Sunday Meal Prep | Week of August 18

Heirlooms, stone fruit, and the perfect farmer's market tote.

Hello friends, welcome to your Sunday Meal Prep! If you’re new here and want make your weeknight meals easier, healthier, and more delicious, get yourself a subscription. For the price of an almond milk matcha, you get five dinner recipes and a shopping list in your inbox every Sunday.

Okay, I made that little graphic myself. How do we feel about this upgrade? I decided on a whim that these emails needed is a little zhuzh, so I spent way too long making this the other night. Maybe I’ll get a professional to do their magic on it at some point. Just when you think a masters in nutrition is enough, you need to learn how to use Figma!

This is my favorite time of year to eat! Tomatoes, peaches, honeydew melons, oh my. For my final in culinary school (many many moons ago), we had to write a menu around a theme and mine was late-summer in California. All I can remember from the menu was the appetizer, broiled oysters with champagne grape mignonette, and dessert: whiskey-soaked grilled peaches with olive oil ice cream and sea salt (oh yeah, I’m fancy like that). Hate to disappoint, but neither of these dishes make an appearance on this week’s menu, but we do have an heirloom tomato and stone fruit salad (sans the whiskey and olive oil ice cream, sadly, but with the option of burrata).

Before we get to this week’s recipes, I wanted to share a quote I saw this week that really resonated with me:

The secret is there is no secret.

Consistency over intensity.
Progress over perfection.
Fundamentals over fads.

Over and over again.

If you’re reading this, please know that I appreciate you being here and hope you have the yummiest meals all week long.

xx Mia

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A few meal prep-adjacent things I’m loving right now (it’s a bag theme this week, lol):

For all those heirloom tomatoes
MATE the Label Farmer’s Market Tote
This is the tote pictured up top (I’m also wearing MATE’s short and tank set in forest and poplin shirt—which is on sale!). I love MATE’s organic, nontoxic ethos, and I have to say, this is the perfect market tote—It’s roomy and has lots of little compartments so the melon doesn’t bruise your peaches. Use the code MIARIGDEN15 for 15% off.

The cutest insulated lunch bag you’ve ever seen
Maisonette x FEED
I’m obsessed with these insulated (and monogramed) kids lunch bags. I got the pink one for Freya and the blue for Ozzie. Ozzie’s out of school until after Labor Day, but he’s eager to pack his bag for the park each day. What’s more? Every purchase helps provide 5 school meals for kids living with food insecurity.

Lastly, just a quick reminder that we pushed book club to this Friday at 9:30am PT. Head on over to the chat for the zoom details. And if this is the first you’re hearing of it, we’re reading Forever Strong by Dr. Gabrielle Lyon—an excellent read about aging, protein, and building healthy muscle tissue. This is a discussion for paid subscribers. If you want to upgrade your subscription and join the conversation, here’s how:

Alright friends, let’s cook!!

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I went through the grocery list and counted 26 different plants on the menu for the week. This includes aromatics, like dill, parsley, and basil, and basics, like garlic, shallot, and ginger, but still! If this is overwhelming (or too expensive), you can pair it back. Try using the same greens in the salads, serve green beans with Tuesday’s salmon and Thursday’s chicken instead of broccoli rabe, or cut back on the number of ingredients in Wednesday’s stir fry. I think it’s important to provide optionality but also wanted to highlight this, because if you cook these recipes as is, you’ll be getting a heck of a lot of diversity in your diet (this week and every week). If you need help with modifications, I will happily answer any questions in the comment section or the chat! And don’t forget: you can view all past menus here.