Batch Cooking - Week 1

If you saw my post about batch cooking you'll know that we made/prepared enough meals for 2 weeks. This was to save time when I was back at work and it meant we'd still eat good home cooked meals that were tasty, without the time and effort on the day. We made enough for dinner and lunch the next day. So the only meal we had to think about in a day was our breakfast.

Here are my results of the 1st week. There are a few tweaks needed, but mostly it turned out really well.

Monday dinner - Chicken, bacon & veg pasta

For this meal all the meat and veg were chopped and in the fridge ready to be cooked. We placed the chopped veg into a freezer bag and added herbs and passata (or whatever sauce we were having). So all that was needed to make dinner Monday night was to cook the meat, add the veg, then cook pasta enough for both dinner and lunch the next day. This was so quick and easy. I didn't have to think about what we were having or spend time chopping anything. So there were less dishes and within around 15 - 20 mins we had a really delicious and healthy meal. This is also 0 syns on Slimming World.

I will definitely do this again.



Tuesday dinner - Beef & veg Stew

For this meal we bought beef stew meat which was already chopped up. We checked the date on the meat and we would cook it within the best before date, so we left the meat in the fridge fresh. We chopped the veg, put into a Tupperware and placed in the fridge. Then on Tuesday morning all the meat and veg were placed into the slow cooker. A stock/gravy was made to cook the stew in and the slow cooker was put on low to cook all day. The stew was served with some crusty bread. This tasted so good and took even less prep than the pasta meal as I didn't need to watch it cooking. We even made enough to put an extra potion into the freezer.

I will definitely do this again.

Wednesday dinner - Cottage Pie

For this meal the cottage pie was all cooked and assembled, but not placed in the oven to brown off. We covered it in cling film and popped it in the freezer. The minced beef was cooked in gravy and that was put into a freezer bag and frozen too. The night before we were having this for dinner we took it out of the freezer to defrost over night. Then all that was needed was to cook/heat in the oven, some peas put in a microwave bowl to cook and the gravy heated up. So there was minimal cooking required. This could be 0 syns on slimming world by only adding beef stock to cook the mince.

I will definitely do this again.

Thursday dinner - Coke Chicken

For this meal most of the ingredients were put into a freezer bag and placed in the freezer. We left out the water and coke. And of course the rice was cooked fresh on the day. The day before we had this meal the ingredients were taken out of the freezer, placed into the slow cooker and the water and coke were added. It then cooked throughout the day. That evening rice was cooked. The slower cooker seems to make the sauce quite runny. So in future I may try cooking this on the hob and see if it makes a difference. This is 0 syns on Slimming World.

I will try this again, but change how I cook it.

Friday dinner - Pizza

Sorry I don't have a photo, I was too hungry and ate the pizza before I'd remembered to take a photo. We planned to have pizza so we had an easy night, or easier night. We decided to see if we could find any in the discount section. I found pizza's in Tesco (see link below) in the discounted section which we could place in the freezer till we needed them. They are already 50% off and then were reduced, so we got them for £1.25 each.

http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=285750902

We have 2 more in the freezer, so will definitely be having a pizza night again.

Saturday dinner - Spaghetti Bolognese

The bolognese was cooked, portioned up and frozen. We made loads so there are a few more portions in the freezer. All that was needed to be done on the day was defrost the bolognese, reheat it and cook spaghetti.

I will definitely do this again.

Sunday dinner - Mexican Chicken Wraps

We decided to make the wraps up completely and freeze them, so all we needed to do was re-heat. We cooked the Mexican chicken filling, then made the wraps up with chicken, sour cream, salsa, guacamole and cheese. The wraps were rolled/folded and wrapped in foil so they could be placed straight in the oven. We also put the wraps into a plastic bag for protecting in the freezer. We got some ready prepared potatoes from the discounted section in Tesco which we had too. But the wraps could have been served with a salad or rice. This was super easy to make on the day as all we were doing was heating in the oven.

I will definitely do this again.


For week 2 of my batch cooking - click here