Why meal prep works
When healthy food is ready to eat, you are less likely to reach for whatever is quickest on a busy day. Meal prep also cuts down on daily cooking time and fuel costs.
It gives you control over ingredients too. Cooking at home lets you decide how much oil, salt and stock cubes go in.
What to batch-cook
Stews and soups are perfect for batch cooking because they keep well and often taste better the next day. Tomato stew, kontomire stew, garden egg stew and light soup base are great starting points.
Beans can be cooked in bulk and used in red-red, waakye or salads. Shito, prepared with care, keeps for a long time and adds flavour in small amounts.
- Tomato stew or garden egg stew
- Kontomire stew
- Cooked beans
- Light soup or groundnut soup base
- Grilled or smoked fish and chicken
Plan a simple week
Pick two or three base dishes and mix them with different starches through the week. For example, one stew can go with rice on Monday, boiled yam on Tuesday and plantain on Wednesday.
Keep starches like rice or yam fresh by cooking them every day or two, since they are quick to prepare. Prepare vegetables in advance by washing and chopping them, so adding them to meals is effortless.
Writing a short plan on paper or your phone helps. Note which stew or soup goes with which starch each day, and build your market list from it so nothing goes to waste.
Store food safely
Cool cooked food quickly and refrigerate within about two hours, especially in Ghana's heat. Use clean, covered containers and store in portion sizes so you only reheat what you need.
Most cooked stews and soups keep for a few days in the fridge and longer in the freezer. Always reheat until steaming hot, and do not reheat the same portion more than once. During power outages, be cautious and discard food that has been warm for too long.
Make it balanced
When you portion out meals, use the plate method as a guide: half vegetables, a quarter protein and a quarter starch. This keeps your prepped meals balanced and satisfying.
Dunu's Kitchen has recipes you can batch-cook, and Coach planner on Premium can put together a weekly diet plan built around Ghanaian dishes.
Packing meals for work and school
A good food flask or a set of sturdy containers makes taking home-cooked food easy. Pack the stew or soup separately from the starch to keep textures fresh, and add a piece of fruit and a bottle of water.
If you have no fridge at work, pack food that is still hot in an insulated flask, or eat it within a few hours. Simple meals like jollof with chicken and salad, or gari and beans with an egg, travel well.
- Invest in a good insulated food flask
- Pack stew and starch separately
- Add fruit and water to every lunch
- Label frozen portions with the date
This is general nutrition information, not medical advice. Numbers are estimates that vary by recipe and portion. If you are managing a health condition, talk to your doctor or a dietitian before changing your diet.