6 Tips and Tricks on How to Cool Food for A Successful Meal Prep
Meal prep can save you time and money, help you eat healthy or lose weight, and should lower your stress level. So, then, why are so many people unhappy with their pre-prepped meals and stressing out over them? One of the best-kept secrets to delicious pre-prepped meals is in the cooling. Properly cooling ingredients as soon as you can, before you store your cooked ingredients or assemble your meals, makes all the difference. And different ingredients require different cooling methods. Here are my tricks of the trade:
Steamed or blanched vegetables – instantly dunk them in a cold ice bath or run under cold water until cool.
Roasted and grilled vegetables – most can be left out to cool at room temperature and not lose their color. Asparagus and red onions are exceptions. Leave them out a few minutes, transfer them to a room-temperature tray, and then let them cool in the refrigerator, or you can set up a cooler with ice.
Pastas and noodles of any kind – drain them and run under cold water until cool.
Rice, other grains, and potatoes – empty your pot onto a flat sheet pan or something similar. Spread things out evenly, trying to expose as much surface area to the air as possible. You can leave these out to cool at room temp and stir them when the top layer cools, until heat fully dissipates.
Meats and fish – let them rest at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes and then refrigerate. Keep in mind that while resting, proteins will continue to cook, and rise approximately 5 more degrees, so you should take that into account if you prefer rarer meats.
Sauces – most often, you can cool sauces at room temperature for 15 minutes—stirring intermittently—and then refrigerate. If you can first transfer the sauce into a larger container that exposes more surface area, that will help it cool more quickly.
Once your ingredients are cooled, pack them in containers or assemble fully prepared, ready-to-eat-or-heat meals!