A Creative Way to Simplify Meal Prep
Getting healthy food on the table can be easy and fun
Channeling a little bit of creativity in the kitchen and embracing the template method of cooking can drastically reduce your time in the kitchen, leaving you with a sustainable plan and plenty of time to enjoy your time any way you choose to!
Vegetables come in all sorts of colors, shapes, and sizes, so it’s an easy opportunity to bring variety to our plate. There are more than 1,000 different varieties of vegetables. Yet, most of us just eat the same 5 -6 over and over again. When was the last time you tried a new vegetable you’d never tried before? Next time you go shopping, see if you can spot some new options.
How about embracing the “eat the rainbow” concept and trying to buy at least one vegetable or fruit from each color throughout the week? Perhaps you grab tomatoes, orange bell peppers, yellow squash, artichokes, and eggplant. Or maybe red bell peppers, oranges, bananas, green grapes, blueberries, and purple potatoes.
By being more creative with your shopping, you’ll naturally become more creative in the kitchen.
You can also try different preparations for familiar foods. Rather than boiling potatoes for mashed potatoes or potato salad, how about roasting them with a pesto dipping sauce, serving a hearty chili on top of a baked potato, or air-frying them for a quick snack of healthy french fries?
The real trick to getting creative in the kitchen is to keep it simple.
- Use a basic framework, a recipe template, that you can repeat over and over again.
- Use your favorite spices as a baseline — garlic, onion powder, and Italian seasoning work well on just about everything!
- Then just make some minor changes to the ingredients or add a different sauce from week to week, and you’ve got a whole new dish!
I’ve created a free template (see below) that can walk you through creating an endless variety of Buddha Bowls. Simply choose a base of greens, grains, potato, or sweet potato. Then add beans, veggies, some optional toppings, your favorite sauce, and voila! Dinner is served.
One night could be a teriyaki bowl with brown rice, broccoli, carrots, zucchini, and edamame topped with water chestnuts and teriyaki sauce. Another night could be baked potato topped with hummus, chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, and Kalamata olives, and yet another night could be a big fajita salad.
Simply start with a bed of greens, then add sautéed onions, peppers, and mushrooms. Top with a big scoop of black beans tossed in taco seasoning, add a dollop of salsa and guacamole, and you’ve got a guilt-free, low-calorie version of a burrito bowl that you can dive right into.
The beautiful thing about using a recipe template is that you can customize it any way you wish. This makes it easier to please several different dietary needs or preferences within the same family without making completely separate meals.
Gone are the days of spending 90 minutes in the kitchen to prepare a delicious, exciting meal. When you keep your meals simple, you’ll find it much more feasible to try new foods, flavors, and combinations. And even more importantly, increasing the quantity and variety of fruits and vegetables can make a massive difference in your ability to enjoy life healthfully.
The new normal allows you to grab some interesting groceries, whip up a simple meal, and enjoy more free time in your other creative pursuits!
Christin Bummer is a lifestyle coach and best selling author of Baby Got Back In Her Pants. Access her free template for simple plant-based recipes (that you can make in 15 minutes or less!) at www.TheForeverDiet.org. It really is The Last Recipe You’ll Ever Need.
