Help with erratic meal ideas

tallyhoh

I'm returning to work full time soon after a few years off. Problem is trying to plan meals & budget ahead.
My OH never knows more than a day ahead whether he will be home or not for meals & my son & his girlfriend are the same.
So I never know if I will be cooking for 1 or 4 each day at tea time.
I really need some ideas for meals that can be sorted & cooked quickly at short notice.
I try & buy fresh but find its wasted if no-one is home.

Thanking you in advance.

Magentasue

I'm finding the transition from cooking for six every night to everybody in an out difficult. Easiest is cooking for the max and freezing leftovers in individual portions. Some things work better than others. Rice better than baked potatoes, for example.

hot.chick

how about always cookingfor 4 and portioning what ever is left and freezing 1 portion size ready meals for other days?

You could do this with the main bit of the meal and cook veggies fresh for who ever is there on the night?

sorry if this wasn't what u were thinking

good luck getting into a new routine

Butterfly_Brain

I agree with hot.chick I would make loads of HM ready meals and freeze them - Then when you need them just warm them through

Patchwork_Quilt

I find our slow cooker is good for this. We can take out as many portions as needed and serve them with rice - which is quick to cook - and the rest can be frozen or used for lunches.

Equally, salads will last a day or two in the fridge if they are not eaten.

ChocClare

How about "assembling" HM ready meals, which you can then take as many or as few of as you like? I know you like to buy fresh, but there is a world of difference between frozen meals you've made yourself and the ready-bought variety.

It is a brillo idea to make up a basic ragu and freeze it for bolognese, cottage pie etc, but you can also look at the supermarket "ready to cook" shelves for inspiration.

For example: season 4 chicken breasts; put a slice of mozzarella on the top of each and wrap in a slice of bacon. Open freeze until they're unlikely to stick together, then put in a plastic bag, seal, date and freeze. I'm assuming you'll know in the morning who is likely to be home for supper? You can then take as many or as few out of the freezer as you like and serve with pasta and veg, which are quick.

If you want meals which are ready in no time, then how about some storecupboardy things? For example, if you keep a jar of pesto in the cupboard, some tinned tomatoes, onions, garlic, bacon, eggs and a lump of cheese always in the fridge? Cook pasta and stir through pesto sauce, add cheese, you're done. Similarly, you can grate a courgette, stir through hot pasta, add cheese. Make a tomato sauce by boiling up a tin of tomatoes, a chopped onion, a grated carrot, a glug of oil, pepper and salt and a spoonful of sugar, some herbs, letting simmer for 15 minutes and then zhuzhing it up with a stick blender. That can cook while your pasta is cooking. Stir in some creme fraiche and some cheese, mix in your pasta and some shredded wafer thin ham, cover with cheese and breadcrumbs and bung under the grill for a pasta bake.

If you don't like pasta, put some oil in an oven dish, add some sliced onions, diced potatoes, chopped bacon and mixed herbs; mix in well with your fingers so it all gets coated with oil; bung in a hottish oven for 20 minutes, zhuzh it round (the potatoes should be cooked if you've cut them small enough), break some eggs over the top (I usually allow 2 per person, set in the four "quarters" of the dish) and maybe some halved tomatoes and mushrooms and put back in the oven for another 10 minutes until the eggs are cooked. Yum - a posh fry-up, which you could eat with some crusty bread if you needed to add more calories (unlikely!).

If you've got a microwave, then you can "bake" potatoes in it - use smallish ones and then you can slice and use these as part of a Spanish omelette.

Unless I'm cooking for "company", all my weekday meals have to be made and served within half an hour. I often plan ahead. I often don't. You can come up with a meal from scratch for one or four people quite easily if you make those your rules!

princess_lou

Chocclare- I love ur chicken bacon mozzeralla idea and if u have any more i would love to know them as im starting college soon and rubbish at batch cooking ideas... thanku x x

Pink.

princess_lou wrote: »

Chocclare- I love ur chicken bacon mozzeralla idea and if u have any more i would love to know them as im starting college soon and rubbish at batch cooking ideas... thanku x x

Hi princess lou,

There are lots of batch cooking ideas on these threads:

Batch cooking ideas please

Cooking for the Freezer..

and this thread may be useful for you while you're at college:

Roll Over Cookery

Pink

mummysaver

Have a nose down the ready meal aisles at the supermarket to get some inspiration, then it's simple to recreate the ones you like and freeze them in individual portions (takeaway cartons are good for this, or old marg tubs or you can buy 10 for £1 plastic boxes at poundland). I alway have hm individual portions of curry, lasagne, chilli, cottage pie in the freezer, and usually hm pizzas and larger lasagnes and casseroles as well for when we all need a night off and a quick meal.

Anything bunged in the slow cooker is great as everyone can help themselves and food can really be stretched in there, so there should be extra for freezing. Soups are always good and so easy to make up and leave in the fridge ready for reheating and serving with crusty rolls.

BTW the chicken wrapped in bacon also works well with thighs and makes it a bit cheaper! Currently it's my kids favourite, but doing it with chicken breasts all the time is too expensive! We serve it with hm wedges and lots of veg or salad.

got-it-spend-it

I totally agree with the idea of making meals for four at a time, then freezing anything not used in individual portions. It also means that some nights when it's just you, you can grab something out the freezer and have a night off cooking. I love doing this!

debtmuncher

rice/pasta/cous cous take minutes to cook so keep these in store for those who want a quick meal.

as the others say keep a selection of meals in the freezer to go with it, individually portioned up so they can just choose whatever they want.

you might want buy pizza bases (or make your own for the freezer) , sauce in the freezer cheese as well and they can make them when they want to.