Food Batching

[rousseau]

I've been wanting to up my cooking game for a while but finally.. actually have the time to do so. After some deliberation the direction I want to go is less in the vein of 'fine dining' more in the realm of practicality: how to make my partner and I's life easier, better, healthier, and more efficient through what we cook.

And that's where food batching comes in. We already do this to an extent: almost every week we cook many cups of rice, legumes, and a whole chicken to supplement our lunches at work. As expected, this cuts down on the time we need to spend preparing food.

With that said I'm curious what kinds of stuff others do here in the same vein. What kind of practical foods do you make in large batches to keep yourself fed, not necessarily to impress?

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

I make all my lunches for work on Sunday prior to that week. Generally it's just a mix of vegetables with a grain, some olives and capers, and olive oil. And I'll take some fruit along, either fresh or dehydrated.

We don't eat the same foods that often because of my dietary restrictions but she's fond of making vegetarian chili that lasts all week.

We make our version of nutribars which is a mix of ground nuts, flax, pumpkin seeds and honey. Those last a week in the fridge at least.

We usually have prepared oatmeal in the fridge that gets some frozen fruit and yogurt to make a great snack. I'll regularly make a bunch of brown rice just to snack on.

Making large meals for dinner just doesn't happen anymore because of our work schedules. When it did, it was usually something tossed into the slow cooker in the morning before leaving for work.

With winter approaching it will be soup/chowder time again, which means find the largest pot and make at least a gallon of something.

 

[Treedbear]

Spaghetti and meat sauce, chicken chili with beans, turkey meatloaf with red bell peppers, chicken stock for making soup or whatever will all freeze well. I've kept the first two for at least a month without going bad. For instance during the summer I'll make a pot of chili and freeze it in 12 oz re-useable deli style containers. 25 serving is 5 weeks of lunches for me. In the winter I make chicken soup once a week and keep 16 oz portions in the fridge. I also make greek style yogurt once every two weeks. Longer than that in the fridge and it goes bad. That's been the best investment in time and money so far as a gallon of 1% milk is about $2.09 at Costco and I get 64 oz of very thick and exceptionally tasty yogurt. I use an Instant Pot 6 quart multi-function electric pressure cooker that has a yogurt function. They go for about $90 currently and I've used it constantly for the past 4 years to make all the above. You also need a setup for straining the yogurt and I use something called a nut-milk straining bag that seems to last forever. It's paid for itself many times over when you figure it costs me about 30 cents per 6 oz serving. I've also tried some stews but they were nothing to talk about. One thing I found though is that potatoes don't seem to freeze well.

 

[TV and credit cards]

A large pot of chicken vegetable soup. It’s nothing fancy but it’s my recipe, it’s good, and I’m proud of it, especially since getting the noodle part right.

Occasionally I’ll burn a couple of nice beef fillets, make a little au jus from what’s left in the pan, grill some onions and mushrooms and use this to make about four bagel sandwiches for meals. I like to toast the bagel and then suck up a little au jus on the open face. I make a point of boiling a couple broccoli heads too. It keeps me from grabbing chips as a side.

Another quick and easy is just to bake some buffalo wings in low sodium soy sauce. I’ll have them with brown rice and my homemade Pico de Gallo. I use white wine vinegar instead of lime juice. I make about two Mason jars. It keeps for up to two weeks.

 

[Bronzeage]

I try to fire up my smoker at least once a month. Since it's about an 8 hour process, I have to plan ahead. I usually have a pork shank (the piece that's used to make a picnic ham) and a couple slabs of ribs. Sometimes 3 or 4 chickens in place of the ribs.

The chickens cook through in about an hour. The pig leg will take at least 5 hours. They get wrapped in foil and stay in the smoker. This is a "rest at temperature." The meat doesn't get any hotter and doesn't lose any moisture, but the connective tissue continues to soften, which makes it much more tender.

Once everything is out of the smoker, it cools to handling temperature, still wrapped in the foil. The ribs are chopped into serving portions and frozen individually. Same with the chicken. The pig leg is trimmed of fat and deboned. It gets bagged in 8 oz servings. Everything goes in the freezer. With minimum planning and a microwave, there's always some protein for supper, with little work.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

Years ago, I used to make big batches of food, some of which was frozen in containers I would take to work and heat up in a microwave.
This works well for beef stew, chicken curry, dirty rice, and chicken chow mein. I used to do large batches of spaghetti sauce and live off of that for a few days. That also works well for big batches of chicken curry, and chicken egg drop soup.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

I started doing this recently, with vegetables mostly. I discovered I bought too small a steamer / rice maker, thinking since I live alone there was no point in getting a big one. Now I wish I had a big one.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Seitan is really the only thing I make in batches. Make three batches of the recipe which is equivalent to about 12 to 16 packages in the store.

 

[Underseer]

I've been wanting to up my cooking game for a while but finally.. actually have the time to do so. After some deliberation the direction I want to go is less in the vein of 'fine dining' more in the realm of practicality: how to make my partner and I's life easier, better, healthier, and more efficient through what we cook.

And that's where food batching comes in. We already do this to an extent: almost every week we cook many cups of rice, legumes, and a whole chicken to supplement our lunches at work. As expected, this cuts down on the time we need to spend preparing food.

With that said I'm curious what kinds of stuff others do here in the same vein. What kind of practical foods do you make in large batches to keep yourself fed, not necessarily to impress?

Mainly chili con carne and Japanese style curry.

Both freeze very well, so you can cook up a large batch, divide it into smaller plastic containers, and stick it in the freezer for some night when you just don't feel like cooking.

Japanese curry tastes fine as leftovers and can be eaten on rice and is surprisingly good as open-faced sandwiches on toast. I've already posted a recipe in the recipes thread assuming you don't already have your own preferred variant.

American chili tastes better and better each time you reheat it, so the leftovers will actually taste better than the first night.

Both chili and Japanese curry work spectacularly as take-to-work lunches. You can just take it out of the freezer (along with a plastic container of cooked rice if you're doing the curry) on your way out the door, then leave it in the 'fridge at work and it'll probably be mostly thawed out by the time you start lunch.

Pastas that don't involve a cheese sauce (e.g. alfredo) or otherwise complicated sauce that can break on you (carbonara?) also work well batched and frozen, although the texture of the pasta itself won't be as good when you reheat it. I definitely batch that angry butterflies recipe I posted in the recipes thread, although I'm thinking of adjusting it soon. It just has too many ingredients for what's supposedly an Italian(ish) dish.

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I started doing this recently, with vegetables mostly. I discovered I bought too small a steamer / rice maker, thinking since I live alone there was no point in getting a big one. Now I wish I had a big one.

Little ones are better at making smaller amounts of rice. Cooking smaller amounts of rice in a big rice cooker don't always turn out quite right, at least for me.

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Years ago, I used to make big batches of food, some of which was frozen in containers I would take to work and heat up in a microwave.
This works well for beef stew, chicken curry, dirty rice, and chicken chow mein. I used to do large batches of spaghetti sauce and live off of that for a few days. That also works well for big batches of chicken curry, and chicken egg drop soup.

ZOMG I love dirty rice. I have to try some recipes at some point. How can you go wrong with rice + sausage?

 

[gmbteach]

We do some bulk cooking. Recently, I have made large meat pies, cottage pies, and I usually make bulk curries, stews etc.

The only problem with cottage pies is the mashed potato, so I shan’t do this again, instead, I will make large batches of multi purpose savoury mince, and make cottage pies for two when desired.

Good luck in your endeavours.

 

[Treedbear]

We do some bulk cooking. Recently, I have made large meat pies, cottage pies, and I usually make bulk curries, stews etc.

The only problem with cottage pies is the mashed potato, so I shan’t do this again, instead, I will make large batches of multi purpose savoury mince, and make cottage pies for two when desired.

Good luck in your endeavours.

I like potatoes with stew but find they don't freeze well. But beef stew served with a side of mashed potatoes and some peas works rather well.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

Mainly chili con carne and Japanese style curry.

Both freeze very well, so you can cook up a large batch, divide it into smaller plastic containers, and stick it in the freezer for some night when you just don't feel like cooking.

Japanese curry tastes fine as leftovers and can be eaten on rice and is surprisingly good as open-faced sandwiches on toast. I've already posted a recipe in the recipes thread assuming you don't already have your own preferred variant.

American chili tastes better and better each time you reheat it, so the leftovers will actually taste better than the first night.

Both chili and Japanese curry work spectacularly as take-to-work lunches. You can just take it out of the freezer (along with a plastic container of cooked rice if you're doing the curry) on your way out the door, then leave it in the 'fridge at work and it'll probably be mostly thawed out by the time you start lunch.

Pastas that don't involve a cheese sauce (e.g. alfredo) or otherwise complicated sauce that can break on you (carbonara?) also work well batched and frozen, although the texture of the pasta itself won't be as good when you reheat it. I definitely batch that angry butterflies recipe I posted in the recipes thread, although I'm thinking of adjusting it soon. It just has too many ingredients for what's supposedly an Italian(ish) dish.

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Little ones are better at making smaller amounts of rice. Cooking smaller amounts of rice in a big rice cooker don't always turn out quite right, at least for me.

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Years ago, I used to make big batches of food, some of which was frozen in containers I would take to work and heat up in a microwave.
This works well for beef stew, chicken curry, dirty rice, and chicken chow mein. I used to do large batches of spaghetti sauce and live off of that for a few days. That also works well for big batches of chicken curry, and chicken egg drop soup.

ZOMG I love dirty rice. I have to try some recipes at some point. How can you go wrong with rice + sausage?

Dirty rice, 1 pound ground beef, 1 pound of breakfast sausage.
Rice recipe calls for 1 cup water per 1 cup rice but that makes the rice turn mushy. I like cutting back on the water to 3/4 cup per cup of rice. Chopped up green onion works with this too. Sage for spice, and a little mild hot pepper.

 

[Underseer]

The correct way to cook rice is to measure the distance between the rice and the surface of the water, which should be about the length of the first digit of your pinkie.

 

[Treedbear]

The correct way to cook rice is to measure the distance between the rice and the surface of the water, which should be about the length of the first digit of your pinkie.

Logically you need a specific ratio of water to rice. It probably depends on the type of rice. I like Goya Golden Canilla parboiled rice. I place 1.5 cups of rice, 1 tsp salt and 3 cups of water in a saucepan bring to a boil and then back off to high simmer until the water is almost gone, stirring occasionally toward the end. Then add a touch more water, turn the heat lower, cover and let steam another 5 minutes. Fluffy rice. It just takes trial and error. If I want sticky rice or just feel lazy I place equal measures of rice and water plus some salt in my Instant Pot, press RICE and it pressure cooks for 12 minutes, quick release. I just don't understand all the drama about cooking rice.

 

[gmbteach]

We do some bulk cooking. Recently, I have made large meat pies, cottage pies, and I usually make bulk curries, stews etc.

The only problem with cottage pies is the mashed potato, so I shan’t do this again, instead, I will make large batches of multi purpose savoury mince, and make cottage pies for two when desired.

Good luck in your endeavours.

I like potatoes with stew but find they don't freeze well. But beef stew served with a side of mashed potatoes and some peas works rather well.

You could also used canned potatoes in the heating up process.

 

[gmbteach]

The correct way to cook rice is to measure the distance between the rice and the surface of the water, which should be about the length of the first digit of your pinkie.

Microwave rice in prepackaged portions is easiest!

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

Long ago, I discovered that cooking rice depends on what you want to do with it. The standard on the package rice cooking instructions is for 1 cup of rice and 1 cup of water. Makes for lousy rice for fried rice or dirty rice. For fried rice, I like to douse rice with ice water and let drain in a colander for a while. Done right it makes for excellent fried rice which other wise becomes mush if one follows the cooking directions on the bag.

 

[Underseer]

The correct way to cook rice is to measure the distance between the rice and the surface of the water, which should be about the length of the first digit of your pinkie.

Logically you need a specific ratio of water to rice. It probably depends on the type of rice. I like Goya Golden Canilla parboiled rice. I place 1.5 cups of rice, 1 tsp salt and 3 cups of water in a saucepan bring to a boil and then back off to high simmer until the water is almost gone, stirring occasionally toward the end. Then add a touch more water, turn the heat lower, cover and let steam another 5 minutes. Fluffy rice. It just takes trial and error. If I want sticky rice or just feel lazy I place equal measures of rice and water plus some salt in my Instant Pot, press RICE and it pressure cooks for 12 minutes, quick release. I just don't understand all the drama about cooking rice.

Sure, but the pinkie thing is something I learned from my Japanese mother, and oddly enough, it almost always works, at least with Japanese rice in a Japanese rice cooker. I'm so spoiled by Japanese rice cookers that if you asked me to make rice in a pot on the stove, my brain would probably experience a lockup resulting in a facial expression not unlike a Texas Republican participating in a discussion about Hamiltonian dynamics

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The correct way to cook rice is to measure the distance between the rice and the surface of the water, which should be about the length of the first digit of your pinkie.

Microwave rice in prepackaged portions is easiest!

*makes a cross with fingers accompanied by a hissing noise*

Blasphemy!

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

The correct way to cook rice is to measure the distance between the rice and the surface of the water, which should be about the length of the first digit of your pinkie.

Microwave rice in prepackaged portions is easiest!

That is by far the quickest and easiest way to have your rice, but it is the most expensive. For large amounts of rice it doesn't make sense.

 

[gmbteach]

The correct way to cook rice is to measure the distance between the rice and the surface of the water, which should be about the length of the first digit of your pinkie.

Microwave rice in prepackaged portions is easiest!

That is by far the quickest and easiest way to have your rice, but it is the most expensive. For large amounts of rice it doesn't make sense.

Oh, I agree! For two of us, it’s the easiest way.

One of my favourite things to cook right now is 1/2 a chorizo, 1/2 a ham steak, a punnet of cherry tomatoes, some some capsicum, mushroom and sometimes tinned potato, cooked in a frypan on a medium to low heat with some balsamic vinegar, a sprinkle of sugar and salt and pepper. It takes 10 mins top to prepare and put in the pan, stir it every few minutes, nuke the rice and presto - dinner.

I know I could cook rice at the same time, but I am generally making my lunch for the next day and tending to the cats (yes infrequently wash my hands) at the same time.

I don’t know if bulk cooked rice would freeze and reheat well.