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Batch cooking

11 replies

Pixilicious · 26/08/2016 10:22

I am
The least organised person food wise you would meet. We tend to buy food every day and only cook easy throw in the oven stuff. My husband works shifts and I do a 40 hour week, we have 2 DC, 18yo DS and 4yo DD. I am thinking batch cooking stuff once a week may be a good solution as I am sick of eating pre-prepared ie shop bought meals.
DD doesn't like mince so bolognese/lasagne/chilli etc are out. I'd be grateful for suggestions please? Or food cook books I could buy for inspiration. Thanks ladies.

OP posts:
JemimaMuddledUp · 26/08/2016 14:50

I am having a batch cooking weekend this weekend, to get ahead ready for the new term. It is a lifesaver to be able to pull something out of the freezer on a busy weeknight!

This weekend I am making:
Bolognese
Chilli (I make this with brisket rather than mince, it has the texture of pulled pork. It is a Jamie Oliver recipe).
Chicken Tagine
Beef and Ale Stew (which I will add a Puff pastry lid to when we eat it)
Tomato and lentil soup
Carrot and lentil soup
Banana bread
Lemon drizzle cake
Carrot cake

I make 15-20 servings of each of the main meals and portion them up into 5 serving pots (we are a family of 5). I make 8 individual servings of the soups for work lunches and 2 of each of the cakes.

Pixilicious · 26/08/2016 15:24

Thanks for the suggestions Smile

OP posts:
FiveStar · 26/08/2016 17:05

I am also not keen on mince so batch cook with diced stewing steak instead which needs longer cooking than mince. I make chilli with this and beef stew, also batch cook fish pie ( frozen fish, tinned tuna, salmon and mackerel in white sauce), shepherds pie with lamb mince, and good Bacon and red lentil soup from excellent Gill Holcombe book called How to feed your whole family

WilLiAmHerschel · 26/08/2016 23:23

If your dd will eat them you can substitute mince for green lentils in a lot of dishes. I do shepherds pie, chilli, bolagnaise and lasagne with them.

WilLiAmHerschel · 27/08/2016 00:26

Other ideas:
Curry - all sorts
Pasta bakes
Soups
Sausage casserole (I do this with vegetarian sausages. Assume you can do with meat ones too.)

JemimaMuddledUp · 27/08/2016 08:47

If you look at BBC Good Food website they usually say if you can freeze a recipe. Both that website and the Jamie Oliver one have "Batch Cooking" sections which are good for inspiration.

Pixilicious · 27/08/2016 10:06

Thanks everyone, and thanks for the website suggestions Jemima

OP posts:
wobblywonderwoman · 27/08/2016 10:09

I stock up on tin foil trays so they can go straight into the oven and no washing up

I do a lot of mince dinners but others are pork casserole, beef stew, sometimes pork chops and veg in gravy, chicken curry

wobblywonderwoman · 27/08/2016 10:12

Just a tip- I don't tend to waste a day cooking now but build up a stock of dishes so I font even have to cook then every weekend. I roast two full chickens and lake a lot of curries of maybe 3 lb of cubed beef.

So I get a few weekends off

JemimaMuddledUp · 27/08/2016 10:50

I don't usually spend a day cooking either, I just cook double/treble so I have a meal or two to stash in the freezer as well as what we eat that night. But stocks are low at the moment as I've been in hospital so I'm spending this weekend topping it back up!

Smurfit · 28/08/2016 05:25

Could you slow cook some meat and shred it to use in place of mince? Then you can use all those recipes which are easy and freeze well!

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