More Batch Cooking Tips

Pulses can all be soaked and cooked in one big batch, then frozen in meal-sized portions. Cooked pulses weigh roughly twice as much as their dried counterparts, so bear that in mind when following a recipe.

Bacon and onion pudding takes a long time to steam, so it’s best to steam one in the batch cooking day then put the other one in overnight and freeze it. (If you have a humongous slow cooker you might be able to steam both at once).

The order you use your food processor in is pretty important, tangy bean pate and then the liver pate – no need to wash up in between, not so the other way around. Ditto apple curd then peanut and pumpkin seed butter.

Chicken and onion pies can be made in a single batch and frozen until needed. Make stock with the carcass of the cooked chicken. Stock can then be refrigrated for up to 4 days, or frozen.

Get ahead on endless onion chopping you can let the food processor take the strain and do loads in that, and then fridge some in a sealed container and freeze some.

And if you only cook for one, or have trouble making your onions yield exact amounts, just use what you need from a chopped onion and freeze the rest. If you keep a bag in the freezer and just add to it you can then use the amount needed straight from frozen.

Getting ahead on spanish omelette : you can freeze eggs. For the omelette you could make the filling and leave it to cool then portion it out in bags, beat the required egg in a cup then pour onto the filling, seal and freeze. When you need it just get them out in the morning and leave to thaw, cook as normal. You can also slide a cracked egg onto a plate and into a ziplock bag for fried eggs. They look a bit cloudy on the yolk before cooking and they are not runny yolks but they are fine otherwise.

Mince can be braised in single batch then made up into cottage pie or chilli mince as required and frozen.

How to plan a batch cooking day 

…previous tips