Photo Courtesy of The Batch Cook Book.

Washing up is relentless. Relentless. No matter how often you work through a big load or how efficiently you get your plates on the drying rack, you turn around and another load has magicked itself out of thin air. If you exist, you produce washing up. It's like a byproduct of carbon dioxide at this point.

The pandemic has only emphasised this small but constant annoyance. If you are one of the many confined to your home by the restrictions, you may have noticed that days, weeks and months bleed into each other with only washing up to punctuate mealtimes. And if you don't do it promptly it's always there, looming on the periphery.

So recipes that lessen the literal load are only a good thing, right? Making lunch ahead or batch cooking breakfast might seem like a relic of a time when 'going to the office' was a thing. But it's as useful now as it was then. Meal prepping doesn't just make meals easier, it removes the possibility of having to work through a mountain of dishes in the middle of the day. All you need to wash up is cutlery and a plate or bowl. Lovely stuff!

With that in mind we've picked some of our favourite recipes from the brilliant food writer Sam Gates' new book, The Batch Cook Book. Save money, cook ahead and wash up less!