Batch cooking/ meal prep

concordancia

Do you find that these activities save you time or are you doing them to relieve weekday stress by moving the time spent to one specific day?

MsCzar

I love to cook and actually feel a bit cheated when that process is absent. However, I will batch cook when a recipe lends itself to larger amounts such as a pot of chili/stew/soup or a pan of lasagne or bread pudding. In that case, I'll portion and freeze the extra.

There are some items that I will take time to prep for use during the week. I almost always have grated carrots, chopped onions, green peppers, celery sticks and shredded cabbage and cheese in the fridge. My freezer has caramelized onion, whole ginger root and roasted garlic paste to quickly add to any dish. I'll bake several potatoes at once and slice the extra spuds for lightning fast home fries during the week. With everything at my fingertips, I can easily throw together a delicious meal in under 20 minutes.

MsCzar

I should add that prepping some foods ahead of time is less about relieving stress or saving time and more about facilitating the cooking process. By having prepped ingredients at the ready, I'm less likely to be lazy and grab something fast just for the sake of convenience. That big veggie and cheese omelet for breakfast probably wouldn't happen without having all the ingredients at my fingertips.

littlegreenparrot1

I find it saves time, and is easier. I will often cook more quantity than necessary with the intention that there will be leftovers for a couple of days.
I'm not one for separately prepping the week in advance though, to be honest that's more effort than I'm prepared to put in.

callsitlikeiseeit

When I worked I would do batches of things and freezer meals/frozen crock pot meals for the week.

For a couple of weeks worth of meals, it would take me a half a day or so (including the grocery shopping). Id set out my recipes in a pile, and have everything assembly style on the counter. It was a PITA but it made my life easier in the following days/weeks

SuzanneC1l9zz

Hubby and I split the cooking and I do a lot of my share in the crock pot (AKA slow cooker, they seem to have been renamed at some point). Wednesday is grocery day. Friday morning everything goes in, ready at dinner time, and several days' worth of leftovers. And nobody needs to cook on the weekends. Eat some and freeze some if it's a big batch which lightens the load on other days.

yirara

Most of my dinners are 2 portions as it's not worth it cooking just a single portion. Sometimes I cook a big pot of soup or stew. Today it was a tomato carrot soup with falaffel and chick peas. Will be good for 5 portions, but I'll probably eat 2 or so, and the rest goes into the freezer for now. Other than that? Nope. Cooking never takes long for me. And during day I don't eat cooked food.

Strudders67

I probably cook about once a week, on average, and in the long run it saves me time. Whilst it may take longer to chop onions, veg, chicken etc for a bulk cook, the cooking time would be the same if I was making a soup / curry / bolognese / chilli / Shepherd's Pie / fish pie / pasta bake / tagine / whatever for one as it will for a batch meant for 4, 6 or 8. I eat one and freeze the rest in portions. I then get a portion out of the freezer in the morning and just have to heat it up in the evening, instead of spending another hour (or more) making the dish from scratch and waiting for it to cook. Having been doing this for a long time, what I have in my freezer now gives me so much variety to chose from that I don't get bored with my meals.

It also saves me money as it's cheaper to buy a larger pack of mince or diced lamb or diced beef, larger tins of chopped tomatoes etc. Also, I'm not going to use just half a stock cube when making a dish for one, whereas one cube might actually make enough stock for a dish that's meant for 4 people.

concordancia

Thanks folks.

I will cook and plan for leftovers, although my husband requires enough food that those are often his snacks. Today, I will cook a tri tip that will provide salad protein for the rest of the week. It is just part of cooking dinner and adds no time.

But our roommate can take up to five hours to prepare one week's meals, even though it is only one or two options. And she goes out shopping that day, so it looks positively exhausting. I was wondering if that was what people were doing to save weekday stress, because it hardly seems worth it.