Batch cooking consists of spending a couple of hours a week preparing ingredients or complete dishes that are then combined and eaten throughout the days. It is a method highly valued by those with little time during the week who still want to keep eating healthily at home. Well organised, it saves time, reduces waste, avoids improvising with ultra-processed products and makes it easier to keep a balanced diet.

Advantages of batch cooking

  • You save time: you cook once and eat several times
  • You cut spending: you shop with a list and use whole ingredients
  • You eat healthier: it is easier to choose well when you have food ready in the fridge
  • Less stress about thinking what to cook every day
  • Less food waste
  • It makes it easier to take lunch to work or university

Choose a day and a method

Many people use Sunday, but you can choose any day that suits you. There are two main styles. In the first, you cook complete dishes and store them in individual portions. In the second, you prepare base ingredients, such as cooked pulses, rice, roasted vegetables, a sauce or proteins, which you then combine in different ways each day. The second style offers more variety and less sense of repeating the menu.

How to plan the session

Before starting, decide the menus for three or four days and make the ingredient list. Organise the work to make the most of the timings: start first what takes longest, such as pulses or rice, while you roast vegetables and prepare a sauce. Use the oven, the hob and, if you have one, a slow cooker or pressure cooker at the same time. Clean as you go so you do not end up with the kitchen upside down.

What to prepare: ideas that keep well

  • Cooked pulses: lentils, chickpeas or beans, which work for salads, creams or stews
  • Grains: brown rice, quinoa, couscous or pasta
  • Roasted or sautéed vegetables: courgette, aubergine, peppers, pumpkin, broccoli
  • Proteins: baked chicken, hard-boiled eggs, omelettes, fish or pulse meatballs, marinated tofu
  • Sauces and stocks: tomato sofrito, hummus, yoghurt sauce, home-made stock
  • Washed and chopped fruit or nuts in portions

Storage and food safety

Cool food quickly before storing it and do not leave it more than two hours at room temperature. Use airtight glass or food-safe plastic containers and label each with the contents and date. In the fridge, most cooked dishes keep between three and four days; freeze the rest. Thaw in the fridge, not at room temperature, and do not refreeze what you have already thawed. Reheat until piping hot all the way through.

What to freeze and what not

Stews, soups, creams, meatballs, cooked pulses and sauces freeze well. Raw leafy vegetables, whole hard-boiled eggs, boiled potatoes, sauces with cream or mayonnaise base and fried foods that must stay crisp lose quality. Flatten bags so they freeze quickly and take up less space.

How to avoid boredom

Change the finish with sauces, spices, fresh herbs, a little cheese, nuts or a fried egg. The same base of rice and vegetables can become a Mediterranean bowl, an Asian stir-fry or vegetables with curry. Vary seasonal ingredients each week and keep the recipes you like best.

Basic equipment to get started

You do not need sophisticated equipment: good knives, chopping boards, several baking trays, large pots and containers with lids are enough. If you like cooking with appliances, a slow cooker, a pressure cooker or an air fryer can save time, but they are not essential.

Adapting it to each household

A person living alone, a couple or a family with children need different quantities and variety. Start with a short session, one hour, focused on two or three preparations, and expand as you gain practice. Ask those you live with for help: cooking as a team is faster and more fun.

Example base recipes to start

If it is your first time, try a simple menu: a pot of lentils with vegetables, a tray of roasted vegetables, cooked brown rice, baked chicken or tofu and a home-made tomato sofrito. With these five preparations you can put together at least six different meals: lentils with rice, a rice bowl with vegetables and protein, pasta with sofrito and vegetables, a warm salad, a stuffed omelette or a wrap with leftovers. That way you see how versatile the method is with very few ingredients.

How to carry your food

If you take your lunch to work, choose airtight, microwave-safe containers, and separate wet ingredients from crunchy ones so they do not go soft: dress the salad at the last moment and carry sauces apart. A small cool bag with an ice pack is useful in summer or if you do not have a fridge. Always reheat until the food is piping hot inside.

A habit that frees up time

Batch cooking does not mean eating the same thing always or spending all Sunday in the kitchen. It is a flexible tool to make your week easier and your diet better. Try it for two or three weeks, adjust what does not work for you and discover how much time and energy you can gain.

This article is for information only and does not replace the advice of a healthcare professional. If you have concerns about your health, consult your doctor.