MSE Forum Poll: Do you batch cook or meal prep to save money?

MSE_JC

Cooking extra and saving the leftovers - or preparing multiple meals in advance - can be a great way to make your food budget go further, but is it part of your MoneySaving routine?

Vote in the poll and share your thoughts in the thread.

kimwp

More to save time than money

flaneurs_lobster

1.5 kg of Delia's "authentic ragu" in portion-sized bags into the freezer yesterday.

Will keep us in pasta sauce & lasagne filling for a few months.

Today's lamb stew will be half eaten/half frozen.

Wednesdayman

I just end up with a load of takeaway containers full of unidentified brown sludge that could be curries/stew/hot pot/casserole. They sit in the freezer for six months until I clean it out and throw them in the bin

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82169532#Comment_82169532

less than a quid at Tesco etc

elsien

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82169504#Comment_82169504

Same here. Unless there’s a yellow sticker something that’s too much for one person so then I have to turn it into something else and freeze it

UnsureAboutthis

Every few weeks, we do a big batch-cooking session—mostly Asian dishes—and pack them away into individual containers. We have two upright fridge-freezers, which make retrieving them so much easier.

It’s really more about saving time and avoiding lingering cooking smells than saving money. Batch cooking saves a tremendous amount of time during the week, and—I’m not sure if it’s just us—we often find that homemade meals actually taste better after being frozen and reheated!

We routinely serve these homemade dishes on Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and occasionally Thursdays. Friday night is almost always shop-bought fish and chips, followed by pizza, burgers, or chicken on Saturday nights—unless we are hosting or out for the evening. It’s a great routine; it saves all the faffing about over what to eat every night.

Btw: Sound silly, but we do our best not to buy ready foods/pizza/etc. with garlic, as I can't stand the smell, nor add it to Asian foods, and TBH, the food tastes no different when compared with friends' same type of food. TBH, I do live my garlic bread and often have this at our children's homes, as they have massive, very well-vented kitchens, which mitigates the small of it when compared to our relatively small, 16 foot x 8 foot kitchen

Jemma01

I batch cook to save time, I don't enjoy cooking but I care to eat healthy. I would cook 4 big different meals and freeze them, usually last a month. Then I can eat during a work day with 30mins lunch breaks and I can enjoy the weekends outside and not worry about returning late and having to cook (which would be tea and biscuits as I wouldn't bother cooking)

lascem

Like others on here, it's more a matter of saving time than money. I batch cook and freeze ingredients rather than whole meals - tomato sauces, curry sauces, dried pulses and rice. The kind of things I can't be bothered to cook from scratch every day (dried beans in particular, with all the soaking, pressure cooking and whatnot). Then I only have to remember to take the stuff out of the freezer!

BridgetTheCat

As a single person it’s a way of life because almost nothing comes in individual portions.

twopenny

Definitely did it when I was working, healthy and quick. Don't know how I had the time but I also grew a lot of food myself and bought another freezer to stock it all. Did a big cook once every 6 weeks on a Saturday morning.

Now I've retired I want to save time because of all the activities I have and too tired to cook when I get in 🙂

Also jams, marmalades for breakfast and chutney for sandwiches. That does save money and gives variety.

It's what rainy days are for.