Cooking simply and cheaply: planning meals and batch cooking

In short: With a weekly plan, shopping list, simple basic recipes and batch cooking (meal prep) you eat healthier, save money and time and waste less food.

In more detail: Whoever moves out early, works in training or sits at the computer a lot quickly reaches for delivery services and ready meals: expensive and often low in nutrients. Cooking is a skill you practise like programming.

In Depth

Planning and shopping

• Weekly plan: 4–5 dishes, plan leftovers; shopping list (sorted by supermarket sections), shop full.
• Price-conscious: offers/leaflet apps, own brands, seasonal and frozen vegetables (nutrient-rich, cheap), legumes, rice, pasta, oats, eggs, potatoes as basis.
• Compare unit price (€/kg), not package price.
• Build up supplies (spices, oil, tins, stock) step by step.
• Shelf life: best-before vs. use-by date; use up leftovers, freeze.

Simple basic recipes

• Stew/soup: sauté onion, vegetables + legumes/potatoes + stock; serves 4 for under €6.
• Oven vegetables + potatoes/pasta + yoghurt dip.
• Pasta: tomato sauce (tinned tomatoes, onion, garlic, herbs) + vegetables/lentils.
• Rice pan/bowls: rice + vegetables + egg/tofu/chicken.
• Oats (porridge, overnight oats) for breakfast.
• Omelette/scrambled eggs with vegetables.
• Learn basics: cutting onions, cooking pasta/rice, heating a pan properly, seasoning/tasting (salt, acid, heat), kitchen hygiene (hands, boards, cook meat through, cold chain).

Meal prep

• Sunday 1–2 hours batch cook: rice/pasta/lentils, roast vegetables, sauces, stew in portions.
• Shelf life in the fridge: cooked food usually 2–3 days (cool rice quickly and refrigerate, do not leave warm for long: Bacillus cereus risk), freezing up to months; label (date), heat thoroughly (≥ 70 °C core).
• Containers: glass/BPA-free boxes, microwave-safe.
• Lunch at work/school: a lunchbox saves money (≈ €3 instead of €8) and energy.
• Build healthily: half the plate vegetables, quarter protein, quarter side, water instead of soft drinks.

Kitchen and safety

• Equipment (starter): pot, pan, sharp knife, board, sieve, grater, spatula, baking tray, measuring cup, scale.
• Safety: do not extinguish a grease fire with water (lid/fire blanket), do not leave the stove unattended, handle knives properly (claw grip), pot handles to the back.
• Mind allergies/intolerances (see allergens article), lactose/gluten.
• Sustainable: leftovers, regional, less packaging, foodsharing/Too Good To Go.
• Learning: recipe apps/videos, cooking club, ask family.
• Budget example: €40–60 per week is realistic with simple cooking (depending on region/demands).

See also: Hidden sugar, Allergens in food, Fibre and protein