Batch Cooking: Claim Back Your Weeknights With These 13 Make-Ahead Meals

Ever wish you could get home late from work and have dinner already made?

Or the week’s packed lunches all ready, in the freezer?

Well the secret’s all in the prep. Save yourself some time in the week with our tips on the best dishes to add to your batch cooking list…

Fishcakes

Easy to make and cheaper than shop-bought. Plus you can choose your fillings. Fry some chopped onion and herbs (think parsley and dill) in a pan until softened and leave to cool. Stir them, with a drained tin of tuna into some cold mashed potato (don’t add butter or milk though). Form into patties and stack them between sheets of greaseproof paper. Freeze in plastic freezer bags or wrap well with cling film, so they’re ready for defrosting and baking until hot.

Oven Bakes

Lasagnes, cottage pie, Shepherd’s pie, moussaka - they’re comfort food classics, but often with school clubs, shift work or just REALLY hungry kids, it’s not always practical to make them from scratch. But having a portion in the freezer ready to heat up when needed is. Cook, cool and then slice into individual portions. Wrap well in a double layer of cling film and pop in the freezer. Much cheaper than a ready meal and quick to reheat in the week.

Instant Banana Ice Cream

Pretty much effortless. Peel and slice 2-3 bananas and drop the chunks in a plastic food bag. Seal well and chuck it in the freezer. Then, when you want healthy ice cream, just tumble the frozen banana chunks into a blender with a spoonful of almond butter. Whizz, and you’ve got soft, sweet instant (dairy-free) ’ice cream’. Yay.

Home-Made Curry Paste

There’s nothing like making your own, fresh curry paste. It takes seconds to chuck the ingredients into a food processor and whizz up. Scrape it into a freezer bag and seal. It’ll keep in the freezer for about a month. On the day, defrost it, fry, and pour in the coconut milk, adding your veggies, meat or seafood to cook.

Smoothie Mixtures

Still peeling and chopping smoothie fruits before work? Instead, spend a therapeutic 10 minutes on a weekend peeling and chopping all your fruits and bung handfuls of them in individual freezer bags. Papaya, kiwi, melon, grapes, banana, raspberries and blueberries all freeze well. Seal and store in the freezer. All you need to do in the morning is stumble into the kitchen, and empty one of the bags into your blender with your chosen liquid. Easy.

Slow Cooker Stews

You could have your slow cooker bubbling away all day without really doing any work, except chucking everything into it in the beginning. At worst, you’re going to have to do a few minutes of frying first. Once cooked, cool your curry or stew and pour into individual leak-proof containers or freezer bags. Defrost in the fridge the night before and reheat for a rich, slow-cooked meal in a flash.

Baking

Brownies, muffins, traybakes, loaves… baked goods freeze really well, as long as they’re thoroughly cooled beforehand and wrapped well. Slice them before you freeze for handy packed lunches, breakfasts or snacks. You’ll save money (shop-bought lunchbox snacks can be expensive), and you’ll have more control over what goes into them, too.

Pesto

Yep, you can freeze pesto too. Just blitz it all together, scrape it into a freezer bag, seal and freeze. This way, you’ve always got something ready to stir into your pasta when the kids are starving and it’s getting late. Try making pesto with other greens too - rocket and kale work well, for extra nutrients. Add sundried tomatoes or cashew nuts for a change.

Sandwiches

The best news of all - you can freeze sandwiches for a week’s packed lunches. Ham, grated cheese, roasted meats and tuna all freeze well - just don’t add salad or you’ll end up with a slushy, slimy mess. A few top tips: wrap the sandwiches well with cling film and butter the slices of bread all the way to the edges so the bread absorbs less moisture from the filling while it’s stored. No more staying up late making sandwiches for the next day - just grab one out of the freezer the night before and pop into the fridge to defrost.

Puds

Fruit crumbles, un-iced cakes, pies, fruit pasties, chocolate loaves… they all freeze beautifully. Just cool after baking (reserving a ‘test slice’ for yourself, obviously) and cut into portions. Wrap each portion well in cling film and freeze. Just defrost and reheat when needed.

Soup

Soup can be frozen in individual zip-lock freezer bags, in portions. Fill them by placing the empty bag inside a jug or bowl to keep everything steady as you pour the cooled soup. No waste, less cost and always a nutritious meal waiting for you.

Pâté

Once you get over the slippery texture of raw liver, pâté is really easy to make - and it’ll cost you a fraction of what you pay for the shop-bought stuff. Follow your chosen recipe carefully and pour the mixture into a clingfilm lined loaf tin. Cool and cover, storing in the fridge. The next day, cut it into slices and wrap each slice in cling film. Store them in a bag, in the freezer. An easy and nutritious snack that just needs defrosting in the fridge for a few hours first.

Burgers

A staple weeknight meal or even a hearty breakfast. Make your burgers with your favourite mince and add some finely chopped onion and herbs and seasonings. Shape them into patties and then stack them up, like the fishcakes, between squares of greaseproof paper and then wrap well. Take out a couple of the burgers the night before you need them and defrost in the fridge. A quick pan fry, cooking them thoroughly, and dinner is served.

What are your batch cooking tips? Share them with us…

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