Woman saves £80 a month by batch cooking all her meals in advance

14 February 2020 at 0:00 pm

Shannon Bannon, 25, started meal prepping when her husband was deployed to Afghanistan.
Shannon makes everything from cottage pies to fajita wraps.
Shannon says batch cooking saves her up to £80 a month.

If food shopping takes up all your budget and cooking takes up all your time, take a leaf out of this super-organised woman’s book.

Shannon Bannon, 25, a housewife from Catterick, North Yorkshire, decided to start meal prepping when her husband was deployed to Afghanistan as a way to have lots of home-cooked meals ready for the week ahead.

The process soon saved Shannon up to £80 a month, and also made sure she was eating healthily throughout the week.

Shannon told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: "I have been meal prepping for two months now. I started when my husband was deployed to Afghanistan.

"I wanted to make sure I had homemade meals in portions for just myself. I hate cooking meals for just myself so I thought this would be a great way to make sure I was eating a nice home cooked meal every day with little effort."

Shannon makes a wide variety of meals, and plans them meticulously in advance.

"I make all sorts of meals when I prep, from the staples of cottage pie and bolognese to pastries and fajita wraps. I’ve also started making my own oat pancakes and cutting them up for snacks through the week.

“When I meal prep I write a list of all the meals I’m going to make that day. I make sure I have all my containers ready at hand alongside all my spices and ingredients.

"I then go through my list and make each meal. I usually make two at a time as most dishes have the same basic ingredients. I then portion out my meals and leave to cook before putting them into the freezer.”

Shannon says the process of batch cooking doesn’t just save her money, but also saves her the stress of deciding what to cook every night.

"I would recommend meal prepping as it takes out a lot of the stress and time of having to cook a meal every night,” she adds. "You know what meals you have in your freezer after meal prepping and can work out what you are going to eat each day.

"Batch cooking for one day a week frees up a lot of time for the rest of the week. I’m saving around £60 to £80 a month on meal prepping and I’m not wasting food as I’m making sure everything is used up.

"I batch cook enough meals to last me the month, so all that I have to buy is perishables. This means I know how much I’m spending and stops me ordering fast food.”

Shannon says the key to making meal prepping as efficient as possible is to be super-organised from the get-go.

"My tips would be to make a list of all the ingredients you have in your kitchen,” she recommends.

"From there, write a list of meals that can be made from these ingredients. It’s surprising how many meals can be made from what you already have.

"If you're going shopping, make sure to write a list of meals you're going to batch cook and only buy the items you need for these. This stops you spending money on items you don’t need.

"It’s really rewarding seeing how just a day of batch cooking can feed you for the whole month. There’s nothing better than seeing a freezer full of home cooked meals. My favourite recipe would have to be my mince fajitas. I love anything with wraps!”

Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, says: “If something can save you money, time and stress, then it’s probably a good idea!

“Batch cooking is a fantastic way to use up everything in your freezer, ensure you’ve got healthy meals for the whole week - and also, to make sure your food shop is as efficient as possible, and that you don’t reach for a takeaway menu whenever you’re feeling tired and hungry!"