LIFE Batch cooking

Batch cooking and freezing food is a great way to avoid food waste and budget.

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Many foods can be in the deep freeze for 6-9 months, but some foods are best eaten sooner than that (within 3 months) as the flavour and texture can change if left in the freezer for too long or not wrapped properly.

Always wrap foods carefully to avoid 'freezer-burn' but leave enough room for the foods to expand. Use this page to find ideas for recipes for food that can be batch-cooked and frozen for use again.

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If you are cooking something like a shepherd's pie or lasagne, make twice the amount and freeze a portion for another meal. Cool the extra portion and freeze (before the baking in the oven stage). Reheat at a slightly lower temperature, so that the meal doesn't become dry.

Always make sure frozen meals are thoroughly re-heated (always check that the centre of the meal is piping hot) before serving.

Cook a large batch of tomato pasta sauce, bolognese sauce, cheese sauce etc and split into several portions before freezing. You can then use these to make a variety of different meals (chilli, pasta bake, shepherd's pie, stews etc) from the same basic sauce.

Soups are very economical, easy to batch cook and freeze well. Just double or treble the ingredients, cook (in a large pan!), cool, puree if liked and split into portions before freezing.

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Many meals are suitable for batch cooking and freezing, and this is an economical and time saving way to prepare food from scratch. Once cooked, cool the meal and put into a freezer proof container, or if you make the meal in a pyrex or casserole dish, wrap well in a freezer bag, cling film or foil, before freezing. Find soup recipes here

Cakes, biscuits, pies & bread

Bake, cool, put into containers or wrap well, label and put in the freezer. It's best to ice cakes after they have been defrosted, if required. Make up double the quantity stated in recipes and freeze in batches if preferred. Freeze for up to 3 months.

Find bread and cake recipes here

Baby weaning & toddler meals

Baby weaning purees and toddler meals can be cooked in batches and frozen in the same way, just freeze in smaller portions. Take extra care in reheating these though. You must make sure they are piping hot after cooking from frozen, and then cooled before giving to your baby.

Your batch cooking tips

Helen ...

"I freeze homemade soups, stocks, sauces, gravy as I always make too much, rather than throw away."



Marie ...

"Whenever I cook something like a casserole, bolognese or a curry I always cook extra to freeze, so that I have quick meals for during the week."



Melanie ...

"When I was preparing purees and baby meals during weaning, I froze fruit purees and veg casseroles first in ice-cube trays then plastic pots that were suitable for microwave use - that saved no end of time."



Lisa ...

"I make a couple of batches of cakes/biscuits with the kids, freeze them in freezer bags and use them for lunchboxes throughout the week... much cheaper than buying cereal bars and those little bags of cookies!"



Louise ...

"I love batch cooking! I batch cook for lunch meals as well as for teatime meals. One of my favourites is carrot and coriander soup. For about £2.50 you can make 4 or 5 containers of the stuff."