Home made ready meals

morg_monster · 9 July 2007 at 10:03PM

Hiya
My bf and I can't seem to do without our convenience/microwave meals - there are always a couple of days every week when one or the other is out. Whenever microwave meals etc are reduced in our Tescos (which is v often!) we stock up. Its not primarily a moneysaving thing, more annoyance that we can't recycle the plastic dishes they come in and they aren't always particularly nutritious!
We have no problems bulk cooking - we always cook for 4 so the freezer is often full of frozen spagbol, chili, curry etc. But I really want to try and make some dishes with "everything in" so with the carbs in as well as the sauce/meat. The only thing I've thought of so far is lasagne.

Can you suggest any recipes we can bulk cook and freeze - and give any other advice - bearing in mind:
- we often forget to take it out of the freezer in the morning so anything we could microwave from frozen would be amazing, but any ideas would be greatly received
- i know cooked pasta doesn't freeze and reheat well - do you think fresh egg pasta would be any better?
- we've got those handy takeaway tubs for the microwaveable meals - but what about things in the oven, I've seen those foil dishes in the £ shop but we don't recycle foil here and I don't fancy scrubbing them to use again (we don't have a dishwasher) - are they any good? or who sells single serving ceramic ovendishes which don't cost the earth?
- we do have a slow cooker

before anyone says the obvious, I know it only takes 5-10 mins to nuke a potato/boil pasta!! But we still buy these ready meals and eat them so I really want to find alternatives if possible!

thanks everyone

kazmeister · 9 July 2007 at 10:10PM

Hi

My personal suggestion would be to look for quick and easy meals to cook from scratch rather than stuff from the freezer. Most nights when I'm working I like to have tea on the table in 30 - 45 mins from scratch. It really is so much nicer, just find the right recipes for you and OH

morg_monster · 9 July 2007 at 10:16PM

I do love to cook from scratch, and try to as much as possible, but like tonight, I forgot to defrost anything, went straight from work to Brownies, running around after a pack of boisterous girls, cleaning up, and then getting home on the bus for 45 minutes, by the time i got home it was 9:30 and I was just about dead on my feet... Once again, it was that spinach/ricotta tortellini because there it was in the fridge and it only takes 3 minutes to cook... and I know when my bf comes in from cricket any minute now he will microwave some half-price tesco's chinese meal, mm MSG goodness...
At least tonight we had a cake sale with the girls so I had some yummy cake before coming home!!

[Deleted User] · 9 July 2007 at 10:23PM

You can buy rectangular pryex dishes that come with a plastic lid. I use them to make my lasagne or shepherds pies in or any other things I have (if doing curry and rice for tea you can freeze half curry half rice etc). You then put on the plastic lid to freeze it. Once you want to use it you pop it out of the freezer, take off the plastic lid to wash and pop the meal in the microwave or oven.

They are spot on. I think we got them on offer in Woolies once at about £2.50 each but they are well worth it as can be used over and over. You can buy them in a variety of sizes we have some 2 person portion ones and some individual portion ones.

JillD_2 · 9 July 2007 at 10:44PM

I try and batch cook and freeze a lot and as you say then have to rely on memory to leave things out to defost. I find doind a meal plan for the week helps with this. When I tidy the kitchen at night I cosult the plan to see what's for tea tomorrow and then set it out to defrost if necessary. I also freeze all my bread for the week so it is a daily habit to check to see if I need to leave a loaf out or not.

I found really was just a matter of getting into the habit, and it only takes a week or so of setting the thing out and then it just becomes a habit.Also we are veggie and the chilli I make with quorn mince defrosts in the microwave ok, maybe this is not recommended but we have never ben sick from it yet!

I batch cook:-
lasagne
chilli - have in tortilla wraps with salad
moussaka - have with bread and veg/salad
fish pie (for kids) - topped with potato this has everything in
spag bol (without the pasta) - pasta cooks quickly though
shepherds pie (mine isnt very good tho!) - again topped with potato
curry (again mine isnt too good) - could have with chapatis instead of rice

One of my Weightwatchers books has a turkey and ham potato topped pie - you would basically make a caserole of turkey and ham (chicken and bacon or veggies or whatever) and top with mashed spuds. You could also do sausage caserole and top with mash.

Or you can get sachets of express rice that cooks in 3 minutes, its expensive though. Basnati rice only take 15 mins or so in a pan anyway.

I freeze all the portions in small plastic tubs and then just reheat in a pyrex dish in the microwave or oven accordingly.
I do cook pasta bakes and freeze them too, ok they are not as good as first time around bu they seem fine to us.

Good luck!

exlibris · 10 July 2007 at 11:07AM

When I was working I used to buy those ready meals you could heat in the oven.

When I saw the light I made my own individual meals (JillD's list is good) in the ready meal containers. they do heat up in either oven or MW.

Now I regularly make 2 serving dishes and freeze. I use those ceramic oblong dishes as they stack well in the freezer, and they look good when used as serving dishes for veg etc.

morg_monster · 10 July 2007 at 12:07PM

Thanks for all your suggestions - I totally hadn't thought of mashed potato based dishes like pies, duh!
I have a quick question - if you were making say a shepherds or fish pie, would you cook it in the oven before freezing or just get to the point where you have the cooked filling in the dish with the mash on top and then freeze it? Or would it depend whether you wanted to microwave or oven the pie to reheat?
thanks

HelzBelz · 10 July 2007 at 12:20PM

morg_monster wrote: »

Thanks for all your suggestions - I totally hadn't thought of mashed potato based dishes like pies, duh!
I have a quick question - if you were making say a shepherds or fish pie, would you cook it in the oven before freezing or just get to the point where you have the cooked filling in the dish with the mash on top and then freeze it? Or would it depend whether you wanted to microwave or oven the pie to reheat?
thanks

Personally I'd just get it to the assembled stage

Helonearth · 10 July 2007 at 12:38PM

I think really the key is finding individual size dishes that suit you. I am veggie while the rest of my family eats meat, so I always cook separately. You can get small size ceramic dishes from asda/woolies, and I find that a bit of tin foil over the top to freeze does the job.

My other suggestion for quick balanced food that you can easily nuke to reheat would be soup. I've just done a batch of farmhouse lentil soup which includes carbs, protein, veg, virtually no fat (so you have to have dessert to balance that out!) and loads of flavour.

save-a-holic · 17 July 2007 at 9:35PM

I used to make 'Sunday' dinners (i.e. sliced meat, potatoes, veg, stuffing and pour gravy over the top) then freeze them on the plate. When they were frozen I'd slide the frozen 'pancake' of food into a freezer bag, add yorkshire puds to the bag and pile them up in the freezer.

To use, just take the 'pancake' out of the freezer, place on a plate and microwave (covered) for 9 minutes. Add the yorkshire pudding and cook for another minute. Hmmmmm.....

furrychimp · 17 July 2007 at 10:14PM

try Asda for individual ceramic dishes...got some there for less than £1 each & can go in freezer/oven/microwave...
try doing shepherd's pie, stew/casseroles, chunky soups, lasagne, curry & rice(rice freezes well, just run through with cold water immediately after cooking to cool quickly & heat til scaldingly hot to kill any nasties!) meat or chicken pies topped with pastry (freeze before cooking) can cook from frozen...if you mix the pasta up in sauce eg bolognese or carbonara, it should freeze ok but will go manky if frozen on it's own!

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Home made ready meals

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