Not only does this method offer a way to ensure you’re eating homemade, nutritious meals throughout the week, but it can also save significant amounts of money and reduce food waste. With bulk cooking, you can make large quantities of meals and then store them in portion-sized containers to enjoy later. Meal prepping makes life easier.

Whether you’re a busy professional, a parent juggling kids and work, or someone looking to streamline your kitchen routine, these bulk cooking recipes will become your best friend. We always say that as long as you’re making a mess, you might as well get all you can out of it. It takes as much time to clean up a small pan as it does a big one and have stuff to stash in the fridge or freezer for another meal (or two or even 4)

Bulk cooking meals

Benefits of Bulk Cooking:

1. Economic: Buying ingredients in bulk is often cheaper, and cooking in bulk can also cut down on the number of trips you need to make to the grocery store, saving both time and gas money.
2. Time-saving: One bulk cooking session can yield meals for days or even weeks. Imagine the luxury of coming home and having a meal ready to heat and eat without the daily preparation, cooking, and cleaning.
3. Healthier Choices: When you prepare your meals, you have complete control over the ingredients. This means no surprise additives or unhealthy ingredients.
4. Reduces Stress: No more last-minute panic about what to cook for dinner. Your meals are pre-planned and ready to go.
5. Minimized Food Waste: Bulk cooking encourages the use of all the purchased ingredients, leading to less food being thrown out.

Tips for Successful Bulk Cooking

• Planning: Create a menu for the week (or longer) and compile a grocery list to ensure you have everything you need.
• Storage: Invest in good quality, durable, and reusable containers. Consider both fridge and freezer storage.
• Label Everything: Clearly label containers with the date and contents. This way, you always know what’s inside and when it was made.
• Rotate Meals: To keep things interesting, rotate through different meals so you don’t get tired of eating the same thing.

Recipes for bulk cooking

Now that we’ve covered the basics of bulk cooking, it’s time to dive into some delicious, easy-to-make recipes. We’ll explore dishes from various cuisines, ensuring you never get bored with your meal choices. Whether you’re into comforting casseroles, savory stews, or health-packed salads, there’s a bulk recipe waiting for you. So, roll up your sleeves, and let’s embark on this bulk cooking journey together!

Here are some bulk cooking recipes that are both delicious and storage-friendly. Each of these can be easily divided into portions and stored in containers for later use.

Hearty Vegetable Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dried lentils, rinsed and drained
• 8 cups vegetable broth
• 3 carrots, diced
• 3 celery stalks, diced
• 2 potatoes, cubed
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp thyme
• 2 bay leaves

Instructions:

1. In a large pot, sauté the onion and garlic until translucent.
2. Add carrots, celery, and potatoes. Cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add the lentils, diced tomatoes, and vegetable broth.
4. Add seasonings.
5. Let it simmer for about 45 minutes or until lentils are tender.
6. Remove the bay leaves before serving.

Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

Ingredients:

• 4 cups cooked chicken, cubed
• 4 cups broccoli florets
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 1 can (14 oz) cream of chicken soup
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cream of chicken soup and sour cream.
3. Add in the chicken, broccoli, rice, and half of the cheese. Mix well and season with salt and pepper.
4. Pour the mixture into a large casserole dish. Top with the remaining cheese.
5. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the casserole is bubbly and golden.

Chickpea Spinach Curry

Ingredients:

• 2 cans (14 oz each) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 4 cups spinach, washed and chopped
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1-inch ginger, minced
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 2 cups coconut milk
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp oil

Instructions:

1. In a large pot, heat oil and sauté onions until golden.
2. Add garlic and ginger, sauté for another 2 minutes.
3. Add the tomatoes and spices, and cook until the tomatoes are soft.
4. Add chickpeas and coconut milk. Allow it to simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Stir in the spinach and cook until wilted.
6. Season with salt and serve with rice or flatbread.

Remember, the key to bulk cooking is ensuring your food is stored correctly. Allow foods to cool to room temperature before refrigerating, use airtight containers, and label with the date and contents. If you’re freezing dishes, make sure to defrost them in the refrigerator overnight before reheating.

Here are some more great bulk recipes to fill your fridge or freezer with meals:

• Bulk Freezer Homemade Meatballs
• Big Batch Bolognese
• Cook 1 Pork Roast, Make 5 Meals
• Cook a Whole Chicken, Make 3 Meals
• Classic Beef Stew in Red Wine
• Instant Pot Turkey Breast

The post Bulk Cooking Recipes for Health appeared first on Actionable Wellness.

Getting healthy food that’s prepared by someone else is nearly impossible. If you can find scratch made food with quality ingredients, it’s EXPENSIVE. But healthy food is an important step to your fitness journey. You can make it an important part of your morning self care routine.

It’s a big part of the wellness wheel. Nutrition is so important for health. My wife, Christina does this with grace and skill to give our family healthy options, so she’s going to tell you all about how to do it today.

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What is batch cooking?

Batch cooking is making large batches of the same thing at one time. These meals are usually frozen in individual portions but can be refrigerated as well.

You can spend a couple of hours creating meals and save yourself tons of time cooking throughout the following weeks by just popping your own “tv” dinner out of the freezer or fridge and heat and eat. It saves so much time on a busy weeknight.

This gives you healthy options other than junky takeout when you don’t have time to prepare a meal. You can save a ton of money cooking your own food, but also your health. You know exactly what you’re putting in your food.

Batch cooking allows you to have dinner made, from scratch, whenever you need it. It’s less expensive than buying store-bought ready meals or take out. It’s even cheaper than fast food.

Homemade meals are healthier and you control everything that’s in the dish. You can adjust for dietary needs, allergies, and personal tastes of your family. You can avoid a ton of salt and sugar that’s in premade food and even more importantly unhealthy preservatives and additives.

Here’s a big one, for my husband and my daycare kids. You can HIDE vegetables in the sauces to add even more nutrition.

There are a few steps to take to get started. Just a little prep work and your batch cooking will be a huge success.

• Plan out what you’re going to make and gather the recipes
• Shop for the ingredients you need
• Prep all the ingredients you can ahead of time
• Plan your cooking day and cook the meals
• Store the food properly for later use.

Wash and pre-chop the vegetables when you bring them home if you can. If not, plan out a night to do this a day or two ahead of the cook day. Dry them well to prevent spoilage.

Some other things you can do to save time throughout the week if you don’t want to prepare whole meals are:

• Wash and chop raw veggies for sides and snacks
• Roast a ton of veggies so you can reheat or add to recipes
• Cook grains and beans such as brown rice and lentils to have ready to dump in a quick dinner or use as sides.
• Make dressings ahead of time or sauces that store well to make quick meals.

There are a few tips to help you be successful.

• Don’t try to do too much
• Store in single portions for easier use
• Give yourself plenty of time
• LABEL with contents AND cooking instructions as well as dates
• Get your family to help on cooking day
• Have fun, don’t stress about it.

Cook the things your family enjoys for success. It takes just as much time to make one batch as it does to make 5 and that’s 4 nights you don’t have to clean up the cooking dishes! It’s such a great way to succeed in eating healthy.

These are some meals that freeze GREAT!

• Soup and stew
• Casserole
• Pasta with sauces
• Chili
• Baked and mashed potatoes or other vegetables
• Burgers/meatballs/meatloaves
• Shredded meats

Frozen Soup Ideas

• Carrot
• Tomato
• Vegetable
• Butternut squash
• Lentil or other beans

Frozen Sauce and stock ideas

• Chicken or other meat stock
• Pasta sauce
• Vegetable stock

Batch cooking meal prep

Again, washing and pre chopping the vegetables, pre-cooking grains and legumes that take a long time to cook, and roasting a big batch of long-cooking vegetables such as sweet potatoes or winter squash will save you a ton of time on meal prep day. You can also make up a ton of granola like this one and save it in jars for later.

Know what you can freeze and what you can’t. Things that freeze well include:

• Rice
• Oatmeal
• Quinoa
• Sauces
• Soup
• Bread
• Meatballs
• Fruit
• Beans
• Casseroles
• Muffins
• Chili
• Pies

Things that don’t freeze well include:

• Mayonnaise
• Cream cheese
• Uncooked potatoes
• Lettuce

Use muffin tins to freeze the perfect portion. Once frozen, pop them out and store them in an air-tight container. This helps a ton with food waste.

Plastic wrap is a great help. Line your baking pans with it and then freeze your recipe. Once it’s frozen, lift it out of the pan and return that pan to the kitchen. Store the plastic-wrapped meal in a freezer bag in the freezer. Then unwrap it and return to the pan for reheating.

Leave room in the containers for expansion and squeeze out all the air you can. This helps the food last longer and with better quality.

Use a sheet tray to freeze individual hamburger patties, pancakes, meatballs, and cookie dough balls. Once frozen, pop the items in storage containers and freeze. This way they don’t stick together.

If you don’t want to have a big cooking day, just plan to triple or quadruple the recipe you’re making tonight. Freeze the extras and do it again next week. Before long, you’ll have a variety of frozen meals for the family.

Batch cooking on a budget

Batch cooking saves a ton of money by letting you shop in bulk. You can cook grains and beans from dry instead of buying pre-cooked, canned, or whatever. It’s far less expensive.

Batch cooking also keeps you out of the store which keeps you from making impulse purchases. This saves you tons of time too. I’d rather do just about anything than grocery shop.

You can also save money by buying big roasts and whole chickens. Cook them, shred the meat, and it’s ready to go in a ton of dishes.

Making sauces from scratch saves you a lot of money as well.

Other things you can do to save money is to use more whole grains and beans. Stretch your meat into stir-fries, soups, and casseroles saving money that way too.

Batch baking

A great way to save time baking is to premake mixes. It’s like having jiffy or Bisquick, but without the chemicals. Store them in an air-tight container and they are ready to go. Some I like to keep on hand are:

• All purpose mix
• Pancake mix
• Cake mix
• Bread machine mix
• Cornbread mix
• Muffin mix
• Cookie mix

Remember again, to LABEL with contents, using instructions, and dates.

Some great things you can bake in bulk and freeze are:

• Loaves of whole wheat bread
• Muffins
• Cookies
• Corn bread
• Rolls
• Buns
• Tortillas
• Pies
• Sweet breads

There are so many ways to save time and money by preparing ahead of time what you’ll need. You’re going to be amazed at what you can come up with. There are so many batch cooking recipes at Little Sprouts Learning that will help you get dinner on the table fast! Also, meal prep planning helps a lot.

The post Batch Cooking for Beginners-Save Time and Money Eating Healthy at Home appeared first on Actionable Wellness.