Many of us are short on time and struggle to prepare and cook healthy meals every day.  Batch cooking means cooking in advance, splitting it into portions, and keeping it in the fridge or freezer until you need it

• It is a great way to use up left overs and prevent food waste, which can help save money and the environment
• It can help avoid less healthy convenience foods or takeaways when short on time
• It doesn’t need to be done every week or take a lot of effort
• It doesn’t mean eating the same thing five days in a row
• Doing it when you can will make life easier. You can come home from a busy day to something already made for you and your children
• You just need to heat up a starchy food, such as pasta or rice to have with it
• You will need some containers to store your meal portions. You can defrost the meal in the fridge during the day, then heat up in the microwave or a saucepan

Lots of family friendly recipes for batch cooking can be found online. To get started, pick some of your family’s favourite meals and find a suitable recipe

Some examples of meals to cook in this way include:

• Bolognaise
• Stews
• Chilli
• Curry
• Soups

Look in the fridge for ingredients that you know you’ll need to use within a few days, such as vegetables.

• Unused vegetables can be added to different sauces and stews so you don’t have to throw them away
• If you have enough space you can cook more than one meal at a time
• You can cook a big batch of one meal that could last for days, or even over a couple of weeks. See what a difference this makes to your budget and time
• When you’re cooking, you can always make more than you need and freeze what’s left in portions
• Cooking a large joint of meat for a roast dinner can leave you with enough left over to make another meal such as a curry, fajitas or a pasta bake the next day

Get children involved in the process to keep them interested!

If you are swapping ingredients, remember that cooking times might be different.

Find linked below some useful guides on how to prepare, cook and store food safely.

Cleaning the kitchen

Storing food safety

Cooking food safety