Meal and/or grocery planning tips or resources? I live an nyc “pick something up on the way home” lifestyle and want to be more balanced + cost conscious!

Question

Seimi · Answer

Make the $0 Stock and always have some available: There’s a super simple $0 stock recipe in this book (also, just a lovely cookbook as a whole) that describes how to make a flavorful veggie / chicken stock. But you don’t have to reference this book - there are plenty of recipes available for something similar.

Basically, I always try to have some stock in the fridge! Add some veggies, crack an egg, toss in whatever protein you have, and serve over some noodles = delicious noodle soup in 15 minutes. Mix in miso paste, seaweed, and tofu = yummy miso soup. A splash of stock in veggie stir fry makes it so much yummier. There’s so many uses for a great veggie stir fry/ chicken stock.

Clara G · Answer

Keeping staple salad supplies on hand: I always keep lettuce / arugula, some type of bulk nuts (pumpkin seeds are cheap and have protein), and hummus in the fridge. Then can pick up a fun meat, fruit or veg on my way home to put in it. Basically guarantees I’ll have a  balanced salad / slop bowl to make and none of that goes bad for a couple weeks.

Jamie · Answer

restaurant dropout: this is the most amazing meal prep-ish method ever. zoe makes weekly menus using a slate of overlapping ingredients, has you spend an hour or two prepping component parts on a sunday, and then throughout the week you build fresh meals using those prepped things in about 20-30 minutes max. her recipes are so yummy, veggie-forward, seasonal, and everything is relatively affordable. you use up all the ingredients, too, because they go toward many meals. she also has a 10/10 IG presence where you can watch her prep for the week and put everything together daily.