- 2 days ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00All right!
00:02Suzanne and I are back together.
00:04Lead the way, Professor Batch.
00:05Helping families up and down the country
00:07get control of their meal times.
00:10It is chaotic.
00:13That is an insane amount of snacks.
00:16As a dad of six kids, I know getting good healthy food
00:19on the table fast can be a nightmare.
00:21Grump is up!
00:23Like feeding the three bears, innit?
00:25With my Batching tips and tricks,
00:27we're going to make those dreaded dinner times
00:29a thing of the past.
00:30Three minutes, your dinner is done, no fuss.
00:34We'll help struggling households...
00:36Oh!
00:37Could you eat that and not die?
00:39..who find feeding the family stressful.
00:41That chicken's off.
00:43We'll analyse what they eat.
00:45You're only getting a balanced diet 20% of the time.
00:50And what they spend.
00:51I thought that was a month!
00:53And thanks to some clever hacks and easy-to-follow recipes...
00:57Well done, mate!
00:58We'll save them time.
01:00When in life does someone give you three weeks of your life back?
01:03And money.
01:04That's a good holiday, isn't it?
01:06Revolutionising their meal times.
01:08What do we think, boys?
01:09Amazing.
01:10Can we have this tomorrow?
01:12If you can't beat it, batch it.
01:15I can't see us ever going back.
01:18It's life-changing, isn't it?
01:19Definitely.
01:19It's a hug in a bowl.
01:21Aw, come here.
01:28Today I'm meeting Suzanne in Knoxvishy.
01:32Hello, hello.
01:33Morning, Joe.
01:33Welcome to the lovely market town of Banbury.
01:36I tell you what, I love a marketplace.
01:39What have you got in that bag?
01:40These are Banbury cakes.
01:42Oh.
01:42They date back to the 17th century.
01:44But there's a secret recipe and nobody's giving it out.
01:47Oh, imagine if you kept your recipes a secret, eh?
01:49No batch cooking.
01:50Talking about batch cooking, we are here to meet the Sellers family.
01:53Now, Dad Rudy loves cooking, loves being in the kitchen.
01:56But because of his full-time work, the family are often eating after nine o'clock.
02:01It's not great to eat really late at night.
02:04Studies have shown that it gives you higher blood pressure
02:06and can give you an increased rate of stroke.
02:08So I think we should get this family batch cooking, eating earlier, eating healthier.
02:13Right, Suzanne, follow me.
02:14Let's go.
02:16You want to taste my cake?
02:17Oh, I love a little nibble.
02:20BUZZ Jerk
02:22BUZZ Jerk
02:23Buzz, not for you.
02:25RUDY
02:26WEEK
02:28TECHNOLOGY SALES MANAGER RUDY
02:30RUDY
02:30RUDY
02:31RUDY
02:32RUDY
02:33RUDY
02:33RUDY
02:33RUDY
02:33RUDY
02:34RUDY
02:34RUDY
02:35RUDY
02:36RUDY
02:38RUDY
02:38RUDY
02:47RUDY
02:48athletics i describe our life as organized chaos so i don't necessarily know where i'm going to be
02:55on any given day while sarah is busy ferrying warwick around rudy gets home late from work
03:01and starts cooking dinner i did used to do most of the cooking and then it came to kovid being
03:09a key worker i still had to go to work every day rudy would do one trip to the supermarket
03:16a week
03:16and because he'd done the shop it just made sense for him to cook the meals since then rudy has
03:24totally taken over in the kitchen i have a control freak nature around the cooking being alone in the
03:30kitchen i'll kind of offer do you need a little bit of help chopping anything whatever but normally
03:34it's like no i'm fine sorted so i'll tend just to keep well out of the way i'd like to
03:39help him in
03:40the kitchen i think cooking together would bring us together more when sarah and warwick return home
03:46dinner is still hours away and everyone resorts to snacking whilst they wait i know warwick snacks
03:52i'm ashamed to say i do often find myself looking around for a packet crisps or some crackers biscuits
04:00dinner come on and when dinner is finally served it's nearly bedtime so about 9 30
04:06dishing up and then straight to bed for work really and not too much long after for the two of
04:12us
04:13it would be really nice just to not feel rushed spending time together i think my dad probably
04:20could do with some help maybe he doesn't always want it but he might need it i tend to go
04:25for high
04:26fat high salt options i know that it's going to go down a treat and i won't get any rejections
04:30at the
04:30table but rudy knows these unhealthy habits can't continue i've often thought a lot about turning 50
04:38and and that is largely down to it was the age that um my dad was when i lost him
04:44he only ever made
04:45it to 50 and so 50 has been as good a reason for me as any to make a change
04:50not just for me but also
04:51for the family i want to be around cooking for them for years to come but i also want them
04:56to be eating
04:57healthy things so that you know they don't have the same worries when they reach this age sounds
05:02like rudy and sarah have called us in the nick of time exactly joe and with the family out of
05:08the
05:08house we want to understand where they're going wrong smells amazing isn't it smells so good really
05:17nice and fresh isn't it right what are your first impressions oh clean it's uncluttered so far so good
05:27but as i always say the key to organize meal times is an organized fridge freezer oh oh it's clean
05:34it's tidy we've got some yellow sticker reduced items there's not a lot of food in here actually
05:40let's hope better for the fridge freezer oh we've got some more reduced stickers they're the yellow
05:45sticker family someone likes a bargain are they buying what they need or are they buying it because
05:51it's a bargain discounted items can be great value but only if they're part of a plan otherwise they're
05:57just freezer clutter right we'll leave that there right rainy day but we've not seen no fruit bowl
06:04no fruit in the fridge there must be big fruit eaters in this house no to be honest i'm not
06:10seeing that much food at all for feeding a family should we have a look at this little cupboard down
06:15here it's screaming at me oh well that's a lot of packets i feel like we've found our hidden treasure
06:22trove what does that tell you i'm a fan of these micro races because they're really good on busy nights
06:30but there's a lot of dried sauces i wonder if they're using it in the dates and these packet sauces
06:36can
06:36be expensive it can be cheaper to make your own at least then you know what's in them exactly this
06:44is
06:44the doomsday prepping box i'm not sure how long you'd last on packet sauces should we have a look what
06:52else oh nice plates balls oh this is where you find all the grandma's old utensils now be careful
07:02because look that is definitely a hazard waiting to happen putting your fingers in there oh here they
07:12come so tell me what dinner time's like it's really samey really yeah we have quite a lot of the
07:21same
07:21foods a lot of the time i've been cooking a lot for a while but not always the best things
07:26at the best
07:27times yeah we just want to get into doing some different meals and things really rather than having
07:32the same thing all the time right warwick do you mind if we bowl your mum and dad for a
07:35little while
07:36catch you in a minute mum and dad should we have a little chat yeah absolutely to help us get
07:40to
07:40the root of the family's food issues we've installed cameras into their kitchen
07:48we've been keeping tabs on everything that they've been buying cooking and eating
07:56i know this is a time that everyone dreads but should we have a little look yeah go on then
08:01are we ready yeah this must be your daily shopping trip we are seeing lots of shopping trips every
08:10day every two days at least yeah sometimes twice in a day the lack of an ordered plan is taking
08:17its toll
08:18our cameras showed that over a two-week period the family only managed to eat dinner before seven o'clock
08:24once with two school night meals post 9 pm we just sort of look in this corner and see the
08:33times of
08:34when you are cooking yeah it's sort of after eight most nights so i haven't seen you have dinner in
08:39sunlight for quite a while a lot of your dinner times are at night time yeah i'm often commuting
08:45back in from london get back around half seven eight then i do a food shop then i come home
08:50and cook it
08:50and then we eat everybody's always waiting for you at the table like just knife some forks in hand
08:56come on dad where is it a continual late and irregular pattern to meal times can have negative
09:03impacts on sleep quality which can cause daily tiredness this is especially bad for 12 year old
09:10warwick and the late meals aren't just impacting his sleep but i know for a fact i can hear him
09:17eating
09:17when he's uh sort of waiting for me to cook something but our cameras also show that warwick
09:23isn't the only one with an unhealthy snacking habit i don't like waste so if there's something left
09:29behind i'll tend to go for it because one of these was midnight that can't be good for your digestive
09:34system i kind of felt like it was worth it at the time though you liked your barbecue sauce you
09:39like my
09:39barbecue sauce listen everyone feasts everyone snacks it's just what we snack on so it'd be quite easy for
09:45to replace some of this stuff for healthy snacks that'd be good with all the yellow sticker food
09:51this family buyer you'd think they'll be getting a bargain but actually it's costing them more than
09:56they realize so on average you're spending 209 pounds and 27 pence a week on your groceries that's a
10:06bit disappointing at work i live on budgets and numbers but when it comes to buying food and shopping
10:12i don't really think about it i think you're like a lot of people in the country they just randomly
10:17every week just think well we need it so we're going to have to pay for it but we don't
10:22do it with
10:22anything else in our life budgeting is becoming more important with increased food prices
10:29but daily shops and unplanned meals don't just cost more money you're spending 16 hours and 13 minutes a
10:37week shopping preparing and eating yeah over the course of the month you did 25 shops you're spending
10:44more time with the lady in your grocery store than you are with your own wife yeah that's a crazy
10:51amount
10:51of time to go shopping it's time that we should be spending as a family joe and i couldn't find
10:56a
10:57fruit bowl in the kitchen and that absence is reflected in our analysis of the family's diet
11:03diet so you've got a nutritionally balanced diet around 40 of the time and i think a lot of that
11:08is down to you're not having very much fruit i've been rudy and sarah were shocked with some of the
11:14statistics we just need to change the habits you know get them into a better routine things do need to
11:21change if we spent a little bit of time planning having meals ready in advance things that we can eat
11:29earlier we just make a massive difference to our family this family love eating around the dinner
11:35table we don't want to change that but we want to make sure it's not at nine o'clock at
11:39night he is
11:40working full time and commuting a long way as well so that time is really going to change his life
11:44if
11:45we can reduce that in any way but before we get making meals and batching i want to find out
11:50how eating
11:51late and having little family time is affecting sarah you know how much cooking did you do back in the
11:56day
11:56i used to do all the cooking i used to like plan it all do the shop and cook every
12:02meal chilies and
12:04bolognese there's all the kind of mint space type things lasagnas it's mad really because even now
12:10when you're talking about cooking you talk about it with a smile in your face so i think it's such
12:14a
12:14shame that through circumstances you're falling into different habits and and you're not doing it no
12:20more do you miss it um i think i probably do miss it i i miss that kind of doing
12:27something for my
12:28family that they you know they've really enjoyed it do you still want to reignite that passion you
12:34have for the kitchen definitely like to get back in there again and and let warwick see his mum
12:39actually doing something that's for him when we was looking back at the videos usually we're having
12:45dinner quite late cooking late means that you're tidying up late so sometimes it's like 10 o'clock
12:50before we get to sit down together we really don't spend much time together at all use the time more
12:54wisely definitely don't waste it no it goes too quick it does she obviously has a history of cooking
13:01it's just reminding her how much she enjoyed it so we'd see to get him in the kitchen a little
13:07bit
13:07and hopefully all those memories will come flooding back
13:23we're in oxfordshire helping the sellers family where late night dinners are leaving everybody exhausted
13:31rudy's taking control of the shopping and the cooking when rudy's in the kitchen i try to stay
13:37right out of the way i pretty much try to let him just get on with what he wants we
13:41are largely
13:41focused on getting the food into our parties and then getting into bed shortly after i don't spend
13:46time with my dad because he's working a lot i don't really see dad too much it's about time we
13:52got this
13:52family back on track and ready to batch but before we can get cooking it's time to get this kitchen
13:59organized and whilst it might look pristine the problems are just below the surface
14:04so one thing i want to ask the drawers this one we'll just sort it so that it's a little
14:10bit less hazardous and you can find everything typically we have around 500 pounds worth of
14:16unused gadgets and utensils cluttering up our kitchens this looks like my hair dryer cord
14:22sorting out their kitchen drawers makes cooking so much easier i feel like some of these could go in a
14:28little nice pot while suzanne and sarah roll up their sleeves at home i'm taking rudy to the
14:34supermarket let's grab ourselves a trolley let's go shopping i want to show him how completing one
14:39big organized shop rather than daily trips will have a drastic effect in reducing the family's time
14:46spent on food all right here we are the one thing we noticed there was a lack of fruit yes
14:52i'm doing
14:53the daily shop mainly focused on dinner time yeah so i'm kind of forgetting it in the basket listen
14:57don't worry because only one in five adults are hitting the target when it comes to fruit and veg
15:02and stuff like that fruit is a great snack it's naturally low in fat and calories so let's get
15:07some in the trolley do you guys like some apples i'm partial to a pink lady if you like a
15:12pink lady let's
15:13get a pink lady there we go i'll tell you what my kids love little oranges the easy peelers hard
15:21fruits
15:21last much longer than soft fruits like blueberries and strawberries so all they need to do is eat
15:27the soft fruit first and keep the hard fruits for later on in the week so all week long you're
15:32gonna
15:32have fruit in the house it's a much better snack isn't it and it's not just the fresh aisle where
15:38rudy should be looking frozen fruits are great too look you've got mixed berries here you've got
15:43strawberries it's often just as nutritious as fresh frozen right after being picked help and preserve
15:50the vitamins and minerals these make the best smoothies bit of milk bit of yogurt a smoothie
15:55is a great way to start quick and easy as well all right it keeps you off the pan of
15:58chocolate as
15:59well doesn't it our trolley it's looking good looking healthy yeah so i'm stopping here because these
16:07beans and chickpeas they actually can as one of your five a day okay wicked they're full of protein
16:14full of fiber and it really beefs out of milk do you know what i mean yeah should we get
16:18a few let's
16:19get a couple legumes like chickpeas beans peas and lentils could be a great swap for me as a high
16:27in
16:27protein inexpensive and have a long shelf life let's get going yeah i feel like we've done a really good
16:34job they're going to be proud of us the ladies um hello you're all right where are you feeling about
16:39letting go of a little bit of control in the kitchen are you going to be one of those that
16:43are going to
16:43be looking over people's shoulders going oh no that needs a stir i'm definitely going to have a look but
16:47i'm probably not going to say as much you know what i mean exactly armed with bags of healthier food
16:54it's time to head back to the house hello hello hello hello have you been getting on in the kitchen
16:59your drawers are now beautiful oh wow at least now you won't lose no fingers when you go in there
17:07exactly and we've also given you a lovely fruit area hopefully you have bought fruit yes perfect
17:15keeping fresh and dried fruit readily accessible should encourage the family to swap some of their
17:20unhealthier choices this is key to the batch way of life where small changes can make a big difference
17:29rudy has taken control of the cooking for years i don't know that anyone else feels like they can
17:35even come into the space when i'm cooking i try to be helpful but actually it's the absolute opposite
17:40i certainly need to give over a little bit of control of the kitchen back to the family
17:45so today i want to get sarah back in the kitchen with this comforting dish
17:50it's my creamy mushroom alfredo pasta bake
17:55how does it feel to be cooking in the kitchen yeah i'm excited start by slicing mushrooms and
18:01cooking them in a little olive oil do you ever get a chance to cook together i will offer to
18:05help rudy
18:06but often he'll just tell me that he doesn't need it occasionally he'll ask me to grate some cheese or
18:11something so you're like his sous chef is what you're saying yeah we want to change that we want to
18:16make
18:17you feeling like you're both in the kitchen working side by side as a lovely team right how are we
18:23looking yeah they look good they smell lovely great we're at the stage now that we can add our garlic
18:27minced garlic from a jar saves all the hassle of peeling and chopping fresh clothes yourself
18:32i want to add some spinach to this now as well i love spinach it's packed with iron and vitamin
18:38k
18:39which can be good for blood and bone health so we just want it to wilt down smells lovely
18:45once the mushroom and spinach mixture is done we can start making the sauce
18:49i mean rudy loves a packet sauce he does we've seen his box but actually it's really easy to make
18:56a sauce from scratch as well okay we're making a roux which is the start of a simple white sauce
19:01begin by heating equal parts of butter and flour have you made a roux before i have but sometimes i
19:07do
19:07need to get my blender on it the secret to avoid having to blitz a lumpy sauce is to stir
19:12in the milk
19:13gradually it's quite satisfying think of the workout when the sauce is silky smooth add the cheese
19:21so we're using granul cadano already grated it's a similar flavor to parmesan but it's less expensive
19:28now the sauce is done we can add in our mushroom and spinach mixture you give that a good stir
19:32around
19:33time to divide the sauce into two one to cool to be batched and one to eat now perfect next
19:40add the
19:40fresh tortellini pasta these little parcels are great as they come stuffed with delicious fillings
19:46like ham and cheese ours are filled with mushroom to complement our sauce fresh tortellini you don't
19:52need to cook it first so you can just add it to the sauce and it will cook while it's
19:55in the oven
19:56you could vary this recipe by swapping the cheese sauce for a tomato passata and using different
20:01tortellini fillings we're going to add some mozzarella to it now just to make it even
20:06lovelier and that's it that is ready to go in the oven 190 for 20 minutes it's going to be
20:12bubbly brown
20:13delicious once our second batch is cooled we can label it bag it and freeze it i like to keep
20:20the pasta
20:21separate in the bag it came in the mozzarella can be frozen and that is your meal kit everything that
20:26you need to cook that meal one for the freezer one for tonight yay well done thanks just look at
20:35that
20:35a stunning dish 100 cooked by sarah oh this smells amazing and for once the kitchen was a rudy free
20:43zone sorry rudy we don't need you any i'm honest i wanted to poke my head in a few times
20:49to see how
20:49everything was going on yeah but i held on to my nerve and apparently i wasn't needed are you
20:55impressed to see how well your mum done in the kitchen yeah definitely so it's nice to have a
21:01nice earlier dinner all together and my mum especially made it rudy warwick what's the verdicts is it a
21:09thumbs up yes well done it's really nice it's nice to feel like you've done something for your family
21:17so that they that they enjoy and they appreciate so yeah it's really nice feeling sarah's got great
21:25confidence in the kitchen she's not forgotten those skills she just needs to keep getting
21:28in the kitchen so she keeps building on it day after day our stats showed that the sellers family
21:35were struggling to hit their five a day so in my test kitchen i'm going to show joe an easy
21:41way to pack
21:42our dinners full of veg joe we should all be eating more vegetables so i want to show you three
21:48recipes
21:49that are all full of veg amazing i'm always trying to get more vegetables into the kids so it's a
21:54great
21:54idea joe i thought you'd give your chopping hands a rest i've already chopped and roasted some veg so i'll
21:59put these to one side oh you're so kind didn't you roast your veg in the oven for 20 to
22:0425 minutes
22:05hard veg like butternut squash and onion will take longer to roast than your soft veg like courgettes and
22:10peppers let's make some quiche i love a quiche i've just used ready roll puff pastry and already done
22:17the tin so we're ready to go mix together six eggs with a splash of milk and then you're going
22:22to whizz
22:22it up gently why do i say gently next up add some grated cheese to the pastry tin before adding
22:32in a
22:33third of the veg i love roasted veg it gives off a lovely flavor pour over the egg mix top
22:39with cheese in
22:40it's ready for the oven it looks amazing already hasn't even been cooked
22:46next up is my super simple veggie lasagna start by mixing together tomato puree with passata
22:54i just went for one of these pre-flavored passatas which is onion and garlic so we don't even have
22:59to
22:59add any extra flavoring no messing about stir through the veg and then make a white sauce this version is
23:05even easier than the one i made with sarah earlier just mix creme fraiche milk and mozzarella and that
23:12is our cheats white sauce amazing right time to assemble perfect and then let's get some lasagna
23:20sheets on the top there we go layer up your white sauce passata and pasta sheets until you're happy
23:27it's made in perfect joe style top with grated cheese and you're done just cook from frozen
23:34whenever you need it and that is a very quick very easy roasted veg lasagna amazing with the rest of
23:43our
23:43roasted veg we're going to make a curry lovely lovely add olive oil and chopped frozen onions to the pan
23:49next we're going to use our cheeks garlic puree and ginger puree then add in your chopped tomatoes and
23:55coconut milk looking good before mixing through your curry paste and that's going to give it a
24:00lovely color all that's left is for you to put the roasted veg in it's so easy to make cook
24:06together
24:06for another five minutes and your curry is ready incredible from two trays of roasted veg we've got
24:12three tasty ways for the sellers to get more veg in their diet
24:21that's lovely a triumph to batch cooking well done
24:31back at the house our cameras discovered that rudy cooks alone in the kitchen
24:35missing out on family time it would be really nice spending time together a meal time is probably
24:41the one and only time that you can guarantee you have that every day
24:46i'm keen to discover how this is all affecting rudy how important are your family to you family is
24:53everything genuinely it's all i have i came to this country just me alone so what i have here and
24:58what
24:58i've established it kind of means the world to me is it stressful doing dinner for a family after
25:04coming home from work all day kitchen is the real one space where i can give back to the household
25:08but yeah truth be told it is a bit of stressful i do like to take control i think where
25:13maybe i've
25:14gone a bit far is people don't feel like they can come in and join in they kind of give
25:18that kind of
25:19grumpy chef vibe but at the same time you know when sarah does prepare a meal or even when work
25:24knocks
25:24up a piece of toast i'm actually grateful for it would you find that you're now becoming more aware
25:29of eating healthy because you're reaching that 50 mark yeah my dad died when he was 50 and i want
25:38to make sure that i'm living a lot longer than that i can relate to that because i lost my
25:43dad when
25:43he was 39 and i was 11 so i had a real funny year a couple of years ago when
25:48i turned 40 suddenly i was
25:50older than my dad it just doesn't feel natural it is something that i hold inside i think about you
25:55know
25:55this kind of side of me is not something i showed to a lot of people yeah you've got to
26:00make a
26:00positive out of the negative yeah you know it's completely negative what happened to your dad
26:04but you're going to turn it around break the cycle and use it to better yourself yeah i'm hoping
26:10for that really yeah here's to eating healthy here's to seeing our grandkids i can really relate
26:17to him with wanting to be in the kitchen because i don't think it's a controlling thing i think it's
26:22more to do with the fact that he really loves his family so when he's at home he takes great
26:27pride in
26:28preparing food so that's exactly why batch cooking can really help it will just give them a little bit
26:32of structure and with that i feel like this family will really really thrive rudy is keen to have more
26:39family time so i'm going to show him a home-cooked dish that's quick easy and delicious my curried chicken
26:45and chickpea pie served with sagaloo that certainly packs a punch i wanted to show you a dish today
26:53it's a curry dish but we're doing it in a pie sound good yeah awesome start by frying onions and
26:59peppers
27:00in olive oil i'm keeping our prep time to a minimum by using ready chopped frozen veg right while that's
27:06just cooking away we're going to dice some chicken thighs okay you could choose chicken breasts but
27:12chicken thighs are more flavorsome juicier and often cheaper and this is where we're using a paste so
27:18we're going to use a korma a korma curry is known for its rich creamy flavor and mild heat how
27:24about that
27:24perfect these concentrated spice pastes deliver intense flavor and once open they'll keep in the fridge for
27:30around two weeks i'm just going to add this flour in and that's going to help for it to start
27:35to thicken
27:35okay now chickpeas think you might have picked some of these up at the shop guilty as charged they
27:41make meat go further saves money really good for health as well packed with protein and fiber they're
27:47also a great source of iron this is where we would add stock we can just add in the water
27:52and then we're
27:53going to add in the grated stock cube rather than dissolving stock cubes in water it's much easier to
27:58grate them straight into the pan that's great i would never have thought to have done that next
28:03mango chutney for some tangy fruit flavor and creme fresh to make it creamy so you can use reduced fat
28:09you can use full fat but just because you're health conscious and stick with the reduced fat unlike fresh
28:14cream creme fresh rarely curdles when stirred into hot sauces and that's the filling done right our pie
28:21dish always i'm conscious of if you make double let's not eat double yeah okay let's make sure that half
28:26of
28:26it ends up in the freezer for another night pop half the filling into a pie dish and leave the
28:32rest
28:32to cool ready to batch right we've cooled down nicely so we can now put our pastry on the top
28:37you could
28:38make your own puff pastry from scratch but this is ready rolled and so much easier you're going to just
28:43roll it all the way over and then you can start to pull it off the paper a quick egg
28:49wash and it goes in
28:50the oven whilst the remaining pie filling goes in a freezer bag and then what you do is you freeze
28:56it
28:56with your pastry and rudy's got a batched pie ready to assemble for another day it's a balanced healthy
29:02meal on its own but as a treat we're going to serve ours with a classic indian side dish sagaloo
29:07i have
29:08a man who makes amazing sagaloo yeah it's joe's large right rudy here we go these potatoes are
29:18already pre-cooked which is brilliant also someone's already peeled them which is the worst job defrost
29:24and drain the frozen spinach heat it through in olive oil and add the potatoes we've got a little
29:30potato in it escapes potatoes are a great source of fiber which is essential for gut health right
29:39rude get some curry paste in there i'm using tikka paste a blend of spices garlic ginger and
29:45tomatoes that's packed with flavor then give it a good old toss go on give me some perfect the pie's
29:52done time to tuck in should i serve i think you should come on don't be shy give us a
29:57nice big bit
29:59the sellers struggle to get their five a day with the onions peppers and chickpeas all in the pie
30:04plus the spinach here they'll be hitting four portions of veg in this one meal alone get in there
30:10oh it smells wonderful it's delicious i love the creaminess of it and it's kind of mild enough for
30:18everyone to enjoy but spicy enough for me oh good so it ticks a lot in the boxes didn't you
30:22guys
30:24sarah do you want to come and try some of our curry pie oh smells lovely
30:31yeah it's really delicious i think warwick would love this i could eat more of this
30:36i'm really getting the grips with the benefits of batch cooking it's amazing to know that we'll be
30:40able to plan ahead and even better for me the flavors are really amazing a real triumph i think with
30:46the sellers it's all about cooking in advance before it's late at night they're able to then
30:50produce meals that are healthy and ready and convenient for them in the freezer
31:05we're in oxfordshire helping the sellers family where rudy's taking control of the kitchen yeah
31:10what are you having with it sweet chili wings and for mum mac and cheese i'll kind of offer
31:16do you need a little bit of help chopping anything whatever but normally it's like no i'm fine sorted
31:20so i'll tend just to keep well out of the way you're thinking when's my dinner time where are you
31:25going
31:26but serving up late is leaving everybody exhausted i certainly need to give over the control of the
31:32kitchen i don't know that anyone else feels like they can even come into the kitchen and it's kind of
31:36the
31:36opposite of what i would like it to be cooking together would bring us together more to get
31:42sarah and rudy in the kitchen cooking side by side i'm showing them a twist on a cottage pie my
31:48tasty beef and potato dough from was i've got you both in your kitchen at the same time tender
31:56beef topped with thinly sliced potatoes baked in cream this is a perfect dish to get rudy and
32:01sarah cooking together and to put an end to their late night dinners we're batching
32:06this time i'm not doubling the ingredients i'm tripling them start by frying chopped frozen
32:12onions in a pan whilst they cook peel and chop the carrots when was the last time you cooked together
32:18the last time we cooked together was christmas yeah we typically share that duty great so maybe we need
32:24i don't know a sunday cook together yeah ready for the week ahead that would be quite nice then add
32:31your
32:31beef mince for this dish we're using five percent fat just break it up with the spoon as you're putting
32:36it in we want to add some flavor so we've got some tomato puree and worcestershire sauce we've got some
32:43thyme it's all starting to come together i want to add in some flour now flour absorbs the liquid
32:48thickening the sauce now to grate in the stock cube and rudy can share my little hack with sarah
32:54what you'll do now is grate it in and that way it doesn't get sticky and thick oh suzanne you're
33:00a culinary cupid i'm bringing them together one batch tip at a time don't worry about if it starts
33:05to smash with it okay and the other one yeah i'm gonna open that for you teamwork makes the dream
33:09work so they say there you go and we're gonna add the water pass that to you pew
33:18bab we want to add in our peas okay we've left them until the last minute because they don't take
33:23long to cook okay so we don't want all the goodness to cook out of them we can add some
33:27salt and pepper
33:28in there as well that's the meat sauce done so we can divide it into three one for our dauphinois
33:34to
33:34cook now and two to batch that is perfect look we can just give it a little smoosh down with
33:39the
33:39back of the spoon now to thinly slice the potatoes for the topping we don't need to peel them i've
33:44given these potatoes a good wash and instead we just want to cut them really thinly how are you doing
33:51there yeah all right and what do you know they're actually having fun cooking together concentration i
34:00think i've got this now yeah i got it i got it i got it power boil the sliced potatoes
34:05we don't want
34:05them to cook completely as they'll finish cooking in the oven drain the potatoes and add the cream
34:13now we just want to layer the potatoes on top of the mints a bit slippery yeah they are thank
34:18you
34:19it looks good before we finish up we've just got some grana padano okay it can go on the top
34:26and one of them we're going to put in the oven and the other one as soon as it's cool
34:31we're just
34:31going to put a lid in it and put it in the freezer the final third of the meat sauce
34:35can be bagged up
34:36and frozen do you need a hand let me jump in these will be perfect for another day on top
34:41of jacket
34:41potatoes well done you guys thanks you did it so there you have it my delicious beef and potato dough
34:49from was served with a side of nutrient packed green beans means this meal hits three of your five a
34:56day oh look at those this looks incredible guys fantastic right johnson beans yes please warwick
35:06what do you think of the potato dolphin was it's really nice do you like it with this just ranked
35:10here i really enjoyed cooking together that's fun it was really nice to have someone next to me
35:16doing some of the tasks that i couldn't do as quick we all know we love being in the kitchen
35:19he's made that clear but he just needs to let sir in every now and then you know and relax
35:25it's your
35:26turn to sit down and be cooked for
35:33the sellers don't currently eat much fruit at all so in the test kitchen i'm going to show joe a
35:38fantastic
35:39occasional sweet treat that's packed full of fruit flavor joe i want to make a cheap version of your
35:46favorite fast food restaurant apple pie i think i know the ones you're talking about okay the ones
35:51that are sort of molten lava when you buy into them yes we're going to make a version of those
35:55okay
35:56unroll your puff pastry even if you're super busy you can still rustle up this classic apple pie in
36:02minutes i'm going to use a pizza cutter what a brilliant hack yes it's also great for slicing
36:08sandwiches and fresh herbs because it's a cheat version we're going to use already made applesauce
36:14so we just want to put a spoonful of it on one edge you'd usually buy applesauce for a pork
36:20roast
36:20but it makes a great filling for sweet treats too we're leaving a gap at the bottom so that when
36:26you fold it over the pastry will stick now to add a dash of cinnamon dust evenly over the applesauce
36:32and the pastry perfect then all we want to do is fold it over you don't want a big wadge
36:38of pastry
36:39you just want it to cover the filling seal the pies by crimping the edges with a fork
36:44you don't want to press it all the way through you just want it enough that that filling when it
36:48cooks is going to stay in we're just going to give them a little egg wash and you brown the
36:54pastry
36:54and give it a lovely crispy top finally sprinkle with brown sugar looking lovely so they can just
37:01go into the freezer on a tray like this for a couple of hours to flash freeze and then we
37:04can bag them up
37:05or they could go into the oven just now i reckon we get me in the oven hey oh yeah
37:11bake at 200 degrees for 20 minutes or 24 minutes from frozen suzanne let's not beat around the bush let's
37:19go for it let's get tasting oh they're lovely the hint of cinnamon is delicious yeah and the thing is
37:28these cost under 40 pence each you're joking 40p my children will love these well done cheers
37:40before we arrived meal times at the seller's family were a complete mess rudy had pushed sarah out of the
37:46kitchen and eating late meant that they were all reaching for unhealthy snacks i can hear him eating
37:52when he's waiting for me to cook something to make sure the family are set up for success once we're
37:58gone i've created a complete 28 day personalized meal plan it looks pretty impressive full of healthy
38:04dishes that i know they'll love you'll recognize some of the ones that we've cooked together sarah you'll
38:10see that your mushroom pasta is here and then you'll see it later on in the month as well you
38:15can have
38:15it in different ways and you've already batched it so you're only cooking it once at the beginning of
38:20the month then you've got it for later on at the month having nutritionally balanced meals throughout
38:25the day and fruit on display means i won't need to reach for unhealthy snacks any longer i like the
38:30fact
38:31that the meals aren't too close together so it'll be a while before you have it again as delicious as
38:35it
38:35is it's nice to have variety batching means that they don't need to cook from scratch every night
38:40so the whole family can sit down much earlier to a healthy meal from the freezer you don't have
38:46to come home from work find food for the night or the night after it's all here you know the
38:52planner
38:52will save them so much time like batching extra cheese sauce during the week so that they can have
38:57a quick mac and cheese at the weekend and we've chosen nights that we know that one of you is
39:02going
39:02to cook so the other gets the night off and then the next game night i've maybe chosen something that
39:06i
39:06know you would cook so you can each take it in turn and then there's plenty here for weekends where
39:12you can get together and think let's spend a few hours and batch some stuff for the week ahead great
39:17with sarah's alfredo pasta and rudy's curry chicken pie already batched and in the freezer the sellers
39:23are off to a great start how'd you feel yeah i'm excited now i want to get on and make
39:28some of the
39:28recipes and yeah get them in the freezer i think this is going to make a huge change for the
39:34family they
39:34were spending lots of money only one of them was in the kitchen now they're going to be able to
39:39work
39:39together as a family creating family meals together which is really nice i think maybe rudy he might
39:46struggle a little bit to let go of the reins but i'm sure he can do it
39:58when the sellers family called us in to help their dinner times were a disaster our cameras revealed
40:04that rudy had made the kitchen his domain late night food shopping and cooking from scratch
40:09meant dinners sometimes weren't served until gone nine o'clock they were snacking on biscuits and crisps
40:15and hardly eating healthy fruit and veg you've got a nutritionally balanced diet around 40 percent of
40:20the time that's a bit disappointing to help the family get back on track we left sarah and rudy with
40:26a 28-day batch cooking meal plan which if they stick to could make them huge savings in time and
40:32money
40:33wow great that's loads of pairs of shoes it's been a couple of weeks since we left and the sellers
40:39are
40:39already making great progress we need to find some meals for this week burgers buns yeah cheese the new
40:48regime means that they're planning cooking and stocking up the freezer together chinese honey chicken
40:54we've got some of this in the freezer go on have a look yeah you want me to have a
40:57look yeah yeah you
40:59can have a look you can have a look i'm the boss can you just check for me we've got
41:05the cajun salmon tick
41:07it's fantastic to see them working together as a team rudy sometimes shop 25 times a month
41:15today rather than shopping solo he's got the whole family involved i've come armed with the shopping
41:20list he normally turns up and just pretty much grabs whatever he feels like so if he's got his eyes
41:26on
41:26anything else in there i'll have to tell him the challenge is to stick to the list and get everything
41:30they need in just one shot i've got quite a bit to get this week's meal plan includes lots of
41:35healthy
41:36dishes like chicken cashew curry smoked haddock bake and of course lots of fruit what shall we
41:42replenish the fruit bowl with i'm gonna go for my pink ladies because those are my faves maybe some
41:48pears top marks for filling the trolley with fruit having lots in the house will mean they're less
41:53likely to graze on unhealthy snacks what fruit would you like cherries please cherries are a great choice
41:58they're loaded with powerful antioxidants that help protect cells from damage and fight inflammation you
42:04really like that mushroom alfredo yeah i did to make that one again yeah it's fantastic to see
42:11that my pasta recipe was such a hit great so that's the weekly shop done and in just one trip
42:16all right
42:17you guys you okay yeah fantastic right slow this on when rudy was in control of the shopping the average
42:23weekly food bill was 209 pounds and 27 pence that was 94 pounds 55. batching really is making a difference
42:32slashing their food bill by over half
42:37back home sarah's enjoying being back in the kitchen again who wants a sausage roll yeah buzz does rudy is
42:46beginning to let me get into the kitchen a bit more and and take a bit more control how do
42:52these
42:52compare to the shop bought ones definitely much nicer i'd say yeah i am more comfortable not being
42:57as involved in what happens in the kitchen but in particular i actually really enjoy suzanne's recipes
43:03and sarah's execution did you take some of these to school what ones do you like the bananas and the
43:09raisins they're eating healthier and the fruit station has been a huge hit i 100 know that we're all
43:15eating better i have at least five portions of fruit and veg every day now at least we're gonna make
43:21the
43:21cashew chicken curry okay we will make two lots so we'll have some tonight and then some meals in the
43:27freezer you're the boss glad you've realized that after 26 years that i'm the boss we're able to
43:33have everything organized in advance so we can eat earlier i am enjoying the batching it's almost
43:40like a challenge now to see how much we can get in the freezer crucially batching means that they're
43:48eating in daylight what's for dinner cashew chicken curry and it's freed up time in the evening to have
43:55fun together as a family 14 on zap game over how about i zap you back now we actually have
44:05quite a
44:06decent amount of time after our dinner just to chill out with each other for our diet for our health
44:11there's
44:12so many changes that have been really positive i see us sticking with this for the long term the sellers
44:17have really embraced the batch cooking way of life and we want to make sure they stick to it so
44:23i'm
44:23going to show them the difference it will make if they keep it up hi come on in how are
44:29you nice to
44:29see everybody it's good to see you again how are you you remember the stats from when we first started
44:34yeah fingers crossed they look a lot different this time around okay safe safe are you ready yeah go on
44:41here we go i'm excited wow so if you stay on this journey for the next year you were looking
44:48at a
44:49saving just under six thousand pound a year in your back pocket great that's loads of pairs of shoes
44:56there you go rudy she spent it already it's gone yeah i was thinking a holiday but yes okay loads
45:02of
45:02issues now the time wasted remember last time it was 16 hours a week you're going to be looking at
45:10saving 323 hours a year that is so much time that's a lot of time health wise you're going to
45:19be in
45:20such a better place you're saving so much money more importantly the time that you're going to save
45:25to spend as a family is this enough of an incentive to stay on the journey for the next year
45:30yeah i could
45:30do a six grand so why not who wouldn't well i'm not sure it's going to be your seats well
45:35no batch
45:38cooking is something that's really going to change our lives i was shocked by the amount of hours that
45:44we were going to be able to save 13 days found i'm excited for the future it'll be great just
45:49to work
45:50as a team together in the kitchen there's a lot of opportunities there for us to just have fun
46:00next time it's just chaos every second of every day a single mum of six tight on time and budget
46:08we're going for pizza or hot dog you're like a restaurant and you just take orders trying
46:13to help is an iron water and experience who's got a little bit of onion juice in there right there
46:26how caterpillar wars went to court aldi versus mns battle of the brand stream or watch tomorrow at
46:33eight next there's a model in the mud a millionaire out his bubble and two political opposites joined at
46:39the wrist in new handcuffed last pair standing
Comments