Ely has been named England’s batch cooking capital, with residents searching for meal-prep advice at a higher rate than anywhere else in the country.
New research from kitchen experts at Prestige found the Cambridgeshire city recorded 1,094 searches per 100,000 people.
The tiny cathedral city comfortably topped the rankings, with Ripon coming second on 710 searches per 100,000, followed by Chichester on 551 and Durham on 436.
Lichfield completed England’s top five with 432 searches per 100,000 people.
England’s batch cooking capital
Rank Location Searches per 100,000
1 Ely 1,094
2 Ripon 710
3 Chichester 551
4 Durham 436
5 Lichfield 432
The findings suggest people in some of England’s smallest cities are particularly keen to get organised in the kitchen, with batch cooking allowing households to prepare several portions in one go and have meals ready for later in the week.
Olivia’s top batch cooking advice
“Batch cooking doesn’t have to mean sacrificing your entire Sunday to making a week’s worth of identical meals,” said Olivia Disley, kitchen expert at Prestige.
“One of the easiest ways to start is simply doubling what you’re already cooking. If you’re making a chilli, curry, casserole or pasta sauce, making twice as much often requires very little extra effort. Portion the rest up and you’ve suddenly got another dinner waiting for you on a night when you don’t have the time or energy to cook from scratch.”
“I’d also think about ingredients rather than just complete meals. A big tray of roasted vegetables could accompany dinner one evening, go into pasta the next day and then be blended into soup. A large tomato sauce can become the base for pasta, chilli, lasagne or even homemade pizza. That stops batch cooking feeling like you’re eating the same thing every night.”
“If you’re already using the oven, try to make that heat work as hard as possible. Where cooking temperatures and timings allow, fill empty shelves with other dishes or ingredients you’ll need later rather than heating a large oven again the following day.”
“The freezer is your best friend, but portion food before you freeze it. There’s no point freezing six servings together if you’re only going to want one or two at a time. Label everything with what it is and the date too, because otherwise it’s very easy to end up with a freezer full of mystery containers.”
“When you do reheat your batch-cooked meals, make sure they’re steaming hot throughout. Leftovers should be cooled and refrigerated promptly and, if you’re not going to eat them within the recommended timeframe, freeze them instead. You should also only reheat leftovers once.”
“The goal is to make cooking once work harder for you. Get into the habit of putting even one or two extra portions away every time you cook and, before long, opening the freezer can feel like having your own homemade takeaway menu.”
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-smiling-while-smelling-the-food-3785706/
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