to ask how you batch cook?

[cjt110]

I know HOW, obviously, but I don't have the energy to cook one bloody meal, let alone tonnes. And let's not even get started on the space to freeze if if I manage it.

I would LOVE to have a barrage of ready cooked, healthy and ready to go meals but right now (staving off an ME crash) the idea of even slinging someone in my instant pot makes my body hurt...

It’s just me and my DH but every time we cook we make enough for about 8 people - freeze portions of it ! Usually do big pot on a Saturday or Sunday (a curry, a , or something like that) and usually make a big batch of homemade soup - I got lots of reusable silicone bags to put potions in the freezer! Then I’d cook another meal maybe one or 2 more times in the week (pasta sauce or a batch of veggie burgers or something) freeze some

So then you suddenly have 2 lots of different meals in the freezer and a load of soup! Alternate what you’re eating through the week and then your back to the weekend to cook another batch of something and it starts to build up! :)

Others have explained it well.

I wouldn't want to set aside a whole day making loads of different things.

If I cook a bolognese sauce- it is always a batch cook. I use 3Kg of mince, 8 cans tomatoes, couple of jars of passatta.
Eat some that night and freeze the rest into portions. Cooking 8 times more than you need does not require 8 times the effort.
Ditto with curry or soup.
Then after a while you have a bank or selection of stuff in the freezer.

I find bolognese perticularly useful, as when defrosted can be turned into chilli- with cumin, chilli and kidney beans, can be used as a bolognese, or made into lasagne.

I eat batch food three times a week, takaway once a week, OH cooks once a week ( not home in time usually), so I only have to cook a full meal twice a week.

I do this when I have energy (weekends, early mornings), in preparation for being floored by teatime.
I do things like:
Make large pan tomato sauce; freeze for pasta/pizza
Make same base (fried onion) then add chopped veg. This 'mix' freezes well alone or with stock (soup) or lentils (could be meat/chicken) for a stew or lasagne filling, or chilli.
Things take up less space if you add to the base, ie add tinned kidney beans and chilli powder to the basic mix on the day, for chilli.
I freeze in ziplock bags flat on baking trays, then stack.
Can't imagine it's easy to batch cook without a freezer.
Another thing is to always make two meals at once; if I'm having to chop/be in kitchen, I make tomorrow's meal or at least pre-cook bits of it. That way you're doing half the cooking.
I then do the pasta/rice/spuds in the morning and leave to reheat with meal later.
It all takes energy, and planning, but is definitely a great relief. You can't beat having a nearly-ready cheap home-made meal to come home to.

I don’t cook whole meals in advance, more do the time consuming bit of cooking in advance and freeze parts of meals, so it doesn’t take up as much freezer space and it’s more flexible.

Eg right now in my freezer I have several tubs of tomato and vegetable sauce - I made it very solid so it takes up less space. When actually cooking with it I’ll dilute it with water/stock, and add in either italian herbs or chilli, or spices depending on what I want it to go with. It might gp with pasta, or meatballs, or add beans and have with rice, etc. I sometimes add stock and have it as soup.

So that was an easy hour of cooking (it simmers for a long time, I do all the prep and cleaning in that hour) and then it’s a good basis for maybe 6 or 7 different meals, it’s not boring and it doesn’t take up loads of space.

I bought a second hand upright freezer for the utility room for batch cooking. It’s saved me a load of money over the years.

I usually make 10-12 portions at a time. I do them so each meal type runs out at different times. So I only have to top up the stocks of one thing at a time. I freeze things in individual portions in the plastic tubs from takeaways or else plastic bags. I put the date they were made on each container. I usually have batches of chilli, bolognaise, stew, ratatouille and curry. It means there’s always something healthy in the freezer. It probably sounds OTT but I really couldn’t be arsed cooking every day from scratch and I work away a lot, so it’s easy to come home to and leaves stuff there for my family while I’m away. I only shop once a month at supermarkets, so it saves money. We just buy a little dairy and fresh fruit/veg as we need it.

@Ouchaheadinmybehind Hello fellow M.E'r waves

I'll have a Sunday night where I have 4 or 5 different meals on the go at once. Eg a bolognese sauce, a cottage pie, a chicken curry, plus a casserole in the slow cooker. 4 or 5 portions of each. Epic economies of scale, chop like 8 onions. You get into a routine with it and become very quick and efficient. I put in max hour of chopping and prep, then stuff is just simmering and needs a stir occasionally, then bam. 4 weeks worth of weekday meals, done.

Oh and i also bulk prepare spice mixes in large jars. E.g. I will mix up all the spices I use for a curry so that i can just dump a few spoons in as i fry the onion & chicken.

Get a large quantity of mince . Cut up onions, and fry off with mince. Then decide what you want to cook and quantities . I.e you like spag bol more than cottage pie or lasagne .
So divide your mince up , and add ingredients for each to make up the dishes. Put in containers, write on what they are and date, then freeze.

I do a mix of batch prep and batch cook.

Batch prep on a sunday for the week:

• boil pasta
• cook rice
• cut up veg
• marinate meet
• snacks
• breakfast muffins

Batch cook - usually a full day a month where I make a variety of stuff

• meatballs
• pasta sauces
• lasagna
• pies

You do need lots of freezer space though.

*meat

I batch cook due to having 4 children, lots of clubs and a self employed DH
I bought another freezer especially for this.
I spend a day or two cooking do for example, last weekend I made
10x cottage pies
8 chicken tikka masala
8 satay chicken with rice and veg
10 sweet chilli and garlic with rice and veg
5 hoisin chicken with rice and veg
10 beef in black bean sauce with rice and veg
10 spaghetti Bolognese
10 chilli con carne
5 peri peri chicken with rice
20 sausage casserole
20 beef stew
6 lasagne
I also cooked a roast in Sunday for the family.
It's a lot of time in the kitchen but only for a day or two.

To keep it easy, if I was in your shoes I would just double up. So if you are making chili, make a double batch and freeze to eat over the next few weeks. Saucy things freeze quite well but you can also freeze things like potatoes, cooked rice, etc.

Even just cutting up onions, veggies, etc can help as they will last cut up for several days in the fridge or months in the freezer. If you eat meat, cooking that in advance and freezing can help save you time in the future too.

You definitely need freezer space - we bought a second hand one and it’s in the garage though if you don’t have one you could get a small one and put in a cupboard in the house.

I work part time and I batch cook one meal on my day off to cover the days I work - spag Bol, curry, pizza bases, chilli, fish pie, pasta sauces, soups etc. Over time you build up a fair amount.
I use these then what’s in the freezer or do a super quick stir fry on work days so there’s not much effort involved.

I try to do one big cook once a week and make four full meals (for the family) in one go. Eat one fresh, maybe have one the next night, freeze two or three. After a few weeks you have some variety. It also helps to cook something you can serve up in a variety of ways. For example I did a huge veggie-heavy chilli last night, and we had us it in tacos with lettuce and sour cream. You can put the remaining chilli on a baked potato, serve it with rice, make nachos, use in wraps etc. Bolognese you can serve as is or make a quick lasagna, or on a potato etc.
That said everyone enjoyed the chilli so much last night they ate double portions so my plan isn't flawless!

I have ME and am the queen of batch cooking!!

So one sundsy i will make 4 lasage,4 spag bols and 4 chillis and 4 cottage pies. I buy frozen mash from asda but i would cook spagetti from scratch.

Next month i may bulk buy chicken and various sauces. So i may freeze 4 chicken in white wine, 4 hunters chicken,4 curries ect

Then i just work out what extras i need. So for the freezer... 4xfrozen jackets (for white wine chicken) 1 large bag of wedges for the hunters chicken, then tinned sweetcorn for the cupboard.

On the other nights i try do pizza and salad, or chicken kiev and instant couscous.

Frozen veg helps me eat better... or tinned goods like sweetcorn or tinned peaches.

I bulk bought loadd of takeout tubs from the £1 shop (but do wash and reuse)

We have a crappy old freezer in the garage which is a life saver!!

I build my stash or ready meals up and keep refilling slowly.
If I cook something, I cook 2-4 more portions. For example Katsu curry. I stead of 2, I make 4. Including rice. Cool, pop in a fridge overnight and then move into freezer. Slowcooker is godsend. Again. Make 8 portions of something, have dinner, freeze rest. I ended up with a nice variety of ready to microwave food

The freezing and defrosting thing confuses me. Do you cook from frozen or defrost first

I cook from frozen. Six minutes normally does it, maybe a bit more if it's a very dense dish.

I use old take away containers and usually have around forty in the freezer.

Variety of fish pie, shepherds pie, chili, veg chili, butter chicken, daal, tomato pilaf, mushroom risotto, lamb hot pot, pork and bean casserole, tagine, loads of soups......... a few of these can be done in the slow cooker.

Just make four portions, eat one, fridge one for the next day, freeze two. It doesn't take much longer than making one dish.
I try to make a couple of big batches at the weekend.

I also chop a ton of onions in the blender, portion them out, bag them up and freeze them, gets you off to a quick start making something.
Also slice peppers and freeze them, they're fine in dishes. And make my own stock - I freeze bones and leftover ends and bits of veg to make stock when I have enough, then freeze the stock to use for soups and risottos.
I also freeze leftover red wine to throw in casserole.

But I have a large freezer and am very lucky.

I always cook from frozen. Divide the batches into individual foil try’s with lids (Amazon) and cook from frozen, 180 fan for 55-60 mins.

Please don't use ziplock bags. I reuse all of our jars. Plastic consumption!!!!

Ziplock bags can be reused, I use mine many times over, though I prefer take away tubs. Glass jars are dangerous to freeze.
I keep all glass jars but other than for chutney, which I make, I find very little use for them to be honest.

I have a gammon that needs cooking and chicken.

I find gammon is best cooked, sliced then freeze the slices. Use for sandwiches. Or cut the slices up to have in pasta bake or cube up for lentil and bacon soup.

I do batch cook as pp have said but I will also make one to two extra portions of a meal I’m already making for tea and freeze them, they really add up and then you don’t end up with just loads of bolognese in your freezer

We’re big batchers here. Like other PPs, we eat one lot, put another lot in the fridge for the next day and then freeze 7-8 pots.
We have a separate freezer for these pots, which are plastic soup pots, so they’re “free” and easily replaced once they start looking a bit manky.

DP does a big chili every couple of weeks and we have a drawer devoted to it. I also make extra rice (get it in the freezer as soon as it’s room temp and zap it from frozen).
Another handy idea is to make a lot of soffrito, which is fried onion, celery, carrots and any herbs you fancy. This is a good base for sauces, soups etc and if you can reach into the freezer, grab a handful of two and get going, it’ll save some time and energy.

Yeah, double up and get the hang of it, then get more adventurous with quantities - it’s a real lifesaver when you’re tired/cold/busy/late etc.

If energy levels are an issue (I can sympathise) you can buy chopped frozen vegetables very cheaply to get you started. A decent sized slow cooker is your friend.

I probably cook 3-4x per week and eat freezer food the other half of the time.

I probably don’t eat the same meal in a fortnight. You soon get a good reserve. I don’t see the difficulty.