What food do you make weekly just to have to hand?

[GreyWasp]

I always make:

batch of soup for lunch (not in Summer)
a couple of loaves of bread in bread maker
sandwich filler for the kids - tuna mayo, coronation chicken etc
green juice for me (on a weight loss kick)
overnight oats for teen daughter
used to make breakfast muffins but fallen out it
Chinese style pickled cucumbers - we make a massive batch which my daughters have with almost every meal think it is a social media thing

Just has become part of my routine and does make life easier

Curious what others do

Nothing at all.
I simply couldn't be bothered and have never got the whole batch cooking thing either.

I've started doing them this way so not hard boiled, and they're so good

www.instagram.com/reel/DFD7FcOIp5a/?igsh=Y3dzdm1xMXAwYjF0

It's just easier living alone for me
My dad always seems confused by it and I'm "well I'm not making one single portion of lasagne am I?!"
May as well make 6-8 portions and freeze it, it's probably easier than trying to scale it down for 1 portion. Same with casseroles, cottage pies etc

I portion them into glass containers and freeze them, then defrost when I want them, add fresh veg/salad and eat

Wow, this thread had made me feel really bad. I've read it twice. For 20+ years, Other than batch cooking, making 2 lasagnes, bags of meatballs for spaghetti and meatballs, chili, spag Bol x 6, etc, I cook nothing on a weekly basis. No soup, no bread, nothing. Blimey. Dh has done all cooking and shopping for the last year and is fed up.

I've been so ill for years, and broken my back in 4 places, I've only just been functioning. Actually not even functioning, just surviving, keeping my job.

Maybe I'll make an effort to cook?

I make some harrisa chicken & spinach pasta every week for my work lunches. I freeze half of the harissa flavoured chicken I cook on Sunday so I can make another batch of 4 meals mid week. Means I don’t waste money on supermarket sandwiches that I don’t even like. I have it with some cheese and salad. Yum.

My mum does this and they have bubble and squeak, one week as an evening meal with sausages and other weeks a smaller amount for a lunch.

when DC lived at home I did it but one didn’t like bubble and squeak so they’d take a portion of roast veg first and then I’d cook the rest

I'm the same. Instead of batch cooking, any meals I put in the slow cooker I put double the amount in for one night. Then we either have the leftovers the next day which I bloody love as there's food ready with no cooking, or I freeze it. That way we always do end up with a freezer full of meals. But I don't spend a Sunday batch cooking or anything like that. My worst nightmare on a Sunday would be standing there cooking all those meals.

Can I ask if you have a breadmaker? And if so, do you have a pizza dough recipe using 00 flour?

Been trying to find one for ages but all recipes using 00 don't have breadmaker instructions, and all recipes using a breadmaker don't use 00 flour 😖

I don't something similar, I make a big curry or chilli or pasta bake and freeze in boxes to take to work for lunch.

It's so much nicer and less hassle than making sandwiches and shop bought sandwiches just aren't very nice.

The other reason I have homemade meals or parts of meals in the fridge or freezer is that when I get home from work I'm exhausted. I don't want to cook or even think about it so having food ready means that we eat healthy, homemade food every day.

Hi - sorry for delay - I use the bbc good food yummy golden syrup flap jack as the base and add milled seeds / hemp/ sultanas / pistachios / flaked almonds / chopped apricots if I’ve got them - I find you can probably add up to 100g of extras before they start falling apart . They are nice just as they are though too . I make 12 from the recipe which I reckon is 200/250 calories each - I’m chasing extra calories with growing teen boys

These look incredible, thank you!

I love so many of the ideas and recipes that people have posted on here. I've kept hold of the links so that I can try out the recipes. Thank you PPs for sharing them. Completely inspiring (and I'm a seasoned batch cooker).

Stuff I do weekly to have to hand (for work/school lunches, suppers etc):
-fruit salad (chop a load of different fruit, keep in a tupperware)
-normal salad (keep in a salad tupperware - has a mesh insert thing and it lasts the week). I just add things to it in the morning before work.
-hard boiled eggs - good for snacks, adding to salad etc.
-frittata or crustless quiche (I make, portion up and either freeze or keep in fridge) - good for having with salad, or for breakfast.
-soups - I divvy up for freezer or fridge and it's handy for work/school lunches etc. Also a good way for using up veg.
-curries, daals, pasta sauces.
-I will season/marinate and cook up chicken, beef brisket etc, divvy into portions for freezer. I take out a portion in the morning to add to salad for that day. It would have defrosted by lunch. Also handy when you need to cook a meal quick and you know you've already got some cooked meat/poultry to use.
-I sometime do cookies/flapjacks/cake.
-I make a loaf of bread weekly.
-I pickle veg and make jams/marmalade/chutney/a jar of veggie stock paste (not every week!!).

If I can freeze stuff, I will, otherwise I keep other stuff in the fridge. Once I'm back from work (7am-8pm on the ward), I crash and can't face having to cook from scratch, so this is really handy for when I get back from work. Like others have said, it's good knowing that there's good home made meals ready at home. Also good as the kids can grab something home made. The kids have food flasks so they can take hot meals to school with them (means they don't spend bloody ages in the queue).

I started batch cooking when I was on my own with DS1 (when he was a baby/toddler). Once a month, on my day off, I'd do a big food shop and cook 10 portions each of different curries, pasta sauce things, soups etc, and spend a few hours prepping/batch cooking. I'd do 4 or 5 different meals and freeze them into 2 portions each. It would last us ages, and saved a fortune in time or money.

I've never even eaten most of the food on this thread.

I used to batch cook for the DCs.

Things like bolognaise sauce.

Tomato pasta sauce.

But so much of this is bewildering to me.

I'll happily use left over lamb or chicken in a stirfry the next day. And I make stock (or freeze the bones to make stock when I can be bothered).

Double meals are Ok - made shepherds pie on Monday night - ate half yesterday and the rest is in the fridge for lunch today or I might freeze it.

But I don't want to use up a whole day batch cooking.

No, I find the humous is fine after freezing. Might depend on the recipe

Usually batch cook a big meat and bean chilli to last a few meals plus freeze some.
Overnight oats with fat free youghart and seeds and frozen berries.
Hard boiled eggs ready for a snack or mashed in sandwich with mayo.
Plus dozen free range eggs for scrambled or poached.
Chicken from sunday roast for making broth for soup and nibbles for my dogs' dinners.
Bananas grapes pears satsamas for bite on the go.
Nice sourdough loaf for poached egg on toast.
Jar winter homemade pickle.
Slow cook a stew for midweek.
Bargin fish in freezer for wrapping in foil with veggies and sweet chilli sauce.
Rice cooker a saviour. Quick and perfect every time.
Air fryer a must for quick cheap cooking for 1.

Why bewildering?

Oooh, someone mentioned marmalade. It is that time of the year, seville oranges are in season and we've just made two batches. Well DS has

Thanks v much 🙂

When i make mushy peas to go with fish and chips, pasty and chips etc i make a massive panful at once and put it all in tubs for the freezer.
The cooker always looks like shrek's just exploded all over it in the end but it saves buying the little tins of it

@GreyWasp - does that recipe come out like a cucumber kimchi? I'm going to have to give it a go!

I don't make these things weekly but I do batch cook so in the freezer, there is always shortcrust pastry, bol sauce, steak pie filling, pizza dough, pizza sauce and some type of chilli dish. I just make three times as much as I'd normally need. Sometimes there's a cottage pie/lasagne/moussaka too, it's not that much more effort to make two at once and it's a real lifesaver when my arthritis has been going nuts.

I make houmous with an entire glass jar of chickpeas, liquid and all. This lasts a week.

Also salad dressings, bread, muffins, biscuits and flapjacks for lunch boxes weekly.

Last year I made a lot of yogurt but have got out of the habit. Must get my yogurt maker out.

I don’t traditionally do batch cooked meal as such, but dh is away 6 months of the year now, so I make the same amount and freeze half for me at a later date. I just cook something for the dc fresh that evening. They like different stuff to me because I’m veggie and they are not. It’s just easier.

I batch cook curries and pop in the freezer so I can pull them out when any of us are ill or I'm in a rush. We always have homemade samosas in the freezer, spring rolls and pastries. I usually bake on a Sunday so the kids can take muffins, flapjacks, etc. in their packed lunch.

For anyone wanting easy healthier no cook prep. I recommend bean salads.

I started making for example chickpea salad when I was breastfeeding and hungry, but zero time with baby. Chickpeas, chopped spring onion, spinach, red onion, cucumber, tomatoes, peppers fresh herbs if in garden, seasonings, olive oil/ djion/ lemon juice . You can do a combo of any tin beans or lentils, any raw veg, any dressing.

Even if in baby mode you live off toast, at least it’s toast and a few veggies and protein this way