Meal prep · ten portions · one hour
No chicken anywhere in here. The whole board runs on salmon, shrimp, tempeh, lean beef and pork tenderloin, and the variety comes from the sauce jar rather than from cooking ten separate meals.
The system
Everything on the board is cooked plain and sauced at the last second, so the same containers taste like a different meal every day. Tap a chip in each row to see what you get.
Pick one from each row
Protein0g
The six
Each one makes roughly two portions, which is where the ten comes from. Quantities are per portion.
6oz salmon rubbed with white miso, mirin and a knob of butter, roasted 12 min at 425°F. Over jasmine rice stirred with grated ginger and rice vinegar, with edamame, quick cucumber and furikake.
7oz shrimp seared 4 min with chili flake, cumin and lime zest. Cauliflower rice wilted with kale, black beans, charred corn, avocado added the morning you eat it, chili lime yogurt on top.
5oz lean ground beef (93/7) browned hard, then glazed with soy, pear or apple juice, garlic and sesame oil. Jasmine rice, shaved cabbage, quick pickled carrot, gochujang honey, sesame seeds.
5oz pork tenderloin rubbed with fish sauce, black pepper and brown sugar, roasted 22 min to 145°F and sliced. Rice or soba, pickled carrot and daikon, cucumber, cilantro, jalapeño, nuoc cham, crushed peanuts.
5oz tempeh steamed 5 min to take the bitterness out, then seared and tossed in gochujang, maple and rice vinegar. Lemon quinoa, roast broccoli, edamame, shaved cabbage, pepitas.
1 cup chickpeas roasted dry 25 min with smoked paprika until they rattle. Lemon quinoa, roast sweet potato, edamame, tomato, red onion, 2oz feta, lemon tahini poured on thick.
The lever
This is the part that does the heavy lifting. Whisk them all at once while the oven works, keep them in small jars, and sauce only the portion you are about to eat so nothing goes soggy.
| Sauce | What goes in | Best on |
|---|---|---|
| Miso ginger | 3 tbsp white miso, 2 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp grated ginger, 1 tbsp sesame oil, water to loosen | Salmon, tempeh |
| Lemon tahini | 1/3 cup tahini, juice of 1 lemon, 1 grated garlic clove, salt, ice water until it turns pale | Chickpeas, sweet potato |
| Gochujang honey | 2 tbsp gochujang, 1 tbsp honey or maple, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tsp soy | Beef, tempeh |
| Chili lime yogurt | 3/4 cup Greek yogurt, juice of 1 lime, 1 tsp chili flake, cilantro, salt | Shrimp, sweet potato |
| Nuoc cham | 3 tbsp fish sauce, 3 tbsp lime, 2 tbsp sugar, 6 tbsp water, garlic, sliced chili | Pork, soba, anything raw |
The cook
Order matters here, so this one really is a sequence. The oven runs the whole time and one skillet gets wiped and reused three times.
0:00
Oven · Stove
Pull everything out of the fridge now so the pork and salmon lose their chill while the oven climbs.
0:04
Sheet pan A
Rub the tenderloin, cube the sweet potato around it, 22 minutes. Pull the pork at 145°F and let it rest whole; slice it cold at assembly so it stays juicy.
0:08
Stove
Quinoa simmers 15 minutes then sits covered off heat. Rice cooker or a pouch is a completely legitimate move here.
0:12
Sheet pan B
Dry the chickpeas properly on a towel first, that is the whole trick. 25 minutes, no stirring.
0:16
Counter
Ten uninterrupted minutes while both pans are working. Label the lids, you will not remember which is which on Wednesday.
0:26
Sheet pan A
Same pan, same heat, 12 minutes. The salmon picks up the pork drippings, which is a feature.
0:30
Skillet, pass 1
Do not crowd it and do not stir for the first two minutes. Glaze goes in at the end, off heat.
0:39
Skillet, pass 2
Wipe the pan. Six minutes to get real color on both cut faces, then toss in the gochujang honey.
0:46
Skillet, pass 3
They finish carrying residual heat, so pull them the moment they turn opaque or they will be rubber by Tuesday.
0:50
Counter
Shredded carrot, daikon and cucumber into a jar with equal rice vinegar and water, a spoon of sugar, a pinch of salt. Ready in twenty minutes, good for two weeks.
0:55
Assembly
Grain down first, protein and veg in separate corners, sauce stays in its jar. Avocado, herbs and anything crunchy go in the morning you eat it.
The list
Everything for all six bowls. Tap to check things off, and the list remembers where you got to on this device.
The fine print
Cooked fish and shrimp are good for three days refrigerated, meat and grains for four. Put the salmon and shrimp bowls at the front of the shelf and eat them Monday through Wednesday.
The bulgogi beef and the chickpea bowl both freeze well. Freeze them the day you cook, not the day they start looking tired, and you get a fourth week night back later.
Warm food in a sealed container steams itself and shortens its life by a day or more. Spread it out for twenty minutes, then lid and refrigerate.
This is the single reason day four tastes like day one. Dressed grains go soft and dull; undressed grains reheat like they were just made.
Microwave the base and veg for ninety seconds, then lay the cold salmon or shrimp on top for the last twenty. Overcooked reheated seafood is what makes people quit meal prep.
Swap any grain for cauliflower rice folded into shredded kale or cabbage, and add half a cup of edamame to keep the protein where it was.