Increasing Efficiency in the Kitchen: Batch Cooking

posted in: Articles, cooking | 2

I am so grateful for the plant-based movement. Many times I have read a book by Dr Fuhrman or listened to an interview with Dr. Klaper or Dr. Doug Lisle and gained incredible insight that I incorporate into my macrobiotic practice.

Recently, I discovered Molly Patrick over at Clean Food Dirty Girl. Many of her blog posts struck a cord with me. Her practical and kind thoughts about issues like getting off track, body image, and just plain what to do when you are having a bad day have been super helpful for me. One word of caution, she is blunt and she swears. Just letting you know ahead of time. Her style may not be for everyone, but I am so grateful I found her site. I think you might love her, too.

Many of you are really finding it difficult to keep up with daily cooking. Strategies I have found to be helpful are to adjust my vision of macrobiotics, simplify my meals and batch cooking. I want to share two posts Molly Patrick wrote about batch cooking. I hope you find them to be helpful. Even one or two new ideas can sometimes make all the difference in our ability to consistently put good meals on the table.

Batch Cooking Shortcuts That’ll Save You a Ton of Time in the Kitchen

Batching Shortcuts Part 2

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.

I love my macrobiotic practice, but sometimes I feel like I need more support and creative guidance than I can find within our community. Often, I can find this in the whole food plant-based community. I think one reason is that there are greater numbers of people in the plant-based community than in the macrobiotic one, and more numbers means more people writing about their experience and offering support. One thing I am mindful about is making sure I remember my basic macrobiotics, such as the value of thinking about food energetically, aligning with the seasons and my climate, and understanding my own health condition. When I am coming from that frame of reference I don’t get caught up in thinking of food as the component parts, which can sometimes happen when learning from some of the plant-based doctors. Information is food. Consume wisely.♥

 

2 Responses

  1. Julia

    Thank you, very interesting!
    Would love to know what exactly you are batch cooking.

    • sweetveg

      Hi Julia. I often batch cook a grain or two, beans and one or two dressings. Grains and beans will still hold their energy for about four days. Vegetables don’t hold their energy as long, so I don’t tend to batch cook them in the same way. Pressure cooked short grain rice can be made into hand rolls or nori rolls, fried patties and a grain salad. Both millet and polenta can be eaten soft the first meal, then sliced and pan fried another day. Beans can be made into soup, added to a pasta or grain salad and blended into a dip and served with blanched vegetables. Let me know if you have any other questions. Nice to have you here. -Teresa