Basics of Batch Cooking

What is batch cooking?

Also known as meal prepping or bulk cooking, and it is where you prep some or all of your meals and/or snacks for the week in one day.

Why Batch Cook?

Saves time – Spending approximately 2 hours in the kitchen one day a week may seem like a lot, but when you think about it, if you’re coming home after work or school, and cook dinner for 30 min to an hour every night of the week, that’s around 7 hours a week! Think about all the activities you could do with 5 extra hours each week!

Saves health – Without meals already prepared at home you may catch yourself at a fast food restaurant drive through on your way home or binge snacking on whatever is in your cupboard until you even decide what you are going to make. Having your meals already prepared keeps you on track with your health goals. Also, when you cook your own meals, you know exactly what is going in them and you won’t have any questionable ingredients you might have from a restaurant.

Saves money – Because all your meals and snacks are prepped, there is no need to buy take-out, or meals on the go. Of course the odd time dining out with friends is okay, but you won’t have to do it all the time.

Fun – For me, batch cooking takes my mind off other things and acts as a de-stressor especially when I blast the music and dance the whole time :) 

Common Supplies Needed

Whole foods – Foods that are less processed. Including fresh vegetables and fruits,

meats and fish or alternatives, whole grains (more than whole wheat) and dairy products. Less often choosing the foods that are highly processed, which you would normally find through the aisles. Learn to cook with different spices and enjoy the natural taste and flavour after cooking.

Containers – these can be plastic or glass, but ideally air-tight! I prefer glass containers because they heat well, clean well, and they last a lot longer.

Mixing bowls – Have multiple! I use them a lot for just holding the veggies before adding them to the pot/pan, but of course still great for mixing ingredients.

A sharp chef knife and a cutting board – A dull knife is unsafe and not to mention super annoying to use. Make sure your knife is sharp and that your cutting board won’t move on the counter. You can put a damp cloth under your cutting board to prevent sliding.

Music – SUPER ESSENTIAL. Make it loud, sing, dance and be yourself.

Where do I start!?!?

At first you may be overwhelmed with the idea of how much to actually cook or what recipes to use. This will all take time. Everyone is different in their food preferences and quantity. Once you get in a routine with your meal prep, you’ll start to understand your portions and your favourite recipes.

Plan – First we want to plan. So before you jump right into multiple recipes and this snack and that snack, start with just one meal. Plan what meal you are going to make and write a grocery list of everything you need (you may need to do a little math to figure out the proper amount of servings to last you a week). You also want to make sure you plan your recipe to include a protein, a starchy carb, and veggies.

Shop – Stick to what is on your list and don’t buy anything extra like chips or chocolate.

Prep – Set everything out on your counter and start organizing your ingredients and prep station. This will be the longest step and can include washing and cutting ALL your veggies, mixing your spices together, wrapping your potatoes in tin foil, cutting your meat or rinsing your beans, turning on the stove to desired temp…etc. This is where all my mixing bowls are being used. So I can see everything I have to cook and then all I have to do is add it to the pan or oven.Once all your ingredients are ready start your recipe and when you are done, portion out the recipe into containers and let cool, then put in the fridge or freezer.Once you start feeling comfortable making bigger batches of recipes, you can start cooking 2 different recipes at the same time along with preparing snacks. At first it may take longer than two hours but once you get the hang of it you’ll become a meal prepping machine!

Ideas

Breakfast

• Pre-cut fruit in baggies/containers

• Whole grain or high fiber muffins

• Yogurt and frozen fruit into containers with baggies of bran to add on top

• Hard boiled eggs

Lunch/Dinner

Proteins

• Chicken – breast or thigh, stuffed with a veggie or not stuffed, sauce or just spices, baked, fried or barbecued, chicken parmesan

• Meat loaf

• Meat balls – with a sauce or no sauce

• Pulled pork

• Tofu – marinated, sautéed, baked

• Beans

Starchy carbs

• Sweet potato or white potato – diced, baked whole wrapped in tin foil, steamed

• Rice or quinoa – made with water or broth

• Whole grain bread for sandwiches

• Squash – butternut or spaghetti. Both taste way better baked! 

One pot meals

• Chili – vegetarian or meat

• Pasta – with different sauces, using whole grain noodles, and you can easily add a bunch of veggies. I love alfredo with broccoli and zucchini!

• Shepherds pie – vegetarian or meat

• Stuffed peppers – you will have to store the stuffing separately then when it’s time to eat you’ll have to stuff the peppers and heat it up in the oven to taste fresh.

• Soups and stews – these are so flexible to different ingredients

• Wraps and Salads - ​The ingredients can be made in advance and then rolled the day of

• Salads can be prepared by making homemade dressings, throwing together a trail mix to add on top, or even portioning everything out if you have that many containers!

Snacks

See my Snack Bin post