Do you see all those perfect meal prep photos on Instagram and get a little stab of envy? It can’t be just me wondering who has the time and energy to devote to all those gorgeously prepared ingredients just waiting to join forces for an Instagram dinner? Ugh.

But being prepared for harried weeknight meals — especially if you're also on the hook for breakfast and lunch in quarantine — really doesn’t have to be a big deal, Jess Dang, founder of Cook Smarts meal planning service, told NBC News BETTER.

“A lot of people don’t like meal prep,” she said. “But you also hate the stress of not having something ready to go. I get home at 5:30 with three hungry children and it’s a freaking disaster.”

So Dang preps ahead of time, most often the night before while her husband takes care of bath time with the kids, but also has several ways to work it in that truly do sound painless.

“Doing these small things really helps,” she said, and none of them require that you plan ahead of time what you’re making that week.

Make extra grains

If you’re making rice or grains like farro or barley it’s no more work to make extra, Dang said. Keep it in the fridge for a few days and move it to the freezer if you haven’t used it yet. But there are so many ways to use it, starting with adding it to a soup. “Any soup will benefit from additional grain, especially winter soups,” Dang said.

As I write I’m lunching on leftovers from last night’s extremely delicious shrimp and bean stew (that was so good there wasn’t much left) bulked up with a scoop of whole grains I pulled from the freezer. (OK, mine were purchased frozen but DIY would work equally well).

Dang also likes to toss a quarter cup of leftover grains into salad for more body. No need to even heat it up, she said. “Once it’s dressed you don’t feel like you’re eating cold grains. Especially farro with nice chewiness adds another element of texture.”

She’ll also throw rice into burritos and stuffed vegetables, and every week, she said, makes fried rice. Leftover rice is perfect for that, she added. “In a restaurant they don’t make fried rice with fresh rice, they want it to be at least one day old.”

All you need is a neutral oil (she likes avocado), day old rice, frozen vegetables (she always keeps peas and carrots on hand) and an egg in a hot wok or skillet. I’ve always scrambled my egg into the rice after frying it but Dang scrambles it first, and adds it back at the end. Level up with green onions, ginger, or shallots or fresh herbs, maybe some extra protein. “If you have some deli meat about to go bad, chop it up and put it in fried rice,” she said. And filed under mind blown, she makes breakfast fried rice with bacon and spinach.

While you want the rice to dry out for fried rice, if you want to moisten up your leftover grains for other dishes, just add a couple spoons of water when you heat it up, Dang said.

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Almost make a vinaigrette

A homemade vinaigrette is dead simple and isn’t just for salads. Using a two to one ratio of oil to vinegar, plus another one-third mustard and sweetener like maple syrup or honey, you can marinate proteins, toss it with freshly roasted vegetables for something magical, make a plain chicken breast less sad with a drizzle, Dang said. Or stir it into grain bowls (using that extra grain!).

If grain bowls mystify you like they do me, just think of your favorite salad, Dang said, with the ingredients nestled on a bowl of grains instead of a bed of greens. And hey, you can still add greens! Her go-to bowl features chickpeas, feta and arugula or romaine, maybe with whatever’s fresh and on hand like red peppers or cucumbers, over farro.