If you like saving time by cooking big batches of food, you’ll love these tips!
Most of us have a hard time finding nutritious meals ready to eat as and when we wish. This is mostly due to the time crunch within which we plan our usual days. This is why cooking big batches of food at a time or a bog bath of meal prep seems like the perfect idea to have ready to cook or eat meals at all times that would last at least a week. But even while doing so it is essential to take few measures to ensure high quality food and nutrition without any wastage at the end of the week. Here are a few tips which will come in handy.
Do not partially cook if you are not ready to consume it soon
Many people have the tendency to half cook things, like boiling or steaming the broccoli beforehand and then cooling them down for further storage. This is a bad idea as it allows easy bacterial growth. Only partially cook items that you are going to consume the same day if not within a few hours.
Clean your hands, countertops and everything during the prep
Many home cooks find it among their usual activities to chop everything at once and then clean the countertops, bowls and other items, the chances of contamination increases highly due to such activities. Clean items before prepping them; clean the countertops, knives and the rest of the items that you have used before proceeding to the next item. This will significantly reduce the chances of contamination.
Go for shallow storage
More often than not people store big batches of food in big pots, storage or pans. This actually is a wrong idea to consider if you want to cool all the food at the same time. Big containers do not allow all of its content to cool down to the same temperature at the same time. This can also lead to easy bacterial growth due to the difference in temperature within the same container. It is best if you divide the big batch into small portions and store them separately.
Store cooked food away from uncooked items
One of the easiest ways to contaminate all your preparations at once is by keeping cooked food and raw food in the same refrigerator. As a general rule of thumb store them away from each other. It is best if you have two different refrigerators, but if you can’t, then its best to only cook food in small portions that can be consumed within a day.
