Embrace batch cooking

The solution: Batch Cooking

“Batch cooking” means preparing several dishes in advance to free up time and relieve us of that stressful burden that can sometimes be heavy to bear on certain busy evenings or mornings. By preparing dishes, snacks, and desserts in advance and in large quantities, we always have that little "emergency stock" ready to use when needed. Shepherd's pie, lasagna, chili, pancakes, granola, muffins, energy balls, and many other such things freeze very well and are very practical when time is short.

Frozen meals, a real treasure!

Be careful, these meals that take hours to cook and are then frozen are extremely precious and should be treated as a rare commodity. Save them for busy weekday evenings or mornings, or for when you're particularly tired. The ideal is to plan your weekly schedule carefully. This is where our magnetic weekly family planner becomes indispensable! By noting down each family member's appointments and activities, you'll more easily identify which evenings are likely to cause you more headaches. For example, for me, it's Monday evenings, piano lesson night, and Wednesday evenings, when Dad gets home at 7 PM and I have to handle the whole 5-to-7 alone, that are problematic. On my weekly family planner, in the dinner section, I then write "prepared meals." This way, I know I just need to take something out of the freezer that morning. If you have teenagers, they'll also know what to eat if you're not home in time for dinner.

One Saturday or Sunday a month, devote all your time to cooking. Alone or with your family, cook several recipes and create an "emergency stock" of prepared meals. Once cooked, the dishes are stored in the fridge or freezer, ready to be used. Adopting "batch cooking" is advantageous in many ways: undeniable time savings, a freer mind, beautiful family cooking moments, and money savings.

Food preservation

Of course, to implement this new habit, you'll 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 it's the best investment you can make. I assure you that over time, you'll make great savings thanks to it—savings in both time and money. Another interesting investment will be to build up an inventory of washable and reusable Ziploc-style bags like Re-Zip. These storage bags are perfect for freezing desserts and snacks, certain meals, and even soups and broths. Transparent, they allow us to easily see their contents. Storage labels to clearly identify the different sections of your freezer are also extremely practical and facilitate freezer inventory. Not to mention that thanks to them, even those who never find anything in the freezer (we won't name names here!!!!) will easily find what they're looking for.

Are you ready to get started? To make your life easier, our collaborator Sonia Lizotte and her culinary squad share six recipes and a ready-made grocery list each month in our Monthly Family Chef subscription to prepare them in three hours or less!

Also discover all our little tips to download that will facilitate the planning and preparation of your meals, ready to slip into your family organization binder!