Batch cooking or how to save time in the kitchen

Batch cooking is an English word that means cooking in batches, what has been done all your life, taking advantage of the weekend to prepare food for the following week. “Spend the weekend cooking… what I was missing!” But the philosophy of Batch Cooking is quite the opposite, it is not a question of monopolizing Sunday, but of saving time in the kitchen, to dedicate it to other chores that you enjoy more.

You can do it in one day or do ‘ minibatch cooking’. What is this now? Well yes, it is as easy as when you are preparing the meal of the day, cook a double portion and save it for another day. It will take the same time to prepare one serving as two or three. If you are in it, take advantage of the moment, prepare more quantity and save for another day.

Give me a chance to convince you.

Advantages of practicing Batch Cooking at home

Reduce the stress of the week

Although on many occasions cooking makes us disconnect, in the rhythm of day to day it often becomes complicated and we do not have time to spare. So if we want to eat healthy on many occasions, lack of time prevents us from doing so and ends up generating more stress. Coming home and having a healthy option prepared is always welcome.

Save time

Arrive and food ready to eat! Very easy. Do not waste time every day before eating to cook the vegetables that will accompany your dish. Do more in one day and breathe in the week! Just spending a couple of hours a week cooking all the bases will go a long way. The first week it will cost you more than the rest, but once you get stocks in the freezer, you will have won!

You eat healthier

If you plan the week and cook your dishes in advance, you will eat as you would like to and it will prevent you from hesitating in front of the fridge thinking about what to eat to finally go quickly, generally less healthy.

You save money

Eating in a planned way also means planning your list of necessary foods and your purchase. Weekly planning will allow you to see what you need, based on what you have in your pantry and buy what you really need for the week. You will not buy more or waste food because it spoils without having been able to prepare it.

You will eat more varied and more complete if you do a good planning without forgetting that the function of food is also to nourish ourselves well and enjoy it.

Tips to plan better

Design yourself a plan with a weekly view, from Monday to Friday or Sunday. On Saturday and Sunday, if you have the possibility, you can play improvisation.

Mark in the week what you have to do, that way you will see the free spaces and you will manage your time in an organized and efficient way. Mark important appointments, training days, meals at home or in the office with your week view, set the day to do your personal batch cooking.

Based on the days that you know you will eat at home or have to eat out, design your menu for the week and make a list of what you need to buy to prepare it. If you buy healthy, you will eat healthy!
In your planning include foods that you can cook and serve for several dishes. For example: broccoli to make a cream, to garnish a fish and to make broccoli nuggets. Totally different dishes, with the same food cooked at one time.

Tricks to preserve your meals

Good containers. It is important that the containers in which you will store the food are of quality, so that the meals are kept in perfect condition. Make an initial investment and you’re done. The preparations, especially fresh, will last more days. Preferably glass tupper ware and that close well. That’s important! Yes, they can be stacked, much better!

Save for rations of use, so as not to waste food.
You can keep refrigerated those preparations that you cannot freeze, such as salads, sauces and mayonnaise… Most foods freeze well (creams, soups, stews, pasta, rice…) depending on whether you are going to use it soon or you are going to save it for another week, use one conservation technique or another.
Label the frozen ones. The preparations that you freeze, you can put a label with the name and the date of freezing, consuming it before 4 weeks is the most recommended.

Defrost and give it the last touch to consume. To use it, all you have to do is take it out of the freezer in advance, defrost it in the fridge, and heat it up (in some dishes, give it a touch to homogenize it, like creams that separate into two phases).

Different proposals for efficient Batch Cooking

Take advantage of the oven and fill it with vegetables/potato/sweet potato/meat/baked fish. The oven is self-sufficient. While you are with another preparation, you can keep an eye on it and it works by itself.

Boil vegetables to make broth. In addition to super purifying vegetable broth, you can take from the same preparation, boiled vegetables to dress as a garnish and another part to grind and make cream.

Cook double servings of rice/whole wheat pasta/quinoa/bulgur/millet/legumes. Prepare and freeze if you are not going to use it soon. Use the steam that emerges from cooking to make vegetables with a simple steam cooking applicator. Save time and energy!
Prepare a double portion of an elaborate stew and freeze.
Cook a couple of hard-boiled eggs for salads and vegetable garnishes.

Prepare meatballs, homemade hamburgers and freeze.
Prepare salad in boats ready to overturn the plate. They are called vertical salads. They are prepared in a glass jar and for this you must use the following order: vinaigrette, hard and moist vegetables, hydrates (pasta, rice, potato, bulgur, quinoa…), protein (chicken, tuna, salmon, egg), green leaves, seeds, nuts and a touch of salt. If you prepare 5 boats, you will have salad ready for 5 days.