Batch cooking: 3 simple recipes for your weekly menu
Need ideas for your weekly menu? Get into the habit of batch cooking and don't miss these 3 delicious recipes to plan your meals during the week. Cook in bulk and eat well every day!
When you're overloaded with tasks and work, you sometimes neglect to eat healthy meals. But with good habits, such as batch cooking, you can make peace with your diet and never give up healthy, balanced, finger-licking good meals again!
But first things first: what is batch cooking? It simply means to plan your menu for the week, go grocery shopping with the list you've made and spend a few hours making some basics that will help you eat in a balanced way during that week and the following weeks. Much clearer now, isn't it?
Now that you're up to speed, here are 3 recipes recommended by IKEA ambassador Rocío (@kidsandchic) for your weekly menu. Take note!
1 – Plum and blueberry crumble
Remember that batch cooking is based on cooking in large quantities, so all the recipes featured here are meant for several days.
Although its name may seem complex, this simple plum and blueberry crumble recipe is perfect for inexperienced beginners.
No. of servings: 10–12
Preparation time: 40 min.
Difficulty: very easy
Ingredients
- 8 ripe plums
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- 1 cup strawberries
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp. vanilla
- 2 tbsp. raw cane sugar (you can add a little more if you want it sweeter)
- 2 cups oats
- 2 tbsp. granola
- 5 tbsp. almond flour + 2 tbsp. oat flour
- 1 tbsp. vanilla
- 5 tbsp. unsalted butter
- 5 tbsp. honey
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Wash the fruit and chop the plums and strawberries into medium-sized pieces.
- Place them on the bottom of the baking tin you are going to use.
- Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, cinnamon, vanilla and raw cane sugar, and mix well with a spoon.
- In a separate bowl, add the crumble ingredients and mix with your hands until you have a crumbly, sandy texture.
- Spread the crumble over the fruit in the pan.
- Bake for about 30–40 minutes until golden.
And you're done! You can serve it warm with some creamy yoghurt, plant-based milk or a delicious scoop of ice cream. You decide.
2 — Roasted cauliflower with red pepper cream and sweet peppers
Despite cauliflower's poor reputation, it is a fantastic, delicious food to include in your diet: here's how to add it to your batch cooking routine. Rocío has chosen to roast it and serve it with a colourful, rich red pepper cream. It looks fantastic!
No. of servings: 2–6
Preparation time: 30 min.
Difficulty: easy
Ingredients
- 1 medium cauliflower
- 3 large roasted red peppers
- 4 dried dehydrated tomatoes
- 1 medium cup sunflower or pumpkin seeds
- Juice of ½ lime
- ½ tbsp. sweet pepper flakes
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Method
For the red pepper cream:
- Toast the seeds in a pan with a little oil and a pinch of salt.
- Crush the roasted red peppers (without the pepper seeds), the seeds, the rehydrated dried tomatoes, lime juice, peeled garlic, oil and sweet pepper until a consistent mixture is obtained.
- Add the sweet pepper flakes on top and keep in a glass jar until ready for use.
For the roasted cauliflower:
- Remove the outer leaves and lower stem so that you can comfortably rest the cauliflower on the chopping board.
- Use a large knife and cut the cauliflower into slices or fillets 1.5 cm thick. Note: You will be left with remnants that will crumble but don't throw them away. You can roast them or save them for other recipes.
- Brush each side of the cauliflower fillets with the red pepper cream.
- Turn on the grill to medium, add a splash of olive oil and place the brushed cauliflower wrapped in baking paper and let it cook for about 6 minutes.
- When the bottom of the paper starts to toast, turn the cauliflower over so that it is done on the other side, seal the baking paper again and leave for another 5 minutes. It should be tender.
- Remove and serve hot with a little red pepper cream and salad. Delicious!
3 — "Ajoblanco" white garlic soup
Soup is always a great idea for your weekly menu. An extremely simple yet delicious dish, it can be made with almost any food and is very easy to prepare.
For her last batch cooking idea, Rocío shares a recipe for "ajoblanco" soup.
No. of servings: 4–6
Preparation time: 25 min.
Difficulty: easy
Ingredients
- 200 g raw almonds
- 2 cloves garlic
- 100 g loaf of bread or roll
- 1 litre cold water
- 100 ml olive oil, extra virgin
- 35 ml wine vinegar and salt
Method
- Soak the bread and set aside.
- Add the raw almonds, water and garlic cloves and beat everything until well mixed.
- Add the bread in pieces, the olive oil and the salt.
- Mix again using high power until all the ingredients are well mixed and the cream is smooth and evenly textured.
- Serve with toasted almonds and a splash of olive oil.
Now that you already have some ideas for a delicious weekly menu, don't forget to organise all your containers so that your days of batch cooking are super effective. If you want to know how to organise that mess of a container drawer in your kitchen, click on the video below and take a look at the IKEA tips.
We are delighted to see our customers use our products creatively. You can be bold too! However, bear in mind that changes and modifications that you make to IKEA products will prevent them being resold or used for their original purpose. Such changes will therefore invalidate your IKEA commercial warranty and your right to return the item.
