My Plant-Based Family

Feeding My Family a Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet, On a Budget

Batch Cooking

Back to (Batch Cooking) School Meal Plan

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This is Back to School Month at My Plant-Based Family so naturally we will be focusing on quick dinners, fun lunch box ideas and easy recipes. Your children may not be back at school yet but these tips and ideas will help you get prepared.

Back to School Month

Today’s Plant-Based Meal Plan will focus on dinners. I’m giving you a sneak peeking into the way my brain works when it comes to planning meals. Specifically I’m going to show you how I batch cook to make the rest of the week easy-peasy.

Meal Plan Monday

Plant-Based Dinner Meal Plan

Easy Crock Pot Mexican Rice and Bean Casserole is everyone’s favorite. I’ll Double the recipe.

Slow Cooker Potato Soup except I plan to add extra veggies like broccoli, carrots and celery along with some lentils.

Spaghetti (GF) and Lentil Marinara this recipe is used exclusively in my Custom Meal Plans. This is served with raw or steamed veggies.

Nachos with Unfired Black Beans and Quinoa-Lentil Taco’s.

Taco Potatoes using Quinoa-Lentil Taco’s.

Batch cooking a plant-based meal plan

What to Look For

Can you spot the trends in this Meal Plan? Which ingredients appear repeatedly?

  • Black Beans are used in the Mexican Casserole, Nachos and Taco Potatoes.
  • Lentils are used in the Soup, Lentil Marinara, Nachos and Taco Potatoes.
  • Potatoes are used in the Soup and the Taco Potatoes.
  • Quinoa is used in the Nachos and Taco Potatoes
  • Tomatoes are used in the Lentil Marinara, Nachos, and Taco Potatoes.

Using the same ingredients in multiple recipes is typical for me. It cuts down the grocery bill and the amount of time it takes me to cook. You see, I don’t start from scratch every day. I like to spend a few hours and get most of this food prepped.

How to Batch Cook the Meal Plan

Let’s take a look at how batch cooking works. This can be simplified even more if you use canned beans.

  1. Soak black beans overnight.
  2. Cook black beans, wash and bake potatoes, cook lentils and quinoa, and prep veggies. This all happens at the same time. The beans and potatoes take longest to cook so you would start them first. The quinoa and lentils don’t take long so you would start them next. Lastly wash and chop veggies to use in all of the recipe and for extra snacks throughout the week.
  3. Put ingredients for Potato Soup in the Crock Pot OR put them all in a large zip lock bag so it’s ready to dump in the Crock Pot.
  4. Once the beans are done you can make the Unfried Black Beans, Mexican Casserole and Taco Potatoes.

The End Result

Now each evening I only have to reheat dinner or do a little cooking. For example I prefer to cook the spaghetti for the Lentil Marinara right before we eat it. Pasta, especially gluten-free pasta isn’t as good reheated. I’ll also heat and assemble the nachos and Taco Potatoes right before eating. Most of the cooking is done for the week.

Remember to check out my Back to School with My Plant-Based Pinterest Board and last weeks Lunch Box Essentials post.

Favorite Plant-Based Freezer Foods

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Favorite Plant-Based Freezer Foods

 

Favorite Plant-Based Freezer Foods

There are several foods that I always keep in my freezer. Freezing food can save time and money when done right. I’m not talking about frozen veggies but I try to keep those handy also. Here is my list of my favorite plant-based freezer food.

Cooked Whole Beans

I buy and cook dry beans in bulk then freeze them in individual or family size portions. When I’m out of beans I’m tempted to use canned, which may be ok but they are more expensive and often high in sodium and sometimes weird ingredients. If you’ve never bought and cooked dry beans is really easy, check out my How to Cook Dry Beans Guide.

Once your beans are cooked and cooled just chose a container, I sometimes use freezer bags or plastic container (I have little boys so I’m not ready to convert to glass), label and store. I’ve successfully stored several varieties of whole beans, including lentils. You can drain them or freeze them in the liquid, which ever you prefer.

Cooked beans can be added to a number of dishes or eaten plain. Next time you plan to cook beans just double it and freeze half.

Unfried Beans

If you have tried my Unfried Black Beans or Unfried Pinto Beans you know they are life changing! They also freeze really well, even more life changing. These are perfect for Nachos or Burritos (which are also great to freeze).

Grains

I often cook grains in bulk and sometimes it ends up being way more than we can eat. Simply choose a container, label and freeze. Some grains may lose their texture slightly. I prefer to use frozen grains in soups or casseroles because they usually need more liquid. Most of the time I freeze rice or quinoa since they are both gluten-free.

Muffins and Breads

Do you ever have company come over and need a snack for a crowd? Maybe you are doing to a birthday party and need an allergy-friendly treat for you little one. Freezing Breads and Muffins are the perfect solution. If you need gluten-free baked goods I recommend Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins (with or without chocolate chips), Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins, or Gluten-Free Apple Muffins.

If gluten isn’t an issue you simply must try my recipe for Worlds Best Banana Bread, this delicious Pumpkin Bread or my Blueberry Muffins.

Soups and Chili

I always try to save at least one serving of soup or chili but I love them so much it is hard to resist finishing it all. I usually store these in wide mouth containers so I can easily dump them in a pot to defrost. I don’t think I’ve tried freezing soups with noodles but I’ve been successful with several different veggie based soups including Potato & Broccoli Soup, Green Chili, Cilantro & Lime Soup, Enchilada Soup and Taco Soup. Chili also freezes really well. Try freezing it in individual portions so you can grab it quickly for lunch. Simply let it defrost throughout the morning then heat at lunch time.

Mashed Potatoes

One year we made way to many mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving but I learned a valuable lesson, Mashed Potatoes freeze really well. I prefer to store them in a containers that can easily be dumped into a bowl for defrosting. You could even whip up a big batch before the holidays to save time, just don’t forget to defrost the day before.

Chocolate Mousse

Although it’s a little too cool for frozen treats I can’t help but mention how delicious Chocolate Mousse is frozen. It’s perfect in Popsicle molds or even in a shallow dish.

What is your favorite plant-based freeze food?

Once A Week Cooking

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I love batch cooking or Once a Week Cooking! Instead of starting from scratch every night I prefer to cook large batches of food to mix and match for various meals throughout the week. It saves me time, money but most importantly my sanity. Most of the time I’ll just cook my beans and grains and chop veggies for the week but sometimes I get it all done.

Once a Week Cooking

 

Check out my before and after. There are a few things missing from the “before” picture like frozen organic corn, eggplant and spices.

Batch cooking, or in this case, Once A Week Cooking is tough; especially when you are also doing laundry, changing diapers and trying to keep your little ones out of the way. I didn’t prepare every meal for the week but I prepared a lot. The items that didn’t get eaten are tucked into my freezer.

My Once A Week Cooking Plant-Based Menu

  1. A 2 quart pitcher of cooked black beans
  2. Black Bean and Quinoa Salad, Chopped Romaine and extra Salsa
  3. Black Bean and Quinoa Veggie Burgers (about a dozen), sliced tomatoes and lettuce
  4. Oven Roasted Potatoes
  5. Corn Chowder
  6. Veggie Pasta with onions, eggplant, broccoli, red bell peppers, garlic and tomatoes
  7. Cooked Quinoa
  8. Salad with kale, spinach, romaine, carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes and broccoli *salad dressing not pictured

Creating a Schedule for Once A Week Cooking

It is helpful to cook foods that have a long cooking time first or even the day before. I cooked the black beans the day before so I wouldn’t have to wait to make the Black Bean Quinoa Salad or Black Bean-Quinoa Burgers.

Since my beans were already cooked I began with washing, cutting and roasting the potatoes followed by cooking the quinoa. As the quinoa cooked I began chopping veggies for the soup and salads. This particular menu was very labor intensive. After chopping the veggies I began cooking the Corn Chowder and assembling salads. Once the quinoa was finished cooking I mixed the Black Bean and Quinoa Salad together then started the pasta. As the pasta cooked I made the Black Bean and Quinoa Burgers.

Helpful Tips

Have a Plan. You must have a plan if you hope to cook all of your meals for the week in a few hours. Decide what you want to cook and make a list of all of the ingredients needed. Alternately if you have already done your shopping make a list of ingredients and try to match them to recipes. If you need to use recipes have them available.

Don’t forget to set a timer or timers. With lots of stuff cooking it is easy to forget how long something has cooked. I find it helpful to jot down notes every time something begins or ends with the time next to it. It also helps me keep track of how long it is taking me for the whole menu so I can do better in the future.

Start with a Clean Kitchen. It doesn’t have to be sparkling clean but having the dishes washed and counters clear with be a huge help.

Keep up with the dishes. I use almost every pan I own when I batch cook like this. Often I wash and reuse the same one but sometimes I have all 4 burners going and pans in the oven.

Clean out your fridge first. You will need a lot of room in your fridge for all of the food you have prepared (you will also need a lot of containers).

I still have to make breakfast, although I like to use the cooked quinoa for that and make Breakfast Quinoa or Summer Berry Quinoa but cereal works too. There is plenty of food here for lunches but we love sunbutter sandwiches and veggie sandwiches for quick and easy meals.

If you are new to cooking beans check out one of my first posts where I discuss planning and how to cook beans. Another great resource is my pal Jacqueline at Barefoot Essence and her un-fussy Meal Maps. I’m constantly shaking my head YES as I read her blog.

Do you batch cook? What tip would you add to the list?

If you need help getting started check out my NEW Plant-Based Meal Plans. They include a 5 Day Dinner Meal Plan, Prep Sheet with easy to follow instructions to get your batch cooking accomplished, Shopping List and Recipes!