In addition to planning my menus, I have been doing more and more batch cooking these past few months.
The idea of batch cooking is to block out time one day of the week to prep or cook a bunch of ingredients in advance, which you can draw from and combine for low-effort homemade meals the rest of the week.
It is the shortest path to feeling like a kitchen superhero, saving you brain juice and money along the way.
And today, I am offering you the vegetarian batch cooking plan for fall I’ve created and test-driven with great success: 1 hour of prep work for easy 6 meals on subsequent days.
- Meal #1: Peanut Noodles with Kale and Mushrooms — the noodles of your choice in my deliciously peanutty “magic sauce”, with garlicky sautéed kale and tender mushrooms.
- Meal #2: Fall Buddha Bowl — a plentiful bowl of flavor with bulgur, beet hummus, a raw kale salad, and crispy falafel, topped with roasted peanuts.
- Meal #3: Warming Red Lentil Soup — a warming bowl of soup full of immune-boosting ingredients to keep colds at bay!
- Meal #4: Lemony Bulgur Salad with Feta and Mushrooms — a filling salad of bulgur with tangy feta, marinated mushrooms, and raisins.
- Meal #5: Toad-in-a-Hole Toast with Beet Hummus — a kid-friendly favorite served with beet hummus for dipping.
- Meal #6: Roasted Cauliflower à la Mary Celeste — irresistibly roasted cauliflower in magic sauce! One of my absolute favorite things to eat, period.
Below you will find:
– A shopping list (of which you can get a free printable) — everything is available from the organic store or supermarket (they cost around 55€ ($65) in my Parisian organic store; your mileage may vary),
– Your instructions for the prep work — allow for 1 hour to 1 1/4 hours of prep time,
– Your instructions for each of the six meals — active time ranges from 10 to 15 minutes, time to table from 10 to 45 minutes,
– Suggestions of variations to adapt the plan to various dietary constraints.
