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Batch, please! 10 tips to help make meal prep easy

Imagine a food delivery service that saves you money and reduces food waste. Even better, it’s ready to eat in the time it takes to pick a movie and put your comfy clothes on. Well, this could be reality, if your fridge/freezer is loaded up with meal prep. 

Batch cooking doesn't have to be a chore, it can be easy and tasty. Here are our top tips for meal prepping like a pro - the simple way.

These tips are part of something bigger. At Hubbub, we want to see a world where everyone makes choices that are good for the environment. Check out what we do and how your actions add up.

Look to pick dishes that have common ingredients so your shopping list doesn’t become too long and choose meals that lend themselves to freezing and cooking in bulk well. Here’s a few of our favourites:

Get creative if you’re missing something on your recipe list. Take a look at what other ingredients you do have that could offer a similar texture, flavour or nutrition profile.

Make the most of your time batch cooking so when you’re cooking dinner, batch cook the recipe so you have more portions for another day – same(ish) amount of time for double the quantities!

Frozen vegetables, ready-made pastes and delicious jar sauces can all save you time. Check out 15 freezer friendly foods that you can have on hand, and there are plenty more.

Cooking should be fun. Put some music or a podcast on to cook to. Check out ‘Down to Earth?’, the sustainability podcast.

Garlic, onions and some other vegetables will feature across each of your dishes. Work out how much you need in total, then ready, steady, chop!

Split the ingredients out for each recipe on a tray or plate ready to cook. It’s much easier when you have all the ingredients prepared for when you need them, rather than trying to cook and chop at the same time. Clean as you go, a big pile of washing up can seem more daunting.

It might be obvious but cooking several recipes together is a bit different to cooking one. Cook in a way that suits you and your abilities; if you can cook two dishes at once, it can save you time.

Make sure you have enough containers for everything you’re going to cook. Tupperware is great, but so are old soup containers, large jars and take away tubs – just make sure it has a tight seal if it’s going in the freezer and don’t forget to label with the date and what it is (amazing how quickly you forget!).

Make sure you have enough space for your tasty meals in your fridge or freezer, as food in the freezer will keep for much longer.

Hungry for more? 

If food waste were a country, it would be the third biggest polluter in the world. Find out how our campaigns have been shifting behaviours to take a bite out of the problem.

We do more than food. 

Ever wondered what to do with your old clothes, or how to make your smartphone last longer?