Time to cook

[KristenD]

With this program, every meal has to be cooked. How do you find the time for this?

[eboyle86]

I always set aside an hour or two on Sunday to prepare my breakfast and lunches for Monday to Friday. Then I make dinners and weekend food on the day of. I've been doing it so long (consistent whole30 foods since January 1) that I only have compliant groceries to cook with. I don't really find that it takes any more time than cooking "normal" food. There may just be a little more prep time due to the amount of veggies/meat prep, but overall I've gotten the hang of it and it takes me no time at all

[Rebe_J]

I enjoy cooking, but I'm a lazy cook, so I do batch cooking once a week. It takes a few hours on one day to save a lot of time and stress over the course of the week. Meal time is a snap when it's little more than heat and serve.

 

In her book, "Well Fed," Melissa Joulwan lays out a plan for a "weekly cook-up." It's very helpful. Plus, these forums are a rich resource of ideas for quick and easy meals.

 

Keep in mind that it doesn't have to be complicated. Every meal does not have to be a major production.

[Britishgal]

I don't batch cook but I do meals that are easy rather than cooking loads of whole30 recipes. I'll toss loads of veg in olive oil and garlic and roast them in the oven them fry some steak or eggs quickly when they are done, or I'll roast a chicken and use it up with veg over a few days. That way I have time whilst things are in the oven to get on with jobs or spend time with my son.

I love to cook and will occasionally spend longer in the kitchen cooking a whole30 version of a family recipe but day to day I cook meals as quickly and easily as possible

You get into a routine...

[KristenD]

This part is tough because I hate cooking. Once school starts again, I am only home a few hours a day and there is no time to eat a normal meal in the morning. It's gotta be grab and go.

[Britishgal]

Leftovers are your friends in the morning...usually in our case from the night before

[Munkers]

Moving this to the Cooking section.

 

My biggest assest in the kitchen are my crockpots. Toss  a big pork or beef roast into there, go to work, come home to a hot dinner and leftovers to get me through the next several breakfasts and lunches. Or sometimes I'll start something Saturday night before I go to bed and let it cook until after I get home from church on Sunday.

 

I also do whatever I can to get the most food out of whatever time I spend in the kitchen. I have multiple burners on my stove so there are times when I'll have a pot going for hardboiled eggs and two skillets full of other stuff. If the oven is on, I use my biggest cookie sheets and fill them with as many veggies as I can so that I'll have leftover roast potatoes, broccoli, green beans, squash, or whatever other veggie I'm eating that week.

 

Check out Melissa Joulwan's blog for ideas on low-prep cold plate meals.

 

 

It is, theoretically, possible to do an entire Whole 30 without having to cook by leveraging canned proteins and fully-cooked compliant sausages. Canned or frozen vegetables could be heated in the microwave as needed instead of having to chop and cook fresh vegetables. For myself, I wouldn't be excited or happy about eating that way and I might be cost-prohibitive, but it's within the realm of possibility.