Five things I batch cook weekly to make life easier (and healthier)
I’ve never met a healthy habit I didn’t like. And when it comes to habits that help you stay on top of your self-care game, batch cooking is right up there for me.
Batching whole dishes or individual ingredients that can be used with multiple recipes throughout the week has a big compound effect on your overall health.
You’ll eat less impulsively, save money, and be way more inclined to eat healthy and well if you’ve got the goods ready and waiting in your fridge.
I’ve written about batch cooking before and how I facilitate healthy eating throughout the week. However, today I want to get into the specifics. So I’m going to share the five things I batch cook every single week that make life and healthy eating way easier.
Soups and stews
I cook up a healthy plant-based soup or stew 1-2 times a week, year-round. They’re a great way to get a good amount and a wide variety of veggies into your daily diet - something everyone should be doing.
Soups add volume and fiber to meals, and stews can be whole meals in themselves. Personally, I like to reserve them for lunch since they’re easy to reheat over the stove and basically require little-to-no prep.
I’m currently pregnant, so I’ve been leaning more toward legume-based stews lately for the extra protein. I try to make something everyone in the family enjoys (it’s almost always these no butter, butter chickpeas or a seasonal kitchari) which makes cooking even easier.
Energy balls
I can’t recommend batching energy balls on the regular enough. For a slew of reasons.
First, they’re easy to throw together (in some cases, no appliances are required) and you can easily make up recipes as your go - using whatever nut or seed butters you have on hand, and changing up the nuts, seeds, grains and sweeteners you’re into.
They’re also great source of fat, fiber and protein and other important micro nutrients.
And even the healthiest blends will satisfy any sweet tooth or mid-day craving - they’re just that kind of snack!
A single batch will make 12-15 balls, which may even last you longer than a week (store in the freezer in this case).
I almost always aim to make a nut-free version so I can throw them in school lunches, using seed butters such as tahini or sunflower instead of nut butter and sunflower seeds, coconut, oats, etc for nut-free texture. These new mama treats are my personal favorite.
A simple grain
Having a cooked grain on hand makes for easy bowls throughout the week - just add your fat, veggies and protein and you’ve got a complete meal.
For us, it’s almost always organic white basmati rice since it’s easy to digest and pairs well with most things and we all love it but I like quinoa as well for it’s nutritional profile.
Whatever I make, I keep it simple at first - preparing the grain as is with some water or vegetable broth (this adds a ton of flavor). Then throughout the week, I look to change up the flavor with fresh herbs, spices, acids and things like that - depending on what we’re eating. This
Sauces and dressings
I don’t buy sauces or dressings at the market typically because I like to avoid the excessive oil, sodium, sugar and other unnecessary ingredients usually found in them.
Instead, I batch 1-2 sauces or dressings and keep them in the fridge throughout the week. It’s one of my favorite “hacks” for creating easy meals with lots of flavor but want to save time.
I like to use gut-friendly and immune-boosting ingredients such as garlic and ginger, and general health-promoting ingredients like nuts, seeds, fresh herbs and veggies too, so every dollop imparts a little extra function into each meal. Check out my most popular sauces and dressings for every occasion here.
Dips, spreads and “smashes”
We do a lot of crudités, sandwiches and wraps in our house, so have 1-2 dips, spreads or “smashes” in the fridge makes these things come together in a pinch. I use them all the time for school lunches and for lunch or a quick snack for myself.
The smashes are complete meals in themselves, usually filled with pulsed beans and veggies (this chickpea tuna and curried chickpea smash are some of our favorites). And the dips, like this roasted eggplant dip, is great for sneaking more vegetables into your diet.
Using plant-based whole foods means they’re typically nutrient dense and filled too, which is important when you’re feeding kids, trying to manage your appetite, or stay satiated throughout the day.
And there you have it - all of the healthy things you’ll never find my fridge without.
I don’t do it all in one day, either. Instead, I stagger my efforts throughout the week based on our schedules, what’s available in our fridge in pantry, holes in our diets lately and how creative and energized I’m feeling.
Also, is every week perfect? Of course not.
The most important aspect of batch cooking, for me at least (and what I tell my clients is), is to know the things to cook up that help you stay on track. That way, if you don’t get around to batching one week, but you know generally what your/your family’s likes and needs are, you can get back on the saddle the following week.
For us, it’s a soup or stew, a simple grain, sauces and dressings for bowls and salads, dips and smashes for crudites, wraps and sandwiches and energy balls for a nutrient-rich snack.
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