We cook recreationally and to avoid feeding our family processed food.
We try to keep a 1-week meal plan, but it's very hit or miss. We're happier when we have the meal plan.
We start from a protein and work from there; we hit our butcher once a week and grab a couple whole chickens, some braising pork, and some beef. We have some staple meals built out of those things.
Unless fasting is a diet, nope; we try to cook more green vegetables and less starch, but we're not religious.
My biggest productivity hack is bulk-packaged deli cups.
I use them for everything. Mise. Leftovers. Mixing small amounts of things. They're reusable, but also incredibly cheap; about the same amount of material as a ziploc.
It's like having an infinite supply of small, light bowls with tight-sealing lids.
+this. You can buy them in qty ~50 or so on Amazon fairly cheaply. There are probably a billion, but we have a big stack of these we use for everything from prep to freezing leftovers/taking to work: http://goo.gl/viX1Nh (they come in 8oz versions too, which I also have a stack of). They crack after about 10 cycles through the freezer and in backpacks/lunches, which comes out to about 5c per use. Very reasonable.
We try to keep a 1-week meal plan, but it's very hit or miss. We're happier when we have the meal plan.
We start from a protein and work from there; we hit our butcher once a week and grab a couple whole chickens, some braising pork, and some beef. We have some staple meals built out of those things.
Unless fasting is a diet, nope; we try to cook more green vegetables and less starch, but we're not religious.
My biggest productivity hack is bulk-packaged deli cups.