Cooking for the Freezer..

purpleheather2810

lasagne, pasta bakes, pies, casseroles, curries...

Cookie_monster_7

purpleheather2810 wrote: »

pasta bakes.

Does the pasta not go really squidgy though?

freakyogre

I find pasta freezes fine and i've frozen it both in a bake and on its own. I can highly recommend this recipe for freezing (and eating It's very tasty) I'm on my last portion, so think i'll make some more soon.

In my freezer at the moment I have various meals including lasagne (ham and leek rather than regular), falafel, tomato sauce for pasta/pizza, pizza bases, lots of this, stuffed peppers, chicken laksa and pasta bakes. I also cook extra rice and freeze it as I live on my own, so can't justify cooking one portion at a time!
Most of my meals are from when i've made extra rather than cooking an individual meal as I find it a lot cheaper. I love my freezer and I like knowing that I have lots of homemade 'ready meals' at hand.

Rainey_LB

I've just started doing this too, I've made Shepherds Pie (& Cow Boy Pie as we call it Mince Onions & baked beans, in stead of veg & gravy topped with mash potato - the kids love it), Casseroles, Fish Pie, Curry, Bolognaise (will boil the pasta whilst its re-heating), mash potato, lasagne.

Instead of a marathon cook once a week, I have cooked in bulk what we were having for dinner every night this week, with the exception of making a curry one morning. So although I have had to cook each night this week, there is enough food in the freezer to feed a small army for the next few weeks now!!

Cookie_monster_7

Last night I spent 2 hours cooking minestrone soup, lentil soup, tomato sauce for pasta (2 meals worth) and tuna pasta bake. So that is all in the freezer now :j

Thanks for some great ideas so far, I'm taking note:T

Linda32

Lasagna is a good one and does stay solid IYKWIM, I did a mushroom and courgette one, (last year we had a glut of courgettes which I still had in the freezer, worked well)

Thats if you fancy a change to mince.

I've also roasted a chicken which I have portioned up, obviously you can do all sorts with that.

sparklewing

In my freezer at the moment I have lentil soup, tomato & bread soup, lentil bolognaise, aubergine & lentil curry, 3 bean chilli, chickpea stew, sausage & butterbean stew and chickpea & spinach curry.

Most saucey things things will freeze okay in portions.

hermum

Any sort of pies. I usually make up pastry with 3lbs of flour at a time & then freeze either in chunks or rolled & lined a pie tin, then if I have chicken one day I have the pastry ready for the next day, make a huge vat of white sauce, or some people use condensed soups as the sauce. With the HM sauce, I'll then do a few cheesy pasta bakes, a couple with chicken in, some just cheese & pasta. Don't forget to boil your carcass for stock.

annaangeluk_2

I'm going to be watching this thread with interest! I work term time so I'm off now until Sept. I'm determind this year to make the most of my time off (which seems to be flying past!) by getting ahead of myself for when I return to work! I've put the declutter plan on hold until dd moves out:o (she's only 8 but it's like fighting a losing battle:rotfl:!!) but would like to get the freezer stocked as we head into winter.

Out of interest, how long will hm "ready meals" keep in the freezer? Mostly will be mince/meat based ones, some fish and some veggie.

Thanks in advance

Anna x

madamfifi

Hi all,

I just bought a new freezer and have decided to fill it with home cooked things that are healthy.

The plan is - cook on a Sunday and freeze the food for in the week.

Only thing is I am a cooking novice and am not sure what I can/can't freeze.

Would love some suggestions and help.

Can I roast peppers, onions and mushrooms and freeze them?

Thank you in advance.

Fiona xx