Meal preparation · Your kitchen companion
Batch cooking planner
Plan when to cook each recipe, how many portions to make and what to buy for your cook day.
A little help in the kitchen
How to use it
Choose your cook date and start time. This planner works in all countries. Storage reference guidance follows the navigation selection; times use your device time zone.
Enter how many recipes your hob and oven can cook at once. These accept positive whole numbers. Shared oven positions must suit the same temperature and have enough room.
Edit the example recipes or add your own. Enter how many portions each recipe makes, its cooking duration, appliance and ingredient amounts for the whole batch. Choose Save recipe for each recipe you want to include, or Cancel to discard it.
Choose Create batch plan after saving your recipes to see the cooking order, finish time, one label per recipe and combined shopping list. Any unfinished recipes or invalid settings are explained beside this button. Prepare ingredients and preheat before the scheduled cooking starts; cooling is handled separately.
Save, share a link, print or save a PDF, or download CSV. Labels use planned finish times; write the actual cooking date on containers if it changes. Clear resets the form while keeping saved plans.
How it works
Recipes are sorted by cooking duration, longest first. Each recipe goes into the earliest available slot for its appliance. Hob and oven slots operate independently, so the two appliances can cook in parallel. This is a simple planning order, not a guarantee of the shortest possible session.
With a 10:00 start, a 2-hour hob chilli runs from 10:00 to 12:00 while a 1-hour oven bake runs from 10:00 to 11:00. Cooking finishes at 12:00. Another hob recipe waits until a hob slot is free.
For each ingredient: shopping quantity = the sum of the entered amounts across recipes. Matching ignores case, extra spaces and a small list of known plurals. Only grams/kilograms and millilitres/litres convert. Other units and different ingredients stay separate, with fractional quantities retained.
Portions tell you how many meals to divide each batch into. Enter the ingredient amounts and cooking time for that whole batch. Changing the portion count does not change those amounts or timings. Preparation, preheating, cooling, resting, oven temperature compatibility and a cook's hands-on availability are not scheduled.
One root page serves all countries. Storage advice follows the navigation country, including when an older plan is opened. It applies to properly cooked and promptly chilled leftovers; ingredients with their own instructions or shorter limits need that guidance. The UK storage note includes the FSA's separate rice advice. Labels show guidance rather than an invented food-specific expiry date.
Times use elapsed minutes in the device time zone recorded with the plan and retain the date when cooking crosses midnight or a clock change. Ambiguous or nonexistent start times are rejected. Long timetables offer a day filter on phones; printing and CSV include every recipe. Inputs stay in the browser.
Frequently asked questions
Can the hob and oven cook at the same time?
Yes. They have independent slots. Within each appliance, longer recipes are assigned first and the next recipe starts when a slot becomes free. Increase slot counts only when the equipment, space and your availability allow it.
What does the number of portions mean?
It is how many meals your recipe makes. For example, a pot of chilli divided into four meals makes four portions. Enter ingredients for the entire pot. The portion count is printed on its label; it does not scale the ingredients or cooking time.
Does the timetable include preparation, preheating or cooling?
It schedules the cooking duration entered for each recipe. Prepare and preheat beforehand, or include the time you need in your entered duration. Cooling is separate and should begin promptly after each dish finishes, even while other dishes are still cooking.
What appears on a portion label?
Each recipe gets one printable label with its name, total portions, planned cooking finish date/time and selected country's refrigerated-storage guidance. Labels do not certify safety or track actual cooking and chilling. Write the actual date if your session changes.
Can I use this planner in any country?
Yes. The cooking order, portions and shopping list work in all countries, using one shared page. Navigation selects a storage reference from the available official sources; this does not restrict who can use the planner. Follow your local food safety advice and any shorter limits for your food, including the separate cooked-rice guidance.
Can I save, share and print the whole cook day?
Save stores the settings locally. Share link places them in the URL fragment. Save as PDF includes the full timetable, labels, shopping list and safety note. CSV includes all recipes, quantities and storage sources. Saved Plans reopens the calculated output.
Sources
- USDA FSIS: How do I handle leftovers safely?
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- Food Standards Agency: Cooking your food
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- Food Standards Agency: Home food fact checker
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- Food Standards Australia New Zealand: Preventing Clostridium perfringens illness
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- Health Canada: Food safety tips for leftovers
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