Cooking for the Freezer..

joedenise

Probably a combination of both. Things like chilli, curry, shepherds pie etc in the freezer and jacket potatoes, pasta bake type things on the day.

Denise

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

If I were you, I'd give it a go for a couple of weeks with preparing and freezing and see whether it works for you.

I would imagine that it makes sense to bung the spuds in the bottom of the oven whilst you're cooking lasagne and what nots, then freeze them as well, as they'll take less time to cook when they are needed.


Have a look around, here on the Oldstyle board, and there'll be suggestions there on how to make the most of the oven time in various threads.

krlyr

Another idea could be do make extra portions on the evenings you are home longer and freeze the extra portions, so if you're making a bolognese, make a huge pot of it and freeze half to have later in the week, or the following week. It takes a lot less time to cook double volumes when you're making it already, than to set time aside to cook for the week ahead, and if you have freezer space you can get a good rotation of meals sorted. At any one point we usually have at least a serving or two of HM bolognese meat (reheat as-is or make into a lasagne), chilli (serve on rice, jacket potato or nachos), chicken casserole and so on. Plus sides like wedges, mashed potato, roasties all part cooked or ready made to finish in the oven/reheat, which saves a lot of preparation time.

Malfiore

If you have time to do this then I think it could work. I batch cook and freeze a lot of stuff to save time and find it works for me.

Loads of frozen spuds in the freezer - they can then choose their topping - cheese, beans etc.
Chilli
Curry - different types so you could have it a few times in a fortnight or whatever but it's not actually the same curry if that makes sense!
Lasagne
Soup - this is great as you could do a massive vat of it and just serve with bread
Shepherd's pie
Sausage casserole
Quiche - with a spud or make a salad up and leave in the fridge ready
HM pizza
Burgers/sausages - HM or otherwise
Bolognese - freeze then you can just prepare the pasta or throw over wedges or a spud

Quick meals you could prepare:

omelettes
egg and chips and beans
Pasta Bake
Toad in the hole
Beans / egg on toast
Sandwiches - should be ok if they've had a hot lunch?
Chessy, potato bake - layers of par boiled pots, beans, bacon and cheese, baked and then served up with b+b if needed. I put onion in mine as well. Shouldn't take too long, maybe on one of the days you have a bit more time.

There should be plenty more ideas on here as well

chelle

Loads of ideas.

I did not know you could freeze cooked potatoes, would be easier for them to have mash and something or jacket potato and something.

Need to sit them all down to meal plan, may try it before we all go back for a week to see how it works.

Thanks :-)

pavlovs_dog

I'm a school teacher and am currently batch cooking to stock up our freezer with homemade ready meals. Then, during term time, I aim to cook a big batch of something at least once a week so that we can freeze the surplus to maintain a good number of frozen meals and provide variety.

where we don't have the time/energy to do big batches, we like to use the 'tumbledown' method as described in economy gastronomy. The idea is that you cook something on one day, and the spin offs from that meal provide meals for the next 2-3 days. E.g. I might roast a chicken on Sunday, using the breasts for a roast dinner, the leg meat for a curry, the straggly bits in a stirfry and a soup using the stock from the carcass.

zippychick

ive merged this with our cooking for the freezer thread

these links may also help

Batch cooking

Building blocks for the freezer


Home made ready meals

Im sure there's more. Will have a think. Batch cooking is the way to go. There's only two of us here, so i cook double or triple and freeze in portions to lift out the night before. Best dinners ever. I do curries, spag bol, lasagne, soups, lentil dahl, pilau rice, all sorts

You will find plenty of inspiration in the previous threads

Zip

Herbgirl

Hi Everyone!!

After weeks of research I have decided to do some extreme bulk cooking. I live alone (well with the cat) and lead a very busy lifestyle, and too often I end up grabbing a takeaway on the way home. This has got to stop if I want to buy a house for my 30th Birthday in 3 1/2 years.

This morning 100 foil and 100 plastic food storage containers arrived (cost the same as one pizza take away), I have taken half days this week from work to bulk out the freezer with lots of yummy meals and this morning I have already made 6 portions of Sweet and Sour Chicken (massively bulked out with veg)- for the totally cost of £3.50!!

I have a huge list of things I am going to try and make in the next few days- and will stick up a photo of it all at the end- Thank god for the massive freezer!!

Wish me Luck!! xx

daisiegg

Good luck! This sounds like a really fun way to spend a week for me if only I had room in my freezer to do the same!

xcarlyx

What other things do you recommend bulk cooking?