Cooking from scratch can sometimes feel draining, it takes time, planning and you have to make hard choices about what you are consuming. Bulk cooking is one amazing way to reduce time spent making healthy meals for your family.
What is Bulk Cooking?
Bulk cooking is what it sounds like. It means you make large batches of food that can create several meals. Bulk cooking encourages using seasonal produce, reducing food waste and reducing time spent cooking healthy meals. You may already be doing bulk cooking in your home. Through this post I hope to encourage you in this and show you that cooking from scratch is attainable for every homemaker!
So much of my love and ideas for bulk cooking comes from my mother and how she cooked in the community. We can learn so much from wiser, older women. Ask your mothers and older women near you for tips and advice you will learn so much!
Why should you start bulk cooking?
- By bulk cooking you know your family is eating a healthy balanced meal every night of the week.
- Reduce the food wastage and overall food budget in your home.
- Ensures you can be flexible with your week and not tied to long cooking times for items like roasts.
- Reduces time needed to prepare meals each day, you have pre prepared parts of the meal all ready to go!
- You can add variety to your meals because you are spending less time getting the base ingredients together.
- It uses up that fresh garden produce you have way too much of….for me it’s Zucchinis I literally have these falling out of my fridge when they are ready to harvest.
- A little goes a long way. You might cook 1 roast and divide it up and have 3-4 meals already to go.
- The cleanup is less. You make a lot of mess in a one instance and then have 5x less mess on a nightly basis.
- Allows you to buy the not so good looking veggies or fruit. When you shop on the ‘odd bits’ table you are generally saving money by bulk cooking and freezing you can ensuring its used up straight away.
- Bulk cooking becomes easier with time and it is a natural habit you get into. The more you do the less challenging it will be.
- Bulk cooking can be a social event. Sharing cooking days with friends or family is an excellent way to connect and be productive at the same time!
- Bulk cooking encourages sourcing food from local growers and buying a larger quantity to use up in one of your bulk cooking sessions.
- It is an opportunity to connect with other women, learn new cooking skills and even share God’s love through caring for our neighbours!
how to Start Bulk cooking
There are so many different ways to bulk cooking. I will share a few ways here but be creative and enjoy the ride!
1. Bulk Cooking Tribe
When I was younger my Mum used to make meals in a group. Every couple of months they did an exchange. So 4-6 ladies each made 6-12 meals of 1 or 2 types. Bulk cooking up the ingredients and getting it done in a few hours. Then they would swap so in the end you would have 12 freezer meals with 2 of each variety ready to go. As kids we loved trying other family’s style of cooking. It was an opportunity to support other women and it allowed my Mum to have a on hand selection of meals for those rainy days or busy weeks when cooking a full meal from scratch just wasn’t feasible.
An opportunity for the gospel!
Having freezer meals ready to go allows you to drop a meal at a friend, neighbour or family members house to help them through a challenging time or just say hello, thanks or I’m thinking of you. You are fulling God’s calling for you! Serving in your community and being a light to those around you. Did you think that buy sharing a meal you could be doing God’s kingdom work. Amazing opportunity right! The Gospel Comes with a House Key by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield is a great book to read and encourages using our homes and roles and homemakers for God’s kingdom work!
Bulk Cooking Day
Whether it is baking Christmas treats, school snacks, making freezer soup packs, apple pies or full meals bulk cooking days are the best. Bring together friends, family and neighbours (sense a theme here) and plan a day of cooking together. Turn on some music, take walk together to break up the day and invite someone you would like to get to know. What a wonderful way of sharing the ‘load’ spending quality time together and getting that sometimes mundane job of bulk cooking done!
If your are not adventurous by nature cooking with others will allow you to push you out of your comfort zone and learn new skills or try new ways of eating. Or you are simply benefiting from their great cooking skills and not having to try the new way of cooking yourself.
HOw does a Bulk cooking day work
- Create a group – no more than 6 no less than 2 (obviously).
- Agree on a date and number of meals or baking items each member will be preparing that day. Try picking a date that is free of to many distractions e.g. most of the kids are at school or can be babysat and it’s not a saturday with the whole family home. Pick a day that is free of other commitments like appointments or deadlines.
- Find a suitable cooking space, a garage, large kitchen, maybe if your church kitchen!
- Find your recipes and share to the group – Facebook or Whatsapp messenger are super helpful tools to organising these sorts of things. This ensures you don’t double up.
- Organise your ingredients, source them from the local butcher, farmers market or green grocer. Organise containers that can be used to store the meals whether it is aluminium trays or taking your own containers to fill.
- Cook, enjoy and freeze for up 3-4months!
Bulk Cooking Everyday
Getting into the habit of bulk cooking doesn’t have to be a big change at first. It is actually more of a mind set. How you think during meal planning, shopping or meal prep will be shifted to incorporate this idea. Here are some main concepts to keep in mind:
1. Always think about your next meal or the next few weeks when cooking:
- Can you cook a little extra mince to use for another night
- Chop that whole bag of capsicums and freeze them for the next time you need them.
- Make two of one meal and freeze it ahead of time.
2. Shop with bulk in mind
- Don’t be shy of the produce on sale or almost at its use by date. Snatch it up and freeze it for later.
- Think about how a few key ingredients on your shopping list can be used across multiple dishes. E.g roast vegetables, roasts or whole chickens, and sauces you can use in many different ways (bolognese sauce for pizza base or lasagne).
- Think about buying larger portions, you can do this with a friend or family member e.g. 1/4 beef cow or bulk nuts, flours or seeds.
3.Meal planning:
- If you are a meal planner think about your whole week.
- Note busier nights/days and plan easy meals for those nights
- Look at days you might prep a few extra things in advance. This might be a simple and chopping up vegetables in bulk for the week.
- Think about your weekly schedule.
- What day is shopping day?
- Could you schedule a time to bulk prepare a few items on or the day after shopping day ?
4. Bulk Cooking Master Lists
- Create a master list of go to meals that you know you can make in bulk very easily e.g. a double or triple batch.
- Soups
- Spaghetti
- Stir fry (freeze half the ingredients to throw in another time.
- Burger patties
- Try cooking one of these types of meals 1x per week or every 2 weeks and you will already see how much extra you have on hand.
5. Scheduling in Bulk Cooking
- Bulk cooking day on your own.
- Try scheduling once a month cooking or baking day. Get some of those core ingredients made like stocks, soups, sauces etc.
- Make a bunch of meals to pull out for the coming weeks/months.
- Schedule this at the beginning of the school term or in school holidays to prepare for the busy term ahead.
Kitchen Equipment for Bulk cooking
- KitchenAid Food processor to quickly chop or blitz ingredients
- Glass casserole dishes and containers with matching lids for easy freezer storage. Or aluminium trays.
- Label writer or stick on labels to make sure you know what is in your freezer/fridge (include dates!)
- Extra freezer room e.g. chest freezer
- KitchenAid Mixer to bake in large batches and reduce time!
Final Tips for Bulk Cooking
- Find yourself a bulk cooking companion whether it be just for encouragement or to actually cook with.
- Think about how you can serve your community through this everyday task.
- Be proactive in your approach and let go of the “I’m to busy” mentality. Yes I bet you are busy but as a wise aunty once wrote on our toilet roll holder “Hard work is the accumulation of easy things that should have been done last week” Thanks Aunty Karen!
- Budget your time and your money through bulk cooking!
- Support your local farmers and grocery community.
- Spend time in a productive task with your friends, family and neighbours!
Check my Bulk Cooking Recipes for inspiration!
Are you inspired?
If this post was helpful in anyway please consider sharing it with a friend or pinning it to pinterest. This will help our Wholesome community grow and encourage many more women! By leaving a comment below you are letting me know that this post helped you!
Leave a question, helpful bulk cooking tip/ suggestion or encouraging word in the comments below.
Happy Cooking Ladies!!
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