With consumers seeking to save on groceries and meal prep time, Bora UK’s head of sales Andy Cummings explores how retailers can leverage the batch cooking trend

Over the last few years, the way consumers use their homes, and particularly their kitchens, has changed dramatically.

Now, more than ever, the kitchen is seen as the centre of every household and it’s resulted in consumers doing more in, and demanding more from, it.

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And while the conversation has tended to centre around the rise in home entertaining, which has undoubtedly had a big impact on the appliance market, there’s another lifestyle trend that retailers really need to capitalise on: batch cooking.

With the cost-of-living crisis continuing to squeeze household budgets, not only are consumers eating out less, but they are also becoming more aware of how much money they spend on food and looking at ways to slash their grocery bills.

This means that as well as pre-planning weekly meals, busy consumers, who have less time to spend prepping mid-week meals, are pre-cooking them, too.

Batch by numbers

A 2024 survey by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, AHDB, found that more consumers are buying in bulk, preparing bigger portions and then refrigerating or freezing leftovers to eat at a later date.

Here, simple dishes such as stews, soups and casseroles are proving popular with large families as well as single-person households.

Mintel’s “UK Attitudes towards cooking in the Home Consumer Report 2023” also found that batch cooking is big news, with 41% of UK adults stating they would batch cook if they needed to save money.

Likewise, the Lakeland Trend Report 2023 revealed that 26% of respondents had started batch cooking to save money.

It’s a trend that shows no sign of slowing down with influencers and celebrities sharing their best batch-cooking recipes across social media.

TV shows such as Nadiya Hussain’s Cook Once, Eat Twice and the forthcoming Channel 4 series Buy It, Batch It, Cook It, starring Joe Swash and bestselling food author Suzanne Mulholland, AKA The Batch Lady, are also fuelling the trend.

Complementary appliances

But regardless of whether consumers are batch cooking to save time or money, eat more healthily or reduce food waste, the trend offers kitchen retailers a valuable opportunity to upsell products and boost their bottom lines.

Take, for example, Bora’s QVac built-in vacuum sealer, which provides a sustainable addition to any modern kitchen.

Designed to enrich the user experience, it is integrated into the worktop, providing a streamlined solution, and is ready to use whenever it is required.

As well as looking the part, it adds convenience and can be used to vacuum seal food for a variety of reasons including marinating and sous vide cooking.

But as any seasoned batch cooker knows, storing food properly is essential and the BORA QVac’s ability to keep food fresher for up to three times longer is a USP.

For the ultimate convenience, consumers can choose to vacuum seal food in bags or boxes so it will take up less space in fridges and freezers.

 Not only can retailers that take the time to understand and explain these benefits capitalise on this add-on sale, but they will also help homeowners enhance their cooking experience.

It’s a similar story with Bora’s hobs, such as our newly redesigned Bora X Pure cooktop extractor, which features a bridging function.

When activated, it can combine the 4 zones on this induction hob into a single, extra-large, market-leading cooking zone measuring 230 x 460mm.

This allows users to cook with large pans, which can be problematic on standard-sized induction hobs.

It makes the Bora X Pure ideal for batch cooking as well as those that like to entertain, two trends that will continue to influence consumer buying behaviour for some time to come.