Bobby Flay's Pro Tip For Meal Prepping Effectively

For Bobby Flay, cooking is a respite from everything that's going on in his life, a way to escape his worries and focus on the present moment. The chef demonstrated his love for cooking in a 2020 essay for CBS News during the COVID-19 outbreak, writing, "As chefs, we cook. When we celebrate, we cook. When we get depressed, we cook. It's how we show our love, it's how we self-medicate when our therapist isn't available."

He added that he was being as creative as possible while cooking meals at home and gave a solid example. When he cooked spaghetti with tomato sauce and meatballs for dinner, he used the leftover ingredients to make meatball sandwiches the next evening. He used the same trick when he prepared wholesome chicken soup and was left with some overcooked meat, which he added to chicken salad sandwiches. Flay explained, "No micro greens or trendy ingredients. I bought what I could find in the market." 

And when it comes to meal prepping, Flay prefers to use simple techniques, too.

Bobby Flay gave fans a glimpse into his cooking process on the March 22 episode of his "Always Hungry" podcast with his daughter, Sophie (via iHeart). 

Flay explained how he gets through meal planning without stressing about it. The chef says a lot of people get overwhelmed when they're prepping for a meal because they assume that they'll have to come up with a complex dish, but that doesn't have to be the case.

For the chef, it boils down to the protein he's planning to use, such as chicken, fish, or pork, because he perceives protein to be the foundation of a dish. He said on the podcast, "Basically, whatever protein you're using ... you want to think about a ... few different things in terms of vehicles for those things." He went on to explain that home cooks will usually have many options to pick from — you could cook a pasta dish with the protein you have or prepare a rice dish, a risotto, or even a salad. Sophie added, "Just choose a protein or like a base ... and then, work off with that." Simple, but effective.