Batch Cooking Planner: Portions, Containers, Cost, Time and Freezer Space

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Opens on Chapter 19’s example: Dami’s Sunday: 12 lunches from a 6-quart pot filled to 5 quarts.

The batch

Pot filled to (quarts)

Portions

Side a portion (cups) rice

Container (cups)

Cost and time

Batch cost ($)

A bought lunch ($)

Session (minutes)

Cooking one meal (minutes)

Freezer

Container outside: length (in)

width

height

Freezer drawer (cubic feet)

Cooling clock

Heat off at

Minutes to fill each container

Enter your numbers, then press Work it out.

How it works

Cups = quarts × 4; a portion is cups ÷ portions, plus any side. How full a container is: the portion ÷ the container (leave room: food expands as it freezes). Cost and time per portion are the batch’s ÷ the portions. A box’s space is length × width × height in cubic inches; a cubic foot is 12 × 12 × 12 = 1,728. USDA advises refrigerating leftovers in shallow containers within 2 hours (1 hour above 90°F); the clock counts filling time against that limit.

From the book, Chapter 19. 5 quarts is 20 cups: 1 2/3 cups a lunch (about 394 mL), 2 1/6 cups with rice, a 3-cup container 72% full. Twelve lunches cooked in 2 hours are 10 minutes each against 5 hours cooked singly (3 hours saved). Each 6 × 4 × 2.5 container is 60 cubic inches, 720 for twelve, 28% of a 2,592-cubic-inch drawer. Filling 12 at 2 minutes each takes 24 minutes: in the fridge by 1:24 pm, 96 minutes inside the 2-hour limit. Every chapter and its calculator →

Amounts can be typed as 3, 0.75, 3/4, 1 1/2 or 1½. They’re worked as exact fractions and written as a cook measures them: cups in quarters or thirds, then tablespoons, then teaspoons to the nearest eighth. Everything stays in your browser: no sign-up, nothing stored or sent.