Carnivore Saves Time?
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- 01 Jan, 2023
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Carnivore Saves Time?
Time spent in the kitchen making meals can be significant for many. Do you consider yourself a master chef, king or queen of the grill, or do you struggle to boil a pot of water? I want to talk about some of the aspects of this lifestyle, and show you how to make the most of it so you can thrive!
One thing you’re going to get is much more time. Right off the bat, this won’t be true, because like getting used to any other change in your diet, you’re going to stumble your way through what works for you. If you’ve tried counting your macros, counting points for a particular diet, reading ingredient labels to omit things from your purchases, all of that took time. Quite often, and as I explained in the paragraph about eating out, your time spent wading through what’s safe on a menu could be very distracting. In the moment, you don’t think of this as time lost, but I assure you it is. A great way to tell is with a smartphone, some allow you to see how much time in a particular app you may spend. It’d probably shock you to know how much you used a points counting app.
For some, this is changeover will be a snap. For others, it’s a challenge. The very first thing you should do is let go of everything you once knew about food: buying, prepping, and cooking. If you’re not used to eating like this, you’ll have to learn how this works.
Whether it’s the time needed to shop, the necessary prep time, the time it takes to consume, or the time spent in cleanup, you’ll soon discover spare time. If you don’t believe me, let me explain how that worked out for me, and perhaps it may work for you.
Time Saved In The Grocery Store:
Initially, this won’t be true. You’ll find yourself spending perhaps a bit more time in the store for the first several days or maybe trips. The time will be spent wrapping your head around what you aren’t buying any longer, spending a bit more time with the butcher, or simply going over all the offerings in the meat displays.
The first few trips are going to be mundane otherwise. You’ll be getting the low-hanging fruit items like ground beef, steaks, maybe a roast, or steak tips; chicken breasts, carving hams, bacon, eggs, and maybe some fish. You’ll be careful not to overbuy because losing an expensive cut of meat to non-use is much worse than losing a head of lettuce or cucumber.
As you get more seasoned in the routine, and you learn what works for you, you’ll start looking at other cuts of meat, trying to determine new recipes or ways to prepare what you find. A steak is easy. Ground beef is easy. What can you do with those big roasts? How about the leaner and less expensive cuts of meat? What about bison? Maybe some organ meats.
Your grocery store trips will eventually become simple because your list will be very short. Typically what you need will be found in just a few places, and all of them will be temperature controlled.
Trivia
You may have heard someone say "shop the perimter" to eat healthy. What that's saying is eat the fresh foods that have no preservatives. Grocery stores are built with all the cold sections on the perimeter because that's the least expensive construction install and easiest to access for repairs. Bet you didn't know that! Most grocery stores are stuffing the center sections with large refrigerators and freezers because there's only so much room in a building. For the most part, you'll always find fresh/cold (not necessarily frozen) on the perimeter.
Your purchases will be weighted towards the simple-healthy side of grocery shopping, and within a few weeks, you’ll have your list so refined that you will end up with more time on your hands to do other things. If this saved you 10 minutes, there’s now time to dedicate to meal prep. When I say simple-healthy, I mean simplicity is found in single-ingredient purchases. A “healthy” boxed/dry item isn’t necessarily healthy, and it usually requires a few steps to prepare, adding ingredients that didn’t come with the purchase. If you find yourself staring at boxes, trying to read tiny ingredient and nutrition labels, that’s a good sign that you’re taking an active interest in what goes in you. When you get to simple animal protein/fat heavy (or exclusively proteins/fats), you won’t have to hold up a package of meat to read the ingredients. There’s one: meat.
A surprising boxed/frozen meat is Steak-Umms. The ingredient list is a simple one. In my freezer is a box of Angus Steak Umms, and the ingredient is literally “Angus Beef.”
Of course the photos on the box show hoagie rolls or the beef piled atop a bed of french fries, all covered with cheese. However, you don’t have to consume it this way. Keep the cheese if you can do so safely (to your dietary needs), but drop the carb filler items—the bun or fries.
Time Saved At the Kitchen Prep Counter:
You’re going to have such a simplified meal prep because you’re down to just a few ingredients. You won’t have boxes of prepackaged food pouches. You won’t have complex salads to prepare. You won’t have recipe cards to follow. You won’t have multiple items to cook on the counter.
Depending on whether you go strict carnivore, strict keto, or a combination of the two (ketovore), your counter time will be quite altered. What you may have are proteins, some veggies, and a couple of ingredients used in the actual cooking process. This could look like cuts of beef or chicken, salt, pepper, and perhaps very simple veggies. You’ll add spices to your proteins, and wash and cut your vegetables if required. What you likely won’t have are bowls of ingredients and condiments, measuring cups and spoons filled at various levels, and multiple pans or pots at different stages of readiness. Believe it or not, this added little bit of time multiplies over a week, and before you know it, you have some new time on your hands.
Time Saved Cooking
As a carnivore, your protein cooking will be spent in one of three places:
- The Grill/Griddle
- The Stove
- The Oven
At the grill, your concern will be the temperature at which the protein needs to reach (rare, medium, well done, etc). A rare or medium rare beef such as steak will take just a couple minutes of cooking time. It will actually take longer to heat the grill or griddle than it will to cook! You’ll also be balancing the variations in what people prefer (rare, medium, well done). If you’re making burgers, this is easy, as they all have to reach at least 165 because you want to cook ground beef thoroughly.
At the stove, you’re likely just boiling water to steam your vegetables, or boiling water to put veggies in. You’re not making sides such as rice, mashed potatoes, pastas (mac n cheese), beans, or soups.
In the oven you’re seeking a balanced cooking temperature and baking proteins like beef roasts, chicken, fish, and bacon. You’re not baking carb-based lasagnas, pies, and casseroles.
Helpful Tip - A Crockpot
If you have a crockpot or air fryer, you have a tool that will be very helpful for your time considerations. You can drop a few lbs of beef like a chuck roast into a crockpot, and walk away for a few hours. This creates a fantastic meal which could be portioned into several meals if you'd like. My personal favorite isn't purely carnivore, but it's close. I like to put a large chuck roast into a crockpot, adding only a pouch of Lipton French Onion Soup mix scattered over the top of the protein. I don't add any water, and typcially I won't add any vegetables. I leave all of the chuck as-is, including the fat. In 4-6hrs on low temp, I will have the most tender and delicious roast that can be consumed for several meals. I don't like reheated steak, but I have no issue with reheated roasts. And don't worry about the lack of veggies. Typically we would add onions, squash, and potatoes, but those are carb heavy and become fillers to help make the meal go further. Recall in another section I spoke to the savings from not buying veggies and sides like rice. Now you can spend it on additional meat, which is the most healthy part of the crock pot meal to begin with.
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