The Spring Bucket List Menu
7 + recipes for the week, ingredient lists, prep notes, creative substitutions & more
It happens every year: as spring stirs to life, I’m gripped by the same quiet panic that I might miss something fleeting, something perfect. What if the wild garlic unfurls its tender shoots and vanishes before I have the sense to notice? What if the first peas or green asparagus spears come and go while my back is turned?
My husband and I have just returned to San Diego from the UK, where spring has definitely sprung. Unusually warm weather has encouraged a glorious abundance of daffodils, tulips, bluebells, cherry blossom, lilacs and magnolias. Stepping off the plane I also expected blazing sunshine and endless blue skies. Instead, it seems we brought the more typical English weather back with us — grey clouds and sudden rain showers interspersed with brief, hopeful flashes of sunshine.
At the table, I’m as indecisive as the weather — one moment I crave the sharp, clean bite of a salad; the next, I find myself yearning for the deep, consoling warmth of a soup. Spring, for all its lightness, asks more of cooks than any other season. It demands creativity, a willingness to adapt — and just the right amount of mischief.
To soothe my fear of missing out — and to bring a little order to the beautiful chaos of spring — I’ve put together a bucket list menu: a week’s worth of dinners (Monday through Friday), plus two easy, no-fuss desserts to keep things sweet. You might notice I’ve dipped into the recipe archive for this edition, but there are also a few new game-changing time-saving features, because life is bloody chaotic and I don’t want you stressing over dinner.
There’s a neatly organized ingredients list to make grocery shopping as effortless as possible, complete with plenty of substitution suggestions — because if spring teaches us anything, it’s the art of flexibility. And for those of you who know about my lifelong love affair with ingredient prep — a habit instilled early by my mother, who ran our family kitchen with the precision of a well-oiled restaurant (think prep lists, labeled deli containers, the rigorous FIFO method) — you’ll be pleased to find I’ve included a prep list as well. Set aside a little time on Sunday (or whatever day suits you best) to get organized, and you’ll glide through the week with barely a wobble (here's hoping!).
I'll also be sharing a guide to making the recipes entirely your own (think additions and creative ideas), and a handy list of kitchen essentials. Best of all, everything has been bundled into neat, printable PDFs (even the menu), so If you’re even mildly obsessed with sticking things onto the fridge in a desperate attempt to feel as though your life isn’t quietly unraveling (guilty), you’re going to love this. And the best part? Next time someone in your house asks, "What’s for dinner tonight?" - you won’t even have to answer. You’ll just point nonchalantly to the fridge.
Just to be clear, ingredient prep is not meal prep. I can’t stand batch meal prep; I don’t want to eat the same thing day after day.
This concept is not new; it's employed in restaurants where efficient planning and attention to detail is recognized as the foundation for consistent quality. When service begins, it's totally impractical to prepare everything from scratch, making ingredient preparation essential to the timely execution and delivery of orders during a hectic service schedule.
After posting the way I organize my refrigerator, on TikTok little over a year ago, I was surprised to receive numerous appreciative comments from many who assumed that I must have acquired experience working BOH at a restaurant. How else would I know about this system? Unusually, perhaps, I didn't learn this system in a professional environment, but rather, at home.
From the age of 5 I would assist my mother in preparing for endless dinner parties and supper clubs for neighbors, friends and anyone who might happen to drop by. Despite not having gone through the rigmarole of culinary school or working in a restaurant, Mum instinctively organized her kitchen very much as a professional might, if only on a much reduced scale. She had to, given the quantity of food she cooked and the diminutive size of her kitchen.
Before each dinner party, everything was meticulously prepared; each element was labeled and dated, menus and prep lists were printed, and recipes were constantly developed, researched and tweaked. Her talent in wrapping containers and bowls perfectly tightly in cling wrap is a skillI I still cannot master!
As many have often observed, some of the world's best chefs are the countless unknown women who tirelessly cook for their families, from scratch, every night. Unfortunately, there's no Michelin star for the toil and excellence demonstrated by home cooks. Love you Mum!
When I posted that TikTok video a year ago, there were only a handful of you here. Now, thousands upon thousands (!!) are reading this newsletter, and it feels like the right moment to start sharing this format more often - small, thoughtful ways to make your week feel a little easier.
For additional invaluable resources, there are brilliant chefs and cooks writing about the joys of ingredient prep here on Substack. I would highly recommend subscribing to their newsletters:
, & .Right, let’s get into it.
Let the grocery shopping begin! Several of the ingredients below appear in more than one recipe. If you're planning to cook the full menu, you can prep everything in one go - the whole process should take no more than a couple of hours. If you’re selecting just a few dishes, simply cross-reference the recipes with the list. Printing it out and highlighting what you need will make things easier.
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