Batch Cooking Tips: Save Time and Eat Healthy in 2024

Discover the best batch cooking tips to save time, reduce food waste, and eat healthy all week long. Perfect for busy professionals and families!

I would like to say that I make breakfast from scratch every morning and cook 3-Michelin-star meals for my family daily. But I also have to make time for school, tennis, working out, devotion, writing, editing videos, church, and so on.

Life gets busy, but we still have to eat, and it’s important to fill our bodies with the right fuel.

The genius of batch cooking is preparing food as much as you can when you have time (e.g., on the weekend) so you can make healthy meals faster when you don’t.

What is Batch Cooking?

Batch Cooking is a meal-prepping strategy that focuses on cooking food in large quantities at one time to save time throughout the week

With our busy schedules (school, church, sports, work, sports, weights, friends…), finding time to cook meals throughout the week can be hard. Lately, it’s been harder and harder to love my family by cooking for them, since I’m always bouncing back and forth between the million activities teenagers are involved in. 

To overcome this, I can cook more than we need to on Saturday (my day at home), so meals come together quicker the rest of the week.

While traditional meal prep involves putting together set meals throughout the week, batch cooking is much more free-flowing. By keeping certain parts of meals separate, batch cooking allows for more creativity and diversity.

Batch cooking means more free time, less last-minute (expensive) take-out meals, and control over your weekly nutrition.

Essential Tools and Equipment for Batch Cooking Success

Having the right equipment for the job significantly. Here are a few of the most important batch-cooking tools:

• Tools and Appliances
  • A Good Knife: You’re going to be cutting a lot, and a sharp knife will make all the difference in speed, enjoyment, and mental sanity.
  • Slow Cooker or Instant Pot – Slow cookers can do their thing while you focus on other tasks, so you can maximize your time.
  • Blender and/or Food Processor – Soups and sauces are some of the easiest make-ahead foods out there and prevent your meals from being boring. 

If you don’t have a food processor, I highly recommend buying one; cutting vegetables, grinding meat, and homemade hummus only scratch the surface of its usage.

• Storage
  • Clear Tupperware Containers – Food in solid-colored containers has a 90% less chance of being eaten. That’s not true, but multi-sized, same-lid, clear, microwavable, dishwasher-safe containers are the best way to store food in the fridge.
  • Ziploc Bags – Cooking freezer-friendly batch meals is a lifesaver on those days when life’s moving 90 miles an hour and you don’t even have time to eat, let alone cook.

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How to Plan a Batch Cooking Session Like a Pro

Batch cooking takes more planning than an average meal because you’re working with more food. But by investing a bit of time on the front end, you save time and money in the long run.

Step 1 – Set Aside Time

Batch Cooking takes time. 

So before you plan all your meals, ensure you have enough time. For me, that usually means Saturday morning – wake up, eat breakfast, have a quiet time, maybe get a workout in, and cook until lunchtime. 

2-4 hours is a good baseline, but it all depends on how much food you want to prep. To speed the process up, see the tips below. ↓

Step 2 – Plan Dishes

For batch cooking, everything does not have to be set in stone. Flexibility is a major advantage over traditional meal prep.

But to maximize efficiency, and savings, and minimize food waste, you need a plan.

Often, I only buy specific groceries for dinner, and make sure I have extra food like bagels, sourdough, fruit, rice, and eggs on hand for breakfasts and snacks (and lunch I’m sorta at school).

That’s the beauty of batch cooking; by having food prepped and ready to go, you have the freedom to make food based on how you feel and how much time you have.

Here’s a week’s worth of dinners that I can batch cook and prep on Saturday, and put together throughout the week:

Wednesday Dinner

• Church

Important: Try to use ingredients more than once! Prep will be way faster and easier, and you’ll save money too.

In the above scenario, I’ll use broccoli in three meals, brussels sprouts in two, onions in three, cabbage in two, mushrooms in two, snap peas in two, and garlic and ginger in just about all of them.

Step 3 – Shopping List 

Groceries are more expensive than ever, and extra gas money doesn’t help anything. Planning your shopping list a few days in advance ensures you get all you need.

Example: This week I made a shopping list on Wednesday, got the groceries on Friday, and cooked on Saturday.

Tips and Tricks

• Take stock before designing a list
• Plan to use ingredients more than once
• Set a realistic budget, and stick to it
• Be flexible – don’t be afraid to change based on what’s on sale!

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Time-Saving Techniques for Batch Cooking

• Set a schedule – To make everything run smoothly, have a general idea of the order you want to cook things. I would start by prepping all the vegetables, then the meat, and finally, after that get to the cooking.

• Start with a slow-cooked dish – While I usually prefer to do all the prep before cooking, my exception is a slow-cooking dish that I can set aside while I prep and cook. In the example week above, that would be this red-braised pulled pork from The Woks of Life.

• Use a Sheet Pan – Sheet pans are great for cooking large quantities of food. I especially like them for roasted veggies; cut vegetables evenly, season with oil, salt, pepper, and one specific flavor (teriyaki, balsamic, miso, etc.), and roast at a high heat (400-500 F)

• Same ingredients, same time – When you’re using the same ingredient for two or three different dishes, you can save time by prepping all of the ingredients at once (ex: Cut the bell peppers for shogayaki and pad pak ruam at the same time).

• Lock in – With batch cooking, it’s best to commit. Eat a bite beforehand, start some beats on Spotify, and get cooking. Try not to take breaks or spread the cooking out, just work until the job is done.

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Healthy Batch Cooking Ideas for Beginners

Batch cooking is an effective way to meet your health goals. Often, the most tempting food is the food right in front of you. It’s easier to stick to nutritious, whole foods by keeping them ready, instead of grabbing BK’s at 11:13 P.M.

Healthy Batch Cooking Tips and Tricks 

• Find dishes you enjoy – There is a whole world’s worth of cuisine waiting. Last time I checked you haven’t tried 90% of the dishes on the planet. So when you’re planning out healthy meals, open your mind and take some time to look for new ideas.

• Load up on the veggies – Most vegetables are loaded with vitamins, minerals, and fiber. They’re a vital part of a healthy diet, so when you’re batch cooking don’t forget to prep your vegetables, and pre-cook some for easy nutrition.

• Don’t sleep on Meatless Monday – Plant-based meals are 100% not just for vegans. Beans, lentils, and other legumes are perfect for batch cooking because they’re:
  • Affordable
  • Easy to cook in big batches
  • Save and freeze well
  • Packed with protein and fiber (muscle growth, satiation, metabolism, and so much more!)

Here are some of my favorite vegan and vegetarian recipes:

• Tofu Hummus
• Gallo Pinto 
• Sofrito Black Beans

More coming soon!!

• Don’t forget the snacks – Snacks. They’re so easy, and it feels like you just can’t put them down. Unfortunately, many popular snack foods have almost no nutritional value. The key is to keep better choices that you still enjoy available (think fruit, roasted nuts, hummus).

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Common Batch Cooking Mistakes to Avoid

• Overcooking – When you batch cook, you’re going to be reheating the food at a later date, so please, don’t overcook anything! It’s only going to get worse when you reheat it.
• Cooking everything – You don’t have to cook all your food for the week one batch cooking session. If you can cook several dishes and prep the ingredients for the rest, you’re in good shape.
• Pre–mixing everything – The beauty of batch cooking is that it allows you to put things together in different ways and portions throughout the week. So instead of pre-assembling a rice bowl, keep the ingredients separate so you can have more variety. 

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Conclusion:

Batch cooking can revolutionize the way you manage your meals, making it easier to eat healthy without sacrificing time or effort. With the right planning, tools, and techniques, you can cook in bulk and enjoy nutritious meals every day. So, grab your containers and start cooking—it’s time to save time, reduce waste, and eat better!