The Sunday Prep Hour: Cook Four Things Once, Eat Chinese All Week
Photo: Shixart1985, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
There's a particular kind of Sunday-evening optimism that involves buying a mountain of vegetables with no actual plan. By Wednesday, the pak choi has wilted into a sad puddle at the bottom of the crisper drawer and you're back on the meal deal.
This is the antidote. Not meal prep in the Tupperware-grid sense — nobody wants to eat the same chicken and broccoli five nights running — but something far more useful: a small batch of versatile building blocks that turn whatever's in the fridge into a proper Chinese-inspired dinner in fifteen minutes.
The Four Things You Actually Need
Make these once, on a Sunday, while the kettle's on. Total hands-on time: about an hour.
1. Ginger-garlic oil. Roughly chop a whole bulb of garlic and a thumb-sized knob of ginger (no need to be precious about it). Warm them gently in 200ml of neutral oil — sunflower works fine — over the lowest heat for twenty minutes until the kitchen smells like a takeaway at closing time. Strain into a clean jar. The solids are a bonus: spoon them onto rice.
2. Master stock. Don't be intimidated. Simmer 1.5 litres of water with 250ml of light soy sauce, 100ml of Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry — we've taste-tested the substitutes, remember), a chunk of ginger, three smashed garlic cloves, two star anise, a stick of cinnamon and a tablespoon of sugar for thirty minutes. It keeps in the fridge for a week and gets better every time you use it.
3. Chilli crisp. Pour hot oil over chilli flakes with a pinch of salt, a teaspoon of sugar and a splash of soy. Add crispy fried shallots if you're feeling fancy — most supermarkets now stock them. This is the single highest-impact condiment in British Asian home cooking right now, and homemade beats the £8 jar.
4. Quick pickles. Slice two cucumbers and a carrot, cover with a hot mix of 100ml rice vinegar, 50g sugar and a teaspoon of salt. Ready in an hour, brilliant for five days.
The Shopping List (One Trolley, Real Supermarkets)
- Whole garlic bulb, fresh ginger, two cucumbers, one carrot
- Neutral oil (sunflower or groundnut)
- Light soy sauce, rice vinegar, chilli flakes
- Star anise, cinnamon, Shaoxing wine or dry sherry
- Whatever protein's on offer: chicken thighs, pork belly, eggs, firm tofu
- Pak choi or spring greens, a pack of fresh egg noodles, jasmine rice
Nothing exotic, nothing that requires a trip to a specialist shop — though if you've got one nearby, the produce will be better and cheaper.
Monday to Friday: The Meal Map
Monday — Poached chicken, takeaway style. Gently simmer chicken thighs in the master stock for fifteen minutes, then switch off the heat and let them sit. Serve over rice with the ginger-garlic oil poured on top and pickles on the side. This is basically Hainanese chicken's low-effort cousin, and it's superb.
Tuesday — Noodles with chilli crisp and a fried egg. The fifteen-minute classic. Boil noodles, toss with a spoonful of chilli crisp, a splash of the noodle water and a drizzle of ginger-garlic oil. Crown with a crispy-edged fried egg.
Wednesday — Master stock pork belly. Simmer pork belly slices in the stock for forty minutes until glossy and tender. Reduce some of the stock into a glaze. Serve with rice and — you guessed it — pickles, which cut through the richness like nothing else.
Thursday — Fridge-clear fried rice. Yesterday's cold rice, whatever vegetables are left, eggs, and the ginger-garlic oil solids for flavour. A spoon of chilli crisp stirred through at the end. This is the night the whole system pays for itself.
Friday — Tofu (or chicken) in master stock glaze. Pan-fry firm tofu until golden, then splash in some master stock and reduce until it clings. Scatter with spring onion. Friday deserves something that looks like it took effort.
Why This Works When Meal Prep Doesn't
Traditional meal prep fails because it locks you into a decision you made on Sunday. This approach makes no decisions for you — it just guarantees that every decision you make during the week will land somewhere delicious. The four staples are the engine; the fridge is the fuel.
And there's a deeper point here, one that runs through a lot of Chinese home cooking: the daily meal isn't built from scratch, it's built from what's already made. A good jar in the fridge, a stock that's been simmering since the weekend, pickles waiting in a bowl. British kitchens are catching on. Your Wednesday-night self will be glad they did.
