Sunday meal prep in 30 minutes with three tools

Meal prep fails when it takes two hours. This routine takes thirty minutes because every cut is done by a tool, not a knife.

Shopping list

• 2 cucumbers, 1 red onion, 4 carrots, 1 head of cabbage
• 1 block cheddar, 1 wedge parmesan
• 6 lemons, 3 limes
• Olive oil, rice vinegar, salt, sugar, Dijon

Minute 0 to 8: slice

Set the mandoline to 1 mm. Cucumbers and red onion into one bowl. Toss with 3 tablespoons rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt. That is quick pickles for the week. Switch to 4 mm and slice the cabbage for slaw.

Minute 8 to 14: grate

Lock the rotary grater to the counter. Coarse drum: carrots into the slaw bowl, then a cup of cheddar into a container. Fine drum: parmesan into a jar. Rinse the drums right away.

Minute 14 to 20: juice

Squeeze all six lemons and three limes with the citrus squeezer into a jar. Add a tablespoon of Dijon, a pinch of salt and olive oil to taste. Shake. That is dressing for every salad until Friday.

Minute 20 to 30: pack

Five containers, each with cabbage-carrot slaw on the bottom, pickles on top. Cheese and dressing on the side. Protein of your choice goes in the morning of.

Why this works

Everything that normally takes a knife and twenty minutes of careful cutting takes a slide, a crank or a squeeze. Uniform slices also keep longer, because there are no thick pieces holding moisture and thin pieces going limp.