How I Got Started With Batch Cooking
During the first lockdown, my mother in law had an accident. Since the kitchen wasn’t a place where my father in law was used to spending a lot of time in, cooking meals was one of the biggest problems during this time.
I took upon myself to cook meals for them. I would make enough food for a week and deliver when we went to see them at the weekend.
This is when I learned to plan and prepare meals, cook healthy meals and cook in big batches.
I found it challenging at first I will be honest with you! but I just practiced and learned from my mistakes. At the end of this experience I was a batch cooking Ninja!
One of the difficulties for me was to come up with a variety of healthy dishes. My mother in law eats very healthily and she doesn’t eat red meat. I recall thinking to myself: “How many healthy and delicious chicken dishes can I possibly come up with?” That’s when I started making healthier versions of the meals that I love and enjoy, making lasagne with turkey mince and with slices of aubergine instead of pasta sheets as they don’t eat pasta either. You get the idea – I had to be creative! Also, I didn’t want them to eat the same food for a whole week so I started with one to two different dishes and then increased my productivity.
In time, I was making up to three batch cooks, enough food for my in laws as well as myself and my husband for the week and I also used to make a lunch that we would all enjoy together.
When my mother in law was better, I stopped batch cooking. I had stopped for a little while and went back to my previous cooking routine and then one day I suddenly thought “Why don’t I carry on batch cooking just for me and my husband? It would make our lives much easier!”
There’s certainly was a silver lining in my mother in laws accident for me. I learned to plan and prepare healthy meals, I tried many different healthy recipes, I created healthier versions of the foods that I love and enjoy. Batch cooking is now part of my healthy lifestyle.
This story was also an inspiration behind my FIRST ever video on Facebook. I talked about the reasons why I love batch cooking. Here are the reasons:
1.Batch cooking saves time.
Time is one of the most precious currencies in the world, isn’t it?
You cook once but benefit from it all week.
2.Batch cooking helps you stay on track with eating healthily.
When your meals are planned and prepared there is very little to no room for unhealthy choices and spontaneous indulging.
3. Batch cooking is life saver on those super busy days.
When I have a very busy day ahead, I would take one of my batch cooked meals out of the freezer in the morning, let it defrost during the day and then heat it up in the oven in the evening, ready to eat. When you are super busy, you don’t have to find time for cooking, you don’t make an unhealthy choice because it’s fast and it’s convenient.
4. Batch cooking saves money.
Cooking in larger quantities is often more cost effective.
5. As a result of batch cooking, there is less washing up and the kitchen stays clean.
It depends on the size of your family, for me and my husband it’s two plates and two sets of cutlery!
6. Batch cooking makes cooking more enjoyable.
I myself and some of my clients find that when you cook less often, it becomes less of a chore and you can enjoy it more.
To find out more about batch cooking, check out the video below…
