How I Think About Meal Planning: 3-in-1s!

Don't like eating the same thing every day? Me neither. In Simple Feel Good Food, I show you how I meal prep to keep my cooking simple, yet exciting.

Simple Feel Good Food comes out in 2 days!!! Quick reminder: if you haven’t pre-ordered yet, we have an awesome Vitamix giveaway going on AND we’re sending a free bonus e-book to those who pre-order. Head to our cookbook page to get the details and to pre-order while you still can!

Ok, logistics aside, I want to tell you about a really cool feature in Simple Feel Good Food: the 3-in-1 meal plans!

What is a 3-in-1?

I also like to call this section “Meal Prep for People Who Don’t Like Eating The Same Thing Every Day.”

Here’s how it works:

In each plan, we’ve developed 3 dinner recipes that share a grocery list. You can find the grocery list and recipe overview on the first page of each plan (see above).

Farro Stuffed Zucchini recipe from Simple Feel Good Food

You’ll do most of the cooking on day 1 so that your prep will be streamlined on days 2 and 3. Leftover components from day 1 flow into days 2 and 3, but they transform into a totally different recipe each time. You’ll never have to eat the same thing twice!

For example, the Zucchini 3-in-1 starts with Farro Stuffed Zucchini. Two components carry over to days 2 and 3:

  1. Zucchini flesh that you scoop out of the zucchini boats in order to stuff them
  2. Whipped feta (there’s a vegan option too)

Zucchini Lemon Pasta recipe from Simple Feel Good Food

On day 2, you blend the leftover zucchini flesh into a sauce for this creamy Zucchini Lemon Pasta.

Grilled Zucchini Flatbread recipe from Simple Feel Good Food

And on day 3, you slather the whipped feta onto Grilled Zucchini Flatbreads. With the whipped feta already prepped, they come together in minutes!

Note that you’re also reusing fresh ingredients from day 1 throughout days 2 and 3. You should have very little produce left over at the end of the plan. Waste not, want not!

There are eight 3-in-1 meal plans in Simple Feel Good Food.

Five of them are produce-focused meal plans. They’ll help you use up

  • a garden full of zucchini
  • a WHOLE head of cabbage(!)
  • a summer haul of sweet corn
  • broccoli AND its stem
  • and bunches of leafy greens.

Three of the plans are pantry-focused meal plans. They center on

  • a (big) pot of rice
  • a batch of lentils
  • and a pot of beans.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve prepped a week of meals and then not wanted to eat what I’ve prepped. Using this technique instead—making components instead of full meals in advance—has been incredibly effective and enjoyable for me.

I hope that these plans do the same for you, streamlining your weeknight cooking while keeping it exciting.

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11 comments

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  1. Pam
    02.25.2024

    I love the 3in1 concept! I started with A Pot of Beans. Can’t wait to try the others!

    • Phoebe Moore (L&L Recipe Developer)
      03.01.2024

      Hi Pam, So great to hear!! I hope you love whichever 3-in-1 you try next!

  2. Meredith
    11.03.2023

    Okay, the 3-in-1 recipes are my absolute favorite thing about this books. We have loved it and can’t get enough. Do you have any 3-in-1 recipes on the website?

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      11.06.2023

      I’m so glad you loved them! No, it was a special thing we did just for the book.

  3. Laura Vargas
    06.22.2023

    I cannot get over how amazing this book is and the 3-in-1 recipes are. So far, I’ve made the zucchini based ones and the brown rice based ones. All are amazing. The absolute winner for me was the zucchini pasta, it’s the best pasta I’ve ever had. The zucchini boats are also amazing and I can imagine impressing guests with them. I am so excited to continue working through recipes and I so appreciate the time and energy that went into this. The charts, recipes, plans, etc are all so useful and give us healthy, delicious food while preventing food waste. 10/10!!!

    • Phoebe Moore (L&L Recipe Developer)
      06.23.2023

      Hi Laura, Thank you so much for your comment! We LOVE hearing that you’re finding the recipes useful and delicious, especially the 3-in-1s. I hope you love whatever you try next!!

  4. Kelly
    05.06.2023

    This is a super cool idea- we are two vegetarians who get most of our produce at Costco so we’ve always got boatloads of these veggies like zucchini and broccoli and tomatoes- so versatile!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      05.09.2023

      Hi Kelly, I hope you find this section useful!

  5. Nicole from nicolestrasburg.com
    04.23.2023

    I’m so excited about the release of this book! I can hardly wait to get my copy!!

    • Phoebe Moore (L&L Recipe Developer)
      04.27.2023

      Hi Nicole, I hope you love the book!

  6. Faye
    04.23.2023

    I made a recipe that requires zucchini, plum sized tomatoes and pork chops. I’m looking for a new recipe my family will enjoy. Hopefully this is the recipe.

A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.