How much time does it really take?

With the 4 modular batches method, plan on around 90 minutes on Sunday afternoon: 15 min for the grain, 25 min for the protein, 35 min for roasted vegetables in parallel, 10 min for the sauce, and a little tidying up. Far less than the 3 hours of Pinterest recipes that have you cooking 12 finished dishes.

And if I am not good at cooking?

These 4 batches are deliberately basic: boil some quinoa, poach a salmon fillet, roast vegetables in the oven, whisk a sauce. No advanced technique. If you can read the instructions on a pasta box, you can make these 4 preps. The learning curve fits inside one Sunday.

Will my batches last until Friday?

Roasted vegetables and grains keep for 5 days in the fridge in a sealed container. Cooked protein keeps 3 to 4 days (except hard-boiled eggs: 1 week). Homemade sauce keeps 7 days. If you are planning for Thursday and Friday, use eggs and chickpeas as your protein instead, they are more stable.

Does cooking ahead cost more?

Quite the opposite: you buy in bulk, you cook once, you waste less. The 4 batches method uses 5 to 6 main ingredients for the whole week, against 15 to 20 ingredients if you cook day by day. You throw away less, so you spend less, on food you actually chose.

And if I cave and eat out one evening?

That is exactly the scenario where the modular method wins. Your batches are not tied to fixed days: they stay available. Tuesday dinner at a restaurant breaks nothing: you push everything back a day, or you use the batches at Wednesday lunch. The app recomposes automatically when you log a meal off your plan.

Sunday-night batch cooking, without burning out.

Batch cooking has a bad reputation. People picture you on a Sunday afternoon, cooking 12 individual dishes, sweating for 3 hours, then opening the fridge on Monday to find a tide of identical plastic boxes. You eat your Monday lunch, but by Tuesday evening the thought of opening a 9th box turns your stomach.

The method that works is different. You prepare 4 modular batches, not finished dishes. Those batches recombine all week long, without repetition.

The 4 batches

1. A neutral grain (15 min)

Quinoa, brown basmati rice, buckwheat, bulgur. 600 g cooked. Serves as the base for 3 to 4 meals across the week: a lunch bowl, a cold salad, a warm dinner side.

2. An already-cooked protein (25 min)

Shredded chicken, poached salmon, hard-boiled eggs, or roasted chickpeas. 500 to 600 g. You add it depending on the meal: on the bowl, into the salad, as a dinner topping.

3. Roasted vegetables (35 min, in parallel)

Carrots, broccoli, squash, red onions, beetroot depending on the season. 800 g to 1 kg. Roast them in the oven while you prep the rest. They keep for 5 days and can be eaten cold or reheated.

4. A homemade sauce or condiment (10 min)

Tahini-lemon sauce, miso vinaigrette, basil-almond pesto, or salsa verde. 150 to 200 g. This is what turns your batches into 3 different dishes. Without it, the week gets monotonous fast.

How it recombines through the week

Monday lunch: bowl with grain + protein + vegetables + sauce
Tuesday dinner: a wrap with the protein, leftover vegetables, sauce on the side
Wednesday lunch: a cold salad with grain + vegetables + a hard-boiled egg added at the last minute
Thursday dinner: a quick soup with the vegetables + the last portion of protein as a topping
Friday lunch: a free composed plate based on whatever is left

No two meals alike. No plastic box reheated 4 days in a row.

What it actually changes

Over 3 months of batch cooking like this, I saved on average 1 hr 30 per week on planning plus cooking. That is less than the IFOP average (2 hr 12), because I did not plan everything, but it still adds up to around 70 hours over the year. The time it takes to learn a language to an A2 level.

How Budday makes it even simpler

When you declare your batch cooking preferences, the app composes your week’s menu knowing that your 4 batches are ready on Sunday night. The recipes it suggests from Monday to Friday all build on your batches. No dash to the shop at 7 p.m. to buy a missing ingredient. The grocery list includes the batches plus the 2 or 3 fresh ingredients that go with them.

If you cave and eat out one evening, the app recomposes so your batches are not wasted: they stay in use over the following days.

Adrien Choquel · fondateur de Budday

Diagnosed with type-2 diabetes at 25, I built an assistant to compose my menus and my workouts. It became an app for everyone with constraints, and for everyone who just wants to live better. I share here what I've learnt: no medical credentials, just my experience and my endocrinologist.

Read my full story