5 easy meal preps for Indian kitchens to save time during busy weekdays

When it comes to cooking meals at home amidst busy weekdays, people often call it a "time-consuming" and "exhausting" affair. But, let us accept the fact that the satiation and comfort a home-cooked meal offers, a packaged or ordered meal can never give the same. And with growing age and keeping the health in mind, we all prefer mindful eating habits, which includes simple home-cooked meals. And if you are someone who doesn't have access to a cook who can come according to your working hours, then home meals often sound like a far-fetched dream. Can you relate to all of this? If yes, then this piece of information is for you. Scroll down to read five easy meal preps you can do at home on weekends and then prepare all your meals on busy weekdays even in a jiffy.

In India, we love our curries. They pair well with roti and rice and preparing a generic base can make life easier during the weekdays. These curry pastes can be added to a tadka of oil and spices and simply your main ingredient like-paneer, aloo, chicken or fish, simmer and your curry is ready. A basic onion-tomato masala, cashew and tomato masala, korma masala, or sattvic one made with cashew, almond, and tomato can be prepared with zero water in it and can be stored in the freezer in air-tight jars. And if you are someone who loves dishes like pasta and risotto, then prepare white sauce, red sauce, pink sauce and more and store them in air-tight jars and freeze.

For many of us, chopping and cutting is therapeutic but there also exists a set of people who find it very exhausting and time-consuming. If you belong to the latter, then chop small batch of onion, garlic, and tomato, and store them in the refrigerator in different boxes. For veggies like bottle gourd, bitter gourd, okra, pumpkin, carrot, and cucumber, peel and chop them and store in the fridge for the first few days of the week. And then there are leafy greens which require a lot of time for cleaning. Make sure to clean greens like fenugreek, spinach, mint, and coriander and store them in zip lock bags. They are easy to wash and use. Even for meat, make sure to clean, wash, pat dry and then chop and store in the fridge. This practice will save a lot of time while making meat dishes during the week.

There are many Indian dishes that require a lot of boiling and blanching. To make it easy, soak, boil and store items like chickpea, chana, rajma. They are multi-purpose and can be tweaked to make breakfast, lunch, snack and even dinner. You can also simply cook dal in water and turmeric and store it in fridge to save time on week days. Boil them, add tadka and your meal is ready. One can also cook and make puree of carrot, spinach, and beetroot and store them to make curry, paratha, poori, and soups. For those who love noodles, pasta, couscous, and quinoa, it is suggested to boil and store them for use. Make sure to let them rest at room temperature before exposing them to heat. Also, one can make batter for chilla, dosa, idli, and pancakes and store them in fridge for use easy usage during the week. When it comes to non-veg, meat often takes a lot to time to prepare, hence to save time, you can parboil the meat and refrigerate to save time during the weekdays.

Indian meals use a lot of herbs, spices, and chutney and they all need a lot of chopping, peeling, and more. Hence, to save time, one can keep a jar full of peeled garlic, ginger, and washed green chilli, and coriander leaves. Simply use a salad spinner or strainer to clean them, and store in a ziplock bag. Also, prepare condiments like coriander chutney, chana and peanut chutney, coconut chutney and store them in air-tight jars. They quickly enhance the taste of any meal. And for multi-purpose needs, keep hummus and salsa in the fridge. If you are a pure Indian food lover, then keep a batch of ginger-garlic paste, tomato puree, cashew paste, and onion puree in the fridge. Also, spice mix for dishes like sambar and rasam can also be kept handy to make it easy during the weekdays. Simply pressure cook dal and veggies and add the spice mix, your dish is ready.

During summer months, it is important to stay hydrated. Hence to keep it easy at home, keep jaljeera, buttermilk tadka, aam panna, lassi, bel sharbat and kokum sharbat ready in the fridge. Make small batches of these drinks and store in mini jars and drink throughout the week and have a hassle-free week amidst busy working days.

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