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In today’s video I am sharing with you a food prep for the month, where I try new recipes, explore flavours and get prepped for the week ahead.
For me sustainable living is always about cooking from scratch where possible, valuing what you own, introducing minimalist ideals by keeping our space free of unwanted items and lowering our waste wherever possible. Zero waste living is something I strive for. Meal prepping for autumn, learning new skills and minimising wherever I can. I hope you enjoy this calm cooking video!
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I’d say I’m a relatively healthy person I make a lot of my food at home I take regular exercise and ultimately I grew up with the crunchiest Almond mom in the world and my dad he’s definitely an almond Dad too and super crunchy at that although I grew up with good examples of how to eat well like many Millennial women I have fought to maintain balance and joy in the food I make despite the onslaught of 90s and naughties media it’s been a road that has been challenging at times and still attempts to make it come back if I’m having a less than perfect day but I refuse to allow my joy to be taken so in today’s video I want to show you what I eat in a week food I’m prepping for the week ahead and why focusing on a realistic and balance view of my food choices and touch on the difficult issues that impact the way I eat at different times of the month so if this video resonates with you feel free to give it a like and consider subscribing as it really supports my channel okay grab a cup of tea and let’s get into [Music] it as we Edge towards warmer mornings and scorching days when I food prep I make sure to focus my attention on getting any of the food that needs baking all done at the same time in the morning this helps with keeping the house cooler and being efficient with the oven this morning I prepared the dough for making a fatcha which I haven’t made in quite a while as my focus has really been on sourdough for quite a while I set a timer to stretch and fold the dough every half an hour for 2 hours before putting it in the fridge to sleep overnight in the meantime I put the chickpeas I had soaked over kned into the instant pot to cook for around 11 minutes before draining drying and adding the spices as a general rule I I like to add onion garlic powder salt oregano a little kayenne and paprika and some cracked black pepper I’ve recently been trying to make more of an effort to have a bigger diversity and range of plant-based proteins in my diet so I really focus on chickpeas lentils tofu and basically all the things that I actually genuinely enjoy now I’m a big fan of sweet potato so I chopped up three large ones and added to a sheet pan and pressed the tofu I like to keep the spices fairly simple for these so that I can add them to lots of different dishes depending on how I’m feeling that day I’ve recently made a switch to this tofu press because unfortunately my old bamboo one actually got moldy and despite the fact that I live in a very dry place and take very good care of my things it unfortunately just could not be restored so I ended up trying this tofu Bud one which I won’t lie I’m pretty pretty big fan of one addition that I never used to think too much about when food prepping is a salad dressing and this one is rather special my husband actually made this recipe for me as part of a Christmas present one year which is honestly the sweetest thing ever so for the dressing I added some shots and a red bell pepper to a pan and drizzled over a little olive oil I baked everything in the oven around the same temperature or 400 F in the meantime I put some Cuma on with vegetable stock I’m a big fan of the better than Buon pots I find that this addition just makes any grain taste that much better and kimoa was on offer this week which is why I chose this one Rebel cheese from Austin Texas actually sent me a box of their vegan cheeses to try and so I felt that these needed something special and suitable to go with them so I’m just putting together some crackers if you know me you know I dislike store bought vegan cheese but I can honestly say that this one I’m quite a fan of once everything was done in the oven I removed everything and replaced them with the chickpeas and the crackers that needed roughly the same amount of time to cook I redu the Heat and set another [Music] [Music] timer good morning so we just got back from the farmers market I took a little bit of a break from from meal prep whilst all of that stuff was cooling down we got a soap cuz we needed a soap bar let me show you this is like a eucalyptus one it’s from a local place in Colorado I also got some pickling cucumbers which were available at the farmers market because today in the meal prep I’m going to try making some traditional pickles usually I would just go for vinegar and put them in the fridge and they would just be refrigerated pickles but I recently heard that traditional pickles are actually fermented so I’ve got some Absol Whoppers look at the size of these and we’re going to try making traditional pickles today I’m just going to have some some food some lunch and then we’re going to get back to meal prep so for the crackers it kind of comes out like a loaf like a cake and I leave the paper on there cuz I’m going to put it back in the pot that I actually cooked it in and it’s going to go in the freezer to make these crackers they go in the freezer anyway cuz it kind of dries them out and then whenever you’re ready to make the actual crackers you then put them in the oven at really low temperature just to get them crispy and nice but it’s perfect for meal bre because then I can put them in the freezer until I’m ready to use them and also I’m going to cut it in half because I’m actually going to cook some tomorrow cuz we’re going for a picnic but the other half which we’re not going to eat straight away I can leave in the freezer for another time when we’re going to have a cheeseboard or something that we’re going to use the crackers for I’ve made these crackers maybe three or four times now and I change the recipe just slightly every single time but they are one of my absolute favorites and I am a yeah I’m a big fan I’ve also been making some souro crackers but I don’t like them quite as much but they are something that’s good to do if you have some additional starter that you that you don’t know what to do with I don’t know why I find it strange that people call their starters like the discard because even if you are discarding it it’s still just souro starter like you’re still that’s still what it is anyway next we’re going to be making some black beans and a Pesca sauce as well oh and going to be making a sort of a vegan taco mix as well for the week I’ve been really thoughtful about the things I’ve chosen to make and we’ll be taking notes throughout the week to see when everything gets eaten what is less popular and what we have run out of too quickly everything gets labeled with the date and what it is which is honestly a real Lifesaver especially when you freeze things so the fundamental aspects of this dressing are the baked red bell pepper shalots fresh parsley coriander mint tahini a little bit of pickle juice and some water and of course a little salt and black pepper this sauce was so good that we ate it in a couple of days and it made me realize that we need to have at least two sauces and double the recipe both times sources can really make a huge difference when it comes to enjoying the meals that you’re eating and it can help give you a bit of diversity or variety as well I pressed the tofu because we’re going to grate it for the taco mix I was very interested to see how this turned out cuz I had never grated tofu before and then I prepared all the vegetables for the puttina sauce as well as the taco mix and the black beans meal prep and food prep can be very challenging if you really don’t like eating the same thing every day and that’s why I think that food prep is far superior it enables you to have different combinations of things and keep the variety as well as offering different flavors for different times of the day or or depending on your mood again this is why I think the freezer is one of your best friends for the putanesca I did actually freeze two portions of this so that if I got bored of it this week I would have it for next week and the week after or even if you didn’t get bored but you just simply ran out of days of times or you forgot about it or you just got too busy to make some extra pasta to have with it for me I also find that food prep is really great when I’m feeling quite mentally challenged on the days when I’m either very busy with work or I’m having a bit of a down day it’s really helpful to me to have food that’s already prepared so I can just throw it together really quickly and really just make sure I’m eating healthily even on the days when I just really don’t want to eat anything but [Music] [Music] crisps cashi cream is one of my favorite favorite things and I really like to add lime to it I think that it helps it to become nice and thick and it just adds a nice extra bit of flavor I also put a little bit of salt in there too I think I may have put a Touch Too Much water but I think it will thicken up just a little bit more when it’s in the fridge so this is done the only thing I have left to do is simply to wait for two of the things to cool down the Pesca and the black beans and put them away and then I think just the tofu Taco mixture is all that’s left I love this so much I’m always looking for more ways to experiment with tofu with the texture with different ways of cooking it and preparing it and so I was pretty excited to try grating it because I’ve seen a lot of people do this I just think it would give a really interesting texture as well as absorb flavors in probably quite a different way I’m a big fan of Taco sort of seasoning and flavors and things like that so I thought that this week I would try something that was just full of the flavors that I really enjoyed but made sure the protein content was quite high as well this for me felt like a diverse food ingredient to prepare because I could add it to taco bowls or burrito bowls I could put it in wraps or honestly just have it with some vegetables or some rice as you know I am a fan of habit stacking so when I’m milk prepping to make things nice and easy and a lot more interesting I will watch something when I am also cooking or I’ll listen to something depending on how I’m feeling that day so today I am watching the new planet Wild video and I thought this would be a great opportunity to tell you a little bit more about the work that they do so I want to introduce you to a wonderful organization that actively looks for solutions to the climate and environmental crisis and delivers on their promises Planet wild is a nature Protection Organization based in Berlin but works all around the world each month Planet Wild World works with a new nature protection partner across the globe on a multitude of issues like protecting endangered species cleaning up waterways or restoring forests in their latest Mission they’re transforming the areas beneath power lines to boost biodiversity and connect fragmented areas turning the energy nature conflict into a win-win situation which is so cool if you choose to become a member like me you’ll see through their videos how much money has been directly invested into nature conservation what has actually been achieved and what they’re aiming for in the future so if you want to make a real difference now I’m giving giv away a free month membership for the first 500 people to click the link in the description after that membership start at as little as $6 a month you can decide how much you want to give according to your financial means and of course you can cancel your membership at any time so check out Planet wild today and see all the amazing work they’re doing okay let me show you what we’re eating this week good morning I have just taken the fatcha out of the fridge and I’m going to put it into the pan that I’m going to bake it in here all I’m going to do is fold the sides in and and then do a few coil folds and then I’m going to put it in there and let it come to temperature room temperature for about 2 hours and then we’ll bake it it’s really fun when you can get to a point where you just remember recipes and you can just make them over and over again with this cat Shir it’s something I’ve made so many times and even though I haven’t made it for a while it’s nice that the kind of muscle memory of how to make it just seems to be there it feels like I’m getting that way with these crackers as well I’ve made them basically every time I’ve made a cheeseboard they’re just a really nice homemade thing to have around when you want to have some vegan cheese or you just have some dips like hummus that you’ve made and you want to have something with it that’s just slightly different from the bread that I usually eat this Monday morning was a bank Cola day so we decided to go for a long cycle and I took these local bars with us when we got back I decided to make my lunch with all of the things I had prepared the day before I just layered everything on top with the lettuce and cabbage kimoa tofu chickpeas everything that we had and it was delicious it was so nice to get back from a long cycle and be able to just throw something together really quickly we had a very slow afternoon after having this lunch and going for our cycle and so in the early afternoon I decided to have a snack with some of the Rebel cheese and my crackers honestly I can’t believe how much I like these I’m definitely going to try and make them myself but now I finally have something to truly mirror off what I want to make there was a vegan honey and pistachio that we tried and a tomato and Herb which honestly just kind of tasted like pizza on a cracker and it was so good for dinner I decided to make a Crunch Wrap I thought it’ be fun to experiment with one of these I basically layered everything that we had in there some avocado the tofu Taco mix the black beans I put the cracker on top some cashew cream and some fresh salsa and of course some iceberg lettuce which to be honest unless it’s in the Crunch Wrap it just kind of uh feels pointless to me anyway this Crunch Wrap was delicious and we have definitely made a few more of these this week good morning I just got back from the gym and I saw these sitting on the side and it just reminded me that I completely forgot to make those pickles so I’m going to have a quick shower and then that’s what we’re going to get started with this morning so for the past day I’ve been trying to show you the recipes or just how I’m putting together those things that I meal prepped or food pre I like to do food prep rather than strictly meal prep because I find that it helps to keep things interesting I don’t get bored I can do different combinations and it just gives me a lot more options during the week when I just cannot be bothered so yeah I’m going to have a quick shower and then make these pickles because I want to get these going unfortunately one of them is a bit smushed but I’m sure I can just chop that off and then use the rest I’d love to know what your thoughts are on meal prep versus food prep if you like these kind of food prep videos and what you would like to see more of obviously I’m food prepping for myself but I do want these videos to be as helpful as possible especially if there is something that you’re particularly struggling with in terms of ideas or how to store things or just combinations of things that you can put together so anything that you’re thinking about you’re worried about you’re concerned with or you just want some more inspiration or anything like that let me know in the comments below okay let’s have the shower as I’ve never made traditional pickles before I decided to go with a very simple recipe I just added the cucumbers to a really big jar 2 tbspoon of salt and then filled it up with water if I was making refrigerator pickles I would have definitely added garlic some black peppercorns and maybe some fresh dill as well but I wanted to make a really simple recipe for this first one while I get the fermentation process perfect after this I just made a really easy lunch I had some local pasta that I decided to make with some broccoli and the putanesca sauce this was a super quick meal and it’s always so helpful to have something like a sauce on hand so you can make something really quick like a pasta dish I always add something like broccoli just just include a few more greens into my meal I am such a big fan of this whole food prep and put things together just makes everything so much more uh quick and easy this salad dressing I a big fan but I just ran out of it I clearly did not make enough so that’s a good thing to note for next time how much I actually need to be making to last however many days but I was thinking today maybe I’d replenish it by making a Kind of Green Goddess type one I’ve seen this sort of everywhere and yeah it might just be fun to make my own kind version of it so maybe we’ll get round to that today good morning everyone it is Thursday so I’ve been going through the food that we had meal prepped on Sunday and just seeing what we have left and what I got eaten pretty much straight away so we actually only have the black some of the black beans some of the taco mix and some quinoa left everything else has been consumed very quickly we do also have some cashew cream left as well which is great cuz that will go with the taco mix and the black beans we definitely went through the sweet potato a bit too quickly as well as the tofu that was baked in the oven so those two are two things that I think I might make double of next week because obviously I’m not making this just for me I’m making it for two people I think we’re also going to add another sauce I was going to make the Green Goddess sauce yesterday but time just completely run away from me so I think I’m going to make that in the next food prep video and I think I need to make one more sauce so there’s a bit of diversity so I think I should also make another a different type of vegetable as well so that we don’t just have sweet potato in the fridge honestly the effort that it took to make all the food prep it felt like it wasn’t worth it on the day because it took me so long that’s partly cuz I was filming but throughout the week so far being able to just grab a few different things and put them together in less than 3 minutes honestly makes it all worth it for me I find that it makes it easier to make just better choices when I’m really hungry I just want to grab something I know that I have something that I already really like in the fridge oh and speaking of we already finished like the small thing of the red onions and half of one of the bigger ones so that was definitely very popular too this week has also been the start of my period and for me it’s really important to eat well during this week cuz then it really minimizes the side effects of that like it has a really big impact so food prepping is really really really good I also have have one day where I feel very down before my period starts and I definitely felt better this week I took measures to make sure that whenever I had very negative thoughts I just talked to myself and said it’s because of this it’ll be better tomorrow and we’re just going to eat well today to feel good tomorrow and that definitely helped a little bit for sure I’m working pretty hard on some strength movements at the moment as well so I definitely want to start incorporating a little bit more Pro protein I have been incorporating protein but not consistently so I definitely consistency has always been my biggest issue I’ve tried to be very thoughtful with my food prep and my meal prep and thinking about what I will eat what I like what phases I’m going through so definitely next week I’m going to prepare a lot more in advance and really think about it because the more planning I do the easier it all is and then the week just goes so smoothly as I said earlier if you have any questions about food prep or meal prep or you just want to tell me what you’d like to see please as always leave those comments in the comments below if you would like to watch adree and sponsorship free content then I upload all of my videos now to patreon and there’ll be more patreon specific videos coming very very soon okay thank you so much for watching I really appreciate it and I hope that this video was useful or entertaining in some way and I will see you very very very soon so if you like the video please give a like and consider subscribing and I’ll see you next week okay bye