We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Stephanie Dreyer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Stephanie, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
Every since I was a precocious 8 year-old, I’ve had a sense that my life held greater meaning…I just didn’t know for what. I remember asking my parents about the meaning of life, and this feeling that there was “more”. All through my teen years and college, I recall having this nagging feeling about what I was meant to do with my life. In my early twenties, I had a fulfilling career, doing my “dream job” and still felt like I hadn’t nailed my purpose.
Since the time I could hold a doll, I wanted to be a mother, so when I became a mother in my late twenties, I thought, this must be it. My purpose is to raise good humans…and as rewarding and fulfilling as that is, it wasn’t until a few years after I went vegan that I found my purpose. Coincidentally, it’s my children that led me to discover it.
It was a year after having my third child and I was feeling “off” in my body. I came upon the book, “The Kind Diet” by Alicia Silverstone and was instantly impacted by the realities of dairy farming. I went vegan overnight, but my husband and kids did not. I struggled for years to find a way to feed all of us healthy, homemade meals – with just one meal that satisfied everyone. My kids inspired me to come up with meal ideas, as well as plant-based versions of their favorites.
I was on a mission to feed my family, but my friends started asking me to share my meal ideas and meal planning strategies. I started blogging about my experience, and soon was asked to contribute to media outlets and online publications. I started helping other families with vegans and non vegans feed their families.
One day, while hosting one of my batch cooking workshops, I had the aha moment that I had been waiting for since I was 8. I was juggling my day job with these once a month cooking classes. The attendees asked me to do them weekly, and I knew that I found my purpose. It was a feeling that reverberated to my core, and came down to answering one simple question:, “What are you doing and who are you with when you most feel like yourself?” My answer is, “In my kitchen helping families cooking homemade, healthy meals for their families.”
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I didn’t set out to create a weekly meal prep membership. I started an online community over 10 years ago via a blog. My goal was to share my vegan lifestyle and connect with others in the plant-based community. As the only vegan in my family of 5, I gained expertise in feeding my family with one meal, despite our dietary differences. One of my biggest strategies for doing this was through my meal planning system and techniques.
I started to get asked to teach classes and share my tips. Those classes led me to create the system that my meal prep membership, Batch Cooking Club, is founded upon. I did all of the above as a passion, not as a business. It wasn’t even a side gig or hustle. I was just doing my best to serve and help people, while doing what I love — make delicious plant-based food for my friends and family. When I was unexpectedly let go from my full-time job, I decided to scale my in-person batch cooking classes into a digital membership.
Batch Cooking Club is my weekly, plant-based meal prep membership. I help busy parents make meal time easier by providing weekly meal plans and recipes without time consuming prep so that they can enjoy daily healthy, homemade meals with their family without having to think about it.
I believe feeding your family should be joyful, not stressful. I want to help you stress less so you can connect more because that’s what dinner is really about — connecting with your loved ones over a delicious meal.
As the only vegan in my family, the meals aren’t just for vegan and vegetarian families, but also families who might have a mix of vegans and omnivores like me. I start with a plant-based meal but also offer suggestions for the non plant eaters so that everyone can eat the same meal. My goal is to simplify dinner and eliminate the need to make multiple meals a night to please everyone.
I’m most proud of our unique approach to batch cooking. We don’t just give you a menu of dinners for the week and a grocery list. We help you figure out where to best plug those into your weekly meal plan based on your schedule and we give you a weekly meal prep system that transforms your daily dinner prep. Our done-for-you prep plans take you step by step with what to do to prepare 4-6 meal components for the week in less than 2 hours so you can have dinner on the table during the week in 30 minutes or less.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
For most of my journey, I’ve found the answer and acquired the skills as I’ve gone a long. I’m not a professionally trained chef or a trained writer. I created my business and my books buy having an idea, and then taking it one step at a time to build it.
With that being said, I’m a trained marketing strategist with a graduate degree from Northwestern. I believe my marketing knowledge and expertise was instrumental in building my online platform, as well as in promoting my business and publicizing my books.
In addition, I believe my collaboration skills made a huge impact in my journey. Partnerships and connections are critical, especially for those early on in their journey.
Last, my ability to pivot, has been critical in building my platform and business. I have had to constantly review what is working and what is not, and then use that information to adapt, change and learn the next thing necessary to move the business forward.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
As I mentioned, I believe partnerships and collaborations are key for entrepreneurs (and solopreneurs like me!). I’m looking at adjacent businesses where we have the same field of interest and are talking to the same customers, but sharing different information that complements each other.
For example, folks who are talking to vegan and / or health conscious families, and parents who are making more eco friendly choices are my people.
Businesses who sell meal prep containers, ingredients (such as spices, plant-powered products), and kitchen appliances or tools to make meals are also people I would love to work with.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.batchcookingclub.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/batchcookingclub/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BatchCookingClub
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/batch-cooking-club
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrToDMzePOLpksnhDc7hTig
- Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/thestephaniedreyer/
