https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8UZRPSyJ-2E/maxresdefault.jpg00Chelsea Maehttps://instantpotteacher.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/instant-pot-teacher-video-tutorials-official-logo.pngChelsea Mae2022-03-21 07:12:312022-03-21 07:12:31How I’m simplifying my cooking system
Really helpful video, eye-opening to know that sometimes things change and we may need to reevaluate our systems from time to time if it’s feeling harder than it should. Thank you Chelsea, learning a lot from you!
I needed to hear this… I am personally, as well as my husband, struggling with our diet, big time. We have been so stressed about him losing his job and now he is working in one restaurant in the mornings and literally delivering for dominos at night. It makes it SOO hard when that easy pizza is right in front of our faces, (and sometimes even free if an order is messed up at the end of the night!)
He is away more, tired more and I have more to do at home more. So cooking, like you said, is the first thing that goes downhill…. My idea of a home cooked meal right now is pasta with marina and a bag of frozen broccoli. (I will be eating that tonight lol.) We have other massive stressors in our lives right now as well (the biggest one is a custody battle for our oldest 2 kids whose mom decided to come back into their lives and is now fighting us for primary custody.) Needless to say, I have had zero inspiration in the kitchen. We have gone back and forth from being vegan but have never been able to sustain it 100% for very long. At this point the idea of chopping and doing dishes is a mental hurdle… the best I can seem to consistently do is oatmeal for breakfasts, rice and bean combos (sometimes Mexican style other times New Orleans style), and pastas with side veggies in large batches. Sorry to be a downer, but this was so good to hear! I'm so glad I found your channel, 😊 Thanks for keeping it real! ❤
Started following you not long ago. LOVE your character, your personality, and all the rest. You are a special young lady! Just LOVE these videos! I went plant based around 18 months ago. I've gained 12 lbs. I don't like to cook, and I'm struggling with this new method. This video attacked that very issue. Thank you so much. You are such an inspiration!
I feel like this makes cooking more accessible to people who suffer from depression and other mental obstacles that make cooking healthy hard. Because you should be able to eat well even though there's no energy or motivation. This is also good for exhausted working people who don't want to spend a bunch of time doing a lot. Could you make a video where you spend like a Sunday or weekend day prepping stuff that could make some meals during the week? So people who have some motivation on the weekend after recouping go to the store. Like what kinds of staples to have that one can make multiple meals from?
Using a Minimalist Baker recipe for pancakes i treble the dry ingredients and create a pancake mix. To cook I just add flax egg and wet ingredients cook on a griddle. Easy !
I love fresh garlic too, but I hate chopping like three cloves every times I cook. What I do is buy a bunch of it at Costco or grow a ton. Then I peel it all at once, toss it into the mini chopper, and mince it quickly. Then I put a thinnish layer in a small baggie and flatten it out. Then I freeze it solid. I usually do a few at once and stack them on top of each other. When I need some I just take a bag out, break off a chunk and set it aside for a couple of minutes until it thaws or even toss it in frozen. It works like a charm, and it’s cheaper than the jars. You can do this with ginger too. ☮️💕
Thanks Chelsea. Firstly, SUCH great ideas for saving time and effort creating meals. AND… Just watching you, I feel your anxiety and stress. With your cute kids and hubby, maintaining VLOGS and your classes, shopping, cooking, how do you do it? Bless you. These are great tips. Just an aside, I hear you refer to "gals and women" primarily. Please know that us GUYS out here are interested too! My wife passed several years ago, so I'm on my own. I'm waiting for your next session to open and I wish I had a direct line to you. In the meantime, I comment at your newest videos. YT doesn't like it when I do otherwise (I get deleted…) Thanks again Chelsea, you are the greatest!
Hi Chelsea I love your videos. My way of simplifying was to be less specific. We have favorite recipes, but love variety. So we have our menu set as mon- pasta; tues-stirfry; wed- soup & salad (usually this is leftover from Sunday); thurs-indian; fri.- leftover or chefs choice; Saturday is flexie or new recipe; Sun- soup and salad I find planning fun but get frustrated quickly. This works for me.
' Keep this in mind: YOU are not a failure, your system is set up to support your current behaviours. If you want to change your behaviours, then change your system. If you want a system to stick to, make it as easy and less confusing than you possibly can'. This must be the best advice, I have ever heard. 😇
Frozen foods (especially veggies)! I used to look down on them and reject them wholeheartedly but now I am a huge fan. They’re basically all ready to eat – cleaned, cut up and blanched. Huge save of time and quite cheap actually. Same thing for canned goods.
Same! I believe the end of daylight saving exhausts me. As soon as we put the clocks back I’m happy again. Also 2 years of 3 meals per day all at home…is draining …I’m going to put more healthy freezer meals….and one night per week go to a night market or something.
I use minced garlic, bottled lemon juice, and semi-dried herbs because it saves time. I spent too many years on diet programs with complicated recipes and a new thing for each meal. Now I'm over spending so much time in the kitchen. And with young kids… Quick and easy is good.
I've just listened to the Apple podcast and would highly recommend that people do so. It's excellent. I had just started to think along these lines in a vague way, from my own experience of consistently setting the bar too high for me in that moment, so this video and the podcast could not have been more timely or helpful. Thanks so much from the other hemisphere (Ireland)!
Already love the rice idea, and use the taco mix idea in my red lentil soup recipe but ginger is so expensive and fiddle that In a jar will be my next move. PS Chelsea you are the voice in my head every time I ride my bike with your wonderful podcasts. Can’t thank you enough for being so real. Cheers from Oz🌅
Great tips. One thing I do on the weekends and then I put it in small singleserving bags and freeze it in the freezer. It’s a quick grab and go stuff right now
Love this Chelsea and your impression of Dr G!! I make myself menu plan and from that do a shopping list …… time consuming but once done makes life so much easier. I have moved over to more frozen veggies to save time too. I also make double quantities if making a curry, chilli or dahl and freeze a double portion for a meal when I don't feel like cooking so I have something healthy to defrost and eat…….. think your ideas are great 🙂
“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” – James Clear, Atomic Habits, p. 27.
Your video is wonderful timing because I’m in the process of removing the decision fatigue from meal planning and setting up a rotating menu. I’ve been ignoring my project for a few days, and your video is giving me the boost and refocus I need for it.
And I just tore my rotator cuff. I’m going to have to simplify even more AND learn to ask for help (I’ve been the only cook in my family) as well as teach family members how to cook (which I honestly don’t see happening because of everyone’s schedules).
ugh, yeah, lol…Meal planning with everyone in mind always stresses me out. Thank you for sharing that you go through this, too, and your plan of action. 🌱💚
Such a great message Chelsea 🙌🏻🙌🏻. Simplify my system is the goal for the week. 👌👌💕
Really helpful video, eye-opening to know that sometimes things change and we may need to reevaluate our systems from time to time if it’s feeling harder than it should. Thank you Chelsea, learning a lot from you!
I called my shopping cart a trolly the other day and my husband looked at me and said, “What??” 😂🤣
Chelsea, welcome to the real world! Loved this video!
I needed to hear this… I am personally, as well as my husband, struggling with our diet, big time. We have been so stressed about him losing his job and now he is working in one restaurant in the mornings and literally delivering for dominos at night. It makes it SOO hard when that easy pizza is right in front of our faces, (and sometimes even free if an order is messed up at the end of the night!)
He is away more, tired more and I have more to do at home more. So cooking, like you said, is the first thing that goes downhill…. My idea of a home cooked meal right now is pasta with marina and a bag of frozen broccoli. (I will be eating that tonight lol.) We have other massive stressors in our lives right now as well (the biggest one is a custody battle for our oldest 2 kids whose mom decided to come back into their lives and is now fighting us for primary custody.) Needless to say, I have had zero inspiration in the kitchen. We have gone back and forth from being vegan but have never been able to sustain it 100% for very long. At this point the idea of chopping and doing dishes is a mental hurdle… the best I can seem to consistently do is oatmeal for breakfasts, rice and bean combos (sometimes Mexican style other times New Orleans style), and pastas with side veggies in large batches. Sorry to be a downer, but this was so good to hear! I'm so glad I found your channel, 😊 Thanks for keeping it real! ❤
Started following you not long ago. LOVE your character, your personality, and all the rest. You are a special young lady! Just LOVE these videos! I went plant based around 18 months ago. I've gained 12 lbs. I don't like to cook, and I'm struggling with this new method. This video attacked that very issue. Thank you so much. You are such an inspiration!
Frozen onions, garlic, sweet pepper, sweet corn and mushrooms are essential as well as pre-bottled garlic and ginger.
Do you actually eat dominos? WIth cheese? Or a plant-based version? Just curious… When I'm feeling really lazy I'll order veggie pizza without cheese.
I feel like this makes cooking more accessible to people who suffer from depression and other mental obstacles that make cooking healthy hard. Because you should be able to eat well even though there's no energy or motivation. This is also good for exhausted working people who don't want to spend a bunch of time doing a lot. Could you make a video where you spend like a Sunday or weekend day prepping stuff that could make some meals during the week? So people who have some motivation on the weekend after recouping go to the store. Like what kinds of staples to have that one can make multiple meals from?
Using a Minimalist Baker recipe for pancakes i treble the dry ingredients and create a pancake mix. To cook I just add flax egg and wet ingredients cook on a griddle. Easy !
Love, LOVE, Love this video!!
The biggest drawback for me for prebuying the veggies like that is all the extra plastic it uses :(.
Makes so much sense! I love your videos.
I love fresh garlic too, but I hate chopping like three cloves every times I cook. What I do is buy a bunch of it at Costco or grow a ton. Then I peel it all at once, toss it into the mini chopper, and mince it quickly. Then I put a thinnish layer in a small baggie and flatten it out. Then I freeze it solid. I usually do a few at once and stack them on top of each other. When I need some I just take a bag out, break off a chunk and set it aside for a couple of minutes until it thaws or even toss it in frozen. It works like a charm, and it’s cheaper than the jars. You can do this with ginger too. ☮️💕
Thanks Chelsea. Firstly, SUCH great ideas for saving time and effort creating meals. AND… Just watching you, I feel your anxiety and stress. With your cute kids and hubby, maintaining VLOGS and your classes, shopping, cooking, how do you do it? Bless you. These are great tips. Just an aside, I hear you refer to "gals and women" primarily. Please know that us GUYS out here are interested too! My wife passed several years ago, so I'm on my own. I'm waiting for your next session to open and I wish I had a direct line to you. In the meantime, I comment at your newest videos. YT doesn't like it when I do otherwise (I get deleted…) Thanks again Chelsea, you are the greatest!
Hi Chelsea I love your videos. My way of simplifying was to be less specific. We have favorite recipes, but love variety. So we have our menu set as mon- pasta; tues-stirfry; wed- soup & salad (usually this is leftover from Sunday); thurs-indian; fri.- leftover or chefs choice; Saturday is flexie or new recipe; Sun- soup and salad I find planning fun but get frustrated quickly. This works for me.
' Keep this in mind: YOU are not a failure, your system is set up to support your current behaviours. If you want to change your behaviours, then change your system. If you want a system to stick to, make it as easy and less confusing than you possibly can'. This must be the best advice, I have ever heard. 😇
My struggle was always having to wash up after prepping and cooking, so I bought a dishwasher.
Frozen foods (especially veggies)! I used to look down on them and reject them wholeheartedly but now I am a huge fan. They’re basically all ready to eat – cleaned, cut up and blanched. Huge save of time and quite cheap actually. Same thing for canned goods.
Same! I believe the end of daylight saving exhausts me. As soon as we put the clocks back I’m happy again.
Also 2 years of 3 meals per day all at home…is draining …I’m going to put more healthy freezer meals….and one night per week go to a night market or something.
I use minced garlic, bottled lemon juice, and semi-dried herbs because it saves time. I spent too many years on diet programs with complicated recipes and a new thing for each meal. Now I'm over spending so much time in the kitchen. And with young kids… Quick and easy is good.
I've just listened to the Apple podcast and would highly recommend that people do so. It's excellent. I had just started to think along these lines in a vague way, from my own experience of consistently setting the bar too high for me in that moment, so this video and the podcast could not have been more timely or helpful. Thanks so much from the other hemisphere (Ireland)!
Already love the rice idea, and use the taco mix idea in my red lentil soup recipe but ginger is so expensive and fiddle that In a jar will be my next move. PS Chelsea you are the voice in my head every time I ride my bike with your wonderful podcasts. Can’t thank you enough for being so real. Cheers from Oz🌅
Awesome, awesome video! Great tips for keeping this lifestyle do-able. Thanks!
I think this is very important. It's a thing that's kind of hiding in plain sight. Thank you very much.
Great tips. One thing I do on the weekends and then I put it in small singleserving bags and freeze it in the freezer. It’s a quick grab and go stuff right now
I love all your advice Chelsea. It’s so helpful. Yes, Nick is a Prince 🤴😍.
Love this Chelsea and your impression of Dr G!! I make myself menu plan and from that do a shopping list …… time consuming but once done makes life so much easier. I have moved over to more frozen veggies to save time too. I also make double quantities if making a curry, chilli or dahl and freeze a double portion for a meal when I don't feel like cooking so I have something healthy to defrost and eat…….. think your ideas are great 🙂
Love this! Great video!!
Wow !!! How helpful this video is for me . Thanks So Much !
Yes! Perfect timing! I love how realistic you are. Thank you so very much! You make me feel normal.
“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” – James Clear, Atomic Habits, p. 27.
Your video is wonderful timing because I’m in the process of removing the decision fatigue from meal planning and setting up a rotating menu. I’ve been ignoring my project for a few days, and your video is giving me the boost and refocus I need for it.
And I just tore my rotator cuff. I’m going to have to simplify even more AND learn to ask for help (I’ve been the only cook in my family) as well as teach family members how to cook (which I honestly don’t see happening because of everyone’s schedules).
ugh, yeah, lol…Meal planning with everyone in mind always stresses me out. Thank you for sharing that you go through this, too, and your plan of action. 🌱💚
Yes !!! Awesome video!! 🤸🏼♂️👏🤩
You are very bright and never seem to disappoint. Your videos are amazing! THANK YOU! From New York State USA.