Cooking for the Freezer..

karren

the spag bol mix made 3 portions of lasgane and some left to mix with pasta lol, joys of throwing veg in the mix and lentils!!!

MrsRogers

Tbh I think most things can be frozen. I do anyway eg

Curry
Casseroles
Chili con carne
Lasagna
Spaghetti Bol
HM soups
Shepherds / cottage pie
HM pies
Chicken in peppercorn
Risotto
Fried frice
Pasta bake
Macaroni cheese

Go through the frozen ready meal section on an online supermarket site... If they freeze them so can you

karren

Lol I throw anything and everything in freezer,
and frozen veg is a huge time saver,
I made mashed potatoes in the week, used ice cream scoop to portion it out and it worked, so mash in a flash now!
as dinner can be made so quickly in the steamer!

chocomonsta

last week I made homemade soup and bought a large shop bought brown (with added bits ) loaf, I sliced and buttered it but then realising there was too much, I froze the buttered sliced bread in portions of two slices. I had some of it this week, defrosting it in the microwave for 1 minute, it was lovely - tasted like it had just come out of the oven - warm and buttery. No more throwing away of bread for me.

I have also frozen left over chips that have come with a take away and they taste fine too, desfrosted and rehated in microwave!

Freexze everything, experiment but label label label! :rotfl:

HTH

Pink.

I've added this thread to our existing one on bulk cooking for the freezer where you should find lots of suggestions.

Pink

Newgirl_2

We cook for the freezer all the time but not necessarily in bulk every month for the whole month. But let's just say there aren't many meals cooked in this house without half being frozen for later.

Tonight we made a corned beef hash in the slow cooker and half or more will be frozen. Two nights ago it was sausages in onion gravy, half frozen. At the weekend we boiled a ham joint and froze some meat, the stock and a raft of vegetables ready to make broth.

We find it much easier to do it as we go along. Whenever you are preparing and cooking, the prep and clean up takes the same amount of time for several items as for one.

What's in our freezer at the moment? Erm..

Blackberry pie
Blueberry and coffee crumb cake
Sausage thingy (a much loved recipe from here)
Spag bol
Chilli
Ham broth
Hairy Dieters' lasagne (made with leeks instead of pasta)
Shepherd's pie filling (and cottage)
Home made tomato sauce for pasta/pizzas
Mashed potato, carrots, home grown spinach, sliced onions and peppers and gawd knows what other veg

Oh and veg puree for stews - that came from the building blocks idea I once saw on the forum.

The list of what can be done is endless. We take advantage of special offers and of our free time and on those days we are going to the trouble of cooking 'properly' we make it do double duty.

Newgirl

daisiegg

We are expecting our first baby at the end of September/beginning of October and now that I am off work for the summer (teacher) I want to start stocking the freezer with easy meals/meal components/snacks/treats for the first few weeks when baby is here and we are trying to get used to the sleep deprivation!

I batch cook anyway and usually have a very full freezer but it is almost exclusively things like chilli, bolognaise, pasta sauce, curry. I don't want to just live on things that are mince or tomato sauce based!

I also quite like the idea of things that are virtually a complete meal in themselves, so while I have never really been that into stews/casseroles I am probably going to do a few of these as they will be nourishing and easy.

I have thought of things like portioning up chicken breasts, salmon fillets etc in marinades ready for things like stir fries, or chucking in the oven to serve with easy veg or whatever.

I suppose I am just after general ideas of what I can prepare now to make our lives easier, and not just be eating pasta and chilli for weeks! Or worse - takeaways and ready meals!

Also,what potato products can you freeze? I have not heard great things about freezing cooked potato so haven't bothered before. Can you freeze mash? What about homemade wedges - is there a way to prepare them and freeze them ready to stick straight in the oven from frozen?

Sorry for the length and rambly nature of this post! I will sum up...

So - if you were heading for a period when you would not be able to/want to do much cooking, and had a big freezer, time and resources to prepare for it, what would you make/prepare? I want to try and cover at least a couple of weeks' worth of evening meals, and if there are any snacks/treats that freeze well it would be even better.

Cazza

I did this for my sister a few years ago when she was expecting her first

Chicken pie is good, put the pastry top (and bottom if you want) in place and freeze when it looks like a shop bought one. Fish pie also freezes well, the mash is fine on top. With both, find that putting them in the freezer to harden them off for a few hours then wrapping them well in foil or similar means the mash and pastry don't get squashed or frostbitten.

I know you're tryig to avoid mince based things but I've frozen ready constructed lasagne and cottage pie so they might be worth adding to the list.

Sponge cakes freeze well.......

Fillings for fajitas / tacos / enchilada, ready to ping in the microwave?

Runnerduck

Quiches freeze well and can be eaten with lots of things, also fruit crumbles if made in small dishes are great if you want a sweet treat

malamay

Do you have a slow cooker? I did a few meals from frozen baggie to slow cooker this year, and all have turned out ok! I believe I used this site: http://www.barefeetinthekitchen.com/2013/07/60-make-ahead-freezer-meals.html but there are more out there!

Wishing you all kinds of good luck!