Batch Cooking During Lockdown

1. Batch Cooking Helps Reduce Waste

Waste not

Your freezer is your friend when it comes to reducing food waste. Use the bits of veg normally destined for the brown bin (celery and onion ends, cauliflower leaves, etc) to make a vegetable stock and your chicken bones and carcass from your Sunday roast plus onion and celery to make a chicken stock; strain and freeze in clearly labelled containers and use to make soups as needed. Made a smoothie for the kids but they didn’t finish every last drop? Pour into ice lolly moulds and freeze for a cold treat later. If there’s just a small amount left over from your soup or main meal, stick it in the freezer for a lunch later in the week – chances are, if you place it in the fridge it’s likely to be forgotten or simply not eaten if no one is in the mood for it and it’ll end up going off and therefore in the bin. Meat and fish aren’t the only things you should be freezing when you get home from the shops. Now in particular, as we try and stretch out our food shopping, freezing fresh fruit like peeled and chopped bananas, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, peeled and chopped kiwi and greens like spinach and kale will not only mean saving these items from going off, but your morning smoothies will be there ready and waiting to be blended up when your fresh produce is all used up.

2. Batch Cooking Saves You Time

Time and food saved for when you need it

Had a tough day homeschooling the kids or spent the afternoon on one Zoom meeting after another and just about got your daily workout in? Don’t have the energy to cook a full-on meal? The fridge is bare and you don’t want to head to the shops, or are trying to hold out ’til the day you planned on going for your big supermarket trip or you’re waiting on your weekly food delivery? This is where batch cooking really comes into its own – take a look at your freezer stock, and pull out the makings of a delicious dinner you can thaw and reheat in a flash.

Tip: Give yourself some extra time to batch cook by checking our guide to Shopping Smart during Lockdown.

3. Make Batch Cooking a Fun Activity

Batch cooking can be social… and fun

We need to connect with others now more than ever. Susan Jane suggests you “find another batch boss”: “Say, you batch cook an Indian curry on Monday night, and swap half of it with a pal’s meatball recipe – you’ve not only filled your freezer with extra portions of your curry, but you also have some meatballs in there too. Better still, while we’re quarantining, maybe have two or three batch bosses on hand!” “Also, finding some great podcasts to listen to while you cook will help the time canter by without feeling like you’re chaining yourself to the cooker. Light some candles, clear the kitchen counter and get your mitts on Spotify. When you turn cooking into an enjoyable hobby, you’re more likely to prepare food that is good for your body, your mind and your soul. Then freeze half of it for another evening.”

Top Tips For Batch Cooking

• When you’re making a double portion of your main meal, put aside the half you want to freeze. This will help you avoid consuming larger portions than you intend and ensure you have the right amount for another dinner.
• Labelling is key. “I’ve lost count how many jars of unrecognisable mush I have resurrected from the freezer,” warns Susan Jane White. “Always label the jar. And if you haven’t eaten it in the past three months, chances are you won’t, so chuck it out and free up your freezer space. My freezer is now intimately linked to my sanity levels. It needs to be a calm and organised space for me to feel calm and organised.”
• Invest in some new containers – glass jars, BPA-free plastic containers with lock-on lids – some masking tape (which comes off containers fairly easily when you want to change your labels) and a Sharpie so your freezer is nice and organised and you’re motivated to shop your new ‘pantry’ each day.
• Make the most of your kitchen kit – drag out that slow, pressure or multi-cooker; dust off your food processor, old-fashioned blender or stand mixer… all of these are ideal for batch cooking! Of course, if you’re going to pull everything out of the cupboard to get that piece of equipment out from the back, you’ll want to use it to whip up large quantities of your favourite foods. Just be sure to give it a quick clean first.

Susan Jane White’s Favourite Batch Cooking Recipe

Three-Bean Chilli with Avocado Sour Cream and Corn Tortillas

I’m surviving on meals that rely on the combined forces of heat and time to do all the work. No fiddling around with spiralisers. No timer beside the frying pan. No last-minute dashes to the corner store for fresh veg. These days our pantry is the midwife for recipes, because who has the time to get fresh food every single evening? We’re going big on flavour with minimum effort. This bowl of chilli comes from superstar staples in the cupboard. You can switch out the aubergine for whatever veg you find loitering in your fridge. Serve with avocado sour cream for a delicious, wholesome, home-cooked meal.

Recipe extracted from Clever Batch by Susan Jane White (Gill Books, €24.99), available from easons.com. Photograph by Joanne Murphy.