to think batch cooking is a bit soulless?

Of course people have different opinions. That's not odd.

What's odd is to start a thread about an activity that you have no interest in doing, and use language like 'soulless' in defence of your stance. It's just weird. You dont want to batch cook then don't. 🤷‍♀️ Literally no one gives a shit.

I’ve sometimes found having batch prepped itsms useful - so someone comes over unexpectedly, I grab a bag of Mediterranean veggies already diced and seasoned from freezer to throw on a baking tray instead of starting to prep and chop.

Or get out some garlic and lemon chicken from the freezer to cook tonight - but I don’t need to remember to take it out and make the marinade and let it sit - defrost (or cook at lower temp for longer from frozen), throw on baking tray, roast. I can concentrate on overseeing homework or checking post or doing laundry or whatever.

Or I see some lovely fruit which is yellow stickered and needs using up fast, or get some rhubarb or apples from friends, or pick blackberries from the brambles on our green - and can prep the fruit but just pour over crumble mix from a bag in the freezer.

To me, it’s batch cooking, yes, but also batch prepping to make dinners easier midweek.

Some wierd replies on here!
Don't do it then 😂

There is no law that says you must batch cook

I have a tall upright and a chest freezer.
I have hens and a small orchard plus an allotment.
I enjoy growing things and cooking.
If you don't want to fine but very odd to call it joyless
Its amazing to have a freezer full of homemade crumbles and shepherds pie
DH works shifts so meal planning works really well for us.
We eat batch cooked midweek when we are busy or grab a frozen meal to take for lunch.
I meal plan each week.
It's economical, everything we eat is seasonal or I buy when things are on offer .
I cant imagine coming home and wondering what to eat.
Fantastic to take out what we are going to have in the morning., prep the veg and it's really quick
Each to their own

Food is fuel to me, I genuinely don't care what I eat, i detest cooking. I eat ready meals a lot, and I'm a healthy e
Weight and size. 56 kilo and BMI of 24.

Get some therapy then, because you have an unhealthy view of food and eating. And quite a judgemental attitude.

You don't eat out of the plastic tub ffs

This is me. Our freezer is full of stuff that seemed like a good idea at the time. But I’m not a fan of frozen and reheated. We don’t eat anything upf and everything is made from scratch. I don’t eat gluten (or sugar). Im happy to spend 90 mins cooking and make enough so I eat 4 meals 3 x each. I eat 2x a day and DH cooks at least once a week.
Can’t wait til final child leaves home and I can just get it all done in one go for the week. And never answer the what’s for supper/lunch question ever again.

I guess it depends. I definitely want spontaneous - it depresses the shit out of me to have my meals planned ahead. We never did that really even when the kids were little and it would probably have been easier.

@Surroundedbyfools exactly this !!

Coming home from work knackered with no plan and having to think of an acceptable meal on the spot with the ingredients you happen to have in AND cook it is joyful? I've never experienced anything other than a void of teeth-clenching going through the motions in that situation.

Wait, does that mean there's a way to iron that isn't soulless? I must be doing it wrong.

That moment when you dread making dinner but remember you’ve batch cooked is up there with the feeling of new bedding. Joyful relief.

I cook extra so there’s enough for two or three more meals, it doesn’t really take much longer. I don’t understand ‘sad’, unless you mean it’s not spontaneous but isn’t that the point? To come home and NOT be faced with a fridge full of random ingredients you have to cobble together for a meal.

Batch cooking isn’t spending all day cooking to me - that’s just silly

its about making double and freezing one when it’s no extra effort

and that increases joy - because you have a ready meal that’s good quality when you need it

Yeah I dont either @CoffeeCupOnBreakbut everyone is obsessed with it on MN!

People come on here asking for timesavers and the answer is always ‘spend an entire Sunday cooking’. Like that really helps!

What about batch ironing? Or batch cleaning? Or batch washing? Or batch gardening? Are they all weird and wrong too?

I don't know anyone who spends whole weekend doing this tbh.
DH and I do it once every couple of weeks. Turn on the music, get on chopping, once knife is minimal use, we crack open the beers and have some fun with it.
Nothing joyless 😁 But I do have to set lots of timers especially as the beers flow😂
Tbf we really do enjoy cooking. Sadly lots of our faves are not particularly a quick cook weekday dinner. Hence why we prep them and freeze them.

I think it’s how you meal prep that makes the difference.

I “meal prep”, that is: I do a big shop once a month or so, and process the food to provide meals/meal ingredients that can be easily taken out of the freezer and cooked without starting from scratch.

So I process (chop) onion, carrot and celery to mix and freeze and use for chilli, bolognese and cottage pies, make chicken and beef burgers, chop chicken and freeze in portions for a meal for three, and chop and freeze the remaining carrots (so they don’t go slimy) in batons, make mash and freeze that (so before the potatoes sprout) and make a big batch of Katsu curry sauce which I portion and freeze for a cheat’s chicken Katsu curry (using pre-prepared chicken gougons) mid-week Etc.

I also prepare salads in individual portions weekly so that all we have to do is grab a tin of tuna or some feta and olives to add to it before taking it into work as lunch. Minced beef, lamb, sausages etc. are frozen in their packs or portioned into bags with quantity of one per meal, so that I can get the packs out as and when we want a meal that includes them, and I take advantage of cut-price roasting joints and freeze them so we always have a potential Sunday roast in the freezer, too

If you’re prepping food to have the same meals each day, you’re doing it wrong!

I don't batch cook but I love having leftovers, which is pretty much the same thing. What's not to like about a ready-cooked meal? It does need to be something 'wet' though, like stew or curry. Dry stuff doesn't re-heat well.

I have a 20 mile drive home from work and I finish work at 5.30 so it can easily be 6.30 before I get home. DH often has evening work meetings so being able to reheat bolognese, chilli, curry, etc in the time it takes to cook some pasta or rice is a game changer. I occasionally have an afternoon in the kitchen batch cooking but normally I just make a big pot of whatever I am cooking and portion it for the freezer.
We are now usually a household of 3 and most recipes serve 4 so if I make something like lasagne, the extra portion goes in the freezer and either DD has it when DH and I are away or on a night when we aren't all eating together, I take 3 individual meals out of the freezer for us to heat as and when we want. Yesterday we had a visitor for lunch and I had made something in the slow cooker with I served with rice. There was enough left for 3 additional portions so they are boxed and in the freezer.

I don’t care about things being batch cooked, I just will not waste my weekend doing it myself. So joyless.

I use Pyrex dishes, they work fine in the microwave rather then dirtying another pan! They look ok too

As soon as you've decanted the tubs into a nice Le Creuset on the stove you've got instant wholesome home cooking without the prep. Don't microwave reheat in tubs - it's bad for you anyway and much nicer to stir a pot gently reheating while your potatoes or pasta or whatever are cooking.