Nutrient Dense Kitchen on a Budget 102: Preparation, Cooking & Storage
As we learned in part I of this series, the sources of our foods matter. But the preparation of these foods is also important. The good news is proper prep doesn’t cost extra! While I like to remind my clients that “we are what we eat,” it isn’t entirely accurate. Really, we are what we absorb. And the ways we prepare foods affect how much of the nutrients from those foods become bioavailable for us. Bioavailability is the amount of a certain nutrient, vitamin or mineral our bodies can absorb from the food in which it is contained, or measuring how “available” the nutrient is to our “bios.” Some foods make their nutrients easy for us to absorb in their raw form, while others need to be prepared a certain way or cooked in order for us to get the most out of them. Preparation techniques like soaking and sprouting for grains, legumes, nuts and seeds help our bodies process and absorb their nutrients more successfully. This is because soaking and sprouting removes and breaks down the lectins and other phytochemicals the grains and legumes have. I can practically hear you saying “Why do I need to know this? What in the world are lectins and phytochemicals?” Well, indulge me. This is actually pretty interesting and could help you reincorporate foods into your diet that you’ve sworn off due to the uncomfortable sensations they create in your gut. Plants have protective mechanisms generally called phytochemicals that discourage predators like fungus or animals – including us – from eating them. When we eat rice that hasn’t been soaked, the phytochemicals may upset our digestive systems because the rice’s protective lectin coating serves as a deterrent to digestion, effectively warding off potential predators. Unfortunately, our modern society has lost touch with many of the methods of food preparation that are best for our bodies. That’s why I want to share my knowledge with you and give you all the tools you need to make these actions an enjoyable habit instead of a chore.
Now that we’ve sourced and prepped our quality foods, it’s finally time to start cooking. From simple cast iron to air fryers and Instant Pots, there are a lot of options. Let’s break some of them down:
· Baking: I’m a big fan of this one. I can chop a bunch of veggies and throw them in with a chicken and walk away. If all goes according to plan, it will do its thing and be ready when the timer goes off. Shredding vegetables and adding them to baked goods is also a good way to get those nutrients in. Con: firing up the oven.
· Sautéing and stir frying are quick methods that work for weeknights. The drawback is having to monitor the process the entire time.
· Grilling is also quick and can even be fun, however you have to consider the weather factor as well as the fuel factor.
· Slow cooking, pressure cooking, and air frying all produce amazing flavor, but all require fancy equipment. You might review and consider one of these appliances as they all can make whole-food cooking feel more attainable.
What it comes down to is: what fits into your lifestyle and your budget? How do you feel most comfortable cooking so that you will eat the end product and feel nourished? Sticking with what you know and introducing new methods one at a time can help you not to feel overwhelmed in the journey to consistently eating healthy.
When you’re considering your cooking methods, please also consider your cooking vessels. Let’s not undo all of our food sourcing and prepping wins by adding chemicals back into our foods from the pans in which they’re cooked or the containers in which they’re stored. Teflon and non-stick pans are popular for what their name implies: the food doesn’t stick while cooking and makes clean up a breeze. But that convenience comes at a cost. The chemicals used to create that functionality leach into our foods as we cook, and we end up serving toxins up to ourselves and our families. Ideally, we would all cook our food in glass, ceramic, cast iron or stoneware. Admittedly, some of these options can be expensive. I recommend cast iron as an almost across-the-board solution. You can sauté, bake, roast and broil. It makes one-pot cooking achievable with the ability to go straight from the stove top to the oven. If properly cared for, cast iron is an affordable cookware that will last well past your lifetime. It can quickly become your go-to pan if you spend that extra two minutes to properly clean and maintain it after each use. If you avoid cast iron due to the clean up factor, I recommend a metal mesh scrubber as the easiest method to get any tough, stuck-on bits. However, if you use the right type and amount of fat to cook with, you shouldn’t have any sticking issues.
Are you lucky enough to have leftovers of the delicious meal you sourced, prepped and cooked to perfection? Please, please, PLEASE don’t use plastic Tupperware and its associates. Glass all the way, baby! Mason jars are affordable and come in every size you would ever need. I opt for the wide mouth jars for easier functionality. You can also pick up sturdier and more colorful lids if you don’t like messing with the two-part traditional metal lids. Pyrex can be more costly, but can be found at the grocery store and will also last forever when handled with care. If you’re trying to replace Ziplocks, aluminum foil and plastic wrap, look into beeswax wraps. But in a pinch, you can even get by with a plate set on top of a ceramic bowl for close-to-airtight storage without the plastic.
You might be feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the new info. Just know that you don’t have to make every one of these changes all at once. Each piece of organic produce you eat and each plastic storage container you replace with glass makes a difference. All the small choices and actions will add up over time. Take baby steps and know that when you’re ready, you have all the resources and information you need at your fingertips. I wish you a future of happy cooking, and more importantly, happy eating!
Sources:
Nutritional Therapy Association, Inc. (2020). Culinary Wellness Part 1 Student Guide.
Wicks, L. (2019, June 4). FDA Confirms Toxic Nonstick Cookware Chemicals Are Contaminating Our Food and Water Supply. CookingLight. https://www.cookinglight.com/news/fda-non-stick-pans-toxic-contamination
