20 Batch Cook Family Recipes (2024)

20 Delicious & Easy Family Recipes That You Can Batch Cook For Busy Days!

20 Batch Cook Family Recipes (1)

If there’s one thing that seriously derails my family from eating a healthy and balanced diet, it’s when we don’t have a plan!

We do try and meal plan every week, which is great as it keeps us on track, saves us money and eradicates the need for additional trips to the supermarket, but sometimes unexpected things crop up, or things don’t go as expected and that’s when we are most likely to reach for pre-packaged convenience food or takeaways.

In an effort to always have a back up plan, I’ve decided to do more batch cooking this year so that there’s always a healthy option available to us that doesn’t require loads of work.

I don’t know about you, but I tended to always think of batch cooking as being just for dinners, but in fact batch cooking is great for on-the-go breakfast muffins or bars, lunchbox fillers, and sauces as well as for evening meals.

I’ve put together a list of the batch cook recipes (which are a combination breakfast, lunches and dinners) that we will be having over the coming months.

And if you are interested in meal planning or just want to be part of a group for sharing delicious and easy family recipes, then come and join us over on theMy Fussy Eater Meal Planning Group.

20 Batch Cook Family Recipes (2)

Batch Cook Breakfast Recipes:

Fruity Breakfast Muffins

Delicious and hearty Fruity Muffins made with filling and nutritious ingredients, perfect for a grab-and-go back to school breakfast for kids and adults too!

Strawberry Quinoa Breakfast Bars

A delicious and filling breakfast bar recipe, packed full of healthy ingredients such as quinoa, oats, bananas and strawberries. These bars make the perfect nutritious start to the day for the whole family and are a great grab and go breakfast!

Blueberry Oat Breakfast Bars

These freezable oat breakfast bars are packed with brain boosting blueberries and are super easy to make!

Sweetened with bananas and a little honey, these Breakfast Cookies are packed with slow releasing carbs and fibre too. Perfect for feeding your family on busy mornings!

Lunch & Lunchbox Filler Recipes:

A delicious and comforting Roasted Tomato and Red Pesto Soup, super easy to make and served with Cheddar Cheese Soldiers.

Hidden Veggie Sausage Rolls

Delicious kid friendly sausage rolls packed with carrot and courgette. Everyone will love these Hidden Veggie Sausage Rolls!

Delicious savoury muffins packed with flavoursome ingredients like feta, spinach and sun-dried tomatoes. Perfect to batch cook and pop into lunch boxes for school and work!

Pizza Lunchbox Muffins

Easy one-bowl Savoury Pizza Muffins, perfect for the kids’ lunch boxes or as an afternoon snack!

Dinner Recipes:

Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala

The easiest ever recipe for a tasty Chicken Tikka Masala, cooked in the slow cooker to make it soft and tender.

Red Lentil Bolognese

If you are trying to cut down on the amount of meat your family eats, this Red Lentil Bolognese makes the perfect vegetarian meal.

Crispy Baked Salmon Nuggets

Delicious crispy baked salmon nuggets made usingfresh salmon fillets

Veggie Meatballs For Kids

Packed full of protein and fibre, these Veggie Meatballs make a super healthy meal for kids. They’re great finger food for baby led weaning too!

Chilli Con Carne For Kids

A tasty and mild Chilli Con Carne recipe for kids that’s packed full of lots of vegetables too!

Sneak some veggies into your kids meal with this delicious Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese recipe. Great for toddlers and baby weaning too!

Lentil Veggie Nuggets

Delicious veggie nuggets packed with red lentils. These bite sized nuggets make brilliant finger food for kids and toddlers!

A quick and easy cook-from-scratch Chicken, Coconut & Tomato Curry recipe. Super mild and suitable for kids!

Sauce Recipes:

Simple Spaghetti Sauce

A super simple recipe for spaghetti and tomato sauce, perfect to whip up for a quick and easy kid-friendly meal!

Spinach Pesto

A delicious and nutritious Spinach Pesto ready in just 5 minutes!And remember pesto isn’t just for mixing with pasta. Try it as a topping for baked chicken or fish and add a few breadcrumbs for crunch. Or try marinating a few cubes of feta in pesto to jazz up a boring salad, or even add some extra oil to make it into a salad dressing. The possibilities are endless!

Hidden Veggie Tomato Sauce

Got a veggie hating family? Try my Hidden Veggie Tomato Sauce, perfect for pastas, pizzas, no added sugar and it can be frozen too!

Lentil Pasta Sauce

A delicious tomato pasta sauce made with red lentils and packed with protein and fibre. A great way to get some extra nutrition into a simple kids pasta dish!

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20 Batch Cook Family Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is an example of batch cooking? ›

Key Takeaways: Batch cooking describes the process of cooking a larger quantity of food and saving some for later. For example, making two lasagnas and storing one in the freezer, or making a large batch of quinoa to use throughout the week.

How do I make a family meal plan? ›

Write a list of the foods your family likes to eat and keep it taped inside the kitchen cabinet. When you try a new recipe that everyone likes, add it to the list. Make enough menus for about a two-week cycle. Plan for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, or five to six “mini-meals” per day.

How do you batch cook effectively? ›

Here are our top 10 tips:
  1. Make sure your freezer's set to the right temperature. ...
  2. Cool foods before you freeze them. ...
  3. Freeze fresh. ...
  4. Don't freeze and forget! ...
  5. Keep your freezer full. ...
  6. Wrap up. ...
  7. Space to grow. ...
  8. Keep it clean.

What is a big batch cook? ›

Become a big batch cook

Batch cooking simply means making meals and snacks in bigger batches and freezing them in meal-size portions for convenient weekday meals. This can save you time and money. These healthy homemade options are ideal for batch cooking: chili. soups.

What are the three types of cook? ›

There are three types of cooking methods: dry heat cooking, moist heat cooking, and combination cooking. Each method describes how chefs use heat to cook food and bring out unique flavors and textures.

What is a family style meal? ›

“Family-style” is a method of dining where servers place all components of a meal on the table and allow everyone to serve themselves. They place large serving dishes in the middle of the table. In this way, everyone can reach the offerings and choose what they want.

How do you meal prep for a large family? ›

Caption Options
  1. Don't grocery shop AND prep on the same day. ...
  2. Make different recipes using the same ingredients. ...
  3. Plan your menu so that your whole family eats everything or at least most of it. ...
  4. Store dishes separately in airtight containers in the refrigerator. ...
  5. Reheat food on the stovetop rather than in the microwave.
Aug 5, 2018

What's a good menu for the week? ›

Weekly Dinner Menu
  • Cream Cheese Bacon Chicken Pasta. Here's Your Savings. ...
  • Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread. Here's Your Savings. ...
  • Easy Chicken with Cream Cheese Pan Sauce. Here's Your Savings. ...
  • Epic Chunky Beef and Mushroom Pie. Here's Your Savings. ...
  • Creamy Beef and Mushroom Stroganoff. Here's Your Savings. ...
  • French Onion Beef and Noodles.

What do I need to start batch cooking? ›

You don't need any special equipment for batch cooking, although some people find that slow cookers and soup makers can be helpful if you're preparing lots of meals at once. To start with, just check you have the following: Large pans – make sure the recipe you plan to cook will fit into the pans you have available.

What is the number one rule when cooking? ›

1. Wash your hands well and often. Washing your hands well and often is the golden rule of food safety. Your hands are full of bacteria, and you pick up new bacteria every time you touch something.

What is the number one rule of cooking? ›

1. Read the recipe. Of all the important advice out there about cooking, this by far has to be the number 1 rule of cooking: read your recipe completely before getting started. This may seem like a mundane task (especially when you're excited dive in!), but you'll be so thankful you took the time to do it!

What is a good meal to serve 20 people? ›

19 Ideas For Easy Meals For Large Groups
  • Taco Bar.
  • Meatballs.
  • Butter Chicken.
  • Lasagna.
  • Chili.
  • Homemade Pizza.
  • Baked Pasta.
  • Skewers.
Apr 4, 2023

What to cook for 20 guests? ›

  • Hearty Baked Penne Pasta. This recipe feeds an army. ...
  • Tasty Taco Bar. Everything you need to make your own Taco Bar at home. ...
  • Baked Potato Bar. ...
  • Crockpot Ham. ...
  • Killer Carnitas. ...
  • Chicken Spaghetti. ...
  • Ham and Cheese Sliders. ...
  • Shredded Beef Tacos.
Apr 2, 2024

What is the easiest meat to cook in bulk? ›

Ground beef is one of America's all-time favorite dishes due to its versatility. It's quick and easy to add this to different beef recipes such as hamburgers, lasagna, tacos, meatloaf, and even pasta sauce. For bulk preparation, it can be in the form of patties or meatballs.

What are 2 examples of combination cooking? ›

COMMON COMBINATIONS

The two most commonly joined methods of dry- and moist-heat cooking are searing and simmering. These two methods create the two classic styles of combination cooking: braising and stewing.

What is an example of a cooking method? ›

Dry heat methods are roasting, baking, barbecuing, broiling, grilling, sautéing, panfrying, stir-frying, and deep fat frying. (Deep fat frying is sometimes considered a category of its own.) A. Roasting and baking methods are conducted by cooking food uncovered in an oven (dry heat) with little or no liquid added.

What is one example of cooking? ›

There are many methods of cooking, most of which have been known since antiquity. These include baking, roasting, frying, grilling, barbecuing, smoking, boiling, steaming and braising. A more recent innovation is microwaving. Various methods use differing levels of heat and moisture and vary in cooking time.

What is an example of a cooking term? ›

Fry - To cook in hot fat or oil. Grill - Cooking on a grill over a high heat. Lukewarm - Neither hot or cold--usually around room temperature. Marinade - To soak a piece of meat or vegetables in a flavorful substance to soften it and give it flavor. Pickle - To preserve fruits, vegetables or meats in a brine.

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