Bulk cooking

A fabulous way of saving time. energy and of course money!! I think it’s fair to say many of us are looking to spend less time, energy, gas/electricity and money on cooking and preparing food, so this has to be one of the best strategies.

There are many opportunities to bulk cook and portion up individual servings, this is perfect for when you are short of time or energy. Of course you could always throw a ready meal in the microwave, but if you’re looking to cut costs, having one ready prepared by you will always taste better, be a healthier version, cost less as well as perfectly portioned.

Home-made soup is a great filler, quick, easy and satisfying and can be made using fresh, frozen or leftover vegetables and or meat/chicken/ pulses. A great tip is to fill empty mugs with a food bag, pour the soup in a freeze, when frozen tie off and remove from the mug. You now have the perfect mug shaped portion of soup, ideal for a quick fix, with no association to a bread roll because its not in a bowl, whilst also buying you time to think about your meal choice.

Shepherds pie, Cottage pie, Moussaka, Lasagna, Spaghetti bolognese, Chilli con carne, Curries, Fish pie, Meat/Chicken pie are all great dishes that can be portioned and frozen ready for when you need them. It might be that the recipe serves 6 and there’s 4 of you, or even serves 4 and there’s 4 of you, why not double it and then you’re only using the cooker once. As an alternative, you could just make the basic bolognese sauce so you can add/convert it into so many meals and cook the rice/pasta to serve or it could also be frozen in portioned containers. When fish is plentiful and lower priced you can always cook it and then make it into home-made fishcakes, possibly using your leftover old bread and blitzing it in the blender for your own breadcrumbs!! Rechauffe cooking….

Do remember to label!!! Frozen stewed rhubarb look very similar to tomato sauce!!

Stewed fruit is also a great way to batch cook when it’s in season and use later in the year, either serve plain or just add a crumble or pastry top and serve with yoghurt, single cream or custard.

Stuck for ideas…. BBC good food. com has some great batch cooking recipes, all you’ll need to do is make the tweaks to both suit you and to make them healthier.

Planning is bringing the future into to the present so that you can do something about it now.

alan lakein