To think batch cooking is awful

[Newyear2025]

It takes forever to do and everything comes out tasting of freezer.

I haven't noticed a change in flavour. Favourite batch-cooked meals in our house are cassoulet, chilli, assorted pasta sauces, beef cooked in red wine, chicken cacchiatore.

I also bake and freeze wholemeal and apple breads.

The only thing I don't freeze is fish/seafood because it seems to dry out, no matter how well sealed.

I will, and not put other people down in the process, you should try it sometime.

Sounds as if you're not storing it properly. You need containers that seal well and are the right size for the portion you're freezing so there's as little air as possible.

Why does cooking 4 times the quantity of pasta sauce, eating one and freezing 3 take ages?

Yes this is what I don't like about freezing food. It goes watery and the texture is horrible.

“Tastes of freezer” is homogenous, mushy, not-aromatic, poor texture and weak flavour and an aura of sadness

Oh the drama some people seem to have about a frozen bolognese sauce. This place is batshit. 😂

Exactly this. But the 'batch-cook-babes' can't stand it that some other posters aren't on board with their idea to cook 10-15 meals at once, then pop them in tupperware pots, and stick them in the freezer, and then thaw them out weeks later.

Some people prefer fresh food, not manky thawed out batch food slop.

Not that hard to figure out. People like different things.

Shame the batch-cook-babes aren't getting that. They are weirdly defensive!

EXACTLY!

Like I said, 'thawed out batch-food slop!'

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I tend to double up rather than batch cooking. I hate waste so will freeze everything. I've made a big pulled pork for a buffet later, any not used will go in the freezer for a jacket spud/ wrap another night.

I don't batch cook, I prefer not too, but this post is also weirdly defensive. Why do you even care so much if you're not eating it? 😂 X

When I make spag bol I make a giant vat and then freeze about 10 meals worth-it's so nice to have it in the freezer and is delicious every time.

I also freeze chilli and home made soups.
All successfully re-heated and so convenient to have- always feel happy with a freezer full!

I agree with OP but after reading various replies I'm wondering what containers everyone is using. Links to ones that don't taste of freezer would be great!

It's not one thing or the other. Having some meals in the freezer means you only have to cook when you want to. When I had children at home I always had pasta sauce, fried rice chicken curry and chilli (family favorites- not recommendations!) in the freezer so I could have a meal on the table in the time
It took to cook some pasta or put on the rice cooker. And on other nights when I had the time and felt like it I'd cook. What's not to like?

I just use those tin foil containers. No "freezer taste" in my food.

I batch cook. I have a slow cooker and a Ninja pressure cooker/slow cooker/multi cooker thing (absolutely godsend IMO) and I spend a day and a half batch cooking and freeze when it’s cooled. Nothing tastes of freezer to my mind. Nothing is bland and I’ve never had a complaint when folks come over and take pot luck. That generally means a label has come off.
I am a solo dweller nowadays, work, have hounds and my evenings are not being spent cooking. I have batch cooked for decades and it’s always worked for me. I put something from the freezer into the fridge at night time, by tea time the following day it’s ready to cook, throw in a few veggies and I am good to go.
I even batch cook my own granola and cook 24 portions of malt loaf or banana bread at a time. My freezers work for a living 😂

Frozen spaghetti definitely doesn’t taste as nice though.

I do spaghetti Bol sauce, a few different curries and chilli (both meat and veggie types), lasagna, pasta bake, shepherd's pie - all sorts. You have to season well, and I tend to make sauces a little less sloppy for the freezer as they come out wetter when defrosted. Anything involving mashed potato, I use powdered rather than liquid milk in the mash. Everything is well seasoned.

Pretty much everything comes out good if you cook it well to start and freeze it properly. And reheat it properly as well.

Can we please add to to the label ‘batch cook babes’ the terms ‘slow cooker slobs’, ‘microwave mingers’ and ‘air fryer fiends’? Personally, if my chef isn’t available, I’ll stick to the sous vide and the Lacanche range, now that the Aga isn’t de rigueur 🤣

I've made a mixed bean chilli and next I'm going to cook the lamb with onions, garlic, carrots, celery, broccoli tinned tomatoes, tomato puree and lots of spices. Probably cumin, paprika and star anise. 😀 I finely chopped the celery, carrot and broccoli in my food mixer. It adds nice flavour as well as extra veg.

The bean chilli has onions, garlic and chilli sautéed in chilli oil, then added tomato puree, 2 tins of tomatoes, 2 tins of kidney beans, 1 tin of chickpeas, a bag of frozen soy beans, salt, pepper and 3 heaped tsp paprika.

I generally make up my recipes depending on what we have in and what seems nice to me, so no guarantees of authenticity!

As a single mum to a ND child, batch cooking saves me a lot of time. It means I can give my son nutritious meals quickly rather than resorting ro shoving fish fingers in the freezer. He can't be left alone for long, some days not at all. Big fan of the batch here!

I don't understand why it tastes of freezer. My frozen food tastes perfectly normal unless it's been frozen too long (like a year), and then it tastes odd.
I tend to batch cook a couple of things at the weekend and just put them in the fridge. We'll eat them in the week after work, so we don't have to cook when we're tired. It works brilliantly.

As others say some things freeze perfectly well. Delia's sausages in red wine for one and ragu bolognese for another. Curries, fish pie filling and various bean based stews too.

Less so with veg heavy stuff.

After my DP went vegan we were pretty good for a while at making vegan stuff I found palatable but latterly she's gone Tofu mad and I can't stand the stuff. Realised I was getting into a rut of stuff like Kievs or frozen fish with chips.

Worked out a list of recipes I could batch and freeze. Apart from eating better I'm also saving a fortune.

Thanks for posting this, I'm going to try it, sounds great!

Maybe you could go to some cookery lessons locally?

I batch cook bolognese (meat and veggie), curries stews and soups. I do all these in my slow cooker so it is not a faff, bung the ingredients in then get on with my day. Have a portion of whatever I have cooked for my evening meal and then cool and portion up the rest of it to freeze. Of course I do other stuff like omlettes, stir fry and quick pasta things with tuna and so on but it really helps to have things in the freezer for when I don't feel like cooking. I do label and date stuff and find that a bit of a pain when I am doing it but then feel smug when I am looking through my freezer and can identify what;s in there. I learnt about labelling the hard way, never used to do it and have had some surprises!