Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey there, sunshine. Welcome to the Power On Plants podcast. We're your host, jared, and Anita Roussell, and we're absolutely head over heels for whole plant foods and helping you navigate this incredible plant based journey. That's because our lives have been completely changed by plant based goodness. We used to struggle every day with excess pounds and low energy, vascular disease, joint pain and lack of sleep, just to name a few, and even though we're medical professionals, we still weren't getting practical answers that actually worked. So we dug into the research, we started living what we learned, and now we both have our lives back, and that's what we want for you, too. The truth is, you can do this, and it's not hard. You just need a way that will bring real and lasting change, and that path. It has to be simple and enjoyable, and it's got to be delicious too. So are you ready to live your life to the fullest? Then you're in the right place, because living without limits that's what Power On Plants is all about. So pull up your chair, grab a matchelite and let's get started. This is officially the Cavapoo in my lap episode. My dog just hopped up here into my lap. I'm getting ready to start recording. Jared's all set up and in comes our dog, ashley Bae, that hops right up on my lap. Yeah, this could be interesting. This could be real interesting. We'll see what she thinks about this. Okay, so here is what we're talking about today To make a head or not? Now, what I know is this you need ways to save your valuable time so you can spend it doing the things that you really love. That's what we want as busy women. We want our time back. But in order to do that cooking whole food, plant based you often wonder do I need to do big meal preps? Now, I'm not going to go into our steps of meal prep. Jared and I have a special system that we teach around meal prep. That is so simple. It will free you up like nobody's business. But I want you to take away one big point. Today, we're going to talk about one thing Should I make a head or should I not? And I want you to wrap your mind around this, because it's not a one size fits all answer. There are some things you can do ahead that will save you time, but I'm going to answer yes and no, yes and no, yes. You should or no, you shouldn't.

Speaker 2: 2:26

You know sometimes that's very non-committal Right.

Speaker 1: 2:28

It's very non-committal, but I'm telling you it's got to work for you. So let's just take rice for an example. I'm just, I just want to expand your mind a little bit here. So you're thinking I need to spend time, I need to boil rice. I need to. You know, think about the old ways to boil rice on the stove, where it got met, like I would forget about it, it would boil over, there'd be a mess and I got the stove to clean up. I know right, we've got some of it.

Speaker 2: 2:55

You're going to boil over your-.

Speaker 1: 2:57

Oh great, it boiled over again, right. And then I graduate from a rice cooker, which, I have to say, I like my Instant Pot even better. But you can use a rice cooker if you have it, it's fine. But you think, okay, I just want to have my stuff ready that I can pull out of the refrigerator. So you're going to do this batch prepping day, where you prep some stuff ahead. Yeah, that's a great idea. Let's say you're the kind of person that doesn't want to wait around for the rice even to cook. Yeah, you're going to dump rice and water and press start. Or you might get fancy and add some garlic and onion and press start. Okay, you might season it up a little bit, but regardless, you're dumping a couple of ingredients in the Instant Pot. You're going to press start. It's going to do all the work for you. Rice then. So I want you to ask yourself do I really let fresh rice, or do I not mind rice bricoli when it comes out of the freezer or fridge and I heat it and it's not quite as soft as it normally would be, but it's still gonna be pretty soft, it's still gonna be pretty good. So is it worth it to me to press start on Sunday, have that ready, have that in my fridge or freezer all week long so that I can just grab it out and make the meal lickety split right then, right when I want it. Or am I gonna prefer to walk in from wherever I was all day? Was I out shopping? Was I running the kids around? Was I running errands? Was I at a hair appointment, whatever? And I come in the door and I'm hungry, would I, rather than taking the rice that's a little bit drier, would it work best for me If I knew that as soon as I walked in the door, I could take the rice out in the water, dump in a pot, press, start, go, take my shoes off and load the groceries, wash my hands, get ready for the meal, whatever else I need to do like maybe I'm gonna steam up some broccoli real quick. I mean I put broccoli over the steamer. That takes maybe five minutes because I got pre-cut broccoli that I bought at the store pre-cut in a huge bag. If I do that, I'm gonna have the base of an entire meal right there. So just say to yourself with the rice what's gonna work best for me. I want you to always ask that Jared and Anita do it this way or so, and so, member, let's say you joined the membership. Well, let's say Carrie we talked about Carrie before so I'll just bring her up. Let's say Carrie was making her rice this way and she said she always does it in the Instant Pot and it's so easy. But I just wanna have it ready in one minute literal one minutes notice. I don't really wanna wait the 30 minutes to have it fresh and soft and hot out of the oven, because that doesn't really matter to me. Or fresh and soft and hot out of the Instant Pot Doesn't really matter. What matters to me is having it right, then, right when I need it, to pull it out of the oven, press, start in the microwave, add a little five minute sauce to it. Let's just talk about the rice. I don't wanna talk about the sauce or the broccoli very much right now. Think about the one ingredient and you can do this with every ingredient to figure out what's gonna work best for you and Jared and I can tell you all the different ingredients that you wanna think through. What are a lot of the ingredients that you might wanna have on hand? Or the simple recipes, like your pre-made sauces and things like that that are great to have on hand or to know how to make. Then you're gonna ask yourself about each of those recipes, what's the way that works best for me? Does it work best for me to pre-make a couple of five minute sauces on Sunday and have it ready all week? Or do I not mind spending the five minutes when I get home from work to toss a couple of things in the blender done? And it's, I mean, it really is just the simple. I want you to say that with me. It really is just this simple. Wrap your mind around it. You've got sauces that go into the blender and that are done in five minutes. If you have your pantry stocked, you've got the ingredients there, no big deal. You can make it at a moment's notice or you can keep it on hand, or you could do a mixture of both. You can keep it on hand. You run out mid-week. You're just gonna whip up some more. You don't have to worry about these big other person-ordained menu-planning strategy sessions that you're stressed out about and that you keep thinking. I'm going to menu plan but you never do because you know it's gonna be miserable and it's gonna steal a huge portion of one of your few days off. Why would you want to do that to yourself, sister? Why?

Speaker 2: 7:02

I would also suggest maybe a hybrid of those two, so maybe you're Are we talking about the rice again?

Speaker 1: 7:08

No, the sauce. We're onto the sauce.

Speaker 2: 7:11

Well, really anything. I was thinking about sauces, but it could really apply to anything. So, depending on the size of your family or your situation, if it's just you and a spouse, well, maybe you make a little extra. So, in the case of the sauce, you make a full recipe, you use it for that time, put it in the fridge. You have some leftover, and it's good for another time or two, another meal or two, and then the next time you need it. So you've got extra, but you're not necessarily having to make it ahead. You could. That's what we do, though. Well, that's what I was thinking, that's kind of how hard the process is.

Speaker 1: 7:42

We totally do hybrid y'all. You just got an inside scoop from the man himself. He's over there flexing his muscles.

Speaker 2: 7:48

Well, I was actually scratching an itch on my elbow, but it did look like flexing on muscles. I wish I could snap a picture of that and show you totally.

Speaker 1: 7:57

If we were social media people, I'd be posting that all over Instagram. Oh, you're so funny. Look, it looked like he was just flexing his muscle and he was scratching his elbow. Okay, 30 plus years of marriage this is what happens your first, your eye witnesses. All right, so this is it. We hybrid it. So we make it when we need it, but then we have extra, we make extra. So if there's just two, three of you, look, there are six of us in the house and we make one of our sauce recipes five minute sauces. Couple of things in done. Now we put it on our stuff and we still have some leftover for whoever wants to eat leftovers or put it on a different dish the next day or two depending on what it is and how much sauce got used.

Speaker 2: 8:39

But yeah, sometimes it's used up and sometimes we have leftovers and it's good for another one or two meals and then it's just there. So it makes that next one even faster.

Speaker 1: 8:47

Yeah, and this brings me to the episode that we just did. I want you to go back and listen to it. Look for it. It's about the benefits of cooking with your children in the kitchen. You're going to love the strategies of how it's going to save you time and you're going to be able to plant some awesome seeds in your kids' lives too. So we get our kids involved that's why I was thinking of that. And you get your kids in the kitchen and they're making the sauces now. So you run out of the sauce. You have a child that can help you make another one. If there's just the two of you, or just you you're a single woman you can make a sauce in five minutes for yourself. That's going to last you a really long time, because if there's just one of you, I mean it's going to last you all week long. And it's amazing what you can do with the sauces. So many different things. We'll have to have an episode about that, like what do we do with all the sauces? Why do you need to become a sauce queen? Very important that you become a sauce queen.

Speaker 2: 9:41

Why are we so crazy about our sauces? Why do we love them so much?

Speaker 1: 9:44

Why do our mouths water? Look, why do we used to have dip in the Chick-fil-A and the Chick-fil-A sauce. Why do I now have a Chick-fil-A sauce copy in the membership? I've got a copy cat sauce for it. Because you have to have it, because you got to have something good to dip your tofu nuggets in.

Speaker 2: 9:57

I'm just saying.

Speaker 1: 9:59

Look, and if you think you don't like tofu, we're going to talk about that too. When somebody tells me they don't like tofu, I'm talking to somebody who doesn't like a plain steak or plain chicken breast. Okay, you've got to get the sauces, you've got to get the flavors, you've got to get all the herbs and spices and all that stuff on there. It's not going to taste the same, because that's where the flavors lie. If you don't know how to flavor something, you're going to think you hate it. You will, you will. Tofu is going to become your friend. But back to this thought to make it ahead or not to make it ahead? That's the question, and only you can answer that. That's the beauty of it here. We're not here to tell you you have to do this, you have to do that. If you don't do it, our way, it's our way, or the highway, no. We're not that kind of people.

Speaker 2: 10:43

We're just sharing what works for us. What we know is a tried and true method, but there are other ways, and feel free to adapt it to what works best for your situation or your life.

Speaker 1: 10:54

Absolutely, we're gonna share with you the strategies that we know work. You can take them and you can tailor them however they work best for you. Is there a way to meal plan that works best for you? Absolutely, again, we teach a strategy on exactly how to do that. But I want your big takeaway today to not be overwhelming. What I want you to think is do I pre-prep my grains or do I not? That's just your one step today. Okay, when you get that one done, you think should I pre-prep my sauces? Why should I not stress about it if I choose not, to, cause it's not gonna take me any longer than five minutes in a high speed blender.

Speaker 2: 11:34

And you're gonna keep the ingredients on hand. It's so easy, it's so simple.

Speaker 1: 11:41

It's so simple, y'all. This is one of the things we hammer time and again. How many times have you heard us, in 225 plus episodes, say it's just so simple, it really is just this easy? Because it's hard to believe. I mean, you've been trained in the fact that it's gonna take you a long amount of time and it's just not. We're showing you. This is one of our specialties. We take our time to show our members and to show our listeners how do you get your time back? And this is how you do it. You figure out, okay, I can meal prep. This is how I do it, in the way that's reasonable, that's not ridiculous. Here's the system, and the first place I'm gonna start is on the podcast by just saying oh, with this one thing like rice or my grain, am I gonna pre-prep it? Am I not? What works best for me? Am I cooking it on the stove? Maybe I should move it to the instant pot Boy. That sure would make it a lot quicker and easier to clean up and get on the table. Maybe I need to pre-cook it ahead of time. Maybe I need to cook it right then when I want it, because I just like a warm bowl of sticky rice. It's just so good, it just makes me happy. Or maybe you go hybrid, like us, and you cook a larger part of it than what you know you'll need. You eat it fresh and enjoy it fresh, but you think you know it's kind of good, heated up, kind of like it that way because it's convenient, it's there for me, it's waiting and it saves me time.

Speaker 2: 13:11

And I'll go one more. What if you have some frozen rice in your refrigerator, in the freezer, but you think I would like some fresh rice today? Make some fresh rice. Keep the rice that's in your freezer frozen for another time when maybe you don't have as much time but you want the fresh, I mean you're not locked into any. Yes, you're not locked into any one specific thing. You may have some stuff that you've frozen Like occasionally. We'll take maybe garbanzo beans. We'll make some fresh in the instant pot. And then we realize this, we've got some other stuff that we've made. This is satin or refrigerator for a day or two. Let's go ahead and freeze it for a future time. But then let's say, the future time comes and we realize there's not enough there and I sure would like it fresh. Make it fresh.

Speaker 1: 13:55

Right.

Speaker 2: 13:56

I mean it's kind of like they say well, there's a famous restaurant chain, no rules, just right, Just do what works for you and just don't get hung up on some of these things. There really shouldn't be hangups.

Speaker 1: 14:07

Right, oh man, you have seriously brought it. Props to you today. You brought the muscle and you brought the skill. Woo.

Speaker 2: 14:16

I'm actually lifting my hand up going woo, woo.

Speaker 1: 14:19

You want to just flex your muscle again. I see what you're doing there, oh God.

Speaker 2: 14:23

Did it work. Are you impressed?

Speaker 1: 14:27

I am highly impressed. So, girls, let us sign off today with the hope that we can save time, that plant-based is not hard, it is not time consuming, it is the quickest, the easiest way I can possibly even imagine ever being able to eat. You don't even have to cook it. Can you say that about me? Can you seriously say that about me? I'm just going to eat me a rot. Yeah, you could, but you don't want all the extra wigglies and jigglies that come with that. That's all I'm saying about that. I'm not even going there. Pull up some videos, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Speaker 2: 15:00

You're a little YouTube searchin'.

Speaker 1: 15:01

Yeah, no, you do not. Do not do that to yourself. There was a day we thought that was a great thing to do. It's not Right. You want any whole plant foods that you don't have to worry about cooking all the time. You can sometimes find your new favorite raw meals Boop. There's another mind-blowing thing. I mean there's some amazing raw meals out there. Don't go there yet. If you're just getting started with PlantBase, we'll have some episodes. We'll have some training inside the membership on that too. Don't worry, we've got you. Sister. Right now I want you to go. I want you to pull up the review or, if you've already left a review on the podcast, I want you to email me at Anitaatpoweronplantscom one or the other right now. Two sentences. I want you to write in and just say this is what I'm gonna do with my grains. I'm so glad you shared this with me. It's gonna save me so much time. I want you to tell me what are you? Are you hybrid? Are you prep it beforehand and have it ready to go? So, are you hybrid? Prep it beforehand or make it when I want it? What are you Hybrid? Prep it beforehand or make it when I want it? Dear and I love hearing from you and all the exciting new things that you're learning. I want you to think about all the things that you've learned just since you started listening to the episodes. How is your life changing If it's not changing, are you implementing the steps? You've got to start taking simple actions. If you want to start getting simple results. It does not have to be perfect, just start taking action. And I want you to look one week down the road, two weeks down the road, three weeks a month a year. Imagine five years down the road. What a different place you're gonna be in than you are today. All because you learned how to harness the power of plants. We look forward to reading your reviews and emails and we will see you next time, sister, when we hang out together on Power On Plants droit.