Weekly Food Prep: Healthy Rice Blend

When you want to make quick and easy meals during the week, but you don’t want to commit to eating the same thing for 5 days straight… Forget prepping entire meals, just focus on ingredient prepping or what I like to call ‘building blocks’. Building blocks can include:

• Sauces, dressings, and condiments;
• Pre-cut (and sometimes pre-cooked) vegetables; and
• Homemade snacks and treats.
• Pre-cooked rice blends and certain noodles.

While full meal prepping can feel repetitive or boring, prepping your base ingredients gives you so much more flexibility! Today we’re going to make my go-to healthy rice blend using white rice, quinoa, purple rice and barley.

I love this specific 4-grain blend because it’s healthy, fluffy, and light. By having this batch of rice blend ready to go, I know I’ve got my rice component sorted – whether it’s a curry or salad.

Plus, if you’ve already started building up your pantry staples, you likely have most of these grains sitting in your cupboard already!

Why I love this weekly rice blend

• It’s a “building block.” It’s the perfect base for different meals throughout the week.
• It’s good for you. You get the nutritious benefits of quinoa, barley, and purple rice in every bite.
• It’s deliciously versatile. It’s light and mild, so it pairs well with salads, curries and stir-fries without an overpowering taste.
• It looks great. The purple riceberry gives it a vibrant colour that makes any meal look amazing.

Recipe: My Healthy Weekly Rice Blend

Servings: This small batch makes enough for roughly 4 portions (e.g. 2 curry meals and 2 salad bowls). If you want a full week’s worth or extra to freeze, simply double the ingredients.

Prep & Cook Time: Approx. 30-45 minutes.

• 5 minutes to measure and mix.
• 25–35 minutes cooking time (depending on your method).

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup white rice (I use long grain)
• 1/2 cup quinoa
• 1/4 cup purple rice (Riceberry)
• 1/8 – 1/4 cup barley
• 2 1/4 cups water

A note on the ratio: I use a 1:1.5 rice to water ratio here. This works perfectly for a rice cooker when you aren’t using heavy brown rice. If you decide to cook this in a saucepan or swap in different grains, you may need to adjust the water slightly to suit.

Instructions

Step 1: Mix your grains. Add the white rice, quinoa, purple rice, and barley into your rice cooker (or a medium saucepan if you’re using the stovetop). Unpopular opinion: I don’t usually wash my rice for this blend! However, if you prefer to rinse your grains, go for it. Just make sure to drain them well so you don’t throw off the water ratio.

Step 2: Cook. [If using Rice Cooker] Add the water and set it to ‘White Rice’ mode (or an equivalent). This usually takes between 25 and 35 minutes. [If using Stovetop] Add the water and bring to a boil over high heat with the lid on. Once boiling, turn the heat to low and simmer (keep that lid on!) for 15–20 minutes, or until the water is completely absorbed.

Step 3: Fluff it up. Once the timer goes off, use a rice paddle to separate the grains and fluff them up. Pro-tip: Dip your rice paddle (or a wooden spoon) into a bowl of cold water before fluffing. This prevents the rice from sticking to the paddle.

Step 4: Cool and store. Let the rice blend cool down to room temperature before transferring it to an airtight container.

How to store this rice blend

I like to store my rice blend in the fridge and use it up within 3-4 days for freshness. But you can easily freeze it to keep it for longer.

Flexible weekday meals

I’ve been making my weekly rice blend for months now. It goes perfectly with comforting curries, like this vegetable curry below.

And, it’s light and mild to make salad bowls a little more filling, like my creamy garlic yoghurt chicken salad bowl. Stay tuned – I’ll be dropping this very easy recipe soon!

I personally prefer making smaller batches of my rice blends, because I store them in the fridge and love the taste of relatively “fresh” rice throughout the week.

This ‘building block’ is just the beginning! Once you get the hang of it, feel free to get adventurous. You can try adding red rice, brown rice, or even mix in things like beans or edamame for extra protein. 🫶

Read more: Pantry Staples: 4 Types of Rice I Always Keep in Stock