It’s Monday which means that it’s time for #mealplanningMonday again! This week, I’m sharing our meal plan over here rather than over on Meal Planning Made Easy because it’s a bit different to my normal plan – it’s a batch cooking meal plan.
What I mean when I say it’s a batch cooking meal plan, I basically mean that I’ve planned a week’s worth of meals based on the fact that I want to do some batch cooking this week so everything I’ve planned can (and will) be batch cooked so I’ll be making one to eat on the day with at least one family-sized portion to go in the freezer.
Batch cooking makes life so much easier – especially with me working full time at the moment. It means that I can still serve the kind of meals that I want to be dishing up at tea-time even after a long day at work with very little effort.
This week’s batch cooking meal plan!
Monday – Sausage and bean casserole
Sausage and bean casserole is something I’ve been making for years – usually when I buy some reduced price sausages! I realised when I was trying to photo for you to share that I actually only have one photo from way back in 2011 to share for this recipe and even then, it’s not great so I’m going to take some new photos this week and re-share the recipe I think.
This is fab for freezer cooking as it freezes really well and actually seems to taste better when it’s heated back up again, probably because the flavours get chance to intensify that bit more. I use chorizo and some lovely warming herbs and spices so the more they develop, the tastier the meal is.
Tuesday – Lasagne
Who doesn’t love lasagne? I use my amazing bolognese recipe to make my lasagne so I plan to make a huge slow cooker pot of bolognese and then make that into as many lasagnes as I possibly can – probably two family-sized portions and one single size serving from previous experience.
Wednesday -Fishcakes
We haven’t made fishcakes in ages so I think we’ll make a huge batch on Wednesday. We’ll have half for tea with chips, mushy peas and tartare sauce and the rest will be frozen. I use baking parchment to separate the fishcakes in the freezer so they don’t stick together when they freeze.
Thursday – Chicken curry
A giant batch of chicken curry is on the menu for Thursday night – I find it freezes really well usually if I don’t add in things like mushrooms or spinach (which I often do as I add anything in the fridge to a curry).
Friday -Baked Ziti
I am not 100% sure what Baked Ziti actually is but one of my Insta followers messaged me over the weekend when I posted a photo about my batch cooking meal plans for the week and suggested it as a meal. I think it’s a garlicky, tomatoey, mincey pasta bake.
Saturday – Shredded Chicken
I’m planning to cook a big batch of my Instant Pot Shredded Chicken and make Mexican chicken quesadillas for tea on Saturday and freeze the rest.
Sunday – Mince and Onion
I’ll do a big batch of mince and onion and serve some with dumplings with enough left over to make a cottage pie and an actual pie with pastry. I won’t make the pastry pie but I’ll freeze enough of the mince so that I can defrost it and make it into a pie when I’m ready for it.
So by the time we get to this time next week, I’ll have nine meals (if I’ve counted right) sat in the freezer for when I need them.
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Why not pin my batch cooking meal plan post for later?
