How to meal prep like a pro
The Food Chain
BBC
4.7 • 545 Ratings
🗓️ 13 May 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Meal prepping is supposed to save us time, money and stress. It is a huge trend on social media, but how can we make it work in our own real, messy lives?
Ruth Alexander meets Hannah, a busy working mum who wants help to make meal times easier, quicker and more varied. Could batch cooking be the answer?
On hand to offer advice and inspiration are Jess Rice from the US website Budget Bytes and Kevin Curry, who has around two million followers across his Fit Men Cook social media accounts.
And if you have ever wondered whether those leftovers are safe to eat, or how long you should leave hot food cooling on the kitchen counter before you freeze it, there is advice from Natalie Stanton, who trains chefs in food safety.
If you would like to get in touch with The Food Chain team, please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk
Producer: Lexy O'Connor
Sound engineer: Hal Haines
(Image: A food container with chicken and vegetables being opened by a woman's hands. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. |
| 0:07.3 | On BBC Sounds, there are podcasts to help you look after your body and your mind. |
| 0:12.7 | From increasing your immunity to feeling more confident. |
| 0:16.6 | Or tips on how to focus. |
| 0:18.5 | Sorry, what will you say? |
| 0:19.7 | If it matters to you, it matters to us. |
| 0:22.6 | Feel good inside of it. |
| 0:24.2 | With WhatsApp Docs. |
| 0:25.9 | And Complex with Kimberly Wilson. |
| 0:27.9 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:33.1 | Hello and welcome to the food chain from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:38.4 | I'm Ruth Alexander. |
| 0:43.6 | Whether you're trying to save time, money, food waste or eat more healthily, |
| 0:50.0 | batch cooking or meal prepping can help. That's what we hear said on this program so often. |
| 0:56.2 | Cooking extra portions to freeze for later, preparing lunches for the week ahead, or spending a Sunday filling the fridge with ready-made meals. The idea is simple. Make once, eat several times. |
| 1:03.7 | But in my slightly disorganised experience at least, it's easier said than done. So how do you plan it? How do you even find the time to plan it? |
| 1:13.4 | And how can you turn it into a routine that sticks? In this episode, we are going to find out |
| 1:19.9 | how to make batch cooking work. First, let's hear from Hannah Hamilton, a BBC World Service |
| 1:26.7 | listener who's keen to get into batch cooking. |
| 1:29.6 | She lives with her two sons, age 10 and 12, in Shropshire, England. |
| 1:33.7 | I asked her what meal times look like in their house. |
| 1:37.5 | They're quite busy. Obviously, I work full-time. I've got two children who are in school and then after school. |
... |
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