Nourished Planner

Daily Planner for a Well-Nourished Life

  • About The Planner
  • The Story
  • BUY NOW
  • Try it for FREE
  • Blog
    • Recipes
    • How-To
    • Organization

Batch Cooking Basics for a Healthy Eating Meal Prep Plan

February 2, 2018 By Hayley Leave a Comment

The secret to a healthy meal plan isn’t a laundry list of recipes or ingredients. Instead it’s all about meal prep, batch cooking, and how you layer the basics to get you in and out of the kitchen fast.

Be honest and ask yourself this:

  • How much time, energy, and stress do you put into meal planning each week?
  • How often do you throw away leftovers because you’re just plain tired of them?
  • How much of your valuable monthly budget goes out the window with them?

Now that you’ve answered those questions, we’re going to ask you to take everything you thought you knew about meal planning and toss it down the garbage disposal.

Go ahead, and let ‘er rip.

The original concept of meal planning as we know it entails making a bunch of meals that initially sound really good, but ultimately don’t complement each other, meaning eating the leftovers until you’re sick of them, or worse, letting them waste away before being dumped in the garbage.

Because let’s face it, unless you have a family of six or more, big batch casseroles, overflowing soups, and pastas that never seem to stop twirling can last a lot longer than you think. 

There are plenty of meal plans with recipes calling for an exhaustive list of ingredients (some of them obscure or expensive), and cooking techniques that can get way more advanced than our work week can handle. 

But real life doesn’t have time nor bandwidth for plans like that.

This Is the Secret Ingredient You’ve Been Missing

We need fast and easy, not long and tedious, because even though we enjoy cooking, we don’t want to spend all of our free time in the kitchen.

That’s why we created a totally new and intuitive way to meal prep that’s the opposite of single dinner meal prep.

The concept behind our batch cooking basics guide is simple and efficient and simply comes down to creating satisfying layers of delicious, healthy food your entire family will love.

The foundation of this healthy meal plan is five basic recipes that when combined act as an interchangeable base flavored with a master sauce of your choice to build just one meal, or even a whole week’s worth.

Get your copy of the Nourished Planner Batch Cooking Basics meal prep guide here.

Layer It On

Yes, five basic recipes and one master sauce is all you need to create endless amounts of meals thanks to our food layering technique that adds variety to your week so you don’t feel you’re eating the same thing over and over again.

For example, this easy Asian Marinade and Master Sauce can be used as:

  • a marinade for your favorite proteins
  • a salad dressing for salads or cold noodles
  • a flavor elevator when added to the cooking water for a more flavorful rice, grains, or pastas
  • a killer sauce for sautéed or roasted vegetables, stir frys, or pastas with sauce

Batch these easy steps ahead then layer the individual recipes with other ingredients or condiments to create totally new meal combinations.

This way, yesterday’s grilled steak becomes tomorrow’s tacos and the next day’s grain bowl.

Using this meal prep method guarantees a variety of textures, flavors, and nutritional value that multiplies, and when combined, won’t taste like the same old thing. 

Batch Cooking Basics at Your Fingertips

In our downloadable Batch Cooking Basics guide, we give you the five basic recipes and 20 additional ways to mix it up.

Plus, you’ll get:

  • meal planning tips, tricks, and hacks
  • a kitchen must-haves guide
  • a chart to guide the perfection of your own five basic ingredients,
  • the five basic ingredients recipes (including four delicious sauces)
  • and over 20 ideas for layering ingredients together.

The Nourished Planner and the Batch Cooking Basics guide work in tandem. They’re simpatico, like two peas in a pod, like Laverne and Shirley, like peanut butter and jelly (okay, you catch our drift).

But seriously, we designed the planner specifically so that it would be extremely user-friendly for meal planning.

The Batch Cooking Basics guide breaks it all down for you and arms you with a better strategy for tackling meal planning, so you spend less time deliberating and cooking, and more time living and enjoying. Sounds pretty great, doesn’t it?

The reality is, healthy and delicious food doesn’t have to be complex. In fact, when your cooking method centers around meal prep and batch cooking, the most basic of ingredients can easily be transformed into craveable dishes everyone will want to eat (and want seconds of)!

The Secret Is Batch Cooking Basics

Get your copy of the Nourished Planner Batch Cooking Basics meal prep guide today and save time and money when you start eating healthier today. 

Learn how to add more variety but not much more time in the kitchen with the secrets to turning 5 basic recipes into 20+ meals by basic ingredients in different ways, so your weekly meal planning doesn’t taste like the same old thing.

Thank you for following Nourished Planner, and see more on Instagram and Facebook.

Sign up for our FREE Weekly Meal Plans and Shopping Lists emailed to your inbox here, and sign up for the Nourished Life Challenge here.

Are You Ready Transform Your Meal Times and Your Life?

Get Your Free One Week Planner To Start Today

Get it Now

It’s Our Birthdays But This 30% Off Gift Is for YOU! PLUS a GIVEAWAY!
How to Make Meaningful Connections in a Modern World

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get a free weekly planner

It is time to regain control of your life, declare yourself master of the kitchen and take back your health.

ARE YOU READY TO LIVE A WELL NOURISHED LIFE?

Get weekly e-mails with recipes, tips, hacks and to help you take back your kitchen, your help and say yes to more things you love. Welcome to your new life.

Healthy, Delicious and Time Saving Meal Plans + Shopping Lists

Delivered to Your Inbox Weekly

Sign Up Here

The Latest

11 Ways to Get Happier Today

11 Ways to Get Happier Today

6 Time-Saving Tips for Meal Planning

6 Time-Saving Tips for Meal Planning

4 Simple Tips To Get You Back On Track

4 Simple Tips To Get You Back On Track

From Our Instagram

  • GIVEAWAY! Happy Wednesday friends! We're one day closer to the weekend where we hope you'll be creating new foodie memories with your favorite people, and this giveaway is here to help make it happen. We've teamed up with @foodiecrush + @promptlyjournals (we ❤️their baby journals and new travel journals)+ @littlespoon for a giveaway to make more memories with family and friends.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
ENTER TO WIN: • 1 6 Qt. InstantPot
• $100 gift card to @littlespoon
• A copy of @nourishedplanner for you and a foodie friends
• $50 shop credit to @promptlyjournals
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
HOW TO ENTER: • Follow @foodiecrush @nourishedplanner @promptlyjournals @littlespoon (you must follow all brands - we will check!)
• Like this post and comment below with your favorite recipe or go-to dish • Tag a friend along with your comment (tag extra friends for an extra entry) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The giveaway ends Thursday, April 26 at 11:59 p.m. MST. We'll pick one winner and announce their name on this post. Good luck! Open to US residents only, 18 years and older. This giveaway is not affiliated with Instagram.
  • ❤️❤️❤️ tag a friend you want to make memories with #nourishedplanner
  • As you ramble on through life, no matter what your goal, keep your eye upon the doughnut and not upon the hole. 🍩 Happy Saturday friends! What’s on your weekend bucket list? Besides doughnuts of course. 😋 #nourishedplanner #livenourished #doughnuts #donuts
  • Keep this month's Detox Your Life theme in full effect by completing this week's challenge : CREATE A CAPSULE WARDROBE. What you'll lose? The anxiety of never feeling like you have anything to wear, the guilt that comes with keeping clothes that don't fit, are out of style, or you don't like because they cost too much or are sentimental or you're holding on to for when you lose that extra 10 lbs. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Here's how to get started:
1. Go through your closets and drawers and ruthlessly edit your wardrobe to only the things you love and you feel good in and will actually wear. 
2. Donate items that don't fit, are out of style, or you're saving for "one day." 3. Relish in the freedom that comes with the choices that come with your new, simpler wardrobe and the extra time every single morning to do more of what you want.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Learn more on how to get started at project333.com photo : @samonthehunt #nourishedplanner #livenourished #project333 #capsulewardrobe #bemorewithless
  • “At the end of your life you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child or a parent.” ~ Barbara Bush #RIP ❤️photo : @alder.n.oak #defineyourvalue #nourishedplanner #livenourished #barbarabush
  • Detoxing can be as simple as decluttering your workspace. A messy desk can make you feel overwhelmed and anxious. So recycle those papers, organize your pens, file the folders and feel your heart rate go down. photo : @healthyglow.co ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
#nourishedplanner #livenourished #wholelifedetox #detoxforlife #declutter

Follow Us!

Copyright © 2018 · Nourished Planner · Terms & Conditions · Privacy Policy