Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

When I first became plant based I spent hours on meal prep and cooking. Eventually I got tired of the amount of time I spent in the kitchen and through trial and error, I came up with a quick routine for the days I work. I’m 57 and have been plant based for several years. To start, I cook Bobs Red Mill 5 grain breakfast cereal on the stove. While it is cooking I put water, rice, diced potatoes, beans and greens in the Instant Pot and hit the rice button. Around the time I start the instant pot the oats are boiling. I remove the oats from the heat, add dried fruit, bananas, walnuts and flax per my PCP’s recommendation, stir it together and let it set while I get in the shower. After I’m done in the shower the instant pot is done cooking and I use manual release. I then add spices and frozen veggies. I change up the beans, spices, and veggies to give me some variety. After I add the veggies, I stir it all together and put the top back on the Instant Pot, then eat the oats. After eating the oats I finish getting ready for work and by the time I leave, the food in the Instant Pot is ready to transfer into a container to take to work. Quick and easy. One of my daughters and her husband are both grocery store managers and they have a 1 year old. They wanted to go plant based but were overwhelmed by the meal planning and prep. I showed them how I do it and they made an easy, cold turkey transition to a starch based life.

What a great post. I know that a lot of people are deterred from healthier eating by a fear of burdensome amounts of prep time.
My routine is similar to yours and it's ridiculously easy to eat real food every meal every day.

Glad you were able to pass this on to your loved ones:).

Dean,
I love your idea for putting rice, potatoes, veggies all together in the IP and "hitting rice." I copied the idea to try. Thanks!

Dean T wrote:While it is cooking I put water, rice, diced potatoes, beans and greens in the Instant Pot and hit the rice button. Around the time I start the instant pot the oats are boiling.

Hi Dean,

I'm only a couple months into this WOE and still learning. Could you share more specifically what kind of rice you use (brown, white) and how much water? Are the beans pre-cooked? I really like this idea and would like to try it. Thanks so much!

Dean:

First off, what a great post. Thank you. I too would be interested in more details. Like what are a few of the combination of veggies and spices that you use for different days? This prep would make an awesome video

I too am really interested in the rice/bean/potato/veg instant pot idea and would love more specific details. I realize the original OP might not be reading any more from Feb, but if any other experieced IP users have some suggestions about how they would (or do) approach this with quantities, liquid, spices, whatever specifics you can suggest, that would be awesome!

Thanks!!!!!