5. Cook once, eat three times, and freeze in portions
Batch cooking gets recommended constantly and abandoned quickly, because most people try it as a Sunday marathon that eats a whole day. The version that survives is smaller: cook double whenever you were already cooking something that freezes well.
Chilli, bolognese, curry, soup, stew, dal, ragu and cooked grains all freeze without losing much. Rather than dedicating a day, simply double the batch on the two nights a week you already make one of these. You gain four frozen dinners a week for maybe ten extra minutes of prep.
Portion before freezing, not after. A single large container of stew is one decision you will not make on a Tuesday. Individual or two-person portions in flat freezer bags stack like books, freeze faster, thaw in twenty minutes and take up half the space. Label with the contents and the date in marker — every unlabelled frozen block eventually becomes a mystery and then a bin.
Learn what freezes badly so you stop wasting effort: potatoes in liquid go grainy, cream sauces split, lettuce and cucumber collapse, boiled eggs turn rubbery, and anything already frozen and thawed once should be cooked before refreezing.
Use the freezer as a holding pen for near-expiry bargains too. Bread freezes perfectly and toasts from frozen. Milk freezes if you pour a little off first to allow for expansion. Cheese freezes for cooking. Butter freezes for months. Herbs go into an ice cube tray with olive oil. A reduced-price chicken bought at the end of a Sunday and jointed into the freezer is often the cheapest protein of the entire week.