Whether you’re just getting started with eating more plant-based foods or you’ve been practicing it for years, there are a few nuances to plant-based cooking, so these simple cooking tips can help make your meals tastier and easier to prepare. Learn 9 simple cooking tips for preparing plant-based meals that will help you make your meals really tasty, nutritious, and easy for you to make! We also give you 6 steps to make sure you stick to your plant-based diet.
9 Cooking Tips for Preparing Plant-Based Meals
1. DO ALL OF YOUR CHOPPING, SLICING, AND DICING AHEAD OF TIME
If you’re planning on cooking something the day of, rather than meal prepping, you may have a meal prep day for all of the chopping, slicing, and dicing, so it’s ready to grab and go instead of needing to do the chopping the day of. With salad greens, for example, have a big container of lettuce that’s already washed and cut and stored in an air-tight container. That just removes one more step when you go to make a meal. The same thing applies to kale, brussel sprouts, carrots — you name it. Pat them dry and store them in a glass container until you’re ready to cook them.
2. COOK VEGETABLES BY CATEGORY
This will allow you to batch cook a lot of vegetables at the same time but will help make sure that they all finish at the same time. For example, if you want to roast different vegetables at the same time, but one category of vegetables per pan so they take out the same length to cook and you can pull them out when they’re done even if another pan needs extra time.
3. SOAK BEANS AND LEGUMES
Soaking helps reduce the amount of time it takes to actually cook beans or legumes. Second, they tend to taste a bit better after having gone through the soaking period. Your dishes will have a much stronger, robust flavor! Third, they are much easier for your body to digest. More specifically, soaking your beans can allow for a significant reduction in gas production as a result of bean consumption. So, if you’re one of those people that often gets a bit gassy from canned beans, try making your own and soaking them next time. To soak your beans, cover them with a couple of inches of water in a bowl with a bit of baking soda. The baking soda helps break them down. Let them sit for at least six hours, preferably overnight if you’re able to. Once they’re done soaking, strain your beans and you’re ready to cook!
4. CHANGE UP THE TEXTURE OF TOFU
Organic tofu is incredibly versatile and a complete protein that contains all amino acids. It also contains fiber and healthy fats on top of the protein. One serving can offer up to 20g of protein! It’s versatile in that it easily soaks up surrounding flavors in dishes.
If you don’t like the soft, spongy texture of tofu try this hack.
Freeze it in its container with the liquid and then thaw it. After thawing, cut it into three sections and put it on a cutting board with paper towels layered above and below. Place a heavy object on top like a skillet to drain the water from the tofu.
Keep it like that for at least an hour for best results, changing out the towels every 30 minutes or so.
The combination of freezing it with the press method gives it a texture that’s more consistent with chicken! Even if you like the original texture of Tofu, this is just another fun way to give it a different texture.
5. LEARN HOW TO BLANCH
If you enjoy a little crunch in your veggies, blanching is one of the best basic cooking techniques to make them crisp and tender at the same time. It’s also one of the easiest ways to preserve food, so if you want your seasonal produce to last, blanching is the way to go.
With this method, you submerge the veggies in a boiling pot of water for about seven minutes. Then, you stop the cooking process by putting them in an ice bath. This technique allows you to maintain the vegetables’ bright colors and help retain their nutrients.
Fill a large pot with water, add a tablespoon of sea salt and bring it to a boil.
Add the vegetables to the pot and allow them to cook for a few minutes until their colors brighten. Then, immediately remove the veggies from the pot and run them under ice-cold water.
6. PLAY WITH THE TEMPERATURE YOU SERVE IT
Most plant-based, whole foods can be served hot or cold!
For example, you may be used to adding cooked chickpeas to the top of a warm Nourish Bowl, but chickpeas taste delicious when served cold, too! You can make a chickpea salad that’s great as a side dish or on top of salads.
The same goes with potatoes, broccoli, gluten-free pasta, along with so many other foods that we’re used to eating hot. They can all be dressed up differently and served cold too!
And on the other hand, foods you’re used to serving cold, like strawberries, taste so different and are still just as delicious when they’re served hot in porridge or a dessert.
Another example of this is with salads. Many salads are served cold, but a warm grain salad is just as tasty.
7. MAKE YOUR OWN FREEZER MEALS
Even if you have your weeknight cooking down, there’s inevitably going to be a time when you’re busier than normal or when your schedule is a little different than normal.
When you’re making a recipe that’s a full meal, like our Tofu Tikka Masala or our White Bean Chili Verde , make a double batch, knowing that you’ll freeze half.
Then you’ll have a nutritious meal you can easily pull out a prepared meal that’s ready to go for the week instead of running out to a quick-service restaurant.
8. COOK GRAINS IN VEGETABLE BROTH
First, you can save your veggie scraps from the week and cook them into a homemade vegetable stock, allowing you to make the most of each piece of produce you buy.
And by cooking your grains in vegetable broth, you’ll elevate the flavor and add even more nutrients to your dish!
It’s a win-win!
9. ADD LEMON TO GREENS
Anytime you’re making a dish that’s loaded with greens, like kale or spinach, add a squeeze of lemon to brighten the flavor and add vitamin C, which helps the body absorb non-heme iron (found in plant-based foods like greens).
If you’re eating a plant-based diet, iron is one of the nutrients you need to be intentional about getting so this is a great visual cue for yourself! Greens + citrus for a winning combination!
6 Steps for Making Your Plant-Based Diet Stick
If you don’t currently eat a plant-based diet, it’s likely you’ve tried in the past, only to fall short and end up back where you started, feeling like you’ll never have the willpower to bring about lasting changes.
Maybe you’re completely new to plant-based eating. Or maybe you’re a veteran vegan athlete . Regardless of where you are in your nutrition journey, today I’d like to share with you some tools that will help make your plant-based diet lasting and sustainable.
Each tip is broken down into action steps that you can apply to your life right now. Don’t overload yourself by taking them on all at once, but over time, the more steps you take, the more likely it is you’ll succeed.
Step 1. Why do you want to eat a plant-based diet?
There are an endless number of nutrition doctrines out there, so why is a plant-based diet the best choice for you right now?
It’s a big lifestyle change, and inevitably your old habits will to try to creep back in from time to time. If the going gets tough, it’s that big reason “why” that will keep you from caving in.
Step 2. Think big, but start small.
It’s great to have the big end goal of eating a fully plant-based diet to get excited about, but don’t feel pressured to get there right away. Instead, embrace the journey, and respect that it’s gonna take some work.
While some people can make the switch straight off, that’s not most of us. By all means give it a try, but if it doesn’t work, shift to Plan B and try the smaller steps.
As Matt Frazier says: the more gradual the process, the more likely you are to succeed in the long term. A simple smoothie is a great start.
Your action steps:
-Work backwards from your end goal.
There are a load of different ways to tackle the transition to a plant-based diet. A tried and tested route is to gradually eliminate certain foods, while upping your intake of plants.
You could start by cutting out four-legged animals, then two-legged, followed by seafood, dairy and processed foods. Establish these milestones, but don’t be too concerned with a time frame.
-Get specific.
Once you have your ultimate goal in mind and a set of intermediate points to get you there, break the milestones down into specific action steps, like in the diagram below.
If you’re a complete beginner, you could start by having four-legged animals just once a week, instead of twice. This might seem trivial, but it’s better to err on the side of caution, at least early on. Failing too soon can really knock your self confidence.
If you do relapse, embrace it as a lesson, and use it as an opportunity to make your goal a little easier. Then get back on track.
-Build slowly.
After a month or so, if you’re comfortable eating four-legged animals only once a week, bring it down to twice monthly, followed by monthly, and eventually cut it out altogether. Then repeat the same process with the other foods.
Patience is key . It’s easy to get carried away and attempt to make several big changes once you’ve had success with a few small ones. It may take a while to reach your end goal, but moving slowly gives your taste buds a chance to adjust, lessening the shock of any one change.
Step 3. Create a healthy food environment.
Obstacles will inevitably pop up on your plant-based journey. To increase your chances of beating them, it helps to be ready to respond, rather than react. This involves preparing your environment, so you’re as well equipped as you can be.
Your action steps:
-Know your safe havens.
If you’re hungry while out and about, it helps to know where the nearest plant-friendly restaurants and shops are. Scope out your local area using Happy Cow , and form a list of go-to places.
-Use “Out of sight, out of mind.”
Remove any unwanted foods from your cupboards, and replace them with plant-based alternatives. You could also make a rule to stay away from certain aisles in the supermarket, or areas of the mall where the fast food joints are.
-Plan ahead.
Scheduling your meals and snacks for the week can help reduce waste and save money. Check out a typical plant based diet plan , and stock up on groceries in advance. For bonus points, you could batch cook meals on the weekend and freeze your leftovers. That way you’ve always got a backup, which should deter you from reaching for the takeout menu after a long day.
Step 4. Eat simply, but aim for variety.
When you first start out with a plant-based diet, it’s easy to get caught up in the minutia. I remember spending ages searching for expensive ingredients, and obsessing over my micronutrient intake.
While these things can sometimes be fun, often they’re a form of procrastination, detracting us from our original aim.
If your diet seems too complicated (or too boring), it’s unlikely you’ll stick to it long term, so it’s important to strike the balance between simplicity and experimentation .
Step 5. Form your plant-powered crew.
On my first attempt at eating a plant-based diet, I tried to do it solo, and it wasn’t all that fun. I had no idea what I was doing, and I felt pretty alienated.
Second time around, I built a support network and involved others on my journey, and things became way easier.
Step 6. Remember that food isn’t everything.
Whatever your reason for adopting a plant-based diet, changing the way you eat probably isn’t the only thing that’s going to influence it. So many other habits can impact your health, your fitness, or the size of your carbon footprint.
It’s easy to obsess over diet as the one key to success, but it doesn’t count for much if you don’t consider the other pieces of the puzzle.
So what are you waiting for?
It’s time to gain control over your eating habits, and take that first step towards becoming a plant-powered hero.
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