From Procrastinate to Procrastibake

 – Why and How You Should Join the Trend

Putting the PRO in Procrastinate

Ahh procrastination―the subtle art of putting off what you could do today to tomorrow. It is the near universal skill mastered in our teenage years, and the culprit for late night work, near-missed deadlines and stressed out students. Guilt, self-loathing and an oath to never put off important work until the last minute often follow a prolonged procrastination session. The main reason for these feelings is simple: nothing productive happened during the procrastinated time.

Lucky for us, a new trend has surfaced that has taken procrastinators, young and old alike, by storm. It’s called procrastibaking. With more than 36,000 posts on Instagram alone, procrastibaking is defined as baking something delicious to put off doing “real” work. However, there are also real scientific benefits to this practice, and practically anyone working from home with minimal ingredients can become a master procrastibaker.

Here at Nielsen-Massey Vanillas, we encourage you to mix up your study or work routine by baking the next time you feel the urge to procrastinate. You may find yourself calmer and more productive than when you started. Read on to discover the benefits of procrastibaking, tips for getting started and recipe inspiration.

3 Benefits to Procrastibaking

There are three main reasons why procrastibaking is beneficial:

1. The kitchen serves as an outlet to destress

   • Procrastibaking allows you to enter your happy place, leave your troubles behind and reap the benefits of mindfulness. Day-to-day, creative activities like baking have been shown to help people flourish and feel more relaxed during less than ideal times.
   • The number of social media posts about #procrastibaking seem to thrive around stressful times of the year like finals week, Tax Day and elections. These are times when everyone seems to be riddled with anxiety and looking for ways to come back to center along with sweet treats to stress eat!

2. It helps you open your mind and think creatively

   • Procrastibaking can bring a free-thinking euphoria that comes when the baker enters a ‘flow state.’ In other words, procrastibaking helps people open their minds and think creatively. Goodbye writer’s block. Having a low-stakes, fun and rewarding hobby such as baking allows the procrastibaker the space to really think outside the box, become inspired and improve their happiness and well-being.

3. There is a delicious reward at the end

   • If eating a batch of your own delicious cupcakes isn’t enough of a reward, procrastibakers also enjoy the opportunity to share their baked goods with others. Baking for others can make one feel like they’ve done something good for the world and builds connection with other people.
   • So next time you’re feeling guilty about taking a break from your work, consider spreading the love and making someone’s day with a batch of cookies, cupcakes or bite-sized chocolates.

Overall, procrastibaking allows you to accomplish something while avoiding ‘real work.’ Whether that’s creating a tasty treat for your future stressed-out self or entering a space to think clearly, procrastibaking gives your time more meaning than mindlessly surfing the web or watching TV.

Ready…Set…Procrastibake!

First things first: you MUST already have the ingredients for a procrastibaking project in your cupboard. Leaving the house to get your ingredients slides into the realm of pure procrastination. Next time you’re at the store, stock up on basic baking ingredients so you’re prepared when you feel overwhelmed with work or are in a creative rut.

If you’re not sure what to buy, check out our list of essential, starter ingredients:

1. All-purpose flour
2. Butter
3. Eggs
4. Leaveners (baking soda and baking powder)
5. Sugar (white, powdered, and brown)
6. Salt
7. Oil or shortening
8. Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract 
   buy now
9. Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Bean Paste 
   buy now
10. Chocolate

No time to run to the store? Order your favorite Nielsen-Massey products online from the comfort of your home, so you’re always prepared when the next procrastibaking urge hits!

 

Procrastibake Recipe Inspiration

Another necessity of mastering the art of procrastibaking is keeping the ‘fun’ alive in every recipe. It’s best to avoid recipes that stress you out. If you are looking to improve your baking skills or are interested in learning tips from professional bakers, check out BetterYourBake.com. You will find unique recipes, baking tips, a vanilla quiz, common baking myths, and frequently asked baking questions. Keeping your bake stress-free, fun and non-obligatory allows for a successful procrastibake.

There are a couple different ways to procrastibake. The first is to find a short and sweet recipe that spurs creative thinking. Alternatively, you can tackle a lengthy recipe that allows for work to be done in between time-consuming steps. Regardless of what your style is, there are benefits to baking with both short and long recipes.

Quick Recipes

Short and simple recipes are beneficial to free-flowing thinking. Baking a recipe you know by heart allows your mind to relax and creative thoughts to flourish. It is also the perfect time filler for a quick study or work break. For fresh new ideas on quick and simple recipes, check out some of our favorites in the slideshow below.

Multi-Step Recipes

Baking long and complex recipes requires time, energy and patience. The appeal for baking a multiple-hour recipe is the chance to break up your day. Not only do you get to test out your baking endurance, but you also get to return to your books or presentation and not feel guilty about staying away for too long. Baking recipes that require a lot of time allows you to calm your mind and get to your happy place by really focusing on the process of rolling dough or piping pastries. These actions stimulate your senses and help you slow down so you return to your work rejuvenated.

For inspiration, check out a few recipes to help break up your work day in our slideshow below.

Stay Inspired

Now that you understand the basics of procrastibaking, it’s time to fire up the oven and break out your cookie sheets because you have some baking to do! Your mind – and your friends and family – will reap the benefits of your next procrastibake.

Don’t forget to show us what you’ve created by tagging your photos with #NielsenMasseyInspires.