your fall inspired ingredient prep guide

spend about $40, prep 6 simple components, & assemble 3 recipes at dinner time 🍂

I recently posted on my stories asking what your biggest block is when it comes to meal prep and the most common responses were you don’t have enough time to do it, you get bored of eating the same thing all week, and you have decision fatigue over what to actually make. So this week’s newsletter is going to highlight one of my favorite meal prep strategies: ingredient prep! I’ll show you how you can utilize a simple ingredient prep to get ahead on dinners (or lunches), spending about 90 minutes in the kitchen to have your components prepped for easy assembly during the week. So you can follow along, I’ve included a grocery list for everything you’ll need!

All in, I spent about $40 on groceries and about 90 minutes on prep.

I also got organic meat so you could probably do this for less! Ingredient prep is always my go-to when I know I’m having a busy week, but still want to switch up my meals each day. Not only does it help during a busy week, but if you’re someone who struggles with ~actually eating~ the meals you made, ingredient prep is a strategy worth trying out!! It’s also a fun way to experiment with new dishes.

Using our prepped components, I developed three fall inspired recipes to share with you this week. Each recipe makes four servings (12 meals total), and you decide whether you want to use the meals for work lunches, dinners for the fam, or whatever else you need! If you want to go ahead and assemble the meals ahead of time as well, just follow the entire guide and do it all at once.

Today’s newsletter will walk you through how to prepare these six components:

1. Cooked orzo

2. Apple and thyme turkey meatballs

3. Rosemary chicken breast

4. Roasted mixed fall veggies

5. Spiced chickpeas

6. Fig compote & vinaigrette

By the end, you’ll have ingredient prep done to assemble and enjoy four servings each of these three recipes:

• Fall orzo pasta salad with fig vinaigrette

• Saucy butternut squash orzo with apple and thyme turkey meatballs

• Rosemary chicken with roasted fall veggies and fig compote

If any of this doesn’t sound like your jam, don’t worry, I’ve got substitution options below, including plant-based options. Or ask me in the comments 😊 Let’s get into it!

If this meal prep strategy is your jam, check out my previous 90 minute ingredient prep guide from April for more, which you can access along with the entire archive of posts.