It’s time-efficient and energy-saving, but batch cooking can be a little boring. Not so in the hands of Diana Henry, whose make-ahead mince starts three very different, delicious recipes

It’s midnight on a Wednesday and I’m cooking a big pot of mince. If I’m testing recipes for my Telegraph column I rarely cook this late – you’re liable to forget things (I have, on occasion, had to go through the eggshells in the bin counting how many eggs I’ve used in a dish) – and if friends are coming round for supper the next day, I just shift the cooking to the following morning.

I have never consciously done batch cooking. I’ve never been organised enough, but I’ve always made some dishes that would do two meals – stews, soups, pasta sauces, dal – because it doesn’t just make your life easier, it saves on energy too. Things have changed in my house, though. My sons have moved out and my life is different. It is no longer anchored by meals. They used to come home ravenous after school – cue lots of toast, hummus, bananas, peanut butter and even porridge, which was a meal of sorts, then supper later.

I was not an ideal parent. Supper was served at a time that suited me. I tried to make it for 6.30-7pm, but if I had to finish writing a piece it could slip to 8pm. People, even friends, indicated that this wasn’t good for my children, but I refused to feel guilty – I was raising two children on my own and I needed to earn a living.

People tend to assume that all home cooks are ‘feeders’, that they cook because they want to give pleasure to their friends or, at the most basic, because they want to fill their children’s stomachs. I have largely cooked because I love it; I like thinking about flavours and making new dishes. I am, mostly, a selfish cook.

The instinct to feed your children runs very deep, though. It’s about keeping them alive. My worst experience as a parent was when my eldest, then a toddler, just wouldn’t eat and was losing weight. My anxiety went through the roof – how could I, a good cook, not nourish my own child? The phase passed and I became laid-back again, but these days I am experiencing what it is to be a feeder. My eldest – now a junior doctor – works terrible hours. I can’t bear the idea that he gets back to his flat at 10.30 at night and has to start cooking. If he comes back home – which he does regularly – I have to send him away with three Tupperware boxes he can stash in the freezer, each containing two portions of a particular dish. I have finally become a feeder, and batch cooking is a part of my life.

Even if I still have to finish writing a piece, this cooking gets done. He recently asked for recipes that he could batch cook himself, and that he wouldn’t get bored by. I hit on the ones here. You cook enough of a base mince dish to feed six hungry people. Freeze it in portions for two, then defrost and finish each portion by further cooking and flavouring. This way you never think ‘God, not mince again’ because you can make three different meals. I’ve gone with turning the mince into an Indian-spiced meal (keema is one of the easiest Indian recipes) and a dish that is sort of Italian, both overleaf, plus an American dish that’s been influenced by Mexican food (see telegraph.co.uk/ dianahenry). These dishes aren’t true to Mexico, India or Italy. They’re not ‘authentic’; they’ve been created because they’re strong in flavour – delicious when you’re tired – and easy.

I know many excellent cooks who are feeders. One, whose husband is undergoing punishing treatment for cancer, finds that cooking means she is part of his care too. I think the batch cooking I do for my son is a way to care for him even though he’s no longer under my roof.