To think that while cooking from scratch is better for you, it can be a massive PITA

[TwentyOneGuns]

I've just spent the afternoon making lunches and batch cooking for the week ahead. I'm sure the results will be lovely but it's all so bloody fiddly, messy and time-consuming.

While I was wrestling with a butternut squash (to make soup which incidentally will be nice but neither buttery or nutty so it's badly named as well as a bastard to cut up and de-seed) I couldn't help thinking how much quicker it would be to open a bloody tin. I know homemade is better but honestly I lost the will to live with that thing.

Anyone got any tips or gadget suggestions for making it all a bit quicker?

We had sweet potato mash on the weekend and DH was entirely convinced I was reviving the carrot and swede mash of his childhood. Would have been a tad cheaper too I suspect.

I batch cook and use either pressure cooker or slow cooker, freeze stuff into portions and we are sorted. YANBU, it can be a faff. We eat mainly veggie food so things like pasta sauces, soups, curries and daal can be done in the slow cooker (or pressure cooker) and come out beautifully. It does get easier as you do it more :) menu planning also helps :)