Cooking for the Freezer..

ariba10

kettlenic wrote: »

You can get ziplock packets at poundland - now if you have patience you can fill one with the food you intend to freze put that in a tupperware...after a few hours remove from the freezer -remove ziplock packet and it should have frozen in a nice rectangular/square shape - easy for stacking and no wasting tuppawares

IKEA do a pack with a double seal.

We use a funnel that was made to put home made jam into jars.

It is not all that big, but the hole in the center is big enough to allow the meat in home made curries to pass through.

babyshoes

Cool list! I'm surprised at the egg in the fry ups though! I wouldn't have thought that would freeze ok, unless you are doing it scrambled - but I would still have thought the texture would be rubbery afterwards. Personally I would freeze the rest of it and just fry / poach / scramble an egg while the rest was warming up.

Things that would be on my list which you don't seem to have are:

Bolognese sauce - super easy and can be turned into other meals like lasagne, baked potato topping, chilli, cottage pie etc.

Tomato-y pasta sauce - I fry up some chopped onions, garlic and value bacon, then add tins of tomato, tomato paste and herbs, plus whatever other seasonings I think will taste good. Cook it slowly until tomatoes break down and flavours are combined. A splash of milk helps if there is an acid taste, and leftover wine can be added too.

Stews - Always easy, and can fill pies or be made into soups if desired. Brown any stewing meat, soften onions and garlic, add chopped veggies and tins of tomato plus some wine (optional but yum) and stock. Season with herbs, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for ages until meat is tender (this is the main trick to good stews...). I'm doing one tonight with oxtail and parsnips. Yum!

Soups - versatile and easy! Don't feel you have to make your own stock etc, cubes are cheap and work fine. Look at the veg and other bits you have left over, then look up recipes for inspiration, or just chuck it all in a pan with lots of stock and see how it comes out. I like to add pearl barley to chunky veg based soups. One of the most surprising soups I have made was carrot and coriander - had never tried it before as I thought it sounded boring, but I needed something to make with a giant bag of reduced carrots. It tasted amazing and was really, really simple. A soup starter with toast/rolls (bread freezes well) is a good way to stretch a meal if you unexpectedly have extra guests and you don't think the main you have planned will be quite enough. It can be microwaved from frozen if you are in a hurry - it might separate but a good stir will solve that!

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Grimbal

you could also freeze things like roast dinners i think. Not sure if you could do it as a one plate meal, might need a bit of experimenting ! - roasties, roast meat, yorkshire puds, red cabbage, green beans, cauli cheese ?wouldnt put the gravy on tho!

Also, various braised meats - braised steak, casserole pork, lamb etc. Add to your frozen mash for a quick dinner. I often make slow-cooked pork in a tomato sauce for hubby & successfully freeze & re-heat that

How about meatballs ? Economical & easy to combine with pasta, mash, noodles too

fishbiscuits

I did the same thing last year when I was pregnant, so we didn't have to worry about cooking when we had a newborn. I made enough to last two months. There was

lasagne
moussaka
cottage pie
chicken & mushroom pie
steak & ale pie
sausage casserole
bolognaise
chili con carne
meatballs
soup
cheesey baked potatoes.

I also froze mashed potatoes and mashed carrot and swede to use as side dishes

It's a great idea, and once I have enough space in the freezer I will be doing it again (need to curb my food shopping habit first)

LutonGirl

I plated up a full dinner last Christmas day and froze it, without gravy. I had it in February, just made gravy with granules and what a mid week treat it was too!

krlyr

Don't forget you can freeze sides too - e.g. homemade fries or wedges, rice (follow instructions on cooling it down and reheating properly) and so on. We bulkbuy a bunch of potatoes and make it into a mix of wedges (half garlic & herb - easily done with a supermarket own brand "Garlic Italian" herb jar and a drizzle of olive oil, and half spicy with a mix of spices similar to fajita mix), mashed potato, roasties and recently been doing HM hash browns too. Tried some french fries but I don't think this type of potato suit them that well - another kind of potato might those (these form a crispy shell, perfect for roasties and wedges but the french fries just tasted completely hollow!)
Different flavoured rices can be frozen and microwaved in the plastic tubs (if you bought microwave-safe ones), basically HM versions of the Uncle Bens type sachets, at a fraction of the price. I made this yummy mexican rice recently, OH as an Uncle Bens fan turned his nose up at the idea, but after trying it he kept asking me how many portions I'd made and if I could make more!
http://www.slimmingeats.com/blog/mexican-rice

By having a mix of meats/mains and sides, we can mix and match if we're bored of the usual.

paddyrg

Baked potatoes - if you bake an ovenfull then allow to cool completely and freeze, you can microwave them to reheat as opposed to 'bake' - may help bulk out those chilis etc.

kettlenic

for some extreme bulk/advance cooking/meal prep have a look at this site

http://onceamonthmom.com/

camNolliesMUMMY

kettlenic wrote: »

for some extreme bulk/advance cooking/meal prep have a look at this site

http://onceamonthmom.com/

Some great recipes on there thanks for this link, it's now saved to my favs

Herbgirl

Oh that link has given me loads more ideas!!

I have spent today slaving away - have done the sausage and mash, chicken tonight, sweet and sour chicken, mac and cheese with bacon and sun-dried toms, scones, brownies and managed not to eat any of it. Just waiting for the items to cool before freezing. Tomorrow is mince day so the chilli, shepherds pie, lasagna. Any left over will become bolognaise.

Now what to have for dinner....