Batch cooking for beginners

Batch cooking means cooking once for several days. Done well, a two-hour session on Sunday gives you a week of varied lunches and dinners without eating the same dish every day.

Think in components, not recipes

The trick experienced batch cooks use is to cook building blocks, not seven separate recipes. One pot of rice, one tray of roast vegetables, one tray of chicken and one tomato sauce can become a curry, a rice bowl, pasta and a traybake.

Pick meals that share at least one component each. Variety comes from how you combine them, not from how many things you cook.

Plan before you shop

Decide how many days and meals you are covering. Most beginners start with lunches for 4 or 5 days.
Count people and portions. Someone cutting weight and someone training hard need different amounts of the same food.
Write one shopping list for the whole session, with totals: two recipes that each need an onion means two onions.

Run the session in the right order

Turn the oven on first. Whatever roasts longest goes in first.
Start grains and pasta on the hob while the oven works.
Make the sauces while things roast and boil.
Chop raw vegetables and garnishes last, and keep them apart: they don’t freeze or reheat well.
Let food cool, then portion it out, label it and store it: fridge for the next 3 to 4 days, freezer for the rest.

Kit that makes it easier

Two large oven trays, one big pot, a large frying pan, a good knife and a set of matching containers that can go in the freezer and microwave. Labels or a marker save a lot of guessing later in the week.

Common beginner mistakes

Cooking seven different recipes. It doubles the washing-up and the time.
Keeping everything in the fridge. Anything past day 3 or 4 should go into the freezer.
Same portion for everyone, even when goals and appetites differ.
Dressing salads in advance. Keep dressings and crunchy things separate.

Let Batchillo do the planning

Batchillo picks a week of meals that share components, sizes every portion for each person’s calories and protein, builds the shopping list, and guides the cooking session step by step with timers. You just cook.