to think batch cooking is a bit soulless?

If I'm honest, it is. There is something a bit off putting about food I cooked and froze a while ago. But... it's balanced and healthy and has loads of veg in it, and is way better than eating ready meals or takeouts.

Switch to glass for freezing.

I am single, widowed, live alone, love cooking and have fab china, glass and silver.
Why would I not batch cook, say wild boar in red wine, some to eat now, some for later?
Oh and I sometimes have a tall, dark, handsome guest, so time saving is a good thing 😉

I batch cook as saves time and money plus by time i’ve finished work and collected a tired 4yr old just warming up a nutritious filling meal makes the end of the day bearable. If you don’t like batch cooking don’t do it but you surely understand the reasons why some people do batch cook

Same
I love having a freezer full of different meals.
The joy of a lovely homecooked meal in minutes on a winter evening.
I am a very good cook and I use things within certain time frames.
Crap food doesn't get any better if frozen

I also take to work .
My colleagues always comment on how nice it smells.

Yesterday I did a huge batch of roasted homegrown plum tomatoes with garlic .
Now waiting in the freezer

I love the idea but how do you heat it up to eat it? Whenever I’ve put it in the microwave it just dries out 😭😭😭
It depends what it is. I agree microwave can dry things so I use the hob, oven or airfryer to reheat.

Depends. You can have a tasty stew cooked for hours and made with love on a Tuesday 10 mins after you get in with meal prepping

I only ever really make stuff to freeze and I don’t spend a whole day making lots of meals, we just do larger portions when we make something freezable.

I’ll only really leave leftovers in the fridge a day or two. If there’s a bit left from dinner for lunch or a day when one of us is out.

I wouldn’t want the same meal twice in a week generally.

I don’t have a microwave. I defrost in the fridge and heat in a saucepan on v low heat, adding a bit of water or tomatoes to stop sticking.

I don't mind batch cooking but we freeze a lot of it so it's not eaten in the same week.
It's a bit depressing when eaten day after day as you get bored.. However I am very much a food addict so look forward to my dinner every night.
So I'm 50/50 on this one.

I honestly don’t care. Food is fuel to me. I get a .com delivery on a Sunday, do a load of food prep and then clean the house/ change towels and linens etc. I LOVE not having to do any proper cooking during the week and the kitchen doesn’t get trashed.

I’m happy to do some ‘proper cooking’ at the weekend and absolutely when we’ve got people coming but I LOVE a tub of preprepared, calorie-controlled, healthy, upf-free goodness during the week.

Leftovers from the day before are great. Beyond tha with the exception of one dish that freezes and reheats well I'd rather have eggs or sardines on toast

I don't care for it either

I prefer recycling food from one meal to another - e.g. yesterday's left over vegetables become tomorrow's frittata or egg fried rice

I think it really depends on the meals you batch cook! I try to do a variety of things to stash in freezer (curries, stews, soups, pasta things, cup cakes, bakery items, puddings, marinaded meats etc), and once or twice a week I'll do some bircher or overnight oats and a salad to last the week. Sometimes, I'll cook a load of pancakes and freeze them into portions for the DC to stick in toaster. I'm trying to throw in more variety with what I prep and freeze.

I used to freeze things into four portion sizes but I've recently started freezing them into single portions. Way more convenient for me and the DC (I work FT, my DS works shifts, my DD is in year 8). It means that when I'm at work, I can easily grab a portion of something healthy and home cooked for lunch, my DC can grab something for meals etc. They can pick the meal they want. I look at it (batch cooking/meal prep) like trying to be my future best friend. Saves me a lot of the mental load racking up in my head, clicking on take away menus or spending a fortune at work etc. :)

FWIW, I wasn't feeling the love for it last month as I'd fallen off the wagon (I was knackered from work and upset about my lovely DCat dying)...but my friend gave me a verbal kick up the bum to get on with it. I felt a lot better after the freezers were full again, and since then I'm just doing a smaller batch cook thing once a fortnight (rather than a massive thing once a month). For me, it saves a huge amount of faff :)

We have toddler twins and both work full time, 2 days a week my husband finished at 8pm. So it's pretty essential in our house as we would eat crap and / or eat super late all the time. Plus twins are in a phase of waking up early 🙄

Couldn't disagree more.I love a batch cooking session. Get a good podcast or radio on and stash away soups,filling for pies,casserole etc. I get different sized foil freezer dishes.Easy to stack and what's nicer than something homemade but already done.Then just add some fresh veg ,a jacket spud or a packet of rice .But I enjoy cooking and hate wasting anything.

God, I think the complete opposite! When I manage to batch cook and have blocks of various meals in the freezer, it gives me immense joy!

I know its the right thing to do. But It feels so boring and practical. Very fanny craddock.
Its the food equivalent of always buying black shoes as they go with everything.

Depends what's in the boxes.

Mundane leftovers? Yeah, food as fuel.

A delicious favourite? Wow, something to look forward to!

Yes but it means you get to eat things other than quick dinners on a week night.

YABVU. The container doesn’t make any difference to the nice food. Delicious soup/stew/crumble without having to make it again from scratch? What's not to like about that?!

I'm not a fan of it...I'm really not convinced that the time spent batch cooking is really less than just doing quick dinners...i mean you often have to defrost/reheat/add a carb/add veg to the batch cooked food anyway.

I love the idea but how do you heat it up to eat it? Whenever I’ve put it in the microwave it just dries out 😭😭😭

I totally agree, @iCod, and I'm so glad to find I'm not the only person that thinks this.
My DH died earlier this year and having the motivation to cook for one is just one of the challenges I'm facing. I tried batch cooking a spaghetti bolognese, doing the same quantity I've always done then freezing what I didn't use. It was so depressing, I've not tried again! 😂