Simplify Your Week With Plant-Based Batch Cooking
Meal prepping has become a popular practice for busy people looking to save time and money. Vegan meal prepping takes this idea even further, offering a practical and efficient way to incorporate plant-based meals into your weekly routine. Vegan meal prepping is easy, it can be a lot cheaper than cooking each meal individually and can take the effort out of cooking whole-food plant-based meals.
Vegan meal prepping offers a range of advantages that go beyond time saving. By dedicating a specific time to prepare meals for the week you can ensure a well-balanced diet that will feed you with a variety of nutrients. It also helps with portion control and reduces the reliance on processed convenience foods. To successfully meal prep you need to make sure that you have the right tools, key to this are containers and storage space for the food. To optimise the efficiency of food prepping reusable containers are essential and single use items are to be avoided. Also, remember the safe storage of foods can mean cooling or freezing foods, so make sure that you have set space for your containers.
Meal prepping doesn't have to mean preparing food only for the coming week, for example, beans can be prepared months ahead of time and frozen. Buying bags of dried beans are the cheapest way to buy beans and legumes, they are extremely healthy, are a source of iron, folate, fibre and protein, they are also tasty and versatile. Dry beans must be soaked for a minimum of 6 hours before being cooked to remove toxins and this is one reason why food prepping works as you only have to soak one large batch to provide enough portions for several meals. This is cheaper and healthier than using tinned beans and it also means that you can season the beans as you want when cooking them, adding more flavour to them. Meal prepping can also be done by cooking a large batch of one meal and portioning it to make your own ready meals. As long as meals are quickly cooled and then frozen they will be safe to eat for many months.
How To Vegan Meal Prep
Plan your meals: Decide which meals you want to prep for the week, breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Consider your dietary preferences, nutritional needs and any particular recipes that you want to use.
Create a shopping list: Based on your meal plan, create a shopping list, check your kitchen to see what you already have then buy any ingredients that are missing.
Prepare your ingredients: Once you've done your shopping spend some time preparing your ingredients. This could mean washing and chopping vegetables, setting beans to soak or getting tofu ready with a marinade.
Batch cook: Choose a day or time when you have a few hours available for batch cooking. This can be made easier with the use of a pressure cooker or a multi-cooker that has a timer function, allowing you to add ingredients when you have time, but for cooking to start at a time that you set. Make sure to prepare larger amounts of staple ingredients such as grains or roasted vegetables. Soups, stews and curries can be portioned out for multiple servings.
Portion and store: Divide your meals into individual portions using your meal prep containers or reusable glass jars, using stackable containers will make the best use of space. Ensure that you label each meal with what it is and when it was made. It would also be worth considering using separate containers for sauces and dressings to avoid making food soggy.
Store properly: Place your meal prep containers in the refrigerator or freezer, depending on when you plant to eat the food. Storing each meal in a separate container makes defrosting faster and also reduces food waste.
Reheat and enjoy: When it's time to eat, simply reheat meals either in the microwave, on the stove or in the oven, using the microwave is the quickest and most energy efficient way to heat food. Fresh toppings and garnishes can be used when serving to take your food to the next level.
Prepared ingredients can combined in different ways to make different meals, meaning that you don't have to eat the same meal everyday. Different grains, proteins, vegetables and sauces can be mixed and matched to keep meals interesting and satisfying. Always remember to practice proper food safety, wash your hands before, during and after prepping, make sure food is stored correctly and ensure that food is thoroughly reheated before eating.
Try experimenting with different recipes and don't be scared to try out new ingredients. As you gain experience you'll find a meal prep routine that suits your lifestyle and meal preferences.
Happy Prepping