Three guidelines for creating a dish:

Sentence structure - understand the purpose of each ingredient
What grows together goes together - regionally and seasonally
High notes and low notes - rich deeper flavored and textured ingredients balanced out with brighter more acidic ingredients - think squeeze of lemon on fish

8 simple ways to make your food prep easier

1. Keep a well-stocked pantry (see list below) - don't even think about meal planning just all there in freezer and pantry and fridge to pull together.

2. Try new things to get inspired - it's easier if you have an ingredient to build a meal around. If you buy one broccoli, cook it up and make grain based veg salad, the next day fry it up w some other things add egg, frittata w tons of herbs…Turn into soup - with spinach and potato and garlic - put in blender

3. When you get home from buying groceries, wash and chop your vegetables so they're ready to go.

4. Allocate one day to do batch cooking so you're good to go for the week - also take advantage of the moments in between, when cooking one meal do small things for the next.

5. Use your freezer - pesto, curry paste and other sauces freeze well, along with grains and beans. Start with a frozen base - pizza, soup base, any kind of dumpling from freezer to stove/oven - perogi, gyoza, bun, ravioli,

6. Sauces, fresh herbs, citrus fruit and juice, garlic, ginger, spices, nuts and seeds - these are your friends

7. Templates! (see below)

8. Have a list of easy and quick meals (see below)

Click here and scroll down to see Produce Shelf Life Guide infographic that lists soft, medium and hard vegetables and how to store them.

Breakfast
egg frittata in muffin tins, chia pudding make in the evening, breakfast fried rice, try amaranth instead of oatmeal or combined with oats- think outside the eggs bacon potatoes toast or sweet breakfast box

Lunch
https://blog.barre3.com/2018/05/07/1-hour-of-prep-on-sunday-lunches-all-week-long-part-ii/
https://blog.barre3.com/2017/10/12/1-hour-of-prep-on-sunday-healthy-lunches-all-week/

Templates
Quesadillas
Fish
Yumm bowls (beans and grains out of freezer, steam or sauté whatever veggies, salsa or other sauce, add a protein - egg or shredded chicken, can of tuna, beans, tofu… herbs)
Baked potatoes/sweet potatoes with fillings
Breakfast for dinner – scramble eggs with greens, feta and smoked salt
Gnocchi (shelf stable or frozen), mixed w vegetables
Miso soup and add a lot of veggies and whatever protein (rice noodles) 
Blended herb soup
Pantry pasta (puttanesca) or Noodles- peanut noodles sesame noodles (noodles absorb sauce or liquid - soup. keep separate to store.)
Dal
Tacos
Avocado toast and salad
Boiled eggs, toast and salad
Burrito/wrap
lentil/bean salad
Frittata
curry
Use freezer: Freeze soups, stews, chili, grains - pull out of freezer night before

** Don’t have enough leftover of any one meal to make a full meal? Put everything in a pot with some broth; use tidbits to make fried rice; chop everything up, toss it with an egg and some bread crumbs and cheese, stuff it into peppers or hollowed out zucchini or tomatoes, and bake until hot and yummy. (Molly Watson)

https://www.thekitchn.com/features/essential-groceries

Stocking Your Pantry

A stocked pantry is the key to throwing together healthy meal on the fly. You can always come up with something delicious with what you have on hand if you’ve got your staples, so it’s more difficult to justify a quick decision to go to a restaurant and spend money.

Dry goods

Rice – brown, jasmine, wild rice (it’s a grass)

Legumes (beans, peas and lentils) freeze well

Dry beans – make a big batch and work into dishes throughout the week- black, cannellini, garbanzos, heirlooms

Canned beans – for last minute throw together hearty meals.

Lentils – quick cooking

Split peas – quick cooking

Tuna/Salmon- cans or jars of tuna make a quick salad or sandwich

Polenta – sweet or savory, for breakfast or dinner. Great soft, baked or grilled.

Quinoa – ancient seed with high protein, gluten free. Great in salads with fresh veggies or cooked veggies as hearty healthy meal. Can always top with a piece of protein.

Millet – gluten free, nice in salads, breakfast cereals, stuffing veggies, absorbs whatever flavor you add to it.

Rolled oats- even though they’re not “quick” oats, only takes 7-10 minutes to cook up a hot bowl of oatmeal

Flax seeds and chia seeds – to add to smoothies, soak overnight for breakfast pudding in the morning. Flax seeds need to be ground for digestibility – store in fridge, freezer/dark location to prevent oil from becoming rancid

Popcorn – high fiber snack, top with all sorts of flavors

Amaranth – even higher protein that quinoa. Pop and mix into bars, puffed cereal

Nutritional yeast – high in B vitamins. For popcorn, grain salads, cheesy flavor.

Nuts and seeds – for salads, snacks, breakfast cereal (oatmeal), baked goods. Buy whole and raw to have them whole and chopped, raw or toasted. Or sprout them.

Cashews, walnuts, pistachios, almonds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, pecans, pine nuts, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds and flax seeds (to add to smoothies, for breakfast pudding in the morning soak the night before

Dried fruits- raisins, currants, cherries, cranberries, dates, apricots, mango, coconut. Soak and blend dates and apricots into sauces and dressings for added natural sweetener

Jarred olives, capers and anchovies

Pasta+ noodles spaghetti, penne, rigatoni, rice noodles (also called vermicelli or rice sticks), buckwheat noodles etc.

Rice/tapioca paper wrappers- for salad rolls

Dried mushrooms and chilies

Seaweed – wakame, nori, kombu, arame

Canned coconut milk

Canned tomatoes

Tofu

Panko breadcrumbs

A couple different alternative milks – almond, oat, hemp, soy

Tahini, almond butter, peanut butter

Baking powder

Baking soda

Jars of applesauce

Tetra Pak vegetable broths

Essentials
Garlic
Lemon/Limes
Fresh Ginger

Fridge

Miso

Pickled ginger

Kimchi

Bottled lemon and lime juice

Pure dark maple syrup

Hot Sauce

Dijon Mustard

Jams

Tortillas

Plain yogurt (dairy or non-dairy)

Eggs

Capers

Butter

Longer lasting vegetables
Carrots

Cabbage

Potatoes

Sweet potatoes

Winter squash

Beets

Onion

Freezer

Fruit for smoothies, hot breakfast cereal, winter crisps (bananas, berries, peaches, plums, cherries – whatever I picked over the summer) -

Vegetables

Cooked grains and beans

Kafir lime leaves/curry leaves

Butter

Bread and breadcrumbs

Meat/fish/meat alt proteins

Spices and Dried Herbs
Sea salt, black peppercorns, smoked salt, cumin seed, coriander seed, fennel seed, brown mustard seed, turmeric, cayenne pepper, cinnamon sticks, red pepper flakes, whole nutmeg, whole cloves, sweet smoked paprika, chili powder, oregano, thyme, bay leaves

Fresh herbs are the perfect foray into growing your own. Try planting basil, thyme, rosemary, dill and parsley.

Oils/Vingears/Liquids

Oils -

Avocado – neutral in flavor, high heat

Olive – one for adding to salads and for cooking, another for flavor

Coconut – for cooking and baking

Ghee – love the flavor and can cook at high heat

Toasted sesame – for flavor

Truffle oil

Roasted nut and seed oils

Vinegars
My favorite balsamic vinegar because it’s concentrated and sweet it’s great to balance out bitter ingredients like radicchio

Rice vinegar

Red Wine vinegar

Sherry vinegar

Apple Cider vinegar

Champagne vinegar

Other liquids

Tamari/Soy Sauce

Mirin

Honey

Dark pure maple syrup

Molasses

Fish sauce

Tamarind (paste)

Vanilla extract

Spice Blends

Italian Blend

1 Tbsp Oregano

1 Tbsp Basil

1 Tbsp Thyme

½ Tbsp Rosemary

¼ Tbsp Red Pepper Flake

Quick Indian Curry Blend

2 Tbsp Curry Powder

2 Tbsp Cumin

½ Tbsp Turmeric

½ Tbsp Coriander

¼ Tbsp Ground Ginger

¼ Tbsp Cardamom

¼ Tbsp Cinnamon

Savory Blend

2 Tbsp. Parsley

1 Tbsp Rubbed Sage

½ Tbsp Rosemary

½ Tbsp Marjoram

¼ Tbsp Black Pepper

¼ Tbsp Onion Powder

Mexican Blend

2 Tbsp Paprika

2 Tbsp No-Salt Chile Powder (or ancho chile powder)

1 Tbsp Onion Powder

1 Tbsp Garlic Powder

½ Tbsp Cumin

½ Tbsp Black Pepper

¼ Tbsp Cayenne (optional)