Suzanne Mulholland - The Batch Lady

MEASURING CUPS

Cups are a brilliant time-saver as they save all the time spent painstakingly weighing your ingredients. Instead, you can simply scoop the ingredients into the right-sized cup and pop it straight into your dish. I have listed cup measurements first in all of my recipes (though there are of course gram measurements, too), to try and get you into this way of thinking. It’s important to be aware that 1 cup is a standard measurement, so don’t just grab the mug that you make your morning coffee in! What you really need is a set of large measuring spoons in cup sizes.They are available from my website (details here) and other retailers. For more information on using cups, see here.

FREEZER BAGS

Freezer bags are great space savers, as you can freeze everything flat and thus get more in. They also prevent freezer burn as you can take all the excess air out of the bag before sealing. Lastly, they help food defrost quicker as they are thin and flat, so you don’t end up with a huge block to defrost as you would do using a tub. Most brands are now washable and reusable so no need to feel bad about using too much plastic!

MARKER PENS

Great for writing on your bags and won’t rub off in the freezer, so you never end up with a UFO (Unidentified Frozen Object!) Ensure you label everything as it all looks the same once frozen.

TWO LARGE COOKING POTS

‘Go big or go home’ is a saying that comes to mind. You will need some large pots and, if you’re going to invest in anything for batching, I’d say good, stainless steel pots that can go from your stove top to oven should be at the top of your list!

TWO LARGE BOWLS

Much like the pots, these are good to have, and will be used throughout most of these recipes.

GLASS DISHES WITH PLASTIC LIDS

I cannot recommend these highly enough, they transition from freezer to oven perfectly – just take the lid off and pop it straight in the oven. They also look good so you can put them in the middle of the table and serve your meals straight from the dish. I use these when I am batching fish pies, enchiladas, pasta bakes etc. I recommend Pyrex dishes as the best for freezing.

Finally, the following kitchen items are always good to have on hand: knifes, chopping boards, foil, Tupperware, scissors. If you get into batching and are using freezer bags a lot, then I would also recommend a set of ‘baggy holders’ that help hold your bags open. These are available from my website and other online retailers.

Planning what you are going to eat during the week ahead may seem laborious, but it saves time, money and waste, and often means that you eat a greater variety of food and that that food is more healthy. In fact, planning and writing down the meals that you want to make means you are much more likely to actually make those meals. Writing a meal plan can be daunting and many people struggle for inspiration the first few times, so below are some tips to help you get started.

HOW TO MEAL PLAN

There are many different ways to write your meal plan, from physical boards that hang in your kitchen to apps that you can carry with you on your phone. I like to use an old-fashioned board, however, as it helps me to have my list of meals for the week ahead hanging in my kitchen. This also means that the family knows what they will be eating ahead of time, which helps avoid mutterings of dissent if they’re surprised with a meal that’s not their favourite!

When starting to write my meal plan, I look at my diary for the week and work the plan around that. If I know that I’ll be ferrying the kids around to various afterschool activities on Tuesday, then I’ll make sure to plan something quick and easy for then. If I’m in the house all day on Thursday, but tied up with work, I’ll plan something that I can pop in the oven and forget about for a few hours. I like to start by thinking about which proteins we will be eating throughout the week to ensure they are varied. An example week might look like this:

Monday:Meat-free

Tuesday:Beef

Wednesday:Fish

Thursday:Chicken

Friday:Fakeaway

Once I know my schedule and have the basic outline of which proteins we will be eating on each day, I start to think about the specific meals that I will cook. So, following the breakdown that I have outlined above, the weekly menu might look like:

Monday:Spanish Omelette

Tuesday:Shepherd’s Pie

Wednesday:Thai Sweet Potato Fishcakes

Thursday:Spinach & Ricotta Stuffed Chicken

Friday:Calzone

If you are vegetarian, I would suggest taking a similar approach to ensure that you are eating a variety of foods throughout the week. Plan your menu so that you are focusing on one main ingredient, such as potatoes, beans or pulses, on each night, then add in the usual Friday-night curry or fakeaway. A well-balanced weekly vegetarian meal plan might look like this:

Monday:Baked Spinach Ziti

Tuesday:Chilli Bean Burgers

Wednesday:Spanish Omelette

Thursday:Oven-baked Mushroom Risotto

Friday:Thai Red Sweet Potato Curry

PLANNING FIVE DAYS OUT OF SEVEN

You will notice that I only ever plan my meals Monday-Friday. This is because, no matter how well you plan, there are always hiccups along the way and plans inevitably change throughout the week, meaning that food could potentially be wasted. By building in a two-day buffer, you can swap one or two of the meals to the weekend without wasting any food. If everything goes to plan, then then weekends are generally the time when you have a bit more time in the kitchen to cook something from scratch, or might eat out, so this gives you the freedom to still do that.

Your freezer is the kitchen equivalent of an on-demand TV. Nowadays, very few people will sit down and watch their favourite show at the time it is airing – we record it or watch it on catch-up at a time that suits us. Used properly, your freezer can do just the same for your food, meaning that you can make your meals ahead of time then pull them out and defrost them later at a time that suits you.

NOTES ON FOOD SAFETY

Your freezer should not be the place where old leftovers go to live until you finally throw them out. You want to make sure than you are using what you freeze and constantly refreshing your freezer with fresh, in-date food.

When you batch cook it’s important to maintain good kitchen hygiene at all times to help reduce the transfer of bacteria. This is simple to do, just make sure that your surfaces are cleaned with antibacterial spray before you start and always be aware of what you are touching, ensuring that you wash your hands thoroughly between touching raw and cooked foods.

Always do a quick clear up of utensils, pots and pans as you finish each recipe, making sure to also spray and wipe clean your surfaces – this is not only important from a hygiene point of view, it will also make the end clean down much quicker!

When working with chicken, do not rinse it first. Washing chicken in your home can easily spread bacteria. Simply use the chicken straight from the packet.