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Batch Cooking Healthy Meals

Hi, can anyone recommend healthy meals to batch cook. I mainly eat chicken, fish and mince.

I work full time and find then when I get home I feel too tired to cook from scratch. Any ideas would be welcome. Thank you.

Comments

  • Shepherds pie.
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    160/600 sinking fund

  • If you make mince and tatties you can freeze them separately and have mince and tatties or shepherds pie when defrosted.

    Also, I swear by my rice cooker. I have a bag of frozen salmon in the freezer, get one out to defrost the day before, get home, pop on some rice, fish in the oven (could do chicken the same way) and quickly cook some veg.
    3000/6000 emergency fund
    160/600 sinking fund

  • elsien
    elsien Posts: 35,072 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 13 April 2024 am30 6:49AM
    Chilli and spag bol are my two automatic mince go tos to shove in the freezer then it doesn't take long to cook the rice or spaghetti to go with it. I usually add lentils to make it go further. 
    Not batch cooking but when I am knackered I am a big fan of a stir fry. Chicken, whatever veg you like/have in, a bit of jerk seasoning, or lemon/garlic etc and you can cook pitta bread from frozen in the toaster if you want some carbs.
    Or make and freeze mashed potato so you have zap that in the microwave with your fish/veg of choice which again you can cook very quickly from scrstch.
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  • bouicca21
    bouicca21 Posts: 6,644 Forumite
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    Baked potatoes freeze well, zap them in the microwave when needed. I also freeze mince, curry, and individual pies.  If OP has enough energy to chop the veg’ then like @elsien I’d go for a stir fry, chuck a bit of protein of choice, ready in minutes.
  • PipneyJane
    PipneyJane Posts: 4,477 Forumite
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    What style of food do you like to eat?  Chinese?  Curries?  Pasta?  Meat-and-two-veg?  Also, for how many people are you cooking?

    The most straightforward thing with batch cooking is to just double up ingredients when next you cook your favourite dishes, and to then freeze half.  Dish up the “freezer meal” at the same time that you dish up dinner, to avoid eating extra and not having a sufficient quantity for next time.  

    Since so many of my recipes start “fry onion with mushrooms, add garlic”, I regularly cook up batches of this base, using one portion for dinner and freezing the rest in takeaway tubs.  A minute or two in the microwave and a frozen tub can be emptied into a saucepan to be heated, ready for my next ingredients.

    You can do the same for a mince-based meal.  Get your mince to the point where you’d normally add your spices for a chilli or a keema curry, and then divide it up into tubs for the freezer.  (For me, that’s when the mince is browned, after frying it with the above base, just before I’d add tinned tomatoes.)  When you come to use your frozen mince-starter, gently fry your spices until the aroma rises - i.e. you can smell them - then add your mince-starter and your tinned tomatoes ASAP.  Continue cooking the recipe as usual.

    HTH

    - PIp
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  • maisie_cat
    maisie_cat Posts: 2,130 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Academoney Grad
    It depends on your palate, but I currently have 
    Various chillies, various curries, beef in red wine, goulash, cooked sausages, chicken casserole, ragu, pizza & naan dough, roasted veg, leftover mash and various cooked beans.
    I tend to operate on a "throw together and add a carb" basis
    I don't freeze the carb side, except leftover mash. Rice, quinoa etc or pasta are 10 minutes in the instant pot and do not require supervision.
  • Thank you for all your replies and the receipes Goldfinches. I will have a look through those. My diet consists mainly of fish, chicken, mince and pasta. I have an oven, slow cooker, air fyer and microwave. I do have chicken breasts and fish for inbetween meals but I do want to do some batch cooking too as then I will have my own ready meals when I know what's gone into them. I do want to eat more healthily.
  • joedenise
    joedenise Posts: 17,335 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    If you're batch cooking chicken then I'd suggest thighs and/or drumsticks - more flavour and cheaper than breast.

    A turkey leg will make a good amount of curry with lots of added veg and spices then you'll just need to cook some rice to go with it or grab a naan from the freezer - always useful to keep in stock and a bit quicker than cooking rice.

    If you like brown rice or wild rice which take longer to cook than white rice then that is something else which is worth batch cooking and freezing in portions.  Very quick to reheat in a microwave.

  • ruis72
    ruis72 Posts: 32 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Photogenic Combo Breaker
    https://www.inspiredtaste.net/36368/slow-cooker-lemon-chicken-thighs/#itr-recipe-36368
    https://www.cookingclassy.com/slow-cooker-greek-lemon-chicken-and-potatoes/
    I love making these recipes as I can throw them in the slow cooker and there's plenty of leftovers to freeze
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