Vegan Cauliflower Cheese (The Veg Space)
Batch Cook Clubs are a great idea in these hard financial times. Batch-cooking is basically when you cook for a crowd, freeze everything into portions, then label it and heat and eat a meal, when you feel like it. It’s like going on a big shop to Iceland, but it’s all home-cooked!
Follow food hygiene rules. You may not care if Fido deposits a bit of fur in your food, but your co-eaters may! Read more on food safety for people and pets. This covers foods not safe for pregnancy, allergies and choking hazards (don’t serve unpasteurised foods like miso, blue cheese or fresh juice).
Obviously there are caveats with this. Vegans and vegetarians won’t want ‘a little bit of chicken stock’ in their meals. And many people don’t want palm oil. So use rapeseed oil or Flora vegan butter.
If you have a large family (or lots of friends who like the same food), batch-cooking can remain within. You can just batch-cook for yourself, but you’ll need a large freezer, to avoid eating the same meals each night.
Batch cooking clubs are just that – everyone cooks a dish of their choice. Then just like a clothes swap, you turn up and swap all the meals. Keep a few dishes for yourself, and others give you their makes and bakes to freeze. You then end up with a month or so of home-cooked tasty dishes, that costs less than buying ready-meals from supermarkets.
Find recipes to get started at The Veg Space (lentil ragu and vegan hotpot) and The Batch Lady.
An Inspiring Batch Cook Club in Bristol
Batch Cook Club (Bristol) is a good example. You can not only cook and swap meals, but some people let you visit the premises, to teach you how to cook for £5. It also offers Little Lunches (vegan options) on a pay-what-you-can-afford basis.
Of course the big plus here is that it lets lonely older people who feel isolated, to become part of a valued community. Nearly all woman of a certain age can cook very well.
