Batch cooking: a Sunday plan
The order matters more than the recipes. Oven on first, longest things in, and everything that needs cooling goes in early so the fridge is not fighting you at six.
30 items
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
The items
- Before you shop
- Pick four dishes, two that freeze well
- Check what is already in the fridge and freezer
- Count the containers you actually own
- Write the shopping list from the recipes, not from memory
- Prep, all at once
- Chop every onion for every dish, togetherOne board, one knife, one wash-up. This is where the hour is saved.
- All the garlic
- All the root vegetables
- Weigh out the dried goods
- Get every container out and lidded before you start
- Cook in this order
- Oven on, and the longest roast in first
- Anything that simmers for an hour — stew, ragù, dal
- Grains and pulses on a back ring
- Roast trays of vegetables while the pot simmers
- Quick things last: dressings, sauces, eggs
- Wash up while things cook, not afterCooking finished at a clean worktop is the difference between doing this again next week and not.
- Cool and store
- Cool fast, in shallow containers, uncovered
- Fridge within two hours
- Label everything with what and whenUnlabelled containers become a mystery on Thursday and a bin on Sunday.
- Freeze in single portions, flat
- Three days in the fridge, the rest in the freezer
- Make the week easy
- Something for tonight, so you eat before the washing up
- A jar of dressing
- Cooked grains for lunches
- Something for breakfast — overnight oats, a tray bake
- Write the week on the fridge, so nobody asks
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
Questions people ask
- How long does a week's batch cooking take?
- About three hours for four or five dishes, if the shopping is done and you cook in the right order. Most of it is waiting, which is why overlap is the whole trick.
- How long does batch-cooked food keep?
- Three to four days in the fridge, three months in the freezer. Cook for three days and freeze the rest on day one — do not plan to freeze leftovers on day four.