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Batch Cooking: Prep and Cook Your Weeknight Dinners in Less Than 2 Hours
Cooking in large batches is the perfect way to save time and money. It also often turns out to be the healthier option – saving you from ready-meals and take-out; allows you to cook your produce when it's most fresh; and reduces how much food you throw away.
In Batch Cooking, Keda Black shows you how to get ahead of the game by using just two hours every Sunday to plan what you are eating for the week ahead and get most of your prep out of the way. By Sunday evening, you are looking forward to five delicious weeknight meals, and enjoying an overwhelming sense of calm about the week ahead.
The book covers thirteen menus, with an easy-to-follow shopping list and a handy guide for how to tweak your plans for the season or your dietary requirements. Each menu is broken down into the Sunday preparation time and a day-by-day method to finishing the recipe. Recipes include a heartening Lemongrass, Coconut, Coriander and Ginger Soup, a delightful Green Shakshuka with Feta and an astoundingly easy Pear Brownie.
In Batch Cooking, Keda Black shows you how to get ahead of the game by using just two hours every Sunday to plan what you are eating for the week ahead and get most of your prep out of the way. By Sunday evening, you are looking forward to five delicious weeknight meals, and enjoying an overwhelming sense of calm about the week ahead.
The book covers thirteen menus, with an easy-to-follow shopping list and a handy guide for how to tweak your plans for the season or your dietary requirements. Each menu is broken down into the Sunday preparation time and a day-by-day method to finishing the recipe. Recipes include a heartening Lemongrass, Coconut, Coriander and Ginger Soup, a delightful Green Shakshuka with Feta and an astoundingly easy Pear Brownie.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2018
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61 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 19, 2020
I really wanted to like this but sadly the directions were really unclear. I tried to follow 2 weeks worth of recipes and some of the meals I really liked but during prep the proportions separated for each meal aren’t apparent so I would have too little or too much and it would throw everything else off.
I have been exploring batch cooking because it would work really well with my chaotic schedule; unfortunately this was more frustration than I wanted to put into a day off. I will continue searching.
I have been exploring batch cooking because it would work really well with my chaotic schedule; unfortunately this was more frustration than I wanted to put into a day off. I will continue searching.
October 4, 2020
Not a good fit for my needs. The quantity of food for each meal would leave my family extremely hungry. The pictures are beautiful but it would definitely leave me wanting more.
January 12, 2026
So, here is the thing. This book is not necessarily for first time chefs (who may need experience to adjust the recipes) but it is still worth it.
To begin with, the quantity of ingredients may not be the right quantity for everyone. Also, it is clearly european so the ingredients are not always easily accessible for N.A. chefs. I also came to suspect that it is assumed that bread would be served at every meal.
Then, the instructions are sometimes vague, sometimes I'm wondering what I need to do with X or Y.
BUT! wow! I have been planning and prepping with this book for 3 weeks now and I have not been disappointed in a single dish. Not only are they all surprisingly simple (once you come down to putting everything together) they're also delicious, varied and you can feel that there was research. One week will use ingredients from the previous week, etc, for sauces or pantry items, which leads to less food waste!
My recommendation:
1) Each recipe has its own ingredient list at the end of the book. Instead of following the ingredient list for the week, check the quantity for each and adjust for qty that works for you (i.e If they recommend 100g of fish, I may chose to buy 150g or 90g because that's how much I know I will eat)
2) Once you start cooking, prepare all of your ingredients and then split them by recipes based on the index at the end. You won't use more for a recipe and leaving yourself with not enough for the next.
So overall, Yes, it would be nice if the instructions were more procedural and for the reader it may translate into some additional work that was not expected. But so far, I am enjoying this book very much!
To begin with, the quantity of ingredients may not be the right quantity for everyone. Also, it is clearly european so the ingredients are not always easily accessible for N.A. chefs. I also came to suspect that it is assumed that bread would be served at every meal.
Then, the instructions are sometimes vague, sometimes I'm wondering what I need to do with X or Y.
BUT! wow! I have been planning and prepping with this book for 3 weeks now and I have not been disappointed in a single dish. Not only are they all surprisingly simple (once you come down to putting everything together) they're also delicious, varied and you can feel that there was research. One week will use ingredients from the previous week, etc, for sauces or pantry items, which leads to less food waste!
My recommendation:
1) Each recipe has its own ingredient list at the end of the book. Instead of following the ingredient list for the week, check the quantity for each and adjust for qty that works for you (i.e If they recommend 100g of fish, I may chose to buy 150g or 90g because that's how much I know I will eat)
2) Once you start cooking, prepare all of your ingredients and then split them by recipes based on the index at the end. You won't use more for a recipe and leaving yourself with not enough for the next.
So overall, Yes, it would be nice if the instructions were more procedural and for the reader it may translate into some additional work that was not expected. But so far, I am enjoying this book very much!
July 8, 2023
Do you enjoy being a bit confused when trying to cook??? Well this is the book for you.
There is no clear recipe for anything unless to just blindly follow the instructions and pray for the best. For a week of dinners. You get roughly 7-8 meals split up by shopping list, then partitioned off into sections during prep and then the actual ingredients are combined on the day page with the barest of cooking instructions. sift in flour. and how much flour was that?...flip back several pages to find out, if you decide just to give this book a read through instead of following blindly. Cause if you don't blindly prep, you got no idea looking at the cooking page. You have no idea how big or small the portions are until you've cooked it for that matter. Just blindly follow along and pray it's enough to feed your horde.
It would be nice if prep and recipe and serving sizes were all together so you could pick and chose recipes to batch cook together. There is no deviating from the set weeks. And no offense, but I'm not a huge fan of some of these recipes. And if you're cooking for a family, you might get a bit hungry.
It's just too hard to read, piece together what you would actually need for one recipe, and execute the recipe.
Conclusion?
I don't know who thought this organization method for cooking was a good idea.
There is no clear recipe for anything unless to just blindly follow the instructions and pray for the best. For a week of dinners. You get roughly 7-8 meals split up by shopping list, then partitioned off into sections during prep and then the actual ingredients are combined on the day page with the barest of cooking instructions. sift in flour. and how much flour was that?...flip back several pages to find out, if you decide just to give this book a read through instead of following blindly. Cause if you don't blindly prep, you got no idea looking at the cooking page. You have no idea how big or small the portions are until you've cooked it for that matter. Just blindly follow along and pray it's enough to feed your horde.
It would be nice if prep and recipe and serving sizes were all together so you could pick and chose recipes to batch cook together. There is no deviating from the set weeks. And no offense, but I'm not a huge fan of some of these recipes. And if you're cooking for a family, you might get a bit hungry.
It's just too hard to read, piece together what you would actually need for one recipe, and execute the recipe.
Conclusion?
I don't know who thought this organization method for cooking was a good idea.
July 20, 2025
I found this book at the library and thought it would be a good way to batch book/meal prep. I love the concept.
Unfortunately, this book is not good at all.
The instructions are so unclear. It’s impossible to judge quantity as you’re going, the prep instructions are all over the place (I prepped the veges, only to find halfway through another step that there were more veges to prep…).
There are multiple errors, clearly no one has proof read this properly.
I am so frustrated at the time I’ve wasted in this book. Some recipes seem okay, the pictures are beautiful, the concept is fabulous. If only someone had properly proofread this work and written better instructions.
Unfortunately, this book is not good at all.
The instructions are so unclear. It’s impossible to judge quantity as you’re going, the prep instructions are all over the place (I prepped the veges, only to find halfway through another step that there were more veges to prep…).
There are multiple errors, clearly no one has proof read this properly.
I am so frustrated at the time I’ve wasted in this book. Some recipes seem okay, the pictures are beautiful, the concept is fabulous. If only someone had properly proofread this work and written better instructions.
November 25, 2020
If you want to do batch cooking this book is very helpful.
January 16, 2023
Good ideas within. Recipes/ingredients aren't for the average everyday cook.
May 22, 2023
The basic idea holds but it's only for one meal a day and most recipes here don't really inspire me.
September 7, 2019
Un livre de cuisine qui permet de s'organiser en début de semaine pour ensuite n'avoir que peu de temps pour finaliser les repas chaque soir. Il y a des photos magnifiques et les instructions sont très claires.
Il y a également des recommandations sur les aliments que l'on peut remplacer quand on aime pas un autre ou que l'on est végétarien.
Cela à vraiment changer ma façon de m'organiser !
Je conseille !
Il y a également des recommandations sur les aliments que l'on peut remplacer quand on aime pas un autre ou que l'on est végétarien.
Cela à vraiment changer ma façon de m'organiser !
Je conseille !
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews