Clever Cooking – Batch It

15/01/20

Is your freezer your best friend? It should be!

It’s the perfect way to make the most of reduced stickers in the supermarket, but have you thought of cooking it up before putting it in to freeze.

Batch freezing is one of the smartest ways to make the most of your food and your time. 
Think about the times when you prep your food – could you go double, or triple, and create another few meals? Imagine how it would feel to have tasty, good food, pre-paid, within easy reach, without having to go to the supermarket or without reaching for the phone to call the takeaway.

You’re already cooking the meals, so why not max out your cooking time once and reap the benefits many times over?

Here’s JD Seasoning’s Go To Guide to Batch Cooking
Freeze it how you serve it
Eating for one? Create single portions. Only have enough for two? That will make a great option for a busy night when not everyone is dining. If you have a get together on the horizon and plenty of space in the freeze, go biiiiig!

Don’t freeze everything
While some things freeze amazingly – curries, casseroles, chillis – and you can even freeze the sides in advance, there are just some things that will not work at low temperatures. Mashed potato will freeze but raw potato won’t. Lettuce is far too fragile and will implode (quietly) and the same goes for fresh tomato and cucumber, so keep the salad stuff out. Mayo won’t work and cream or yoghurt is better put in after it’s defrosted but the top tip is to never, ever freeze an egg. Don’t know why you would, but don’t.

Get to know your deadlines
Think in months rather than years! Aim to eat what you make within 6 months maximum or less if you can. This applies for your leftover turkey, so if you come across it in September, you might want to give it a miss.

Give yourself a little headspace
Before freezing anything, make sure that you’ve wrapped it carefully, squeezing out any excess air. This is important to avoid batch cooking’s nemesis, freezer burn. Working with liquids? Include  about an inch between the liquid and the lid. Called ‘headspace’, it allows for expansion in the deep chill.