Batch cooking: recipes and weekly menu

Batch cooking: menu + recipes

We have prepared a complete weekly batch cooking menu plus the explanation of all the recipes. You will see, they are very easy!

Keys to batch cooking

Batch cooking is cooking large and at the same time several meals, such as the ones we propose below, which you combine in different ways every day.
In addition, it consists of cooking food that you can store and preserve in the fridge or freezer, and in portions so that it is easier for you to use them.
And plan what you are going to eat, as in the weekly menu that you have after the recipes. So you organize how to take advantage of everything you have cooked and, at the same time, control your diet.
Here we explain everything you need to know about batch cooking.

Vegetable consommé

To make a basic vegetable broth, wash, cut, and chop half a turnip, 1 celery stick, 1 leek, 2 scraped carrots, and 3 medium peeled onions. Put the vegetables to simmer in a liter and a half of water for an hour with a bay leaf and without any salt. Remove the vegetables, strain the broth to remove impurities, and once cold, store it in individual servings and freeze it. More soups and creams, here.

Steamed vegetables

One of the essential principles of batch cooking is to cook several things at the same time and even take advantage of the same cooking, such as steaming some vegetables while you prepare the consommé from before. You just have to put a bamboo steamer like this one over the stock pot and take advantage of the heat it releases to boil green beans, carrots, onion, potato, zucchini … Then, you chop them up and store them in freezer bags. And when you go to use them, you heat them or sauté them.

vegetables cream

In parallel to the consommé, in another of the stove on the plate, prepare a vegetable cream like this and, once cold, store it and freeze it in individual portions and also in cubes as we propose in the step-by-step vegetable cream recipe . You can use these cubes to enrich other stews without having to resort to the classic concentrated tablets, which usually have preservatives, a lot of salt and other added products.

Homemade tomato sauce

Another of the preparations that gives a lot of play in the weekly batch cooking menu is the homemade tomato sauce. While you make the consommé and the cream, in a third stove put a pot with chopped onion and pepper. Sauté until golden brown. Add a can of crushed natural tomato, cook for 20-30 minutes and blend. To one part you can add sautéed minced meat to make a bolognese. And as in the other cases, you keep everything in portions.

Pisto or sanfaina

Ratatouille, sanfaina or any other combination of sautéed vegetables also gives a lot of play in batch cooking. Sauté diced onion, pepper, aubergine and zucchini. Add some of the tomato sauce that you have prepared before. Let it cook until everything is well cooked, let it temper and store. It will be used to make an egg with ratatouille, add to pasta, accompany meat or fish …

Short pasta

You also have to prepare a good amount of short pasta (spirals, bows, macaroni …), and store it in portions that you will combine in different ways during the week: with the Bolognese sauce, the ratatouille or as a base for a salad. As you will reheat it later, it is better if you cook it al dente. And if you don't want to go overboard with the quantity, it is considered that with about 60 grams of pasta per serving, it is enough.

Meatballs and burgers

Minced meat is also a great ally of batch cooking. You can use it to make meatballs, hamburgers, bolognese and to fill roasted aubergines. The trick is to make the mixture (I put pork and beef, an egg, a grated apple, salt, pepper and a splash of milk); reserve a part for the sauce and the filling; and with the rest form meatballs and hamburgers, and freeze them. You can finish the meatballs the same day that you eat them with ratatouille or tomato sauce.

Grilled chicken

While making all the previous preparations, cook a whole chicken in the oven in parallel, alone or on a bed of vegetables that you can save as ratatouille or steamed vegetables. Then you cut it into fourths or eighths. You can eat some parts loose with vegetables, for example. And others you can crumble them to add to a salad or to make croquettes or a filling. Find out how to make a roast chicken with onions.

Vegetable Quiche

As in the case of stoves, the trick for batch cooking is to take advantage of the oven's full capacity. While the chicken is roasting, in another of the oven trays, you can prepare a vegetable quiche. Quiches, tortillas, lasagna, and all portioned foods are great for the weekly menu.

Roasted eggplant

And to make the most of the oven, you can take advantage of a hole to put a refried dish with slices of eggplant. You can cover a part of the sheets with minced meat, roll them on themselves as you see here and tie them with a toothpick. And the others keep them flat, with nothing on top, and one day you can use them as the base for some mini vegetable pizzas: spread them with tomato, put tomatoes, bacon and cheese on top, and gratin.

With these recipes plus salads and bagged vegetables or some canned asparagus, you can complete the healthy and delicious batch cooking menus for a whole week without looking for additional work.

Weekly batch cooking menu

Foods

Monday: Vegetable cream and fish fillets with vegetable ratatouille.
Tuesday: Salad with broccoli and roasted chicken breast with onions.
Wednesday: Salad with apple and meatballs with sauteed vegetables.
Thursday: Vegetable cream and pasta salad with chickpeas and vegetables.
Friday: Green salad with fresh cheese and tomatoes and vegetable quiche.
Saturday: Vegetable and pasta consommé with homemade tomato and meatballs.

Dinners

Monday: Consommé of vegetables and aubergines stuffed with minced meat
Tuesday: Green cucumber and carrot salad and vegetable quiche.
Wednesday: Cream of vegetables and spinach salad with strawberries and shredded chicken.
Thursday: Green salad with broccoli and vegetable ratatouille with fried egg.
Friday: Canned asparagus and pasta salad, tomatoes and fresh cheese.
Saturday: Cream of vegetables and aubergine pizzas with bacon and tomatoes.

And for dessert, breakfast and snack?

A couple of pieces of fruit per person per day, a daily yogurt or two, sliced and frozen bread, vegetable patés (hummus, guacamole …), eggs, fresh cheese, turkey and Iberian or cooked ham.

Cover photo: Alyson Mcphee via Unsplash.