Batch cooking is something I love. It helps me to stay in control and on top of everything and all the demands of a large busy family. It takes time but the time spent always pays off.

Depending on how much time I have available I will either spend a few hours cooking at the weekend, or, each time I cook something during the week I will cook double and batch the rest.

Here are a few of the reasons why I think batch cooking works well.

Saves you time in the week

You know what it’s like in the week. Whatever your situation, week nights can be manic. Everyone is rushing around, work, school, after school clubs, swimming lessons, meetings – whatever it is, life can be manic.

Anything that can ease this has to be a good thing, and batch cooking in advance means that at least you don’t have to worry about also trying to fit in preparing a home-cooked meal for everyone.

Keeps hungry tummies happy

Literally every day when we walk in the house from school or after school clubs, I haven’t even shut the front door and the children are complaining they are ‘starving’ and they have to eat ‘now’.

Speaking to friends, I’m not the only one. These hungry tummies can’t wait for me to cook a meal from scratch, so preparing their meal in advance is really the only way forward.

It means they only have to wait for as long as it takes me to warm it up – which they can just about cope with.

Encourages you to be organised in other areas of life

When I’m on a roll with the batch cooking I generally find that I’m more organised in other areas too. I think that’s what tends to happen naturally, you end up thriving of that level off organisation which isn’t a bad thing.

Means fast food can be good food

I’m not a fan of fast food as we know it, but food that is fast, that’s another thing entirely. Fast food can be good food when it’s prepared in advance.

Batching doesn’t even have to be just complete meals either. One of the things I do is chop up two or three cucumbers at a time, as well as pre-wash and slice fruit, so it’s all ready. Popping out a plate of chopped cucumber can help those hungry tummies whilst their main meal is being served.

I also like batch cooking lunches, like jam jar salads, as these keep really well in the fridge.

Makes your day more productive

I find batching tasks makes me way more productive. I use this in work as well. Grouping tasks together helps me to be more productive.

If you have lots of things to chop, get all the chopping out of the way before you move onto the next task. When you are using the oven or hob, have a few things on the go at any one time and so on.

Do you batch cook? Do you find it helpful?