Sell batch cooking to me, please.

[TheMotherSide]

Just that.

I love cooking but am time-poor.

DP and I share cooking. Typically, I'll spend approximately an hour preparing our evening meals and, as much as I love it, I've concluded that I no longer have the luxury of this hour of an evening. On the nights when DP cooks, I get a lot of work done which I'd otherwise have to add to the work I do after DC have gone to bed (teacher, so inevitable couple of hours working in the evenings).

I've always resisted batch cooking as I like to roll with what I feel like preparing on any given night, contents of fridge permitting. But I think I'm ready to let this pleasure go in favour of a bedtime the right side of midnight.

So hit me with the game-changing ups of batch cooking!

"wet" foods get batch cooked here

Bolognese
Various curries - Indian and Thai
Fajita-y chicken
Taco mince
Chilli
Tagine
Scrambled tofu

If i make a lasagne or cottage pie, I'll make a spare full one and freeze.

I don't specifically batch cook, I just cook more than i need. Some of it is portioned for family meals, others are portioned individually for lunches.

Something will get pulled out of the freezer in the morning and left to defrost, then it's just a case of cooking rice/pasta/potatoes/veg/whatever

We freeze taco mix and also burrito mix the rice doesn't defrost quite so nicely in burrito mix but as it still works fine as it's going inside a wrap with salad etc. We found generally 500g of pork mince that we use does two portions for the four of us. I also freeze risotto, this I take to work but would be fine for a whole family - I re-heat in the microwave. Enchiladas also freeze ok though the wrap texture does change slightly.

I'd also recommend Sarah Rossi, particularly What's for dinner in One pot. There is a mixture of slow cooker and tray bake meals. Most of which have a few minutes of prep and then either throw in the oven/slow cooker or add something half way through cooking in the oven and leave - not standing at the cooker for an hour.

Make a stew, serve half with bread. Serve the second half as pie filling or on a jacket potato.

I tend not to batch cook so much as always make a mammoth serving of everything and use the leftovers later in the week.

Spaghetti Bolognese Monday, add kidney beans and peppers, season, and it’s chilli on Wednesday.

Cook loads of sausages and freeze the leftovers for sausage casserole, or breakfast or whatever.

I make a big panful of 'ragu'. Mine's veggie, but you could do a meat one. I split it into portions and freeze it. Then i turn it into: lasagne/spagbol/ cottage pie/chilli/moussaka. It's been a game changer for me.
I also make batches of soup and freeze single portions. Delicious, and much cheaper/healthier than cuppa soup

We’re a family of 6, batch cooking is lovely mid week when we have clubs or can’t be arsed. I cook curries, bolognaise, pasta sauces, casseroles & soups, I double the portions when I cook to freeze a meal for all 6 or I freeze leftovers & smaller portions for Dh & I to eat later. I sometimes have a batch cooking afternoon & cook a massive bolognaise or a terms worth of pasta sauce. I also freeze bags of casserole/curry mix for the slow cooker midweek, defrost overnight & put in the morning, dinners ready & I cook rice. Takes the faff & stress out whilst we all still get home Cooked meals. I also bake scones, cakes etc for lunchboxes, crumble mix for quick midweek pudding.

If I cook one portion, I may as well cook 6. I portion up, freeze 5. I do this regularly at the weekend so have a rolling selection of food in the freezer. In the morning, I get the evening meal out to defrost while I am at work, then I just add some veg to it and heat through.
My slow cooker and pressure cooker work hard for a living. While cooking is happening m I can do other things.

I recently got one for £49 from Argos after my ancient top oven/combi microwave finally died.

I tend to batch prep ingredients rather than full meals as I find it gives me more flexibility. I dice and batch freeze chicken, portions of browned mince base, sliced/chopped veg, mashed and diced potatoes, chilli, Bolognese and curry sauce bases etc.
Then I can mix and match protein, veg and whatever sauce base I want and have a meal with no prep time. Generally if I take it out of the freezer before work I can have a meal on the table in about 20 minutes.
If you build a stash you can prep on rotation too so I only do one element each weekend.

I meal plan and do my food shop on a Sunday. I make sure I include once batch cook per week.

Usual suspects are a chilli, curry, bolognese or soup, bulk them out with tinned mixed beans and lots of veg.

I use one or two portions the week I cook it and then freeze the rest for another week. Switch up what you serve it with out of rice, jacket potatoes, in wraps etc.

@friedaddedchilli That's it -the very intimidating pro batch-cookers online who approach it with military precision.

I'm really pleased to have asked here; sentiments like 'intuitive' are much more up my street, and I just want something that will make sense and save time.

All these ideas seem really sensible and relaxed. I think I'm going to need to rethink how I shop next in order to 'over buy' in order to over-cater.

Just made a big pan of minced beef, onions and tin tomatoes, separated it into 2 pans and made a bolognaise and a chilli, left 2 portions out for today and tomorrow and portioned the rest into freezer bags. Love having my own ready meals!

My freezer always contains individual portions of chilli, veg bolognese and meat version, curry, sometimes soups, cheese sauce, gravy or bits and pieces of leftovers like rice, pasta, mashed potato that can be turned into quick meals such as fish cakes, fried rice or individual pasta dishes. This is because we all have different tastes (fussy eating🤷) and as I'm the worst for this due to childhood issues I've never been able to say that my kids all eat the same meal!
It's second nature to me to always cook more than required, eg tonight one wanted meat bolognese, there was none so I cooked a batch, he had it and two portions are in the freezer, another had homemade pizza, the ingredients for which were already in my fridge so was 5 minutes to throw together and in the oven. I finely chop veg and freeze such as celery, carrots , peppers so I can quickly throw a batch of anything together and often have bread/pizza dough in the fridge as it will keep for a few days.

Honestly don't over think it. Make what you usually make but more, then portion and refrigerate/freeze and that's you.

We don’t batch cook lots of stuff but always have things like curry, bolognese, chilli etc

With leftover chilli we might have enchiladas, chilli with loaded skins etc. I’ll defrost some chilli and curry before Christmas and make some pastries with it for buffet food.

Or make a lasagne with leftover bolognese.

We don’t like to plan our weeks too tightly but on a night we can’t be arsed, there’s something in the freezer to avoid eating shit or ordering a takeaway.

I bought the Batch Lady cookbook on a whim last year and it made me feel intimidated and a bit of a rubbish cook. Everything is so precisely planned it’s overwhelming. It’s not realistic for the busy people it’s supposed to help!

Additional meal options...
Chilli
Soup
Stew
Chicken and mushroom casserole
Could you prep ingredients in eve and put a slow cooker on before you go to work?
Double amounts so you have tea and then extra for freezer