Adopt the "batch cooking"

We all have these end-of-day days that end up on a high note, where the meal period has to be fast because of our family obligations. Lack of time, lack of energy or lack of inspiration assailes us but our children are hungry! There are also those mornings where you have to make lunches and empty the bottoms of cupboards because you have more desserts or snacks on hand.

The solution: The Cooking Batch

The "batch cooking" consists of preparing several dishes in advance to free ourselves from time and also to free us from this stressful burden that can sometimes be heavy to carry on certain evenings or mornings in a hurry. By preparing dishes, snacks and desserts in advance and in large quantities we always have this small emergency "stock" ready to be used when the need arises. A Chinese pate, a lasagna, a chili dish, pancakes, granola, muffins, energy balls and many other things like that freeze very well and prove very convenient in these times when we are short of time. 

Frozen dishes, a real treasure!

Beware, these dishes that we will take hours to cook and which will then be frozen are extremely valuable and must be used as a rare commodity. Keep them for evenings or mornings of rushed weeks or for times when you are especially tired. The ideal is to plan the schedule of the week. This is where our weekly family planner becomes a must! By noting each other's appointments and activities you will be more likely to target evenings that may cause you more headaches. For example, here is Monday night, evening piano lessons and Wednesday night, night when Dad comes back at 7pm and I have to bang all the 5-7 alone that is problematic. On my weekly family planner, in the evening meals section I write "prepared meals." I know I just have to get something out of the freezer that morning. If you have teenagers, they'll also know what to eat if you're not back in time for dinner.

One Saturday or a Sunday a month we spend all our time in the kitchen. Alone or with the family, we cook several recipes and make an emergency "stock" of prepared dishes. Once cooked, the dishes are stored in the fridge or frozen, ready to be used. Adopting batch cooking is advantageous on several levels: an undeniable saving of time, a freer mind, beautiful moments of family cooking and saving money. 

Keep food

Of course, in order to implement this new habit, you will need to equip yourself to store food. Indeed, preparing large quantities in advance requires storage space. If you don't have a freezer, I can tell you that this is the best investment to make. I assure you that over time you will save a lot of money from him; saves time and money.  Another interesting investment will be to build you an inventory of washable and reusable ziploc style bags Re-Zip. These storage bags are perfect for freezing desserts and snacks, some meals and even soups and broths. Transparent, they allow us to see its contents. The storage labels to properly identify the different sections of your freezer are also extremely convenient and make it easier tofreezer inventory. Not to mention that thanks to them, even those who never find anything in the freezer (no one is named here!!!!) will be able to easily find what they are looking for.

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