How to batch cook plant based breakfast for the week
This is an example of how I batch cook my entire breakfasts for the week in one go. It takes about 30 minutes and I usually do it before I start my batch cooking. You can also combine this with making burritos for the week as snacks. The recipe stems from the website of the Netflix movie game-changers. I basically do a big batch of James overnight oats.
List of ingredients
- 3 bags of SuperValu mixed frozen berries
- 6 bananas
- A packet of ground chia seeds/hemp seeds
- A Packet of ground flax seeds
- 12 tablespoons of smooth peanut butter
- 6 cups porridge oats
- 6 Tupperware containers
- 2 cartons of soya or almond milk
Quick reference
- Get containers ready
- Mix all dry ingredients
- Add all wet ingredients
- Mix all ingredients
- Put on the fridge
- Serve as needed
Details of preparation in the post.
Game changer movie
The movie game changers was produced by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chan. James Cameron who directed Avatar is also involved. It is a documentary looking into the benefits of a plant-based diet versus a regular diet for athletes. To achieve this the movie follows the Tennessee titans defensive line, one strongman athlete who breaks a world record for the farmers walk and an Olympic cyclist on the American team.
The main point the movie makes is that it is not mandatory for athletes to eat beef to perform well. In fact, plant-based athletes might even have an edge over beef-based athletes. The movie then goes on to prove this hypothesis with anecdotal references form the athletes and scientific evidence in several experiments. The areas of performance covered are performance in the sport, recovery rates and even sexual prowess.
On the production side of things, the main argument is that a plant-based diet is more environmentally friendly and animals only function as intermediaries between human plants. Basically, animal products are just condensed plants so you might as well eat the plants and save space, water and be less cruel to animals.
The movie is compelling but for my tastes, a little lob sided. To be expected by a documentary that is designed to sell the idea of a plant-based diet. The movie starts out extreme as every sales pitch would and ends in the compromise of at least changing one meal a week to have an environmental impact. This I can agree with, but I don't have a lot of skin in the game, as I don't make my money as a professional athlete. Professional athletes should keep in mind that this movie was produced by people who have a lot of money invested in California. California is not the best area for cattle as land is expensive and they have water problems. The changes proclaimed in this documentary will definitely benefit the people who produced it.
Areas, where the movie does not comment too much, is the number of fertilizers needed to produce more grain. Omega 3 and vitamin B12 can only be gotten from animal products or supplements. The movie touches upon it, but not in too much depth. Megatrends to more healthy eating are also not only positive. If we stay in California you only have to look to the almond milk trend. The higher consumption of almond milk as a healthier, less cruel as an alternative to cows milk leads to a US-wide problem with the bee population. The bees are being transported down to California from all different states because there is money in it. This leads to ill and traumatized bee population which die and get unhealthier year by year.
Another negative effect of healthy eating trends can be socioeconomic. The boom in avocado consumption all over the world due to healthy eating trends has ripple effects on southern America and the cartels getting involved. Lack of water and poor, starving communities can be the result as the land is used to farm products for export rather than feeding the local population.
While I think that these points were underrepresented in the documentary as they do not help the intended narrative, I still took a lot of good from it. Meat is not the only option to increase your protein intake and improve performance. That is as unbalanced an approach as going fully plant-based. My conclusion from watching game changers was that instead of increasing my calories, which are already high anyway, through protein power and more steaks, I am opting for burritos and overnight oats. This keeps my diet more varied and combines the best of both worlds.
How to make a protein-rich breakfast for a week
This is an overview of the ingredients available in Ireland for the Overnight Oats. As hemp seeds are harder to get they have been swapped for chia seeds. Apart from that, the recipe is the same as outlined in the Game changer movie recipes. The quantities given below will give you 12 portions. I went lower on the bananas as I use one banana per box instead of two if you are strictly following the recipe.
Mixed berries
You will need 3 bags of SuperValu frozen mixed berries for this recipe. I usually get this in very late as I first do the dry ingredients of the recipe before I add milk, peanut butter, bananas, and frozen berries. You will want one cup of mixed berries per container.
Bananas
You will need six bananas for this recipe. One banana for each container. Get the bigger ones as the smaller sized bananas might not yield much and the idea of this batch cook is volume and condensed calories.
Chia seeds
It is usually easier to get your hand on chia seeds than on hemp seeds. The original recipe works with hemp seeds. You want tow tablespoons of chia seeds per container. You can keep dishing them out until the bag is used up, just take to distribute evenly and get at least one tablespoon into each container before getting fancy.
Flax seeds
You will need one tablespoon of flaxseed per container. As with the chia seeds you can use up the bag by distributing equally. We are not baking a cake here, sow e do not need to be super precise.
Peanut butter
We have moved on to buying big tubs of peanut butter like the one below. We use peanut butter for curries and for breakfasts so it won't go stale in the house. For this recipe, you want two tablespoons of peanut butter per container. Tale care to mix the peanut butter before using it as the oils and fat tend to get to the top while the peanut paste sinks to the bottom.
Porridge Oats
When i moved in with my wife I used to call oats prison food. I abhorred them. I have come a long way since then and they are now a part of my daily diet. As with peanut butter, we also don't go slow on oats. Just get a big bag and keep it in the house. Once you run low reorder it. For this recipe, you are aiming for one cup per container.
Line up the containers
Once you have all the ingredients out which i listed above, get your Tupperware containers ready like in the picture above. Preparation is key and I would also recommend to put them on a tea towel in case you spill any milk. That makes cleaning up afterward a lot easier.
Fill in the dry ingredients
The first ingredients to go in are the dry ones. Get your
- 1 cup of oats
- 2 tablespoons of chia/hemp seeds
- 1 tablespoon of flax seeds
Ready per container and in there. Shake the containers gently until everything is mixed up.
Get in the fruit
After the dry ingredients are in I usually add the mixed berries and banana. This way I can keep my hands and equipment relatively clean while getting the maximum amount of ingredients ready.
Add the peanut butter
After preparing everything else it is time to get two tablespoons of peanut butter into each container. No need to mix yet. Keep the spoon you used for this to mix everything once the milk is added.
Add the milk and get everything mixed.
Add two cups of milk to each container. When you are done use the peanut butter spoon to mix all of this together to end up with the picture above. You are done. Yu only need to pack things up and store it.
Pack it and put it away
The last step is to put the lids on the containers and put the breakfasts away. For me, this is six portions, but you can easily turn it into 12 if you are not as greedy as me.
