Day 31: Batch Cooking vs. Batch Prepping

Entry 6

Day 31: Batch Cooking vs. Batch Prepping

If you’ve ever done any sort of diet, the first thing you’ll hear is “plan your meals ahead”, “make a list and shop for the whole week” and “meal prep”.

I’m all about meal prepping. It makes life easy and simple. You can make 4-5 days worth of lunches and you’ll have easy portioned meals for each day of the week. This is GREAT if you have an office job or are trying to avoid eating out too much.

AIP is no different. They (bloggers, authors, and chefs of AIP) all talk about batch cooking. It simplifies life by making it easier to make healthy food choices. I started out this way since it fit into my usual routine. I would make meals on Sunday that were simple to reheat throughout the week. This includes lunches and dinners.

Then I got tired of eating soggy Brussels sprouts by Friday. No one wants soggy Brussels sprouts.

So I turned to batch prepping. I know this isn’t some new concept, restaurants do it and it’s not super inventive. But it is a game changer. Rather than cook the vegetables on Sunday, I just chop everything up. My fridge is stocked with pre-cut, ready to cook foods.

You can buy veggies already cut and packed, but doing it yourself means you have control your produce, it’s usually cleaner and you’re not using/tossing plastic that the veggies will be wrapped in. It’s also typically more expensive.

The only thing I batch cook is my morning ground turkey. I don’t have the time in the morning to thoroughly cook turkey meat, so I’ve resorted to cooking a pound of it and eating it throughout the week. So far, this has worked out well.

I love that my veggies keep their freshness and I don’t have to spend time chopping and cutting. I’ll also do this with onions, leeks, garlic and shallots.

Also, it feels great on Sunday to load up the fridge with glass Tupperware filled with delicious healthy options.