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I Tried Meal Prepping a Full Week in My Instant Pot in One Afternoon
30
items Sunday used to mean standing over the stove for hours, juggling four pots, and still ending up with sad tupperware lunches by Wednesday. If you're someone who wants home-cooked meals all week but dreads spending every evening cooking, this is the set...
Sections
6
The Instant Pot Setup That Started It All
Containers That Actually Survived the Week
Spices and Seasonings That Made Batch Cooking Not Boring
Pantry Staples I Always Have Ready on Prep Day
Kitchen Tools That Sped Up the Whole Process
Cookbooks and Recipe Resources That Actually Work for Batch Cooking
The Instant Pot Setup That Started It All
Before I got the right model and accessories, I was fighting with a slow cooker from 2014 and pretending that counted as meal prep. Once I dialed in this setup, batch cooking actually became something I looked forward to on Sundays.
Grab this one if you cook for 2-4 people. I went from ordering delivery four nights a week to having a fridge full of actual food by Sunday evening. The 6-quart is the sweet spot for most households.
Instant Pot Duo 6 Quart 7-in-1 Multi-Use Programmable
Use this when you're slow cooking or keeping stuff warm after pressure cooking. The regular lid locks and it's annoying when you just want to simmer. Wish someone told me about this before I burned my first batch of chili.
Instant Pot, 6-Quart Tempered Glass Lid, 9 Inch (23cm), Clear
Toss this on top when you want to store leftovers right in the inner pot overnight. Saved me from dirtying another container. Perfect for anyone whose dishwasher is already running twice a day.
6 Quart Silicone Inner Pot Lid Compatible with Instant
Get a second inner pot so you can start your next recipe while the first one cools. This single purchase cut my meal prep time almost in half. Stock up now because they sell out around January.
Instant Pot, Inner Pot, 6 Quart, with 3-Ply Bottom
Keep this on hand for steaming veggies while your protein cooks below. Two components done at once, no extra pans. For anyone who hates washing more than three things after cooking.
Instant Pot Official Mesh Steamer Baskets, Set of 2
Containers That Actually Survived the Week
Used to lose half my meal prep to leaky containers and freezer burn. Went through four different brands before landing on ones that didn't warp in the microwave or leak mystery sauce all over my work bag.
Switch to these if your current containers fog up and stain after one use with tomato sauce. Six months in and mine still look clear. They seal tight enough to throw in a bag without worrying.
Rubbermaid Brilliance 10-Piece Set, Leak-Proof and Clear
Pair these with anything you want to reheat without that weird plastic smell. Went from microwaving in takeout containers like a gremlin to actually heating food properly. Heavier, but worth it.
Pyrex Simply Store Glass Bakeware Set, 14 Piece
Try these for soups, overnight oats, and salad dressings. Stacked five in my fridge door and suddenly had a system. Great for anyone whose fridge looks like a crime scene by Thursday.
Ball, Glass Mason Jars, 32 oz, Wide Mouth, with Lids
Snag these for portion control without having to think about it. One side gets protein, the other gets rice or veggies. Brought these to work and a coworker asked if I hired a personal chef.
Prep Naturals 5 Pack Glass Food Storage Containers, 36 Oz
Keep a stack of these for freezer meals. They're cheap enough that losing one at the office doesn't ruin your day. Perfect if you prep for the whole family and need volume over fancy.
Freshware Meal Prep Containers, 3-Compartment
Spices and Seasonings That Made Batch Cooking Not Boring
Eating the same chicken and rice five days straight is a punishment, not meal prep. These are the seasonings that made me actually want to open my lunch container instead of just tolerating it.
Throw this on literally anything. Chicken, potatoes, roasted vegetables. Turned my bland Tuesday lunch into something I actually craved. For anyone who thinks meal prep means eating cardboard all week.
McCormick® Grill Mates® Montreal Steak Seasoning, 3.4 oz
Try this as your all-purpose base for beans, rice, or ground turkey. A Cuban coworker recommended it years ago and it hasn't left my cabinet since. Huge container lasts months.
Badia, Complete Seasoning, 6 oz, All Purpose Spice Blend
Sprinkle this on fries, eggs, or chicken before pressure cooking. Tastes like restaurant food without the $18 entree price. Grabbed two jars after the first one disappeared in three weeks.
Red Robin Original Blend Signature Seasoning, 4 Ounce
Use this on avocado toast, rice bowls, or mixed into cream cheese for wraps. Sounds basic but it single-handedly rescued my sad desk lunches. Stock up because you'll use it faster than you expect.
Trader Joe's Everything But The Bagel Sesame Seasoning Blend
Keep this next to your Instant Pot for quick chicken thigh batches. Rub it on, set to pressure cook 12 minutes, done. My partner went from skeptical about meal prep to requesting seconds.
Weber Kick'n Chicken Seasoning, Gluten Free, 5 oz
Pantry Staples I Always Have Ready on Prep Day
Running out of broth or rice halfway through a prep session used to derail my entire afternoon. Now I keep these stocked so Sunday goes smoothly without any emergency grocery runs.
Grab a few of these before your next prep day. Ran out once mid-recipe and had to substitute water. The soup tasted like apology. For anyone who makes soups, stews, or shredded chicken regularly.
Swanson Chicken Broth, 32 oz Carton
Use jasmine over regular long grain. Cooks perfectly in the Instant Pot at a 1:1 ratio with water and doesn't turn mushy by day four. Took me three mushy batches to figure that out.
Mahatma, Jasmine Rice, 80 oz Bag, Thai Fragrant Long
Ditch the canned stuff and try dried beans in the pressure cooker. 30 minutes, no soaking, and they come out creamy. Saves money too. A one-pound bag makes enough for the whole week.
Goya Dry Black Beans – 16 oz (3-Pack)
Keep four cans minimum in your pantry. These go into chili, pasta sauce, chicken stew, basically half my weekly recipes. Running out on prep day is a nightmare I only needed to live once.
Great Value Organic Petite Diced Tomatoes
Toss a can into curry or soup for richness without heavy cream. Made a Thai-inspired chicken curry that lasted four lunches and tasted better each day. Cheap enough to experiment with.
Great Value Coconut Milk, 13.5 fl oz, Can
Kitchen Tools That Sped Up the Whole Process
The Instant Pot does the heavy lifting, but chopping and prepping ingredients was still eating up my time. These tools shaved about 45 minutes off my total prep session.
Get one big enough to chop everything without ingredients falling off the edge. My old tiny board had onion pieces rolling onto the floor every single time. This one stays put and fits a whole chicken's worth of veggies.
OXO Good Grips Large Plastic Utility Cutting Board, White
Swap out that dull knife you've been struggling with. Went from smashing tomatoes to slicing them clean. A sharp knife is genuinely safer than a dull one. Under $40 and professionals actually use this.
Victorinox Fibrox Pro Chef's Knife, 8-Inch Chef's
Use these to pre-portion all your chopped ingredients before cooking starts. Mise en place sounds fancy but really it just means not scrambling for garlic while your onions burn.
Kitchenaid Set of 5 Plastic Mixing Bowls in Pistachio
Keep these snapped together so you stop digging through the drawer mid-recipe with greasy hands. They lie flat too, which means less spilling. Small upgrade that removed a weekly annoyance.
Spring Chef Magnetic Measuring Spoons Set
Try this for quick avocado topping on bowls and wraps during the week. Sounds unnecessary until you've cut yourself with a knife trying to pit an avocado at 7 AM. Safety first, honestly.
OXO Good Grips 3-in-1 Avocado Slicer (White/Black)
Cookbooks and Recipe Resources That Actually Work for Batch Cooking
Most Instant Pot recipes online are written for one meal at a time. Finding ones designed for scaling up and eating all week was harder than expected. These saved me from guessing.
Grab this if you want recipes that actually tell you what to do instead of vague blog posts with 14 paragraphs of backstory. Clear instructions, tested ratios. Referred back to it almost every Sunday for months.
The Instant Pot Bible : More than 350 Recipes and Strategies
Perfect for anyone who's intimidated by pressure cooking. Photos for every single step. Made his pulled pork the second week and brought it to a potluck where three people asked for the recipe.
Jeffrey Eisner, Step-by-Step Instant Pot Cookbook
Use this if you want structured weekly plans instead of just random recipes. Tells you what to buy, when to cook, how to store. Took the decision fatigue completely out of Sundays.
Pre-Owned The Meal Prep King Plan: Save Time. Lose
Try her freezer-friendly recipes when you want to prep two weeks at a time. Her honey garlic chicken became my most repeated recipe. Written for busy people who want real food, not health-influencer rabbit food.
Damn Delicious Meal Prep: 115 Easy Recipes
Keep this around for when you want bulletproof recipes that won't fail. America's Test Kitchen tests everything obsessively so you don't have to waste groceries figuring it out yourself. Worth every penny.
The Ultimate Meal-Prep Cookbook: One Grocery List.