Batch Cooking

‘Batch Cooking’ is a meal preparation method that involves cooking large quantities of food at once and storing it for later use – a brilliant time & money saver! Portions can be frozen and then defrosted whenever needed. This is a great way to reduce food waste!

Three Ways to Batch Cook

1  Batch cook whole meals

Encourage the person you support to divide meals into portions and freeze them. For example, they could double the quantity they usually cook – eat half tonight and freeze half for another day!

2  Prepare whole meals and freeze them to cook later

If the person supported has more food than they need, suggest preparing it to be cooked another time such as washing and chopping all the ingredients for a stew.

3  Store leftover ingredients

If there’s half an onion spare or too much chopped carrot, they can be stored in the freezer. This will save time when the person you support next cooks a meal!

Oliver’s Top Tip: ‘One of the simplest ways to batch cook is by making one base recipe which can be adapted into different dishes. For example, tomato and mince which can be used in a ragu pasta sauce, chilli con carne or cottage pie.’