Batch Cooking Ideas

Ok guys. Cards on the table here, I am not a foodie. I love eating delicious food, but I cannot be bothered spending hours slaving over dishes. So, here are my go to recipes that will provide at least 4 meals from each, and stay ok in the fridge for at least 4 days. There's a ton of other batch cooking ideas on the internet, a lot of them rely on freezing the meals. I just don't do it that way because I'm too lazy to bother with defrosting stuff.

(At least, they've always been ok for us, but looking over the internet, some say fish should be eaten after 2 days, chicken after 3 etc, so cook what you're comfortable with). 

They're also all moderately healthy, and can be made using ingredients from the budget ranges. I always swap round ingredients to whatever is in the freezer/ fridge/ cupboard already. 

I'm attempting to get Rafiki involved with the cooking, he's got a set of (plastic) knives, and is surprisingly diligent with chopping. Although often the time gets away from me, and it's quicker to just do it all myself. My aim is to try and involve him more with it. After all, I don't want him growing up thinking that cooking is the woman's job in the home. 

Fish Pie

I love the frozen fish pie mix from Asda. It's delicious. It feels pretty pricey at £4.20 a bag, but I can get 5 meals out of it, and as mentioned, it's delicious, so worth it. 

I like this recipe from BBC good food, cos it's hella easy. I obviously subsitute the butter for marg, and don't mix any veg in with the pie since that would mean my child gazing at it suspiciously, and not touching it. 

Chicken pasta bake

Here's a actual proper recipe that you could follow, although adding parsely on the top would make it a definite no for every single child I know. 

All I do is: 

Cook pasta. Cook chicken, cook some veggies, mix in some chopped tomatoes, stir it all up. Sprinkle cheddar extremely liberally over the top, and whack it in the oven. 

Shepherd's pie

So warming! So perfect for autumn. Best eaten with cosy jumpers and ruddy faces. 

Here's yet another recipe from BBC good food . . .I would go with variety, but honestly, I find them the most simple, and least ridiculous in terms of random ingredients that you use a splash of, then sit in your cupboard unused for the next decade. 

I substitute the red wine with red wine vinegar, and don't bother with the grated nutmeg. 

Bean Stew

This one is a little different, because it doesn't go in the oven. But honestly, a bean stew when the leaves are starting to turn is just  . . .chef's kiss . . .

This would be the closest to the kind of recipe I follow. Although substitute all the beans they use for the beans that I dig out from the back of the cupboard, and substitute all the veggies with all the veggies in the bottom of the fridge that are about to go bad. 

And substitute red wine vinegar for red wine. 

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