— Linda Dey

We don't want to be dealing with spoiled product, and therefore, you know, this idea of batch prepping ingredients for a period of time needs to be adjusted for your particular situation. And here we have some variables to contend with. One would be the product that we're working with, and it could be the variety that dictates a longer or shorter shelf life. Uh, it could be the quality of the product when it comes in our door from the, the grocery store or the farmer's market, or wherever you source your product. And, uh, also our storage conditions. You know, we, we might hold things in the refrigerator, for example, but the more you open and close your refrigerator, the, you know, the more it goes through these slight warming and cooling cycles, and all of that will affect the shelf stability of food that's already prepped and waiting to be cooked one day. So, if you're finding that your prepped items don't last for a week, you need to make a change. And I mean, overall, my preference is to prep more than once a week in order to optimize the quality of those ingredients. Okay? And then as you move on and, and develop your knife skills in particular, I think you will find that your list of items that you prepare ahead of time will shorten, because you will be able to pull out the whole item and break it down with ease and very, very quickly, and start to use the freshest ingredients in your cooking. Now, that's not to say that all of your ingredients will therefore be done, you know, from, uh, the, the raw state as in the, the whole product state. But you're, again, you're gonna find the ideal items that will last for the type of cooking that you do during the next few days, versus things that you can very quickly break down on your own while something is sweating, right? While the oven is preheating. You know, you have these little, these gaps of time that are created during the cooking process. Very often, not always, but when they do occur, then you can sneak in, you know, the, the knife work on something that's part of that process. And you might not know where those gaps are going to arise and which things you can comfortably break down if you're new to the process of cooking, okay? But with experience, you're gonna figure out where your confidence lies, and when your, uh, as your skills develop over time, again, you know, you're going to be more proficient, uh, at managing this bigger, uh, project of cooking. Okay? So I hope that helps. The bottom line is, if your products don't last a full week, you need to make adjustments. So prepping more than once a week is gonna be the quick answer.