Ask any chef: There’s nothing more important than one’s mise en place. (That would be your setup.) A little prep work is the difference between your college cafeteria, where the most exciting salad-bar ingredient was Craisins, and the Sweetgreen/Tender Greens/Venture-Capital-Backed-Grain-Bowl-Dispensary-Near-You, where it’d be weird if your roasted curry cauliflower weren’t casually drizzled with tahini yogurt. This is the kind of healthy, satisfying food that we all wish would simply materialize at home for dinner. And it can, if you start acting like a prep cook.

Peden + Munk

Here’s how it works. Set aside some time on a Sunday, and make a few of these Building Blocks: Roast a squash, massage some cabbage with salt, blitz together a pesto, whichever. Seal them all up—they’ll keep in the fridge for five days. Now fast-forward to Tuesday night. Combine a few Building Blocks. Add something simple, like a steak or noodles. (Keep scrolling—we have combo ideas.) An impressive dinner comes together in minutes. How? Because that #@%! is mise-en-placed. —Julia Kramer

Peden + Munk

Try it: tossed into stir-fries, as a burrito filling, or folded into sautéed greens.

Peden + Munk

Try it: as a dip, on crackers with smoked fish, or over hard-boiled eggs.