Cooking for the Freezer..

geordie_joe

I'm sure your post will get moved to the old style board, but in the mean time.......

Most meals can be frozen, but for a quick start look in the frozen ready meals section of your supermarket, or online. If Aunt Bessie and Captain Birdseye can freeze it then so can you.

Also try looking on the Wiltshire Farm Foods web site, they say they have over 400 different frozen meals ready to go into the oven or microwave straight from the freezer. If they can do it, so can you.

skintsocks

Hi Aiden

There are some really good recipe threads on these forums if you do a search, and the goodtoknow and good food websites are also handy. For a starter though, you have the usual suspects such as Chilli (with rice, on potatoes, with chips), shepherds pie, lasagne, bolognese sauce, macaroni cheese, fish pie, curry of any description, beef in wine, beef in stout, etc.. If you have a few quid spare, buy a slow cooker, along with the packs of foil dishes with lids, as they are just brilliant for freezer storage. I bought a slow cooker last year, and it's so good for bulk cooking. Just remember to get something out of freezer on way to work, and it's ready for oven when you get home. It's saved me loads on takeaways, apart from those nights when you just really want a takeaway

abbe89

Things that take a while to cook are always good for the freezer! Plus tougher cuts of meat are often cheaper. Beef stew, chicken curry (slow cooked with chicken thighs), lamb stew. Bulk thr stews out with lots of cheap root veg, to make it a meal on its own without pasta/rice etc.

Also, I brown a lot of mince with onions and garlic, then add various spices etc to make spag bol, chilli con carne, paprika and red pepper mince. I often just have a bowl of spag bol sauce, bulked up with lots of veg, carrots, whatever I can get cheap!

redfox

Hi, we move threads if we think they’ll get more help elsewhere (please read the forum rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com"]forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

VfM4meplse

It would be quicker for me to list what can't be frozen!

maman

Remember to buy things on offer/reduced and freeze them in portions. So sausages, chicken portions, anything you can freeze. You may pay a bit more up front but you'll save in the long run.

Make your own burgers from a pack of mince.

If you make home made soups to have as a starter then you can follow up with something simple like a jacket potato and end up feeling really full.

unimaginative_user_name

If I find I've got bits of veg that need using up I often chop them up quite fine, soften them in a little olive oil and add tinned tomatoes to make a veggie bolognese which I then freeze. This can then be used to make veggie lasagne or added to kidney beans and Tabasco for veggie chilli or just served with a baked potato or spaghetti. You could even top with mashed potato for a veggie shepherd's pie.

I also find it useful to chop up on onions and peppers when they are cheap, freeze them flat on a tray and them bag them up. This cuts down on preparation time and they can be cooked from frozen. If you like pulses it's cheaper to buy dry and cook a whole load in a slow cooker or large pan and freeze them in the smaller portions to bulk out leftovers.

The one thing I would say with freezing is label everything as it makes it easier to recognise contents. I also recommend take away containers as they stack really well both in the freezer and in your cupboards when they are not in the freezer.

dlusman

VfM4meplse wrote: »

It would be quicker for me to list what can't be frozen!

agreed -

It may be easier if the OP listed what they where considering cooking and freezing and then ask for individual yes or no ?

karren

this is what im doing now, as both work full time so its making life easier
ive just made big portion of chicken and veg curry and split
chickend dinner, portioned up individually
spag bol is on and ive made big pot of white sausce to turn into lasange so there will be 2 of that too,

dronid

Most things in tomato/stock based sauces will freeze well. So that's Bologneses, Chilli, Curry and Stews. Slices of meat in gravy are good. Corned Beef Hash. Also most of those improve with the keeping.