- Here is my cast iron, large stainless steel guy.
This is my cat.
(groans) And this is my other cat!
(upbeat music)
My name's Erica Adler, and I'm a personal chef,
otherwise known as a professional meal prepper.
You might have seen me meal prepping
in others people's homes, but today, we're in my kitchen.
Welcome.
So let's talk about kitchen staples first.
The first thing you're gonna wanna have
is a good eight-inch chef's knife
I take care of it by honing it.
You wanna have a good, sharp knife.
That's gonna set you up. (ding)
Along with your knife, you're gonna
wanna have a good cutting board.
Favor wood or plastic.
I also avoid putting mine in the dishwasher just
to keep them from warping. (ding)
Really recommend having at least two pots
and pans, two of each.
Here is my cast iron.
I believe it is 12 inches.
Here's another small pot that I use regularly.
If a Dutch oven is not in your budget,
any large stainless steel pot,
which is a lot less expensive,
can get the job done. (ding)
One to two baking sheets.
I like to have two because my oven rack fits two.
It's great to be able to have two things in there at once.
I highly recommend that you get one with sides.
Don't get a cookie sheet because things slip off of those.
(ding)
The next item, one to two large mixing bowls.
So I have mine nested here.
Meal prep is all about multitasking,
and you may have, for example, some quinoa cooling off,
getting ready to be mixed in a grain salad,
and set it aside in one bowl.
And then in another bowl, you have something else going
like meatballs being mixed. (ding)
Next, the actual stirring tools you're gonna use.
A rubber spatula will help you not waste food.
If it's silicon, it can be used in hot things,
which is great. (ding)
The next item is gonna be a wooden spoon for scraping,
de-glazing the pan. (ding)
And the last item is a spatula.
This is for flipping things.
Bonus points, if you want to have some tongs
in your arsenal, but if you don't, that's okay.
You can always use a fork. (ding)
These little glass storage containers.
For me, glass works because I do work
from home a good amount,
and I'm not carrying heavy glass very far, typically.
But plastic could work.
I always favor something that's BPA free.
(ding)
Here's what you're gonna need:
a good chef's knife; your cutting board;
at least two large bowls; two pans, one stainless steel;
cast iron is a nice to have, medium and large;
two pots, got a small one here and a very large one here;
wooden spoon; a spatula; a rubber spatula;
and tongs are nice to have.
And then finally, when you're ready
to store everything, some Tupperware.
So here's my large glass Tupperware
and my smaller glass Tupperware.
With meal prep, it's all about time management
and maximizing the amount of things you can do at once,
and these tools will make it so that you can do that.
(upbeat lively music)
I wanna talk you through some of my pantry staples.
I have a salt grinder back there,
but when I'm cooking, I really favor having salt
in a container that you can easily grab from
so that it's not a big to do to be grinding salt.
You also have a lot more control
if you're pulling it out of a cellar like this.
A little bowl works just fine as well.
For black pepper, that's a different story.
You are gonna wanna keep it in a grinder.
Pre-ground pepper loses its flavor almost immediately,
so when you freshly grind it,
you have much more flavor infused into your dishes.
My next tip is to
lean on the canned food aisle.
Canned beans are really convenient,
and you can infuse flavor into them if you need to.
If you eat meat and fish, canned fish is a great thing
to have on hand as well.
You can make tuna salads, salmon salads,
you can even make burgers out of canned fish.
The next tool in your arsenal is going to be frozen food.
Actually, a lot of frozen foods,
they're frozen very soon after they are harvested,
so they retain a good amount of the nutrients.
Right now for produce, what I have are organic peas,
some green beans, and blueberries.
I like to have two or three vegetable and fruit options
at all times. (ding)
I wanna talk to you about spices.
Really, all you need are a few favorites.
I really like to have garlic powder,
chili powder, (ding)
cinnamon for sweeter dishes (ding).
If you want a kick of spice,
I think red chili flakes get you the most bang
for your buck. (ding)
Buy them in the smallest container you can find
and replace them pretty frequently.
They're not as perishable but they do lose flavor over time.
Grains. (ding)
They're dried, they keep forever.
They can make for a pretty fast, cheap meal prep,
especially if you pair them with beans,
which you also have on hand.
I always keep rice and quinoa.
Condiments. (ding)
They are, along with spices,
going to be your flavor powerhouses,
the things that you bring into dishes
that can really change flavor profiles week over week
and add variety, which is something
that's very important when it comes to meal prep.
It's also gonna be something that you can lean on
to add a great mouthfeel or moisture to a dish.
Hot sauce, (ding)
soy sauce or tamari, (ding)
standard mild salsa because I'm a wimp.
I have four miso pastes in my fridge right now.
I like to make vegan cheese with it.
I like to use it in, classically, miso soup.
I also mix it into any type of ground beef
or ground mushroom-style dish that needs an extra hit
of salt and sweet and umami.
This brings all of those flavors.
I just like to have mayo on hand
because it brings that level of moisture
and a little bit of fat content to dishes.
Mustard, very important, especially for meal prep items
that are calling for salad dressings
because this will be your emulsifier to help mix your oil
and vinegar together. (ding)
Good oil and good vinegar.
I like to use olive oil for most things.
If you can eat it off of a spoon
and it tastes good to you, then that's a sign
that it's a good oil. (ding)
Vinegar.
I lean on balsamic vinegar quite a bit.
If you find one vinegar that you really like,
you're gonna be set. (ding)
An oil, a vinegar, and then mix that together
with an emulsifier like mustard or tahini,
and you're gonna have a fabulous salad dressing
that you can store on the side
or use it to liven up a dish that maybe needs a little bit
of flavor after a couple days stored in the fridge.
(ding)
Basically, what you're going to need
is good olive oil, good vinegar,
condiments, salt, pepper, canned goods,
spices, and grains, and don't forget the freezer stuff.
So these are the things that I keep stocked
in my kitchen to help me with meal prep,
and I think that they're basic enough that,
if you're able to stock them yourself,
they're gonna help you get started on your own.
I hope this is helpful for your meal prep journey.
You can follow along with me on social media,
especially Instagram @fresh.erica,
and my website is fresherica.com.
And I would love to hear what you keep in your pantry
and your kitchen in the comments below.
(upbeat lively music)