A great way to save money and time, while eating healthy, is to make things in bulk. Creating a series of recipes in bulk and then freezing and re-using throughout the week extends your food budget and saves you time.
Some popular example of batch food preparation include making your own yogurt, grilling and freezing chicken breasts at the beginning of the week and making dressings and sauces for use in multiple dishes.
Steps to batch cooking:
- Make sure you have the appropriate storage materials (like tupperware, glass jars, or ziploc bags) and adequate fridge/freezer space.
- Figure out what recipes you want to cook in batch. Need inspiration? Check out the following links:
- Easy and Delicious Freezer Meals from HappyMoneySaver
- 15 Vegetarian Freezer Meals for Easy Weeknight Dinners from The Kitchn
- 27 Make-Ahead Recipes that Freeze Well and Make Great Leftovers from Buzzfeed
- Create a shopping list based on what you want to create for the week. Your shopping list is essential! Make sure you stick to it when you get to the market.
- Spend a few hours of your day-off cooking! While the initial time investment creating your meals may seem like a lot, you save a lot of time later in the week by having delicious leftovers that you can simply reheat for yourself, your friends, and your family.
- Better yet, throw a freezer meal party and cook with friends!
- Store your food in a safe and proper way. Check out the FDA’s website on storage basics and refrigeration tips.