Cooking ahead for the week – how to organise it safely

With little time on weekdays, preparing part of the meals at the weekend saves many evenings. It works if the menu is already decided and if cooked food is stored the right way.

Start from the week’s menu

Look at the dishes for the coming days and choose those that keep well: sauces, soups, pulses, grains, roasted vegetables. Leave the quick dishes, made fresh, for the evenings.

Prepare the basics, not whole dishes

Instead of cooking five complete dinners, prepare the elements that come back several times: a pot of pulses, a tray of vegetables, a cooked grain, a sauce. During the week you combine them into different dishes in a few minutes.

Cool and store safely

The World Health Organization advises not to leave cooked food at room temperature for more than two hours, to put it in the fridge promptly (preferably below 5 °C) and to keep food to be served hot above 60 °C. Divide what you prepare into small, closed containers: they cool faster and you take only the portion you need.

Freeze what you will eat later

The fridge slows the growth of bacteria but does not stop it: for meals at the end of the week, freeze the portions and thaw them in the fridge the day before. Write on the container what it holds and the date.

Reheat thoroughly

Reheat until the dish is hot all the way through, not just on the surface, and reheat only the portion you will eat.

How to do it with Sunny Family

The Sunny Family weekly menu shows the recipe, times and portions of every dish: looking at the whole week, it is easy to choose what to prepare ahead. The shopping list already adds up all the ingredients.