Cooking for the Freezer..

firstinflight

Most cooked food can be safely frozen and then reheated without defrosting first, provided you:

a) Allow the food to cool after cooking and then freeze it straight away. i.e. don't leave it hanging round the fridge for days then decide to freeze it.

b) When you reheat the food, make sure it is piping hot throughout, and use it straight away.

Tesco do some nice little plastic tubs that hold about 1 portion's worth of food and are good for freezing and reheating in the microwave. About £1 for a pack of 3, I think.

If you want something quick to go with a frozen sauce, then couscous is fantastic. Just the bog standard plain stuff: it's cheap and is much quicker than pasta or rice to cook. Just pour boiling water on it and it'll be done by the time the sauce is heated through.

missminx007

Hi all, I'm hoping you can all offer me some suggestions. I am expecting baby no 2 in about 4 weeks, when I was expecting my first I did loads of batch cooking and it was a god send when she arrived. However, these days we have much less money so whereas before I was buying chicken breasts and making curries and lots of fish pies I cant really afford to do that this time round. Also the second problem is that my oven has broken and we wont be getting a new one for another couple of months but I do have a slow cooker, a grill and 3 hobs.
I've already made up some chilli and a veggie curry but I could do with some inspiration into what else we could eat, preferably things that dd (2) would eat aswell. I was going to make her some meals up separately also so if we are busy with the baby then she can stick to her rough meal time.
Any suggestions?

quintwins

if i were you i would buy cheap cuts of meat and cut them up ready for throwing in the slow cooker in the morning, if you cut up your veg aswell it will only take 2 mins to throw it all in xxx

Aarons_mummy

I agree buy cheap cuts of meat, if you buy a full chicken you could cut off the portions so still have breast meat but also thighs, wings etc.

Cottage pie, shephards pie, chilli, mince and mash, potato cakes, fish cakes.

culpepper

When we had our second child,I changed around the routine so I was cooking the evening meal after they were in bed and OH and I would eat ours and then I would plate the kids meals(blended when bub was old enough) and cover them to serve up at lunch next day. I would have a sandwich while they had their cooked meal because it could be fitted in between feeding (DS and DD were only 17 months apart).
Easiest meals if I didnt get around to it for some reason were pasta and sausage with veg or bolognaise as you can do it all on the hob .
I agree the slow cooker will be super useful .

Butterfly_Brain

You can do stews, curries and puddings in a slow cooker but if you freeze them you will have to reheat thoroughly on a hob or in an oven.
Have you tried your local freecycle to see if there are any ovens on there ?
Have you enough to buy a mini oven Argos have this one on offer and it is a good make and size
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4238706/Trail/searchtext%3EMINI+OVEN.htm#pdpFullProductInformation

SmlSave

Hi everyone, I'm currently emptying the freezer to make room for a load of 'ready meals' to tide me over for the first few weeks when baby's born. Thing is that I've got stuck thinking of things to cook and freeze.

I have thought of:

Lasagne
Spag Bol
Soup
Stews

Buts its hopefuly going to be a warm summer *pretty please* and I wondered if anyone had any ideas for other 'ready meals'?

Many thanks in advance

julietiff

Suppose they would freeze ok- I just made homemade meatballs
using sausage meat , salt, pepper, and italian herbs I don't add
Breadcrumbs as I have Coeliac and prefer to go without it.

Aarons_mummy

How about sweet chilli chicken, either a curry type dish ie the chicken and sauce mixed, or just have the sauce frozen, the breaded (or not) chicken cooked/part cooked and frozen and then could be served with prawn crackers and rice or salad or in tortilla wraps.

Spare ribs cooked and frozen, although not sure how they would taste.

chicken noodle soup, chicken wings, macaroni cheese, pizzas, filled potato skins, breaded mozzarella cubes could be added into salad, ummmm I can't think of anything right now but all the above could be served with salads, breads and veg

MrsWoolfe

Hi!

For the summer I tend to do things like marinade meat and freeze- chicken etc then you can just get it out the night before and chuck it in the oven/grill in the evening with some salad.

I also do a lot of "prep" slicing and freezing onions, whizzing up lots of garlic/ginger in the processor and freezing in ice cube trays chopped veg etc to make life easier.

With a lot of things I cook and freeze the part of the meal that takes up the most time- e.g. I tend to cook lots of chicken/turkey marinated in my mix of spices and soy sauces portion up and freeze- then it's a really quick job to rustle up a friend rice dish- veg again from freezer chucked in to cook with rice. That makes life a lot easier when you are busy and still want good home-cooked food!

hth
MrsWoolfe