The hardest part of starting to meal prep is committing to it. Rest assured, this doesn’t have to be difficult!
This past month, Bowery Farming had the pleasure of partnering with plant-based Holistic Health Practitioner Rachelle Robinett on a three-part meal-prep series entitled Fall Food Refresh. These hands-on seminars invited guests to master all of the tools needed to make meal prep a part of their daily lives. Of course, the hardest part of starting to meal prep is committing to it. Rest assured, this doesn’t have to be difficult!
Here’s everything we made and learned with Rachelle.
Session I: Breakfast
The first session focused on breakfast: The Bowery Baby Kale Smoothie. Rachelle coached us through great tips on how to maximize nutrients in combination. Many of us will agree that probiotics are an important part of our diet (even Whole Foods just included this in their Top Food Trends of 2019). But did you know that prebiotics like Acacia, Burdock or Dandelion root powders are the foundation for helping your body absorb probiotics? This can be a simple scoop in your smoothie that gets you powered up for the day. Simply blend with fresh ingredients like Bowery Kale or frozen fruit. Smoothies can also be prepped two to three days in advance, freeing you up to only prepare a batch twice a week.
Session II: Lunch
Preparing fresh food for lunch in advance means you’re getting vital nutrients on-the-go, and definitely saving money during the week. The best way to get started? On Sunday, pick a recipe for the week and make a focused shopping list. Buy your ingredients, go home, and prep everything immediately. This shouldn’t take more than an hour and will ultimately save you time throughout the work week. Rachelle prepared her favorite Butterhead Salad with Ranch-ish sauce, which is insanely good and rich with vitamins. She recommends switching up the flavor with seasonal ingredients.
Session III: Dinner
Dinner was the showcase meal in the last part of our series. Dinner is often the trickiest meal to plan for, Robinett shared, because people often crave warmer and heavier foods. Guest Chef Mercedes Golip joined us to challenge that notion with a fantastic Vegan Ceviche and Cassava Tostadas. Cassava flour comes from the yucca plant. It is gluten-free, paleo, and nut-free, yet rich in taste, which makes it a perfect ingredient to use for diverse diets. The simple, no-cook method of ceviche will warm you up and leave you feeling very happy. Salt, fat, acid and heat are all key ingredients to mastering the kitchen, as famous chef Salmin Nosrat claims. And this dish does exactly that.
The beauty of all these recipes is that they should take 1-2 hours to make. That’s a few hours of your time to prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner for an entire week! Reserve a time, like Sunday afternoons, to make this into a routine. It’s important to be realistic with yourself, too. If you’re the kind of person who loves to veg out and watch Netflix, throw up an episode while you’re cooking and throw in some extra veggies to a dish. Your body will thank you later.
