The obstacle to regular Japanese home cooking is not difficulty — most Japanese dishes are simple — but prep time. Dashi takes 20 minutes. Rice needs to be cooked fresh (or refrigerated and reheated). Proteins need marinating time. These tasks compound when done daily.
Japanese meal prep solves this by shifting the work to one session per week: dashi batch on Sunday, marinated proteins, par-cooked vegetables, portioned rice. The result: Monday through Friday, Japanese meals that take 10-15 minutes to assemble.
The Sunday Session (90 Minutes Total)
1. Dashi Batch (20 minutes active, 30 minutes total)
Make 2-3 liters of dashi. This is more than you'll use in a week, but it freezes perfectly and forms the base of nearly everything else.
Basic dashi:
- 2L cold water
- 30g kombu (dried kelp), approximately two 15×15cm pieces
- 30g katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
Cold-start the kombu in water. Bring to 60°C over 20 minutes (don't rush — slower temperature rise extracts more glutamate). Remove kombu before boiling. Bring to a boil. Add katsuobushi. Turn off heat immediately. Steep 5 minutes. Strain.
Storage: Refrigerate up to 5 days, or freeze in 300ml portions (ice cube trays work well — one tray = roughly 200ml when melted).
Uses this week: Miso soup, oyakodon liquid, udon broth, nimono (simmered vegetables), rice washing if you want extra depth.
2. Rice Prep
Cook a full batch (3-4 cups dry rice). Japanese rice reheats well if stored properly:
- Cool rice completely before refrigerating (never seal hot rice in an airtight container)
- Store in airtight glass containers
- Reheat in a microwave with 1 tablespoon of water per cup of rice, covered, for 2-3 minutes. The steam rehydrates the rice.
- Or reheat on the stovetop with a small amount of water in a covered pot over low heat.
Freshly cooked rice is better; properly reheated rice is excellent.
3. Proteins: Marinate Now, Cook Later (15 minutes active)
Miso-marinated salmon (3-4 portions):
- 3 tablespoons white miso
- 2 tablespoons mirin
- 1 tablespoon sake Mix. Coat salmon portions. Store in a sealed bag or container in the refrigerator. Cook when needed: broil 8-10 minutes per portion. The marinade pre-seasons; you need zero prep on cooking day.
Teriyaki chicken thighs (4 portions):
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons mirin
- 2 tablespoons sake
- 1 tablespoon sugar Combine. Pour over 4-6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. Refrigerate. Cook when needed: roast at 200°C (400°F) 25-30 minutes. The marinade is the sauce.
Chashu pork (if making): Braise the full roll on Sunday (1.5-2 hours). Slice cold throughout the week for ramen, rice bowls, and sandwiches.
4. Nimono — Simmered Vegetables
Japanese simmered vegetables (nimono) are one of the most practical make-ahead dishes. They improve over 2-3 days in the refrigerator as the flavor concentrates.
Kabocha squash nimono:
- 1 small kabocha squash (or butternut), seeds removed, cut into 4cm cubes (skin on)
- 300ml dashi
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons mirin
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Combine dashi, soy, mirin, and sugar in a wide pan. Add squash skin-side down. Bring to a simmer. Cook covered 15-20 minutes until squash is completely tender and has absorbed the broth color. Cool in the liquid.
Serve cold or at room temperature alongside any Japanese main dish. This keeps refrigerated 4 days.
5. Miso Soup Base
Make a concentrated tsuyu or have miso and dashi ready for quick soup:
- Keep dashi refrigerated (from batch above)
- Keep white miso in a labeled container
- Each morning: heat 200ml dashi, dissolve 1 tablespoon miso, add any quick-cooking additions (green onion, tofu, wakame)
2 minutes for homemade miso soup from prepped components.
What This Gives You
Monday:
- Lunch: Rice + kabocha nimono + miso soup (5 minutes)
- Dinner: Miso salmon (from marinade, 10 minutes) + rice + miso soup
Tuesday:
- Lunch: Teriyaki chicken rice bowl (reheat chicken, reheat rice, 10 minutes)
- Dinner: Oyakodon (chicken + egg + dashi + soy + mirin over rice, 15 minutes)
Wednesday:
- Lunch: Rice + leftover nimono + pickled vegetables
- Dinner: Chashu pork ramen (instant ramen elevated with chashu slices, miso soup base)
Thursday:
- Lunch: Onigiri (from prepped rice — fill with leftover salmon or umeboshi)
- Dinner: Udon soup (dashi + soy + mirin broth, fresh udon from the fridge, any protein)
Friday:
- Use remaining dashi as broth for anything
- Tamagoyaki (2 eggs, 5 minutes) + rice + miso soup + whatever's left
The Key Insight
Japanese meal prep is different from Western meal prep in one critical way: you prep the building blocks, not the final dishes. Western meal prep typically means assembling complete meals (chicken + rice + broccoli divided into containers). Japanese meal prep means preparing dashi, proteins, and simmered vegetables separately — then combining them differently each day. The combinations feel like different meals even though the base components are shared.
This is why a Japanese home cook's refrigerator typically contains: dashi, rice, a marinated protein, a simmered vegetable, miso, and various condiments — not assembled meals. The cooking happens daily, but it's 10 minutes of assembly rather than 45 minutes of cooking from scratch.
Storage Times
| Item | Refrigerator | Freezer | |---|---|---| | Dashi | 5 days | 3 months | | Cooked rice | 4 days | 1 month | | Miso-marinated salmon | 5 days raw, 4 days cooked | 1 month (cooked) | | Teriyaki chicken | 5 days raw (marinated), 4 days cooked | 2 months (cooked) | | Chashu pork (braised) | 7 days in liquid | 3 months (sliced, flat-frozen) | | Kabocha nimono | 4 days | Not recommended (texture changes) | | Tamagoyaki | 3 days | Not recommended |
The full recipes live in the book.
Get Tokyo Meets Tuscany on AmazonPaperback $24.99 · Hardcover $34.99 · eBook $9.99