Batch cooking became a notable financial response for survey respondents in the UK. In the Food Standards Agency’s Food and You 2 research, 29% said they had prepared more food to keep as leftovers or cooked in batches for financial reasons in Wave 6 (October 2022–January 2023), rising to 33% in Wave 7 (April–July 2023) before reaching 26% in Wave 9 (April–July 2024). These figures describe reported changes over the previous 12 months, not the share of people who batch-cook routinely.
Contents
- Financially motivated batch cooking
- Related changes in food preparation
- What people do with leftovers
- Storage timing and leftover windows
- How often people reheat food
- Food-safety habits around home cooking
Financially motivated batch cooking
The most direct participation measure comes from the Food Standards Agency’s report, Consumers’ Food Safety Practices in the Home: Trends and Insights From 2020 to 2025. The question asked whether respondents had changed their behavior for financial reasons during the previous 12 months. It therefore captures a financial-motivation measure rather than a general estimate of batch-cooking frequency.
- In Wave 6, October 2022–January 2023, 29% of respondents said they had prepared more food to keep as leftovers or cooked in batches for financial reasons.
- In Wave 7, April–July 2023, the figure was 33%.
- In Wave 9, April–July 2024, the figure was 26%.
The same report recorded more scratch cooking alongside this behavior. In Wave 6, 25% said they had cooked from scratch more for financial reasons. In Wave 9, the corresponding figure was 27%. Because the batch-cooking question was asked only in Waves 6, 7, and 9, these observations do not establish a continuous annual series.
The Wave 7 result is also reported in the Food Standards Agency’s F&Y2 Wave 7: Chapter 3 Food security, where 35% said they had prepared food that could be kept as leftovers or cooked in batches more for financial reasons. That chapter recorded 28% who said they had cooked from scratch more for financial reasons. The different percentages should be kept as separate results because the source reports and question wording may differ.
| Measure | Survey wave | Share of respondents |
|---|---|---|
| Prepared more food for leftovers or cooked in batches for financial reasons | Wave 6, Oct 2022–Jan 2023 | 29% |
| Same measure | Wave 7, Apr–Jul 2023 | 33% |
| Same measure | Wave 9, Apr–Jul 2024 | 26% |
| Cooked from scratch more for financial reasons | Wave 6, Oct 2022–Jan 2023 | 25% |
| Cooked from scratch more for financial reasons | Wave 9, Apr–Jul 2024 | 27% |
Source: Consumers’ Food Safety Practices in the Home: Trends and Insights From 2020 to 2025.
Related changes in food preparation
Batch cooking sits within a wider set of food-budget changes. In Wave 7, April–July 2023, the Food Standards Agency reported that 23% of respondents had made packed lunches more for financial reasons. The same survey found that 49% had eaten out less and 45% had eaten at home more for financial reasons.
Takeaway behavior also shifted. Forty-four percent said they had eaten fewer takeaways for financial reasons, while 44% said they had bought special-offer items more for financial reasons. These figures show the surrounding choices reported in the same wave; they do not mean that every respondent who changed one behavior also batch-cooked.
The pattern can be read as a group of practical responses to household food costs: more food prepared for later, more cooking from scratch, more meals eaten at home, fewer meals purchased outside the home, and greater use of special offers. Each percentage refers to respondents reporting that particular change, so the measures should not be added together.
Source: F&Y2 Wave 7: Chapter 3 Food security.
What people do with leftovers
The Food and You 2 Wave 9 Key Findings report provides a separate view of leftover handling in April–July 2024. Among respondents who reported having leftovers, 71% said they put them in the fridge. Nine percent said they put leftovers in the freezer. Fifteen percent said they threw them away or put them in the food-waste bin.
A smaller group described leaving leftovers unrefrigerated. Three percent said they left them at room temperature and ate them the next day, while 2% said they left them at room temperature and ate them later the same day. These are reported response categories from the survey and are not estimates of food safety or recommended practice.
The denominator matters here: the 71%, 15%, 9%, 3%, and 2% figures concern respondents who reported having leftovers, unlike the financial-motivation results, which refer to respondents answering the preparation-change question. They should therefore be used to describe reported leftover handling, not to calculate a share of all households that batch-cook.
Source: Food and You 2: Wave 9 Key Findings.
Storage timing and leftover windows
Among respondents who stored leftovers in the fridge or freezer in Wave 9, April–July 2024, 5% said they did so straight away after cooking. Thirty-four percent said they stored them within one hour, 43% one to two hours after cooking, and 18% more than two hours after cooking.
The same wave asked how late respondents would consume refrigerated leftovers. Sixty-six percent said the latest would be within two days. Twenty-five percent selected three to five days, and 2% said more than five days. These responses describe intended or reported time windows in the survey; they are not a universal storage rule.
Earlier Food and You 2 trend results show how the within-two-days response varied by wave:
- Wave 1, July–October 2020: 71% said they would consume refrigerated leftovers within two days, and 23% after more than two days.
- Wave 2, November 2020–January 2021: 64% within two days, and 29% after more than two days.
- Wave 4, October 2021–January 2022: 65% within two days, and 29% after more than two days.
- Wave 5, April–July 2022: 68% within two days, and 25% after more than two days.
- Wave 6, October 2022–January 2023: 62% within two days, and 31% after more than two days.
- Wave 8, October 2023–January 2024: 64% within two days, and 29% after more than two days.
The trend source does not make these historical responses directly interchangeable with the Wave 9 categories of within two days, three to five days, and more than five days. The wording and categories should remain visible when comparing waves.
Source: Food & You 2 trends: Chapter 6: Eating at Home.
How often people reheat food
Reheating is another part of the batch-cooking picture. In Wave 2, November 2020–January 2021, 80% of respondents said they would reheat food once, 13% twice or more, and 5% would not reheat food after it was first cooked.
The corresponding results in later waves were:
- Wave 4, October 2021–January 2022: 81% once, 13% twice or more, and 4% not reheated.
- Wave 5, April–July 2022: 83% once, 12% twice or more, and 4% not reheated.
- Wave 6, October 2022–January 2023: 82% once, 14% twice or more, and 4% not reheated.
- Wave 8, October 2023–January 2024: 79% once, 15% twice or more, and 4% not reheated.
Across these reported waves, reheating once was the largest response category. The percentages are survey responses about reheating behavior and should not be interpreted as a recommendation to reheat a particular food multiple times. They also do not identify whether respondents reheated an entire batch or only a serving.
Source: Food & You 2 trends: Chapter 6: Eating at Home.
Food-safety habits around home cooking
Food-safety practices provide context for preparing and keeping batch-cooked meals. In Wave 11, with fieldwork from 19 May to 7 August 2025, 76% of respondents said they always cook food until it is steaming hot and cooked all the way through. The same measure was 79% in Wave 10, October 2024–February 2025, and 76% in Wave 1, July–October 2020.
Checking the refrigerator was reported by 57% of respondents in Wave 1, July–October 2020, and 63% in Wave 2, November 2020–January 2021. The measure counted respondents who said they or someone in their household checks the fridge temperature or has an alarm that checks it.
Use-by-date checking was also measured across Food and You 2 waves. The share who said they always check use-by dates before cooking or preparing food was 64% in Wave 1, July–October 2020; 62% in Wave 2, November 2020–January 2021; 67% in Wave 4, October 2021–January 2022; 65% in Wave 5, April–July 2022; 64% in Wave 6, October 2022–January 2023; and 66% in Wave 8, October 2023–January 2024.
These figures connect batch cooking with the broader routines of home food preparation: cooking food through, monitoring refrigerator conditions, and checking dates. They are separate indicators, measured in different waves and with their own wording, so they should not be combined into a single food-safety score.
Sources: Food and You 2: wave 11 key findings; Consumers’ Food Safety Practices in the Home: Trends and Insights From 2020 to 2025; Food & You 2 trends: Chapter 6: Eating at Home.