Batch cooking is going to change your life! Our house is a wild place from 4pm on! That’s when work winds down and it’s time to start thinking about what’s for dinner. We eat super early like 5 or 5:30pm!
After a month of eating out on vacation this summer, we decided to challenge ourselves to batch cooking and eating the majority of our meals at home.
It cuts down on waste, saves money, better for our health and saves us SO much time in cooking, prepping, driving to get takeout etc.
We love restaurants but we didn’t want to be getting takeout just because it was 5pm and we had no idea what to eat. Now, eating out is back to being an appreciated treat!
What do I Mean by Batch Cooking?
Batch cooking is making large meals like a big casserole or a big batch of granola so it’s eaten throughout the week.
I batch prep the produce as well:
Washing all the berries, grapes etc and placing in airtight containers so they’re ready to pack for lunches or added to meals.
Salad components like tomatoes and cucumbers are chopped up and ready to make a salad for a lunch or dinner.
PS. Blanched green beans are a great example of prepping veggies that keep well and go great with entrees or in salads. I just put green beans in boiling water for 3 minutes and dump them in an ice bath. Drain after they are cool and store in an airtight container!
I’m going to show you a simple way to plan the week:
Batch cooking Sample Menu
BREAKFAST
Granola over yogurt (scroll to bottom of post to print my recipe below). I cannot do packaged granola. It tastes sickeningly sweet to me! This uses maple syrup and tastes divine!
Breakfast Casserole (print my recipe below)
Overnight Oats:
2 cups of oats
2 cups liquid (I do one cup milk and 1 cup greek yogurt)
2 tbsp Chia
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
dash of salt
Add toppings like granola, nut butters and berries
LUNCH
Same things as dinner or sandwiches
Plus a big salad or cut up veggies plus hummus
Dinner:
Casserole (This enchilada casserole is a hit here. I make mods all the time. Recently I do quinoa instead of rice).
Meatballs keep well in the fridge. We liked these recently.
Cook a bunch of chicken in the instant pot and shred to tacos and casseroles. Mix it with some mayo and it’s a great sandwich or salad item!
DINNER
Casserole (This enchilada casserole is a hit here. I make mods all the time. Recently I do quinoa instead of rice).
Meatballs keep well in the fridge. We liked these recently.
Cook a bunch of chicken in the instant pot and shred to tacos and casseroles. Mix it with some mayo and it’s a great sandwich or salad item!
Batch Cooking Best Practices!
- Do plan out your recipes and grocery list together.
- Pantry management:
-Start your recipe picks by seeing what you have.
-Once you’re done with the grocery list, head to the pantry and cross off what you have.
- Don’t shop and cook it all in one day…I did this and it burnt me out! 😉
- Keep a list on the fridge to make note of when you run out of regulars ie. Coffee Creamer or condiments that get emptied. Add this to your master list each week.
- Eat a great meal before you head out shopping. Keeps you on track with your list. Sticking to the list will keep you healthier and save the most dollah bills!
- You can do the major cooking/prep a few days a week, spread out. This allows for overlap of meals and variety!
How I Got Started and How it's Going
At first, our fridge was empty when we got home from our month long trip. I did a big Costco trip for things like nuts & maple syrup (for granola), organic chicken and meats for the freezer and great organic produce in large quantities.
For the first 2 weeks, I did all the cooking on Sundays and it was A LOT. I cracked and wanted to give up! Ha! Then I discovered a way to do a couple meals at a time throughout the week and it’s working out great!
Evenings run smoother and our days are SO much more relaxing and efficient. I’m not stressing all day, wondering what to make for dinner. This is going to CHANGE YOUR LIFE!
PS now there is breakfast so if I sleep in then my husband, who’s a total morning person, reheats the kids’ faves instead of running to the beloved Starbies! 🙂 Huge money and time, mom guilt and health saver!
Tap on the recipes below and print
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