Cook One, Store One (or more!)

Wee_Bargain_Hunter

Great thread, I've been doing bits and pieces of cooking extra but would like to do more so looking forward to reading all the answers.
I do a full pot of mash & freeze in portions. When I zap it in the microwave, I stir it half way through & again at the end so that any extra water gets absorbed back in. It's very handy.
I also mash & freeze leftover carrots.
A big pot of soup is easy to make & brilliant for freezing. It keeps for 2 days in the fridge as well.

SunnyGirl

I deliberately make too many roast potatoes & potato wedges. I parboil them, coat them in some oil by putting the potatoes into a strong freezer bag with a bit of oil, some salt & pepper and giving it a good shake. I freeze them seperated on a foil covered tray first then bag them up. Cooked from frozen they're great and help to make a quick meal. The wedges are used in the summer with chicken, quiche etc. HTH

frugalswan

There wouldn't be any leftover roast potatoes or wedges here. Somehow they'd get found and munched cold with a bit of mayo, or dipped in the gravy jug before it gets washed up. (and I'll admit to doing that once or twice ) There are only a few dishes I make excess of, but you could do it with pretty much anything. The ones I make most often for ready meal type purposes are:

Lasagne. I generally make 6 portions at a time, to give us another 2 meals - likewise cannelloni
Bolognese sauce in general
Moussaka. I'll always freeze the extra
Sweet and Sour. Reheat, add noodles and instant food, pretty much
I don't make them yet, but I'll be making pizzas when it gets cooler so I shall be freezing those.
Leftover mash I turn into fishcakes and freeze
Slices of cold roast meat with gravy poured over, ready to reheat in the oven

There are loads more, but those are the ones I do. HTH

champys

Kadeeae wrote: »

Good ideas here, I've done quite a few of these myself but just wondered if there were dishes that people always made an excess of, as habit, for freezing or later use.
.

Yes, know what you mean. I have several of those. I always boil a double quantity of potatoes - use as mash or simply boiled on first day. Then the next day the rest will be used in potato salad - or if it is too cold for a salad meal, they become fried potato chunks, tartiflette or a Spanish omelette.
I also often make a double quantity of mashed potato, as it is difficult to make a two-person portion of a modest size. The second half is re-used next day in fish cakes, or - this may sound strange to you but was one of my Mum's specials - cold as a salad mixed with salad cream, a tin of salmon, cooked peas and hard boiled egg.
When I make a big pot of soup, I tend to serve it with the vegetables in chunks one day, and the next day liquidised with a little cream so it almost seems a different one.
Cooked beetroot one day as a hot vegetable, the next day cold with vinaigrette as a salady side-dish.
The beef from the stock-pot: half goes back into the soup (depending on the type of soup I am making), the rest I keep cold in the fridge and is either used in a lentil salad, or simply as a sandwich filling with mustard, chutney or gherkins.
I am sure there are others - will post again if they come to mind.

Smithills

I try and double or triple up on most stuff- risotto is a good one, pasta bake, or tomato sauce for pasta (with pepperami sliced up very thin), yum! The others have also been mentioned. I use plastic takeaway dishes, which fit 1 portion nicely, and stack well in the freezer.

I also make my own "ready meals"- so will double up on pasta, then portion up with the sauce & freeze. These are great for when I know I'll be in late from work- as long as I think about it the night before- home made pasta sauce, with pasta, 3 mins in the microwave, bish, bash, bosh!

And a good hint I saw elsewhere on these forums- when you serve up, put a "freezer portion" to 1 side first, before putting the food on your plate. That way you end up with more evenly distributed portions, and are less likely to nip back for a bit more;), so should be better for your hips too!

Kadeeae

Thanks so much for all the input! :T
Got it Spend it - I'd forgotten all about those foil trays! I used to have some, and have seen them lately at £ shops etc, I'll be getting some more now, thanks.

Wee Bargain Hunter - I'll go ahead and try freezing the mash then, I was just afraid it would end up runny, but will try your stir mid way method

SunnyGirl - I had tried feezing roast potatoes way back, but they came out of the freezer all globbed together.....will try again, freezing separate on a try first.

FrugalSwan - I like the idea of putting the gravy on the meat slices before freezing, then just heat and eat! I had always frozen the meat slices and then had to do up some gravy.....

Champys - Ooo! Like the soup idea, it would be like two totally different soups.....could even wait an extra day or two and see if there were any other bits or bobs that could be added too.

Smithills - I think that may be my way forward, to think more like 'ready meal' rather than just "components" of meals if you know what I mean. I think trying that would add alot of different meals than what I've been doing for the freezer.

Again, thanks so much this will definitely help to get me out of the same ol'-same ol' rut :j I'll keep watching if anyone has even more ideas, along with Wee Bargain Hunter!

skintchick

So far, I have done this with:
bolognese
cottage pie
chilli
turkey and leek casserole

and am going to do:
beef bourguignon
fish pie

What other ideas have people had? I'm getting into it now and would like to get the freezer well and truly stocked up.

nopot2pin

skintchick wrote: »

So far, I have done this with:
bolognese
cottage pie
chilli
turkey and leek casserole

and am going to do:
beef bourguignon
fish pie

What other ideas have people had? I'm getting into it now and would like to get the freezer well and truly stocked up.

Fajita's filling ?
Quiche ?
Something that you like to put into a baked potato ? I do a mushroom stroganoff type thing for this.
Some sort of curry ?

If I am making a stirfry, I make up a couple of extra portions and freeze those, individually.

buxtonrabbitgreen

If I have leftovers from a roast I too plate a meal up. Also always cook too much of any mince based dish and keep some in the freezer. Must start marking them as we sometimes all have suprise dinner.
I also make extra cookie dough and freeze. Put breadcrumbs from the crusts in the freezer. Also make twice as much crumble topping.
As I often have to cater for a veggie gluten free dinner guest I always make an extra portion to freeze.

I always do too many new potatoes, I like them sauteed the next day. And save an extra bit of mash for potato cakes. My kids think these are scones so that's ok.

skintchick

What mince-based dishes do people make other than bolognese, chilli and cottage pie?