Freezer Batch Cooking for Beginners: A Simple Weekend Plan

If you work long days, the last thing you want to do at 6pm is start cooking from scratch. Freezer batch cooking fixes that. You spend a few hours once, and you end up with weeks of ready meals that cost a fraction of takeaway or shop lunches. Here is how to get started.

Step 1: Pick two or three recipes

Don't try to fill the freezer in one go. Choose two or three meals that freeze well, such as a beef stew, a chilli, and a lentil soup. Doubling or tripling each recipe is easier than making lots of different dishes.

Step 2: Cook, then cool quickly

Let the food cool before it goes in the freezer, but don't leave it sitting out for hours. Spread large batches into shallow containers so they cool faster, then chill in the fridge before freezing. This is especially important with rice and anything containing meat.

Step 3: Portion into single meals

Freeze in the portion you'll actually eat, not in one big block. Single portions defrost faster, heat more evenly, and fit straight into a lunch box. Stainless steel meal prep containers work well because they're reusable and easy to stack.

Step 4: Label everything

Write the name of the meal and the date on every container. Anything frozen without a label turns into a mystery meal within a month.

Step 5: Freeze flat and stack

Soups and stews frozen flat in freezer bags take up very little space and defrost quickly. Once solid, stand them up like files.

A simple first-weekend plan

• Saturday: make a big stew and a big chilli.
• Portion into 8 to 10 meals in total.
• Freeze most, keep two or three in the fridge for the first days of the week.

Taking it to work

Frozen meals are only useful if you can eat them hot at work. Defrost a portion fully overnight in the fridge and pack it in the morning. A plug-in electric heated lunch box will heat it up for you, wherever the job takes you, so you don't need a microwave. For more on why this approach saves money, see the triple win of meal prep.