The Batch Lady. Suzanne Mulholland

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      Monday: Meat-free

      Tuesday: Beef

      Wednesday: Fish

      Thursday: Chicken

      Friday: Fakeaway

      Once I know my schedule and have the basic outline of which proteins we will be eating on each day, I start to think about the specific meals that I will cook. So, following the breakdown that I have outlined above, the weekly menu might look like:

      Monday: Spanish Omelette

      Tuesday: Shepherd’s Pie

      Wednesday: Thai Sweet Potato Fishcakes

      Thursday: Spinach & Ricotta Stuffed Chicken

      Friday: Calzone

      If you are vegetarian, I would suggest taking a similar approach to ensure that you are eating a variety of foods throughout the week. Plan your menu so that you are focusing on one main ingredient, such as potatoes, beans or pulses, on each night, then add in the usual Friday-night curry or fakeaway. A well-balanced weekly vegetarian meal plan might look like this:

      Monday: Baked Spinach Ziti

      Tuesday: Chilli Bean Burgers

      Wednesday: Spanish Omelette

      Thursday: Oven-baked Mushroom Risotto

      Friday: Thai Red Sweet Potato Curry

      PLANNING FIVE DAYS OUT OF SEVEN

      You will notice that I only ever plan my meals Monday-Friday. This is because, no matter how well you plan, there are always hiccups along the way and plans inevitably change throughout the week, meaning that food could potentially be wasted. By building in a two-day buffer, you can swap one or two of the meals to the weekend without wasting any food. If everything goes to plan, then then weekends are generally the time when you have a bit more time in the kitchen to cook something from scratch, or might eat out, so this gives you the freedom to still do that.

HOW TO USE YOUR FREEZER

       Your freezer is the kitchen equivalent of an on-demand TV. Nowadays, very few people will sit down and watch their favourite show at the time it is airing – we record it or watch it on catch-up at a time that suits us. Used properly, your freezer can do just the same for your food, meaning that you can make your meals ahead of time then pull them out and defrost them later at a time that suits you.

      NOTES ON FOOD SAFETY

      Your freezer should not be the place where old leftovers go to live until you finally throw them out. You want to make sure than you are using what you freeze and constantly refreshing your freezer with fresh, in-date food.

      When you batch cook it’s important to maintain good kitchen hygiene at all times to help reduce the transfer of bacteria. This is simple to do, just make sure that your surfaces are cleaned with antibacterial spray before you start and always be aware of what you are touching, ensuring that you wash your hands thoroughly between touching raw and cooked foods.

      Always do a quick clear up of utensils, pots and pans as you finish each recipe, making sure to also spray and wipe clean your surfaces – this is not only important from a hygiene point of view, it will also make the end clean down much quicker!

      When working with chicken, do not rinse it first. Washing chicken in your home can easily spread bacteria. Simply use the chicken straight from the packet.

      TIPS ON FREEZING

      Always leave food to cool to room temperature before packaging to freeze. Wrapping your food in clingfilm and foil, or storing in freezer bags, reduces the chance of freezer burn.

      If you are using glass dishes or plastic tubs, try to fill them to the top, leaving a small space for expansion – using a dish that is too big will leave the food exposed to air, causing freezer burn.

      When packaging anything for the freezer, it is vital that it is labelled with the recipe name, the date and whether the food is raw or cooked. I also add cooking instructions to my labels so that I can refer to the label after defrosting my food.

      It is important to freeze meals fast, as food starts to deteriorate the second it is made. As soon as a meal has cooled, package it up and transfer to the freezer. If you are freezing flat in freezer bags, try not to pile up lots of unfrozen meals on top of each other as this will prevent air from circulating and they will take longer to freeze. You can pile them up once they’re frozen.

      If you are scaling a recipe up, freeze the food in multiple batches. This means that you can remove the meals from the freezer a portion at a time. Large batches take much longer to defrost and can result in food wastage.

      TIPS ON DEFROSTING

      Many meals in this book can be cooked from frozen – just check the bottom of each recipe for instructions, though in general it will take 50 per cent longer than cooking from defrosted.

      As a rule, I don’t cook chicken from frozen. From a safety standpoint, raw chicken should not be cooked from frozen at all. Chicken that has been frozen cooked can, in theory, be safely cooked from frozen, but I still prefer to defrost it first and make sure it’s piping hot before serving, and advise you to do the same.

      There are three main ways to defrost food:

       IN THE FRIDGE

      Current guidelines recommend defrosting food in the fridge overnight. It is best to put thawing food in a dish to catch any water run-off. Defrosting in your fridge can take a long time, especially if you have frozen something in a large container. With this in mind, I like to combine this way with the water method, below.

       IN COLD WATER

      Make sure that the container your frozen food is stored in is watertight, then place it in a basin of cold water (never use hot!) Doing this speeds up the defrosting process. And makes for a very quick defrost if you have frozen meals flat in freezer bags.

       IN THE MICROWAVE

      Most microwaves have specific defrosting programmes, so just follow the manufacturers’ instructions for your specific brand, remembering to stir your food a few times as it defrosts.

      TAKING THINGS OUT OF THE FREEZER

      I get so many messages from people asking how I remember to remove meals from the freezer. СКАЧАТЬ