Four weeks of batch-cooking recipes to kick-start March

Taste.com.au’s foodies have pulled together an awesome list of make-ahead meal recipes to get you through all of March.

With batch cooking the latest craze among time-poor and budget-conscious cooks, we have decided to give you a head-start. Set aside some time to cook these simple and delicious base recipes and then use them to build up a new repertoire of fail-safe fall-back favourites.

Begin your meal prep by making these 8 base recipes.

1) Fresh tomato sauce

2) Roasted red onion

3) Roasted capsicum

4) Roasted zucchini

5) Roasted carrot

6) Roasted pumpkin

7) Roasted potato

8) Pea and green onion rice

Week One

Spanish prawn and chorizo rice.

Monday

Spanish prawn and chorizo rice

Uses base recipes 1, 3 and 8

Spicy Mexican mince and rice.

Tuesday

Spicy Mexican mince and rice

Uses base recipes 1 and 8

Mince and vegetable burritos.

Wednesday

Jumbo mince and vegetable burritos

Uses base recipes 2, 3 and 8

Roasted vegetable frittata.

Thursday

Roasted vegetable frittata

Uses base recipes 2, 3, 4 and 7

Chickpea couscous.

Friday

Chickpea, fetta and vegetable couscous

Uses base recipes 2, 3, 4 and 5

Week Two

Chicken curry.

Monday

Indian-style chicken curry

Uses base recipes 1, 2, 6, 7 and 8

Crunchy parmesan chicken.

Tuesday

Crunchy parmesan chicken

Uses base recipe 1

Family beef pie.

Wednesday

Family beef pie

Uses base recipes 1, 5, 6 and 7

Cheesy beef lasagne.

Thursday

Cheesy beef lasagne

Uses base recipe 1

*Reserve 1/4 of the mince mixture for the jacket potatoes for tomorrow’s meal.

Bolognese jacket potatoes.

Friday

Bolognese jacket potatoes

Uses base recipe 5

*You will need reserved mince mixture from the cheesy beef lasagne.

Week Three

Beef and vegetable rissoles.

Monday

Beef and vegetable rissoles

Uses base recipe 2, 4 and 6

Rich tomato and chicken casserole.

Tuesday

Rich tomato and chicken casserole

Uses base recipes 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7

Grilled balsamic chicken with rice salad.

Wednesday

Grilled balsamic chicken with rice salad

Uses base recipes 3 and 8

Sticky Chinese chicken.

Thursday

Sticky Chinese chicken

Uses base recipe 2, 3 and 5.

Green Thai fish curry.

Friday

Green Thai fish curry

Uses base recipes 5 and 8

Week Four

Creamy chicken and pumpkin pasta.

Monday

Creamy chicken and pumpkin pasta

Uses base recipe 6

Lamb and fetta rissoles with tomato chutney.

Tuesday

Lamb and fetta rissoles with tomato chutney

Uses base recipe 1

Lemon and capsicum salmon parcels.

Wednesday

Lemon and capsicum salmon parcels

Uses base recipe 3

Lemony tuna and mixed herb pasta.

Thursday

Lemony tuna and mixed herb pasta

Tomato, chilli and basil pasta.

Friday

Tomato, chilli and basil pasta

Uses base recipe 1

Substitutions

If you want to make any of the recipes on these pages without doing the batch cooking, use these alternatives instead:

For the fresh tomato sauce – use bottled tomato passata or a herb and garlic pasta sauce instead of the fresh tomato sauce.

For the capsicum – use roasted capsicum from the deli or in jars instead of the frozen capsicum.

For the potato – use bought frozen potato cubes from the supermarket or roast your own fresh potatoes.

For the carrot – use frozen sliced carrot from the supermarket or roast your own fresh carrots.

For the zucchini – pan-fry or roast fresh zucchini slices or use char-grilled zucchini from the deli and chop before using.

For the red onion – you can substitute fresh onion in these recipes. Add where stated, but cook for an extra 3-5 minutes or until softened.

For the pumpkin – use fresh pumpkin. Cut into cubes and microwave for 2 to 3 minutes on HIGH (100%) or until tender.

For the rice – use express microwave rice and stir through frozen peas and chopped onion or cook your own rice following packet directions; 1 cup of uncooked, long-grain rice equals approximately 3 cups of cooked rice.

For more recipe ideas, go to taste.com.au or check out the Taste Test Kitchen now.

Originally published as Four weeks of batch-cooking recipes to kick-start March