Batch Cooking Recipes

Save money. Save time. Save waste.

Batch cooking is a fantastic way of ensuring a healthier and cheaper way of eating. It involves preparing all of your meals for the week, or even the month, in one go. This means that you have healthy meals available to hand after a long day at work, rather than reaching for a supermarket ready-meal or a takeaway for you and your family. Planning your food also means you waste less produce, since you use up all of the ingredients that you bought for a specific recipe, rather than odd ingredients here and there, bought for individual meals.

The use of the freezer is very helpful when batch cooking, in order to maintain variety in meals and enable as much forward planning as possible. Some recipes, like pies and lasagnes, can be taken up to the step before placing it in the oven, and then frozen, to be cooked through when needed. Other recipes, like curries and stews, should be cooked all the way through, cooled completely, and then frozen, to be re-heated when needed.

BATCH COOKING TIPS:

• Freezing things in individual portions can be very useful if you are cooking for 1 or 2 more frequently.

• Check the freezing times for individual ingredients.

• Check what can be frozen.

• Vegetarian recipes will keep longer than recipes containing meat.

• Always safely de-frost

• Re-usable food bags allow for more efficient storage opportunity than freezer-safe boxes. Just try to freeze the full bags flat so they can be stacked neatly.

• Get rid of the air in reusable food bags before sealing to create more space in your freezer.

• Scale up the recipe if you can so you have lots of portions.

• Think about the re-heating of food and if an ingredient is supposed to be eaten cold, then don’t add this to the recipe until you’re ready to serve.

• Label everything clearly as all meals starts to look the same when frozen!

• If you have a big enough freezer, freeze things like lasagnes in a freezer-safe oven proof dish, to make it easier to reheat.

This warming stew is packed full of flavour, with a hearty base and fresh salsa verde topping. If you can’t find mixed beans, use any other tinned or combination of tinned of beans you like.

Recipe: Mixed Bean Stew with Salsa Verde

These salmon and prawn fishcakes are zesty and fragrant in equal measure. You could swap the salmon for another meaty fish such as cod.

Recipe: Lime and Coriander Fish Cakes

Use any sustainably sourced fish you fancy in this crispy golden pie.

Recipe: Rösti-Topped Fish Pie

If you like things a little more fiery, add a finely chopped red chilli to your stew along with the garlic and spices.

Recipe: Fragrant Lamb and Chickpea Stew with Spiced Flatbreads

Flaxseed is the secret to these protein-packed black bean and mushroom 'meatballs' – it helps bind and keep them moist in the absence of meat, eggs or cheese.

Recipe: Smokey Vegan Porcini 'Meatballs' and Creamy Mash

The whole family will enjoy these rolled pizza breads, crammed full of flavour and oozing with cheesiness. If you’re cooking for veggies, omit the mortadella and pepperoni and make sure to use vegetarian mozzarella.

Recipe: Stromboli

Recipe: Haddock and Tomato Casserole

Recipe: Moroccan Chicken Casserole

Recipe: Chicken Tarragon

Recipe: Chicken Molé

Recipe: Chicken Casserole

Recipe: Chilli Con Carne

Recipe: Vegetable Tagine

Recipe: Creamy Seafood Lasagne

Recipe: Slow Cooker Lamb Tagine

Recipe: Shepherd's Pie

Recipe: Vegan Samosa Pie

Recipe: Turkey and Mash Pie

Recipe: Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

Recipe: Mutter Paneer Vegetarian Curry

Recipe: Aubergine, Chickpea and Sweet Potato Curry

Recipe: Vegan Korma Curry

Recipe: Keralan-Style Prawn and Coconut Curry

Recipe: Cock-a-leekie Pie

Recipe: Persian-Inspired Lamb Stew

Recipe: Lamb Curry with Butternut Squash and Spinach

Recipe: Cardamom Butter Chicken

Recipe: Black Bean Cottage Pie

Recipe: Spanish Chicken

Recipe: Greek-Inspired Lamb Stew

Recipe: Lancashire Lamb Hotpot

Recipe: Sausage and Fennel Lasagne

Recipe: Spaghetti Bolognese

Recipe: Roasted Vegetable Lasagne