday — chard and white bean stew
Grab: bagged chard · 1 can white beans · onion · garlic · lemon · a mini muffin
recipe. Baby’s beans and chard come out before the salt and lemon. 25 min
Tuesday — use-up
Grab: the thawed frijoles · the last rice · whatever greens, dips and tinned fish are left
Not a recipe on purpose. If nothing was skipped this week, make the sardine pasta again. 8 min

Storage, in the order things die

Shopping

Produce

  • 1 head romaine, 1 small cabbage, 2 cucumbers
  • 2 bunches chard, 2 bunches arugula, 1 bag spinach
  • 4 baby bok choy
  • Cherry tomatoes, 1 pint
  • 4 apples
  • 6 lemons, 2 limes
  • Dill, chives, cilantro, parsley
  • 1 head garlic, 1 onion, celery

Protein

  • Canned tuna ×4, canned salmon ×2
  • Sardines in olive oil ×2
  • Smoked salmon, 4oz
  • Salmon ~¾ lb, cod ~¾ lb, shrimp 4oz
  • Eggs ×18

Dairy

  • Cottage cheese, feta, cheddar, string cheese, parmesan, plain yogurt

Pantry

  • Pasta 8oz, quinoa, white rice, rolled oats
  • Capers, olives, 1 can white beans
  • Almonds, pumpkin seeds, Dijon

Spices

Nothing to buy — all on the shelf.

The week, with macros →