Is batch cooking for smaller families really worth all that effort? Well if you are a reluctant beginner, let me share with you what I have discovered over 10 years of batch cooking for my small family of 3.
In my experience batch cooking for smaller families is definitely worth the effort.I was motivated to learn about batch cooking as a young single parent with 2 children about 10 years ago. My job required me to work long shifts and money was tight at the time. Out of necessity I began to batch cook and freeze our meals.
I can understand the reluctance to batch cook for smaller families.We tend to associate batch cooking with large families. But rather than that putting me off batch cooking for my smaller family, I have become obsessed with large family batch cooking Youtube videos! As a result,I have learned all I know about batch cooking from the big guns!
A huge motivating factor in batch cooking in the cost savings. If done well batch cooking can save a fortune and in these times, that can only be a good thing.
This post discusses the 5 essential batch cooking tips for small families, to help you to decide if it’s worth it.
1.You do not need to bulk buy all of your food.
2.Do not buy lots of special equipment, you really don’t need it.
3.Large family batch cooking resources CAN be adapted to suit small family batch cooking.
4.Track how much time you spend on food preparation now, that will help you decide!
5.Combine batch cooking, food prep and meal planning for greater efficiency.
This post will discuss tips for reluctant beginners who are considering beginning to batch cook for their small families
1.You Do Not Need To Bulk Buy All Of Your Food.
If you are a smaller family who is considering batch cooking, you do not need to bulk buy all your food. If there are a few staple foods you know you and your family never get tired of, then bulk buy that if you like.
Let me give you an example:
We never get tired of potatoes. I buy 7.5kg every couple of weeks for my family of 3 and they never go to waste. That is a clever small family bulk buy.
If you think about it sensibly, do you really want to eat the same food day after day for a few weeks especially if you don’t really enjoy it? Even now after 10 years of batch cooking for my small family I trip up and buy too much of a particular food and find myself struggling to use it.
Here is a good example:
I love fresh salad vegetables as does only one of my children. This week I bought 6 peppers, a large head of lettuce, 6 tomatoes, a large cucumber and a large bunch of scallions. While all of that is great food,only 2 of us are eating salad vegetables. Some of it was cooked into freezer meals. The rest of it however, is being shoved into every sandwich that I eat this week and honestly,I am getting a little tired of it!
My point is this. You should enjoy your food however you choose to prepare it. With batch cooking, resist the bulk buy offers. If you do not know for sure what you are going to use that food for in the supermarket, will you know when you get home?
If the answer to that question is ‘I don’t know’ , then don’t buy it.
So in my experience, I would say that you do not need bulk buy lots of food to batch cook for smaller families.
2.Do Not Buy Lots Of Special Equipment, You Really Don’t Need It.
It is so tempting, after watching those large family batch cooking sessions on Youtube, to go out and buy all the equipment for batch cooking. I have been torn about whether I should buy an Instant Pot for years!
What I have discovered however, is that there is very little special equipment needed for small family batch cooking. Regular sized pots and pans have served me well over the years. There are a few things I do recommend for small family batch cooking;
Recommended:
- Pyrex Cook and Go freezer to oven dishes with lids.
- A small slow cooker. Ours is 3.5L/3.6 quarts.
- A blender. We use a tiny one from Aldi!
- Various size metal mixing bowls.
- Reliable knives that you can sharpen.
- A sharpening stone.
- One large pot. Large for us is 5L/5.2 quarts.
- Plastic takeaway containers or ice cream containers and zip lock bags.
[If you look through all of the photos in this post you can see each of the items mentioned in this list except the zip lock bags.]
You may have a lot these things in your house already. There are only 2 things I have bought particularly for batch cooking. Those items are highlighted in pink in the list above. I already had everything else in my kitchen anyway.
So if you have these items already,you do not buy lots of special equipment when batch cooking for smaller families.
3.Large Family Batch Cooking Resources CAN Be Adapted To Suit Small Family Batch Cooking.
I take my smaller family batch cooking inspiration from several Youtubers who have large families. They often talk about how you can scale down to suit smaller family batch cooking. Like me, these Youtubers often improvise and change things to suit their families needs as they cook. That is an essential part of batch cooking in my opinion.
So while it might be difficult to find batch cooking information for small families specifically, that isn’t really a problem. Watch the youtubers you enjoy and apply the techniques to your own family.
You should take a look at large family batch cooking videos too, if you going to batch cook for a smaller family.
4.Track How Much Time You Spend On Food Preparation Now, That Will Help You Decide!
As a smaller family, it can be easy to underestimate the amount of time you actually spend on getting everyone fed. Think about how much time you spend on each of these activities;
- Grocery shopping
- Meal planning
- Cooking
- Washing up
- Feeding small children
- Cleaning your kitchen
- Feeding yourself!
It really does not matter if you have a smaller family, all of that work takes lots of time to do in every household.
Take note of how much time spend you on food related activities in a week. You will be shocked when you add up those minutes and hours. Download and print out my free Food Related Time Tracker to see how much time you spend on food related activities currently.
Every hour I could get back to spend with my young kids 10 years ago was extremely valuable to me. At the time I was mainly motivated my the money saving. The time saving was a added bonus and a welcome advantage to my family.
Batch cooking is a huge time saver for small families as well as larger families. Track to see exactly how much time that is.
5.Combine Batch Cooking, Food Prep And Meal Planning For Greater Efficiency.
In larger families you can be pretty sure that none of your food will go to waste if you are fairly organised person. In smaller families there is a balance you need to consider and that is,
‘If I buy and prepare this food, will there be enough mouths to eat it before we get bored?’
Now that may appear very simplistic, but I know from speaking to like minded families over the years, that this is one of the major factors to put smaller families off batch cooking. I have figured out a way to avoid this type of food waste from boredom.
This is my batch cooking/ meal planning routine for a 14 day week period:
- Batch cook complete meals for 6 nights.
- Freezer/fridge clear out for 2 nights.
- Cook a double roast 2 days out of 14. A double roast is when you cook a large roast one day when the intention of having enough for the second day to and so this covers 4 nights out of my 14 day plan.
- Pizza for 2 nights. I use my homemade freezer pack which you can find here
Try this for 2 weeks and see how you get on. This has become my go to batch cook and meal plan routine for my small family.
