Be honest with me; if you're the designated cook in your household knowing what to cook is always is a dilemma for you.
You always have this hanging question in your head: What shall I cook?
I have that same hurdle until early January this year when we got our mini fridge and I decided to meal prep our food for the whole week. Basically, we go to the market every Sunday morning and before we go to the market I check my fridge for any left overs from the previous week and only buy what's lacking for the upcoming week. I always make sure that I have atleast 12-15 viands that can be cooked in my mini fridge.
We are just two in the household, me and my boyfriend, so I always cook smaller portions and usually recycles the left overs the next day for my boyfriend's pack lunch.
Come on, I'll show the list of our food for this coming week.
Our fridge is really small and can only accommodate about one-two weeks worth of food thus I call it mini. So we make sure to really utilize its space.
I don't have a specific date when I would cook the food I prep. I just keep a list of the food I could cook on the fridge.
First on my list is Bitter Gourd,I cut it into thin slices and put into microwaveable container with water enough to submerge it. I also mixed a teaspoon of white vinegar and a pinch of salt to keep it fresh until I cook it. The Bitter Gourd will be sauteed in can minced pork and egg. It's a staple food in the Philippines but the passion to eat bitter gourd is an acquired taste for the obvious reason that it's bitter. Though it has many health benefits. So eat some!
Second on the list is the Canned Minced Pork, I won't be putting it all on the Bitter Gourd so the leftover will stay on the fridge until I make it into an omelette (torta).
Third on the list is String Beans! It is kept on the fridge the same way with the Bitter Gourd, cut and soaked in water with salt and white vinegar. But I'm planning to cook the String Beans into two different viands. The half would be Adobo (yes! even vegetables can be cooked as adobo!)
And the other half would be Bicol Express. Bicol express is a dish with pots of chili, shrimp paste and coconut milk. It's really good! I swear!
The fifth one on the list is this Pancit Bato (Noodle) that I bought in Daet when we visited last week. It was a leftover from the treats that we gave our family and friends. To cook the Pancit I bought Bok Choy to accompany it. I haven't eaten Pancit Bato for awhile now so it's taste will be nostalgic with me. I could only eat it whenever someone from my circle of friends or family visits Bicol region.
To keep the Bok Choy fresh, I wet it and wrapped it in an old newspaper then put it on a paper bag before going to the fridge. This technique is really great. It lasts for about two weeks still looking fresh.
Sixth on the list are these little fishies we also got from Daet. I planned to make them into Paksiw. It's a sour stew cooked in vinegar and spices.
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Now, for the eight and ninth place on my list is this chicken. We bought it earlier to add on my stock on the fridge. I plan to cook the half with Native Papaya I got from Daet and make it Tinola. It is a soup stew cooked with ginger. And the other half Adobo since my boyfriend is really fond of chicken adobo with lots of chilis.
The tenth and eleventh place is this fish we have bought about two weeks ago before we went to Daet. It was leftover from the Sinigang (Sour Soup) I cooked before. It Yellow Fin Tuna that is big so we still have about six or seven slices left. We planned to cook it with coconut milk but since we were eating too much coconut milk dishes, I think I will make it as fish steak and sinigang instead. I will save some string beans to put into the sinigang and I will use calamansi instead of tamarind powder.
The twelve place would be this pork. I was contemplating earlier how I will cook the pork but since I have these bananas from Daet, I think I will make it into Humba. A sweetened version of adobo.
Thirteenth and fourteenth place for my week's list is this tofu. It's big and we usually cannot finish the whole pack so I usually cook it into two meals. I think the first half would be Sisig and the other half would be Tokwa't Baboy.
Sisig is a sizzling food with lots of chilis with mayo and liver. While Tokwa't Baboy is basically fried tofu and Pork with sweet and sour soy sauce sauce.
Now, I don't usually get to cook my fifteenth dish but I always keep backups on my pantry in case of emergency. My food prepping sometimes slides off the target when I get sick or not at home and my boyfriend is the one cooking. So I always have mung beans, pasta, vermicelli noodles, instant noodles and canned goods on my pantry. We don't usually eat canned good or instant food so I just visit groceries once a month and it is enough.
I also made some pickled papaya (Atsara) from the native papaya's we got from Daet. And it tasted really good! It would be a nice companion when I fry something. It balances the taste buds.
Beside from viands I also keep variety of snacks at hand because my boyfriend also pack snacks to work. And sometimes he ask snacks when he arrives at home. So for this week we have cassava, banana, taro, bread and I also have ready to fry chips, pancake mix and popcorn at hand.
They say it's all about budgeting. But in reality the prices of goods really hiked up over time. I spend about two thousand pesos or about $40 for our weekly budget. This includes our food, my cat's food, vitamins, water and some extra for emergency. And two think that we are only two person consuming that amount.
Anyways, thank you for having this journey with me. Meal prep really does help me in budgeting our meal.
You might want to try it too.
