Before meal kits and DoorDash, home cooks had skills that accidentally made plant-based eating way simpler than our current approach.
We love to mock the 70s for their questionable food choices.
Jello salads, anyone?
But here's the thing: people back then had cooking habits that would actually make going plant-based ridiculously easy today. They cooked from scratch, stretched ingredients like pros, and didn't panic when the fridge looked empty.
Somewhere between then and now, we lost some genuinely useful skills. We got better coffee and worse at improvising dinner. Let's resurrect the good stuff and leave the aspic where it belongs.
1. They actually kept dried beans in the pantry
Walk into a 70s kitchen and you'd find jars of dried beans everywhere. Pinto, navy, kidney. People soaked them overnight like it was no big deal. Today we act like opening a can is a culinary achievement.
Dried beans are cheaper, taste better, and you control the sodium. Yeah, they take planning. But toss them in water before bed and you've got the base for chili, soup, or tacos by dinnertime. Our grandparents did this while raising four kids without Google.
The habit: Keep three types of dried beans in your pantry. Soak a batch every Sunday. Suddenly you're the person who always has protein ready.
2. They made one pot stretch across multiple meals
Nobody cooked a single portion of anything in the 70s. You made a huge pot of something on Sunday and it became four different meals by Thursday. Leftover rice became fried rice. Vegetable soup got blended into pasta sauce.
This approach is accidentally perfect for plant-based eating. Cook a big batch of lentils and they're tacos Monday, bolognese Wednesday, and stuffed peppers Friday. Different seasonings, completely different vibe.
The habit: Double every recipe. Get weird with leftovers. That roasted vegetable medley? Tomorrow it's a grain bowl, a wrap filling, or blended into hummus.
3. They planned meals around what was in season
Strawberries in January weren't a thing. You ate what was growing, which meant you actually knew when tomato season hit. Menus shifted with the calendar, not your random cravings.
Seasonal produce is cheaper, tastes better, and happens to be the foundation of plant-based eating. Summer means grilled vegetables and fresh corn. Fall brings squash and apples. You're not fighting against nature's schedule.
The habit: Hit a farmers market once. Notice what's abundant and cheap. Build your meals around that. Bonus points if you stop buying sad winter tomatoes.
4. They knew how to make vegetables the main event
Before every meal centered on a hunk of meat, vegetables got real estate on the plate. Stuffed peppers, eggplant parmesan, vegetable casseroles. Sure, some had cheese or eggs, but the vegetable was the star.
We've forgotten how to do this. We treat vegetables like a side dish obligation instead of the foundation. But a properly roasted cauliflower or a well-seasoned eggplant can absolutely carry a meal.
The habit: Once a week, pick a vegetable and build the entire dinner around it. Not as a side. As the main character. Get creative with seasonings and cooking methods.
5. They made their own salad dressings
Bottled dressing existed, but lots of people just whisked together oil, vinegar, and whatever herbs were around. Three ingredients, 30 seconds, done. No stabilizers or added sugar.
Homemade dressing makes you actually want to eat salad. You control the flavor, the oil quality, everything. Plus you stop buying plastic bottles of mystery liquid.
The habit: Keep good olive oil, vinegar (any kind), and mustard around. That's your base. Add lemon, garlic, maple syrup, whatever. Shake it in a jar. You just became someone who makes their own dressing.
6. They saved and used vegetable scraps
Onion peels, carrot tops, celery leaves. All of it went into a bag in the freezer. When the bag was full, it became vegetable stock. Waste wasn't really a concept.
We toss stuff that's basically liquid gold. Those scraps have flavor. Boil them for an hour and you've got better stock than anything in a box, free.
The habit: Keep a freezer bag for vegetable scraps. When it's full, simmer everything in water for an hour. Strain it. Freeze it in ice cube trays. Now you always have stock.
7. They cooked grains in bulk and stored them
Rice cookers were becoming a thing, and people used them constantly. Big batch of rice in the fridge, ready to become whatever you needed. Fried rice, rice pudding, base for beans.
Grains are the ultimate plant-based convenience food if you prep them. Quinoa, rice, farro. Cook a huge amount, refrigerate it, and you've got instant meals all week.
The habit: Every few days, cook way more grains than you need. Store them in the fridge. When you're hungry, you're two minutes from a complete meal instead of 30.
8. They knew basic knife skills
People actually learned how to chop an onion properly. Dice a carrot. Mince garlic. No food processors for everything, just a decent knife and some practice.
Good knife skills make plant-based cooking faster and more enjoyable. You're not wrestling with vegetables or creating weird chunks. Everything cooks evenly. You feel competent.
The habit: Watch one YouTube video on knife skills. Practice on onions until it feels natural. A sharp knife and basic technique will change your entire relationship with cooking.
9. They embraced casseroles and one-dish meals
Casseroles got a bad reputation, but the concept is genius. Everything in one dish, minimal cleanup, and it feeds a crowd. Lots of them were accidentally vegetarian already.
Modern plant-based casseroles are having a moment. Lentil shepherd's pie, vegetable lasagna, enchilada bakes. Make it Sunday, eat it all week, spend zero time on dishes.
The habit: Find three plant-based casserole recipes you like. Rotate them monthly. Embrace the efficiency of one-dish cooking and the joy of not doing dishes every night.
10. They didn't panic about missing ingredients
No recipe app, no instant grocery delivery. If you didn't have something, you substituted or skipped it. Cooking was more jazz improvisation than classical performance.
We've become weirdly rigid about recipes. Missing one ingredient and we order takeout. But cooking is flexible, especially plant-based cooking. No cumin? Use chili powder. No coconut milk? Try cashew cream.
The habit: Try making a recipe with whatever's around. Swap ingredients freely. Realize that most dishes are more forgiving than you think. Trust yourself a little.
Final thoughts
The 70s weren't some golden age of cuisine. They had plenty of questionable choices. But they had something we've lost: basic cooking competence as a default life skill.
These habits aren't about nostalgia. They're about making plant-based eating feel natural instead of like a lifestyle project that requires 17 specialty ingredients. Cook bigger batches, use what you have, stop overthinking it.
That's the actual secret to making this sustainable long-term.
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