Course description

Food bills keep climbing, the week gets busy, and takeaways and top-up shops quietly eat the budget. Batch cooking and a bit of planning can change that. This course shows you how to plan, shop and cook in batches so your household eats well for less, with less waste and fewer "what's for tea?" panics, and how to store and reheat everything safely.

It's a full course, not a quick tour. There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons with clear steps, times and temperatures. You follow a mum of three in Rotherham, cooking for a child with a milk allergy and a husband on shifts, as she logs where the money goes, starts Sunday batch sessions and brings the family's food spend down over twelve weeks. Every section has a worksheet, model answers, a cheat sheet and ready-made planners, recipe cards and spreadsheet workbooks.

What you'll learn

• Food safety for batch cooks: cooling big batches quickly, fridge and freezer storage, labelling, defrosting and reheating safely, including rice.
• Planning and shopping: meal plans that fit real weeks, planning from what you have, shopping lists, unit prices, cheaper swaps and a budget store cupboard.
• Batch cooking: planning a session, cooking several dishes at once, scaling recipes up and portioning and packing for the freezer.
• Costed core recipes: chilli, dal, a hidden vegetable tomato sauce, chicken curry and a sausage and bean casserole, each costed per portion.
• Cook once, eat more: component cooking, one roast chicken for three meals, leftovers, freezer baking, breakfasts and packed lunches.
• Healthy, low-waste and affordable: balanced meals for less, feeding fussy eaters, freezer management, using up odds and ends, saving energy and help with food costs.

Who it's for

Families, students, people living alone and anyone who wants to spend less on food and waste less. You'll need basic cooking skills. It ends with a final project: your own four-week meal plan with shopping lists and batch days, a full batch day and a review of your own cost and waste.

What will I learn?

• Work out where your food money goes and set a realistic weekly food budget
• Cool, store, freeze, label, defrost and reheat batch-cooked food safely
• Plan meals around your week, what you already have and different needs, including allergies
• Shop with a list, compare unit prices and choose cheaper swaps that work
• Run a batch cooking session, cook several dishes at once and scale recipes up
• Cook six costed core recipes and turn one cook into several different meals
• Make filling, balanced meals for less, including for children and fussy eaters
• Cut waste, manage your freezer, find help with food costs and build your own four-week plan

Frequently asked questions