Tuesday Tips & Tricks - Batch Cooking

Today's tip is a great way to save yourself time and money when cooking during the week.  We're talking about batch cooking.

What is Batch Cooking?

Batch cooking is where you create a base (with meat or vegetables) which you can use to make several different meals.  The purpose of this is to get the main part of cooking over and done with so that you can cook your meals in around half the time during the week.  The base can be frozen.

How is it done?

So to do batch cooking, you're going to need some base ingredients (onions, garlic, stock) and some form of meat.  Today, I'm going to talk through batch cooking with mince and a few different meals that you can make with a simple base (However, this list is just some suggestions.  You can turn your base in to whatever you want!)

Batch Cooking Mince

You'll need some onions, garlic and mince.  Chop and fry the onions and garlic and add in the mince.  Season and cook until the meat is browned. Pour in some beef stock and simmer for 10 mins.  This creates your base.

Bolognaise

Add your meat base to a pan.  Add pasatta, oregano, basil.  Simmer until your pasta is cooked and then serve.

Burritos

Add your meat base to a pan.  Add cumin, chili and paprika.  Simmer until your rice is cooked.  Add to tortilla wraps with the rice.

Mince & Tatties

Add your meat base to a pan.  Add in some frozen peas, Worcestershire sauce and a bay leaf.  Simmer for 10 mins.  Serve with potatoes.


This is just one example of how you can batch cook your food.  It's important that you buy as big a pack of mince as you can as the base can be frozen for later use.  This will save you more time and money!

You don't always need to use meat in the base sauce.  Fried onions and garlic cooked with pasatta makes a great base for any sauce and will still save you a lot of time.