Tips for Making Batch Cooking Enjoyable and Healthy

At the FitFarms holiday retreat in Dorset this week we talked during our mentoring groups sessions about batch cooking. Batch cooking can be a really good way to use your time efficiently and still eat healthy meals throughout the week.

Many of our clients have busy lives with work and family commitments taking up much of their time. It can seem daunting to some people to have to find extra time to prepare healthy meals from scratch. Not everyone enjoys cooking, so cooking meals every day can seem like a chore. This is not what you want when you are trying to put more of an emphasis on healthy eating.

One solution might be batch cooking. Batch cooking is when you make several portions of a meal or meals in one go. It is more efficient because you do all of the shopping, prep work, cooking and cleaning all at once. The meals can then be stored in the fridge or the freezer and when you come to eat them there is much less work to do.

How often you do a batch cook is completely up to you. Some people get into a regular routine of preparing all of their meals for the week in one session, perhaps on the weekend. For others it works to do it a few times a week. Not all of your meals have to be prepared this way, so you could just do a batch cook once or twice a month to stock up your freezer so that you always have plenty of home-cooked easy options for when life gets really hectic.

Here are some easy tips for making batch cooking enjoyable and helping you with your goals.

• Make sure the meals are balanced. After a week at FitFarms and the workshops with Lesley our nutritionist you should have a really good idea of how to put together a balanced plate. You also get a recipe pack with lots of ideas.
• Make the cooking experience enjoyable. Put on some music, an audio book or a DVD box set while you cook. Cook with your partner, your kids or invite some friends around who also want to batch cook.
• Portion the food out straight away and put it in the fridge or freezer as soon as it’s cooled. That way you wont be tempted to eat more of it than you would want to at the first sitting.