This is one of the questions you ask yourself every day, whether you are a child or an adult. “What are we eating tonight ?” . Lack of inspiration, absence of the necessary ingredients to cook or lack of time for preparation … Many know this problem, so, to no longer have to ask this question and to avoid ending up with the eternal pasta dish, a trend has emerged in recent years: batch-cooking!

Batch cooking, or the art of cooking your dishes all week in one go. “Batch”, in English means to group or collect by batch. The idea is to prepare for 5 meals in 2 hours, on Sunday morning for example.

What are we eating tonight ?

A first lesson with a chef can help you understand exactly how to proceed.
It’s 2 hours of focus at home, for example on a Sunday with loud music to get you in the mood and tell you that you are only doing that for 2 hours.

Recipe ideas on the program:

• Monday: chicken and pasta with sautéed vegetables.
• Tuesday: teriyaki salmon, rice and asparagus.
• Wednesday: mishmash of zucchini spaghetti.
• Thursday: dahl of coral lentils and brown rice.
• Friday: asparagus quiche.

It all adds up to a pretty impressive shopping list. Then there is a long phase of cutting vegetables, from the least fragrant to the most fragrant, zucchini, broccoli, asparagus, onions and other roots.
The advantage is that once pre-cut, these vegetables are used in several different recipes. This is what pleases Anne-Charlotte, who is participating in the workshop for the first time:

“It is true that it is very practical, she explains. I am quite curious about new recipes because it is true that I do not have the idea by myself of going to mix asparagus. which will go in several dishes. When I do the shopping, it is really a food for a meal. I have difficulty using them on several meals and that is what is interesting in the batch cooking. Being able to do everything in one finally “.

Being able to do everything in one means being able to multitask and not forget anything. The organization is rigorous and the distribution of food on the plates respects nutritional recommendations, explains chef Melissa.

“It is really the objective, to have balanced dishes every day. To have as well starches, vegetables, proteins that it is animal or vegetable proteins and then there, in addition, it is the season of spring so it must be colorful, rich in vegetables! They must be in the spotlight “.

Balanced dishes

There is chicken and salmon, prepared later because they are more fragile products. To give them maximum taste, they must be cooked in a marinade. The element to always keep in mind is taste and the chef is keen on it:

“It is important to taste all these preparations a little throughout the batch-cooking, because each element will have a key place in the meal so if you miss cooking the rice, if you are not sure of its seasoning and well on D-Day, we’re just going to reheat it and consume it as is, so you really have to make sure everything is well seasoned, everything is well cooked “.

You don’t necessarily have to overcook your vegetables since it should not be forgotten that if the vegetable is overcooked, the day it is reheated, it will cook again. This is why we must try to have a little less cooking.

Put into practice what is learned

Sunday morning, our journalist got up at dawn, headed for the market. She went to her fishmonger, her poultry shop, her greengrocer and the supermarket.
4 receipts then after a clever calculation, she came out with 45 euros of expenses for 2 people, or 90 euros for 5 meals for a family of 4 people.

At 10 a.m., it’s time to cook. An hour later, she is still pruning her vegetables. The difficulties are more and more felt. Her kitchen is not very big, she lacks worktops to store her food. She doesn’t have the same tools as the boss.
She pulls out a mountain of containers for all her preparations, and at noon, she still hasn’t finished. The pots are smoking, the dishes are piling up in his dishwasher and his sink is overflowing.
She finally finished her marathon around 1:30 p.m., or 3 and a half hours of cooking when she had been promised two.

Time to wash the dishes, it is even already 2 p.m. It seems that with practice, it will improve and take less time.

An order to respect in the tasting

• It is advisable to eat the spaghetti with chicken and the pan-fried vegetables on the first day.
• The second day, the terriyaki salmon with its asparagus and brown rice. It is important to avoid the development of bacteria to favor these two dishes.
• EThe third day, the mishmash of spaghetti and zucchini.
• On the 4th day, you can taste the red lentil dhal. The spices, ginger and turmeric will have had time to infuse and release all their fragrance.
• On the last day, finally eat a piece of asparagus quiche with a salad prepared on the spot. Knowing that the dhal and the quiche tolerate freezing very well.

THE RECIPES

BATCH COOKING 1 / 4EASY 2 HOURS

– 150g of spaghetti
– 150g of brown rice
– 150g of chicken
– 150g of fresh salmon
– 1 roll of shortcrust pastry
– 80g of red lentils
– 1 large broccoli
– 1 bunch of asparagus (about 20 asparagus)
– 3 zucchini
– 2 onions
– 1 shallot
– 3 cloves of garlic
– 200g heavy cream
– 2 eggs
– 1 small brick of coconut milk
– 1 ginger
– 1 small piece of turmeric
– 60g of parmesan
– 10 ml of soy sauce
– 10g of brown sugar
– 8g of rice vinegar
– Salt / pepper / nutmeg / paprika / Espelette pepper
– Neutral oil / olive oil

Accompaniments:

– 2 spring onions
– Coriander leaves (1 handful)
– 1 tbsp of pine nuts
– Green salad
– 1 tbsp of seed mixture – 1 tbsp of sesame seeds – 1 small Greek yogurt
– 50g of parmesan

For 1.5 meals

Preparation of vegetables:

Onions and shallots:
– Peel the onions
– Finely chop 1 onion and mince the 2nd onion – Finely chop the shallot

Broccoli:
– Wash the broccoli, and remove the leaves
– Cut the small florets
– Peel the remaining stalk and cut it into strips – Divide the quantity obtained into two bowls

Zucchini:
– Wash the zucchini
– Cut 2 spiral zucchini (spaghetti) and set aside in a bowl
– Cut the remaining zucchini in half, thinly slice and set aside in a bowl

Asparagus:
– Cut the hard heels of the asparagus
– Remove with a knife the small stakes located on the main stem
– Grill the asparagus in the oven at 180 ° C for 12 minutes
– Divide the quantity of asparagus in half

Garlic / ginger / turmeric:
– Peel the garlic cloves, ginger and curcuma – Crush the garlic using a garlic press or a mortar
– Grate the ginger and turmeric

BATCH COOKING 2 / 4Easy 2 Hrs

– Hobs – Oven

– Individual tart mold (or large)
– Greaseproof paper
– Pans

– Stove
– Several bowls
– Thrifty
– Notched saver or vegetable spiral or notched mandolin
– Garlic or mortar press
– Grater
– Cutting board
– Chef’s knife
– Colander
– Several tupperware (at least 5 and 3 small) or jars

For 1.5 meals

Preparation of cereals:

Complete rice :
– Rinse the rice with clear water and drain it
– In a saucepan, heat 1 tbsp of oil, and brown the rice in the oil until the grains become transparent
– Cover the rice with 1.5 times its volume of water and bring to a boil
– As soon as boiling is reached, lower the heat and cover
– Cook for about 15-20 minutes, covered

Pasta :
– Boil water with salt
– Once the water is boiling, add the pasta and cook for the time indicated on the package
– Drain and mix with 1 tbsp of olive oil to prevent the pasta from sticking together
– Divide the quantity obtained in two

Preparation of dishes:

Chicken and pasta with sautéed vegetables:

– Cut the chicken fillets into small cubes
– Season the chicken with salt, pepper, thyme or other aromatics
– Heat some oil in a pan and sauté the chicken until it is nicely colored on all sides
– Add the chopped onion and brown
– Add the broccoli and cover
– Once the broccoli is tender, add the sliced ​​zucchini and cook for about 1 minute (until the zucchini are tender)
– Add the cooked pasta and the cream and mix well
– Serve in an airtight box or jar

BATCH COOKING 3/4
For 1.5 meals

Teriyaki salmon, rice and asparagus:

– Mix the soy sauce, sugar, rice vinegar, 2 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tsp of grated ginger, 1 clove of crushed garlic, 1 chopped shallot
– Remove the skin from the salmon and marinate it in this sauce for 15 minutes
– Drain the salmon and bake it in the oven at 180 ° C for about 15 minutes

– Put the marinade in a small saucepan and boil it until thickened
– Remove the salmon from the oven, cut the asparagus into wedges
– Arrange the rice at the bottom of the container and arrange the asparagus wedges on top and finally the salmon. – Sprinkle with a few sesame seeds, and chopped scallion onion
– Keep the sauce in a small container for the moment of tasting

Asparagus quiches:

– Grease and flour a pie pan (or individual)
– Line the shortcrust pastry in the pie dish
– Prick with a fork then cook for about 15 minutes (dry cooking)
– Meanwhile, mix the cream, the eggs, with some of the roasted asparagus cut into wedges (mix everything if you wish)
– Season (salt, pepper, nutmeg)
– Pour over the white-cooked tart base and arrange the remaining whole asparagus as decoration on the surface of the quiche
– 10 minutes before the end of cooking, add the cheese and continue cooking
– Cook for about 20 to 25 minutes
– On the day of tasting, serve with a small green salad and seeds

Zucchini Spaghetti Meli Melo:

– Once the pasta is cooked and mixed with the olive oil, put it back on the heat and add the zucchini spaghetti, olive oil, a crushed garlic clove, the juice of a half a lemon (just enough time to mix the ingredients well)
– Place in the jar and sprinkle with pine nuts or other nuts of your choice
– On the day of tasting, serve with Parmesan

BATCH COOKING 4/4
For 1, 5 meals

Lentil and rice dahl:

– Heat neutral or coconut oil in a saucepan
– Brown the chopped onion and crushed garlic
– Once translucent, add the grated fresh ginger and the grated fresh turmeric
– Season: salt, pepper, paprika, chili (optional)
– Add the coral lentils and brown
– Then add the coconut milk and water (the lentils must be covered with at least three fingers of liquid) – Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to a simmer
– Cook for about 15 minutes
– Then add the florets and pieces of broccoli stems
– Cook for 3 more minutes
– Remove from fire
– In a container, place the rice at the bottom and cover with the lentil dahl.
– Sprinkle with chopped scallion onion, a few coriander leaves
– On the day of the tasting, accompany with a small Greek yogurt (or other alternative)