Chapter 2 -Meal prep

Meal prep can be your best friend

From the house mapping, I’ve noticed that kitchen is the most “energy sucking” room in my house. So, to reduce the impact of everyday cooking I organized myself to do “Meal Prep” the day before starting the challenge.

Meal prep means cook whole meals (or parts of them) in advance and in big quantity in order to cover the eating needs of more days. This practice is really useful to save time and energy during the week.

I’ve learned more about this practice thanks to a book by a vegan food blogger very popular here in Italy. She explains her method to do Meal prep and gives lots of informations about cooking and conservation time of different ingredients. I focused on vegetables and cereals, which are simple and versatile ingredients than could be eaten even cold.

VEGETABLES

I’ve noticed that lots of vegetables I usually eat can be cooked all togheter in the oven at the same temperature (200°, static mode). So, after selecting and cutting 5 vegetables types, I put them in the oven all togheter, setting a “take out” timer for each one of them.

• Courgettes (25–30 min)
• Eggplants (30 min)
• Carrots (35 min)
• Potatoes (40 min)
• Peppers (40–45 min)

After cooking, I stored the vegetables in different containers, so they can last a whole week in the refrigerator. (or more if kept in the freezer)

CEREALS

After vegetables, I decided to cook a big quantity of rice and spelt. I leaved them to soak overnight in ordet to half the cooking time, and then boiled them into two different pots.

After cooking, I stored them in reusable monoportion pouches, so they can be preserved in the freezer for even a month.

By doing this practice I think I’ve quite reduced my kitchen energy consumption (or at least I hope so!). See you in the next updates with other feedbacks!