If doing the right thing for my training isn’t the path of least resistance, I know I won’t do it, and that specifically includes eating the right foods. Batch cooking for the wife and me means spending one day out of the week cooking and preparing the majority of our food. By doing this together on a rest day, cooking for the rest of the week is nearly effortless and mostly fun.  

I eat (more or less) the same things, in the same quantities, at the same time, every day. I know what I enjoy, and what works for me, so I’ve settled on meal plan for my breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to talk about each meal and the prep that we do on batch-cooking day.

Breakfast: For breakfast I eat Bob’s Red Mill 8 Grain Hot Cereal. The preparation takes about half an hour from start to finish, so the wife usually starts it at the beginning of our cooking time. We make a fairly large batch that lasts the two of us about a week. In the morning we scoop out a serving, heat it up in the microwave for 2 minutes, and—BAM!—breakfast.

Here is the recipe we use for our 8 Grain Hot Cereal. The items we add are a matter of taste and you should absolutely freestyle for yourself. (In posts to come I’ll talk about some of my experiments with savory hot cereal—delicious!)

Hot Cereal for a week (for two):

               7 ½ cups of water

               2 ½ cups of Bob’s Red Mill 8 Grain Hot Cereal

                              Bring the water to a boil, add the cereal, stir well.

                              Reduce the heat to the lowest setting and cover.

                              Let cook for about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and stir again to achieve a                                 consistent texture.

               Add:

               10 Tbsp. raisins

               10 Tbsp. pecan pieces (We like the smallest chucks, but get whatever you like.)

               5 Tbsp. chia seeds

               5 Tbsp. ground flax

               5 Tbsp. brown sugar (light or dark)

                              Mix this all together, let cool, and store in a covered container in the fridge.

To heat up: spoon into bowl, microwave for 1 ½-2 minutes, add milk if you like, and enjoy!

Notes: I have made this same recipe when I’m cooking just for myself, and it has stayed delicious for the two weeks it took me to get through it. Or you could just adjust the quantities.

We buy chia seeds and ground flax at Costco.