Meal prep recipes

What makes a dish good for meal prep

Slow-cooked sauces and beans improve with time, as the flavours settle overnight. A night in the fridge rounds off the wine in boeuf bourguignon, the ragù for lasagne alla bolognese is better made a day ahead, and Cuban black beans are at their best on the second day, once the sofrito has soaked right through.

Dishes that are fried or baked at the last minute can still be prepared ahead. Empanadas and bitterballen are shaped in advance and frozen raw, then baked or fried straight from the freezer, so they come out crisp rather than reheated.

How long each dish keeps

The recipes give their own limits. Boeuf bourguignon keeps up to three days in the fridge, the lasagne ragù three days in the fridge or three months in the freezer, and chakalaka a week in the fridge.

Ajvar, spooned into sterilised jars under a thin layer of oil, keeps two weeks in the fridge or can be frozen. It is not acidic enough to keep at room temperature, so the fridge is not optional.

From frozen, empanadas bake at 190°C for 30 to 35 minutes and bitterballen fry at 170°C for 5 to 6 minutes. Chickpea stew freezes well as long as the spinach is left out.

Planning a batch-cooking day

The long times on some of these recipes are mostly waiting. Cuban black beans and arroz e feijão show nearly ten hours because the beans soak overnight, and the bitterballen ragout needs at least four hours in the fridge to set firm enough to cut and roll.

Start the soak the night before, cook the beans while a braise simmers, and finish with a relish such as ajvar or chakalaka to eat with bread or grilled meat later in the week. Scale each recipe up before you shop, and the list does the multiplying for you.