145: My Simple Plant-Fueled Meal Formula for the Busiest Weeks

In this episode, I’m talking about how to make eating a whole-food plant-based diet super easy. I share why batch cooking is my secret weapon for saving time (and sanity) and the different ways our recipes can totally change the game by teaching you to cook once, and eat all week.

I’ll walk you through my go-to meal formulas that cover all the key WFPB food categories, so you can build balanced, satisfying plates without overthinking it. Consider this your nudge to play in the kitchen, keep it fun, keep it simple, and keep your health and well-being front and center.

 Helpful links

• Staples: Beans
• Staples: Grains
• Gluten-Free Porridge
• Start a free trial to Meal Plan Club
• Get access to all of our recipes for just $12 per month
• Daily Dozen App

Transcript (auto-generated) may have hours

Hey, this is Molly Patrick, and you’re listening to the Clean Food Dirty Girl podcast. We are all about helping people eat more plants and celebrating imperfection as we navigate life’s messiness. Thank you for listening to today’s episode all about how to make eating a whole food, plant-based diet easy. I’m giving you some ideas on how to keep this simple, because eating this way doesn’t have to be super complicated. It can be really complicated—gourmet and fussy—and that can be delicious and amazing. It can also be more simple, and that’s the beautiful thing: you can do it in whatever way works best for you right now, and that might change from time to time.

In our meal plan club, we have gourmet meal plans and simple meal plans. These are based on batch cooking—the beautiful, time-saving secret weapon of batch cooking. I love it. You set aside a few hours one day a week, cook a bunch of components, and then the majority of your food is already made. During the week, you can whip things together and heat things up. Basically, you’re creating your own convenience foods, which is really helpful because cooking each meal from scratch can take a lot longer. This is what our meal plan club is all about and why our members love it so much: it saves them time, the recipes are absolutely delicious, and they’re eating healthy throughout the week.

Even within those plans, we offer gourmet versions with more extras and steps to level up the flavor and texture so you feel like you’re eating at a fancy restaurant. We also have the simple plans that are more basic. They’re still delicious, but there are only five batching items, so you get in and out of your kitchen quickly with less fuss. They might not be restaurant quality every meal, but they are solid whole food, plant-based meals that taste really good and are quicker to put together.

Even within our realm, we show you that you can do this or that, and of course there are lots of options in between. Today I want to talk quickly about three of my favorite go-to one-pot meals. I also like to call them “make once, eat all week” meals.

I’m a big fan of having staples in my fridge. If I follow our meal plans consistently, it’s great because there are new plans every week and hundreds to choose from, so you’re not going to be in any kind of food rut. That’s a beautiful thing because a lot of people who eat this way get into that rice-and-beans rut, and it can be annoying. Our plans are a good way to mix things up.

If I’m not going to batch a full meal plan and I’m just making a few components, there are a couple of staples I go to. I’m going to talk about three of those today. I would typically choose just one per week. You make it once and then eat it all week. By the end of the week, you might be like, “Okay, I’m good with that for now.” But these are so easy: you make it once and that’s it. You just heat it up. In one case, you don’t even have to heat anything up—everything is done for you.

Let’s recap the groups of whole plant foods when you’re eating a whole food, plant-based diet: veggies, fruits, beans and legumes, whole grains, and nuts and seeds. Those are the five categories of whole plant foods. I also like to add herbs and spices as their own special, magical category. It’s important to eat a wide variety within all of those categories—lots of different veggies, fruits, beans and legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds, and herbs and spices—so you’re rotating things, getting nutrient diversity, not getting bored, and allowing your body to use the nutrients from all of those plants to help you be as healthy as you can be.

When I’m thinking about these one-and-done recipes, those five categories are front and center. It’s important to me to have food I can literally take out of the fridge, put in a bowl, and either microwave, heat on the stove, or eat cold—without worrying, “Am I getting veggies? Fruits? Beans and legumes? Whole grains? Nuts and seeds? Herbs and spices?” When you’re new to this way of eating, it can be really helpful to get the Daily Dozen app from Dr. Michael Greger at NutritionFacts.org. You can track to make sure you’re getting all of those categories. After a while, you’ll feel confident: “Okay, I got this.” Eating a wide range of whole plant foods is a great start.

When I make these one-pot, make-once-eat-all-week meals, I like to include foods from all of those categories so it’s all done for me in one dish. These are great for weeks when you’ll be really busy and don’t even have time to chop veggies for a salad, or for outings like hikes or road trips.

There are three I make regularly:

1. Beans as a base. Cook some beans—my favorite method is the Instant Pot, but the stovetop works too. Choose any type: black beans, pinto, pink beans, lentils, chickpeas, white beans, cannellini—there are so many. You could use canned beans, but for this, I prefer making my own. I soak the beans overnight, then cook them in the Instant Pot with water for about 20 minutes. When the pressure releases, I taste them. If they need more time, I cook for another three minutes, or take the lid off and move on. On the stovetop, soak overnight, discard the soaking water, cover with fresh water, and simmer about 90 minutes until very soft. You really want beans very, very soft—creamy, not crunchy.

Once the beans are cooked and still have some liquid, add to the pot: diced tomatoes (canned or fresh), tomato paste, frozen corn, whatever leafy greens you have (chopped), a little cabbage, spices, salt, pepper, and some lemon or lime zest. Mix, stir, and taste. Does it need more salt, pepper, or spices? Do you like the bean-to-veggie ratio? I’m not giving measurements—you can play it by ear.

If you’re in Drop It Club (our plant-fueled weight-loss club), I have a video of me making some of these dishes so you can see how I do it—again, without strict measurements—teaching you how to do this yourself without one specific recipe. The basics I’m sharing here are still very helpful.

Stir everything, let it cool, then refrigerate. This becomes an incredibly fast meal. You already have beans and a bunch of veggies. When you serve it, make some quinoa or another grain. When ready to eat, heat the grain, put it in a bowl, top with the bean mixture, and maybe sprinkle with sesame seeds or add avocado. You now have a complete, nutritious, whole food, plant-based meal that you made once and can eat all week—perfect for lunches.

Use what you have: if you don’t have frozen corn but have frozen peas, use those; if you don’t have fresh greens but have frozen spinach, use that. It’s versatile. Play with herbs and spices: chili powder, turmeric, cumin, oregano, or ginger, onion, and garlic powder. It’s your creation. It’s reassuring to have this in the fridge, knowing you can put together a well-balanced meal in under five minutes.

2. Cold quinoa salad. You don’t even have to heat this up—it’s meant to be eaten cold. Make a big batch of quinoa (Instant Pot or stovetop). We have recipes for staples like rice, quinoa, and beans in our portal—over 5,000 recipes we’ve created over the past eight or nine years. If you’re thinking, “How do I cook quinoa or beans from scratch?” you can sign up for the Meal Plan Club or Recipe Club. If you want only recipes and not the meal plans, you can do that too.

Once the quinoa is cooked, add whatever veggies you have. A good combination I made recently, based on my fridge: grated carrots, diced red bell pepper, chopped red onion, chopped celery, cucumber, tomatoes, and cabbage. It’s a great way to use up little bits of produce—like a third of a carrot or half a bell pepper. You could also use broccoli or cauliflower (lightly steamed or raw). The variations are endless.

Then add beans, lentils, or chickpeas—black beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, chickpeas, or lentils. I often use canned for ease: drain, rinse, and add to the pot.

For seasoning, you can do lots of lemon juice, a little soy sauce, some coconut aminos, and sesame seeds—stir it all together. Or use whatever salad dressing you have on hand. Last time, I used lemon-tahini dressing—just a few big spoonfuls—and it was perfect.

I love to toast sesame or pumpkin seeds and toss them with a little Bragg’s aminos or soy sauce for a salty crunch. Store them in the fridge; they’re especially great on this cold quinoa salad.

With this dish, you don’t need to heat anything. If you add a piece of fruit on the side, you’ve covered veggies, fruit, beans and legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds, and whatever spices and herbs you used (ginger, turmeric, basil, fresh parsley, fresh basil, etc.). It’s a one-and-done meal you can make once and eat all week—super easy and perfect for hot weather.

I make this all the time, and it’s never the same twice because my ingredients vary: red, white, or tri-color quinoa; different veggies; different beans or a can of lentils; different dressings like cashew ranch. If I don’t have dressing, I’ll do citrus juice, coconut aminos, a drop or two of soy sauce, and maybe a drizzle of tahini—mix and see where that gets you. Once it’s done, refrigerate it—that’s it.

3. Rice-based bowl (hot or cold). I prefer this hot. Cook a batch of rice in the Instant Pot—brown rice or brown jasmine. Sometimes I add a little black or red rice for a mix. Then add a can of beans or lentils and whatever veggies you have. This one is great for frozen veggies: peas and carrots, corn, broccoli, cauliflower—no chopping needed. Just open the bag, pour some in, and stir. Maybe add a little red onion and spinach or whatever you have. The beans are already in there. Add lemon or lime zest or juice, salt, pepper, fresh herbs if you have them, and some dried herbs. Mix it all together.

Serve with a piece of fruit on the side—for example, half a papaya with lime juice, sliced apple or pear, or a couple of tangerines—to get in extra fruit. Sprinkle chopped walnuts or pecans on top. Boom: you have veggies, fruit, beans and legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds, and herbs and spices—all represented in one dish. Heat and eat.

You could swap the grain: use millet, steel-cut oats in a savory way, or buckwheat—any grain you want.

Another one I’ve been eating a ton is my “hippie porridge,” a gluten-free porridge with steel-cut oats, millet, buckwheat, and lentils, plus a bunch of kale. That way, in the morning I’m getting veggies (kale), beans and legumes (lentils), and plenty of whole grains. I add a little nutmeg and a tiny bit of turmeric. On top, I add lots of fruit—raspberries, blueberries, banana—and a little sesame seed or chopped pecans, walnuts, or almonds, then some non-dairy milk. It’s a big breakfast, a one-and-done bowl. I make a big batch of the grains with the kale, so in the morning I just put some in a bowl, add toppings, and boom—done.

If you do that for breakfast, one of the bean/rice/quinoa bowls for lunch, and something simple like a soup for dinner, your day is covered. You’ve hit all the whole plant food categories, gotten a big range and loads of fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals, and your body will feel so good—all without spending a ton of time because you did the bulk of the work in advance. It’s a confidence builder: you know you won’t get hungry on a random Tuesday and order takeout because you have nothing in the fridge. The food is there—you made it. Now you just eat when you’re hungry.

If you follow our meal plans consistently, you may not need these one-pot, one-and-done meals as often because you’ll already be getting a wide variety of whole plant foods and batching components to assemble throughout the week. But these are great for times when you’re not following the meal plans, or when you’re making just a few components and want a solid one-dish meal ready to go that covers all the categories. Adding a piece of fruit on the side completes any of these easily.

I hope that was inspiring and gave you some ideas. Don’t overthink it—play around and have fun. Maybe you make a combination that’s just okay. Ask yourself what you didn’t love, tweak it, and try again. Even if it’s not your favorite, it’s still healthy and totally fine to eat. I find that roasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds and a little avocado on top make almost anything taste better. Once you land on something you really like—maybe even the first time—write it down and make it again.

I’m encouraging you to get into your kitchen, play around, get your hands dirty, and do this for yourself. Your health is your responsibility—no one else is going to come to your house and make it a priority. Your job is to make sure you’re taken care of and giving your body what it needs to feel good and thrive, so you can live your life in a way that feels good and free in your body.

That’s my message today. Get in your kitchen, try one of these, and tag me on Instagram when you do. I would love to see which one you made. Okay—have a wonderful week. Talk to you next time.

Did you know that Clean Food Dirty Girl has a club? We do. It’s called the Clean Food Dirty Girl Meal Plan Club. If you want to eat more plant-based meals that are delicious—so good you’ll crave them—feel energized and healthy from head to toe, save time in the kitchen each week, use all the groceries you buy, and have the omnivores in your life say “mmm, yum” to your plant-based meals, you have got to join us. Go to cleanfooddirtygirl.com, and on the homepage you can find out more. I would love to see you in the club. It is the best. Come find out what all the buzz is about. It is life-changing, and I would love to have you. Thank you for listening to this podcast and for being in our sphere. If you can rate and review this podcast wherever you listen, that would be badass. Thank you so much for spreading the dirty love.