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Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
5 min
13/01/2026
Batch cooking does not need to be a nightmare. You can pick common ingredients and whip up delicious curries that hold up for days. This is one shop, one weekend, and five real meals – not a fridge full of regrets. Cook once, then coast through the week with reliable flavour, zero stress, and no dinner decision fatigue. This batch prep won’t get you into survival mode.
Considering you are not setting up your kitchen from scratch, it’s quite easy to do batch cooking with some staple ingredients like dal, chana, and fresh vegetables. Go shopping for fresh vegetables, condiments, and some spices, and you’ll have yourself an array of ingredients that are perfect for weekend batch cooking, especially when making curries. Below are some simple vegetarian dishes that use the usual tomatoes, jeera, and ground masalas but differ in flavor and texture; perfect to eat in rotation, throughout the week.
Considering you are prepping 4 servings, buy 6-8 onions, a dozen tomatoes, a full bulb of garlic, and a fat chunk of ginger – the base of your curries. To your basket, add 4-5 potatoes, 1 medium cauliflower, 2 large eggplants, and 400-500g of spinach (fresh or frozen). Pick up dry chickpeas, 250g of toor or moong dal, and 200-300g paneer (or tofu). Grab a few green chillies if you like raw chillies instead of dried chillies or powdered ones. That’s everything you need to make chana masala, aloo masala, dal tadka, palak paneer, and baingan masala – big-batch meals, all veg, all protein-rich.
Stock turmeric, ground cumin, coriander powder, red chilli powder, hing (asafoetida), and garam masala for these dishes; these masalas run the show in most curries.
Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds to your pantry for tempering dals and making richer tadkas.
Whole spices like bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, and cardamom pods aren’t as essential, but will deepen the flavour of your curries.
Keep salt, neutral oil (vegetable or mustard), and long-grain rice.
Wheat flour (atta) is optional if you’re making rotis to pair with curries.
If you do not add fresh tomatoes to the cart, you can buy ready-made purée or paste.
With these pantry items, you can make dozens of saucy, full-bodied desi curries without needing too many fresh ingredients every time.
A North Indian classic, chana masala is fairly easy to make and high in protein and fibre; it’s best to use canned chickpeas to save time – no soaking or boiling needed. It lasts up to 5 days in the fridge and freezes without losing its texture. Make a double or triple batch in one large pot. The curry base (onion, tomato, spices) can be made ahead and frozen separately or in bulk. This curry thickens well and tastes better after a day. Reheat on the stove or microwave; add water if needed. Serve with rice, roti, or as-is.
This curry is the cheapest option here, and it takes less time to make. Boil or pressure-cook firm potatoes in advance to speed things up. Make the curry base in one pot, then mix in chopped potatoes. You can double the curry base and split it between two dishes. It keeps well for 4-5 days chilled, or frozen for 2 weeks. Store in flat containers so it thaws faster. Reheat on the stove or microwave with a splash of water. Serve it with rice, poori, or bread. This version skips dairy or cream and is a good option for vegan eating. It’s a very low-effort dish when prepped ahead – ideal for bulk cooking 6-8 servings in one go.
Cook a large batch of any kind of dal, store half of it as-is. Add tadka (tempering) fresh just before eating, or do it all at once and portion it out. It keeps for 5-6 days in the fridge and freezes well. Reheat it with a little water when you are consuming, as the dal thickens in the fridge, but thins out with water. Measure out 2 cups of dry lentils for 6-8 servings. Use an Instant Pot or pressure cooker to speed up cooking. It’s a great fallback meal when short on time.
Blanch or thaw spinach, and blend once to make the full batch of palak paneer. Cook the curry base in one go, then add paneer at the end. You can store it for 3-4 days in the fridge. Paneer texture changes if frozen, so it’s advisable you just freeze the gravy and add the paneer cubes later; you can use tofu too. Make a double portion of the spinach gravy and reuse it with other ingredients (chickpeas, potatoes). Reheat on low flame; too much boiling can dull the taste and colour.
Eggplants barely take much time to cook; you can batch prep them by roasting the eggplants in bulk (oven or stovetop). Use them whole or mash and mix into a curry base. You can make the tomato-onion gravy first, too, then split it between the baigan masala and another curry. You can store it in the fridge for up to 4 days and freeze it for up to 2-3 weeks. The freezing is only recommended if you are not using fresh coriander or lemon; they are best used fresh after reheating. Use 2-3 large eggplants for 6 servings. Reheat carefully to maintain the curry’s texture. This dish is not ideal for high-heat microwaving. Tip: Use wide containers to cool faster after cooking.
The curries above are built for batch cooking – minimal overlap, shared ingredients, and zero need for any special gear. You get 20 plus servings from one shopping spree and one weekend cooking session. Each curry scales easily, keeps for several days in the fridge, and reheats without losing taste or texture. The plan works whether you’re cooking for one or two, or prepping family meals in advance. You’ll cover protein, veg, carbs, and flavour with just the basics.