Cook Once Eat Twice is THE place to find meal planning inspiration for recipes that are just as good to eat later as when they are first made. Make-ahead meals and batch cooking make life so much easier. I'm going to share with you some great recipes that I use all the time at home!
Do you Cook Once Eat Twice?
I try to cook once eat twice as often as I can. It is the one tactic that seems to work in my kitchen to make life easier for us as a family. If I can cook a batch of chicken curry one day and have enough leftovers either in the fridge or freezer to feed us another day then I am happy.
After all, what do you want to do in the evenings? Cook dinner from scratch every day or just do it every other day and spend that extra time with you family?
I know! My children are 5 and 7 so after they get back from school they only have a little time to relax and play before it's dinner time, bath time and then bedtime!
Why I batch cook
As I said above, I want to have time to spend with my family. But, I them to eat healthy food and I want to cook from scratch as often as possible.
I don't think it's possible to cook from scratch every day and spend quality time with everyone. Something has to give.
I don't know about you, but I don't want to give up either my family time or being able to cook good food for my family.
Let me give you a little history about the cook once eat twice meal planning concept.
I started focusing on Cook Once Eat Twice recipes in September 2015. At the time my very picky daughter was three and her younger brother was one. I desperately didn't want him to become as fussy as she was. After all, I'm a food blogger.
I LOVE food.
I like most foods and I'm always ready to try new recipes. Not only that but I also have an interest in healthy eating. To be honest, I felt a little bit ashamed that I was creating new recipes each week but not managing to get my children to eat them!
I ended up cooking one meal for the children and another meal for me and my husband. It didn't help that he didn't (and still doesn't) get back from work until after seven o'clock when the children were going to bed. The ideal scenario of us all eating together as a family just wasn't going to happen.
But I wanted it to.
As much as I love cooking for my family, I found that after the children had gone to bed I didn't always feel like cooking again. I wanted to have some time to relax, watch tv, do stuff.
What was the solution?
Well, the next best thing to us all eating together was at least for us all to eat the same meal. But did I want to give my husband leftovers every day? Well, why not create and find recipes where the leftovers were just as good to eat later as when the meal was first made.
And that is exactly what I started to do.
What kind of meals can you cook once eat twice?
I am lucky in that I work at home so I can prepare dinner during the day. I like to prepare meals that I simply need to reheat such as curries, stews, soups and pasta recipes. I can reheat some for the children's tea and then later when my husband gets home I can reheat the rest for us. If there's enough for the next day or to put in the freezer then that's just a bonus.
Of course, we don't always want to eat reheated food so sometimes I'll just prepare everything. If I have all the veggies prepped for a meal it can be so much quicker to cook on the spot!
What are the benefits of the cook once eat twice concept?
Well, firstly, this way of preparing food saves so much time. Cooking double the amount needed for one meal takes only a little more time than cooking just enough for one meal. Secondly, it's more economical. Buying in bulk is cheaper. Buying 4 chicken breasts is usually cheaper than buying 2. And buying 8 is proportionally even cheaper. It can also save on electricity or gas. As I said before, I love cooking but I do want to have time to do other things too, most of all, I want to be able to spend time with my family, not just cook for them!
Some Great Cook Once Eat Twice Recipes
Now, I'd love to share with you some of the recipes I rely on week in week out in order to make life in the kitchen easier for me and my family. I've divided them up into categories including curries, soups, stews, salads, pasta and sweet treats.
Make Ahead Curries
Simple Dairy Free Chicken Curry
Jamie Oliver's Favourite Chicken Curry
Butternut Squash and Chickpea Curry
Lamb and Spinach Curry
Nutty Roasted Romanesco Curry
By the way, if you love curries as much as I do then take a look at my recipe collection for easy homemade curry recipes from scratch. I'm pretty sure that most of them are perfect for batch cooking!
Make ahead soups
I have a LOT of soup recipes here on Searching for Spice so why not check out my collection of homemade soup recipes!
Roasted Garlic Beetroot Soup
Tomato and Coriander Soup
Red Lentil Soup
Sausage Lentil and Vegetable Soup
Leftover Ham Soup
Make ahead stew Recipes
Mexican Chicken Stew
Easy chilli con carne with hidden vegetables
Beef and Barley Vegetable Stew
Pumpkin Stew with Chickpeas and Moroccan Spices
Make Ahead Salad Recipes
Jamie Oliver's Chicken Broccoli and Bulgur Wheat Salad
Tomato Olive and Couscous Salad
Caribbean Three Bean Salad
Barley Salad with Lemon and Basil
Couscous Beetroot and Feta Salad
Make Ahead Pasta Recipes
Tomato and Chorizo Pasta
Creamy Chorizo Pasta
Harissa Pasta with Roasted Vegetables
Avocado Spaghetti with chilli and lemon
Beef and Chorizo Meatballs with Pasta
Sweet Treats
Date and Banana Oaty Bars
Sugar Free Sticky Date and Apple Cake
Olive Oil Lemon Drizzle Cake
Breadstick Wands or Fireworks
Sweet Potato Brownies
The Old #CookOnceEatTwice Recipe Linky
For many years I ran a recipe linky for batch cooking and cook once eat Twice recipes. I might not be running the linky any more but I still love any batch cooking recipe. Why not check out these 14 vegan batch cooking recipes?
I met lots of amazing bloggers through running the linky and discovered some amazing recipes.
If you tag me on Twitter @Corinathecook I will still retweet any recipes shared.
Pin these cook once eat twice recipes ideas for later
More recipe collections
Why not check out my other recipe collections:
Easy Homemade Curries from Scratch
Homemade Frozen Desserts and Snacks
Keep in Touch
Do let me know if you make any of the recipes here on Searching for Spice. You can leave a comment below!
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