Cooking for the Freezer..

Pink.

Hi Cazza,

These threads should give you lots of ideas:

Cooking for the Freezer..

Nutritionally good meals for the Freezer?

Batch cooking ideas please

I'll add your thread to the first link later to keep the suggestions together.

Pink

wssla00

CCP wrote: »

Sorry for my ignorance, wssla00, but what's Cha Han?

It's jappanese style fried rice. It's one of the yummiest dishes in Waggamammas Very filling! Here is a recipe

CCP

That sounds lovely - thanks wssla00! I'll try that next time instead of my usual Chinese-style fried rice.

Cazza

Thank you for all the ideas! I've tried freezing pasta bake before and wasn't too impressed with it when it was defrosted, I think I'll try it again on myself before inflicting it on my Sister! I'd never thought of freezing risotto (or rice in general) either, I'd just assumed it might go a bit funny like the pasta bake!

Grebe

Hi Cazza, rice freezes really well, I like my pasta al dente and find it freezes better when done like that. Sending best wishes to your sister for Friday.

Histemic

I was round at my girlfriends the other night and she was boiling potatos and carrots in the same pan. We used a hand blender and made Carrot and potato soup, without taking anything out of the pan! Has to be the easiest meal I've ever made. Delicious, a lovely colour and minimal washing up.

gizmo111

Sauasages in onion gravy
mashed potato
meatballs in sauce
burgers
fishcakes
potato dauphinose
pies
pastys
Depends how much you want to cook really and how long you are covering. But what a nice sister you are.

Regards

babyshoes

Almost any tomato based pasta sauce such as bolognese or bacon and tomato, etc
Stew (I like oxtail stew...)
Curry
Aubergine bake makes a good side dish, and can be bunged into the oven along with a pre-fabricated bit like chicken kievs and a potato.
Fruit crumbles can also be part cooked and frozen, shove into oven for about an hour on very low, make a nice treat with a packet of instant custard or some cream.
Potato bake (if all in one meal, include meat such as bacon bits and veg like broccoli/cauliflower etc)
Casseroles
Even roast can be frozen sliced with gravy, then just nuke and add veg and nuked potato to serve. (All done in microwave, easy peasy.)
Honey and Mustard chicken portions can be frozen. Make with equal quantities of grainy mustard and honey spooned over chicken bits. Oven at about gas mark 5 until done. Keep 'sauce' for dipping chips in... Drool!

Ok, so these aren't all 'whole meal' ideas and some require minimal cooking (pasta/veg etc) and/or assembly, but still a whole helluva lot easier than cooking a full meal.

weezl74

I agree that you are a lovely sister

Erm, I hope it's not TMI, but might be worth remembering that constipation after childbirth is extremely common (body's reaction to post-operative morphine as well as a natural way of women not doing themselves damage after perineal trauma), and so I'd recommend some foods that are light on the filling carbs, like a casserole of chicken thighs in a tomato sauce with lots of lovely herbs and root vegetables, rather than anything with heaps of wheat in it.

Also, I don't know if your sister plans to breastfeed but there are some foods which naturally help the production of breastmilk- oats (flapjack?) and the spice fenugreek (a nice vegetable curry) are the two most often quoted.

I hope that helps and I hope your sister has a really great childbirth experience

meritaten

Ive made hundreds if not thousands of ready meals for various members of the family. when MIL had cancer and was still wanting to be independent I used to make her a weeks worth of meals and she would defrost and cook them herself, when she was bedbound they were a boon for the helpers as she would then choose and they could warm up her meals. I have done them for the past six years as baby and toddler meals to help out their mums and dads.
so here are my tips
try not to freeze anything with fresh cream in as it often splits when defrosted.
make sure there is plenty of sauce or gravy as it seems to disappear in the freezer
make sure the meal is all cooked items (including fresh tomato or basil leaves before putting in the freezer is a BAD idea)
most meals can be frozen! but if do a rice meal with a sauce then i freeze the rice separately as it can go inedible in the time it takes to 'ding' say a chicken curry.
always ALWAYS label the meal with contents and a guide to how long it should take to defrost (I always said overnight in fridge or carefully in microwave) and approximate microwave time and the date you froze it.
curries freeze superbly but dont add yoghurt or fresh coconut milk.
sausage and mash with gravy freezes well too.
most casseroles and stews freeze beautifully
mash freezes well and you can put it in one portion freezer bags
cheese and potato pie freezes well and if you ding the tomato slices you can top off portions of pie with them. dont put fresh tomato slices on them - doesnt freeze well and will ruin your pie.
dont try freezing cooked chips - yeuuuchhhh
good luck and its a nice thing you are doing!!!