Family batch cooking: How to make mealtimes easier
Busy evenings often leave little time for cooking from scratch, which is why family batch cooking can be such a game changer. Instead of cooking dinner from scratch every night, batch cooking allows you to prepare larger quantities of meals ahead of time.
If you’ve ever questioned what to cook at the last minute, reached for a takeaway because you’re short on time, or felt overwhelmed by mealtimes, then batch cooking can help.
In this post you’ll learn what batch cooking for families is, and what the benefits of batch cooking are. You’ll also discover tips to help you get started, even if you’ve never batch cooked before.
By the end of this post you’ll have everything you need to start batch cooking for your family, and turn stressful mealtimes into quick, easy, and enjoyable ones.
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What is batch cooking?
Batch cooking means making larger quantities of meals, so you can store portions to eat at a later date.
It saves time because instead of cooking meals every night, you cook once, and enjoy the meal over multiple nights.
Batch cooking doesn’t just apply to cooking whole meals, you can also batch cook parts of meals such as rice, sauces, and even kids school snacks and kids school lunches.
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Batch cooking benefits
The benefits of batch cooking for families include:
- It saves time as you can reheat meals previously made
- It reduces decision fatigue by not having to think about what to cook every night
- It saves money on groceries because you can buy ingredients in bulk
- It helps to meal plan on a budget as you can use ingredients you already have
- It encourages healthier eating as you’re less reliant on takeaways
RELATED POST: 6 sanity saving benefits of meal planning for busy mums
How to start batch cooking
Here are some simple ways to start batch cooking.
Start small
The best way to make batch cooking for families possible is to start small.
You can do this by batch cooking 1-2 meals a week, and once you feel confident, increasing the number of meals you batch cook overtime.
RELATED POST: How to start weekly meal prepping for stress free mealtimes
Schedule a batch cooking day
The biggest challenge when it comes to batch cooking is finding the time to do it.
One way to overcome this challenge is to schedule some time each week to batch cook, and treating the scheduled time like an appointment that can’t be cancelled.
Some times that may work well for you include:
- Saturday morning
- Sunday afternoon
- Quiet weekday evenings
Use batch cooking friendly recipes
My favourite way to create a weekly meal plan for my family is to fill it with recipes that I know my family love, which is also a great tip when it comes to batch cooking.
As well as cooking meals your family loves, look for recipes that are easy to cook in large quantities, and that freeze and reheat well.
Some examples of batch cooking recipes include:
- Bolognese
- Shepherd’s pie
- Burger patties
- Chilli con carne
- Curries
- Soups
- Taco fillings
- Jacket potatoes
- Casseroles
- Pasta sauces
- Pizza
- Stews
- Baked goods
Double the recipe
The easiest way to make more of a meal is to double the recipe of whatever you’re cooking, and freezing the portion you want to eat at a later date.
For example, if you’re making a lasagne, double the recipe so you can eat one lasagne on the night you cook it, and freeze the other one so you can reheat it on another night.
Rotate meals
Once you know what meals your family enjoys, what freezes and reheats well, or what dinner themes your family loves, you’ll have a collection of meals that you can batch cook on rotation.
Rotating meals is also my top tip to make meal planning easier, as it saves time by not having to constantly find new meals to make, and you won’t spend time cooking meals your family doesn’t enjoy.
Use batch cooking containers
Having the right batch cooking containers makes freezing meals, or portions of meals possible.
Here are some of my favourite batch cooking containers, that not only make batch cooking possible, but ensure the food within them lasts longer:
- Food storage containers with compartments – perfect for separating pasta from sauces, or meat from vegetables
- Glass food storage containers – great for casseroles, stews, bolognese, and curries
- Reusable freezer bags – bags can adjust to the content within them so they save space, and are great for sauces, vegetables, and fruit
- Round freezer containers – perfect for soup, pasta, and chopped fruit and vegetables
RELATED POST: Simple freezer organisation tips to make meals easier
Use labels
Once you have a large amount of batch cooked meals, it can be easy to lose track of what you have, and how long you’ve had it.
The best way to ensure you consume your batch cooked meals is to label each container and write the date the meal was cooked, so you can eat each meal before it goes to waste.
Some freezer friendly labels include:
Family batch cooking – a recap
Family batch cooking is one of the easiest ways to make mealtimes less stressful.
When you batch cook, you’re not just saving time, you’re also reducing the stress of deciding what to cook, reducing food waste, and making it easier to stick to a budget.
Starting with just 1-2 meals a week, doubling recipes, and using batch cooking containers helps you to build a collection of meals your family loves.
Over time you’ll develop your own rotation of batch cooking recipes that make meal planning faster and easier.
With a little planning, family batch cooking can transform your evenings from rushed and stressful, to calm and organised.
In case you missed it, here’s your free weekly meal planner and grocery list to help make family meal planning super simple.
Which day of the week could you schedule for a batch cooking session?
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