The Wonders of Bulk Cooking

Recently, I came home to my shared house to discover a housemate of mine cooking what appeared to be enough food for an entire football team - after a long match. Vegetables, steak, pork, rice, you name it. I politely asked him if he was okay (Depression and excessive food eating are good mates) but soon discovered that he was preparing enough food to last him most of the week.

Now, bulk cooking isn't new to me as a uni student but my attempts had always been rather feeble, involving maybe enough pasta (joy) for two-three meals at most. But after witnessing my mate in all his chef-like glory, I decided to try a little harder and see if it would prove helpful.

So yesterday I headed to the nearest Tesco and procured myself a packet of rice, some packets of meat and a bag of frozen chopped vegetables. The whole thing cost me 6 pounds 50p, and from what I'd worked out should be enough to last me 5 meals. Doing some simple math gives you 1 pound 20p per meal, which sounds insanely good, as you'd be lucky to get a meal with veg and meat for 5 pounds in most cafes/pubs. 

The cooking session went relatively smoothly (with the exception of a few carrots making an attempt at freedom from the boiling pot) and took maybe an hour at most, including the washing up. After packing the food into two large tupperwares, I felt like I'd just discovered a new religion or something. Cheap, quickly prepared food? This sounded too good to be true.

So here comes the not-so-cool bit. I haven't actually tried any of the food I made. I don't know if it's good/bad/massively mediocre. I don't know if I'm going to be sick of it the third consecutive day. I have it. So far it's looking good but I suppose only time will tell. 

I'll get back to you next week for part 2 of this post. :)

Chris Richardson
UEA Malaysian Student Ambassador