Home made ready meals

carrottopsuk

My nan will be going into hospital sometime in the next month or two & the hospital will be quite a distance away. We all work long hours as it is and are worried that when we get back from visiting her that we won't have the energy to cook from scratch. (which we've started to do as a family quite successfully just recently:D )

Unfortunately we just don't have the money to buy supermarket ready meals or eat out at all. She may be in hospital for many weeks so it could be very expensive if we don't plan ahead.

We were thinking about making our own ready meals in advance by batch cooking - mostly vegetarian (as I don't eat meat or poultry) but a few meat ones for the rest of the family. Therefore if we're too tired to cook, which we will be, we won't be spending a fortune or spending too much time trying to work out what to eat.

However, we've never done this before and I was wondering whether anyone has got any good recipes? Ones that involve potatoes would be especially welcome as we've got a whole big bag of potatoes that we need to use up.

Thanks

squeaky

Hiya

These threads should give you a good start:-

- Cooking for the freezer... Help!
- Cooking meals for the Freezer
- Cooking for the freezer - vegetarian

Browntoa

What about a vegetable stew , then cook some meat separately and throw that in for the meat eaters as required, all easily frozen in portions

I'm sure more will come along with ideas

carrottopsuk

Forgot to say that the rest of the family have been eating vegetarian meals with me - however I don't want to deprive them of their meat completely.

Thanks Squeaky and Browntoa. :beer:


Never thought of a stew - good idea!

Thanks for the links - I'm off to browse them now!

purpleivy

If it was me, I would start now and try and make extra portions of my every day stuff. Bol, chilli, casseroles, tomato sauce base etc in veggie and meat versions. When I get towards the end of my big bag of potatoes I do double batches and freeze mixes... Potatoes with swede, celeriac, carrots, bubble and squeak. Don't forget lots of seasoning... it's what makes it yum. Butter, black pepper, onion granules, garlic granules.

Pasta cooks quickly and it's possible to do a sauce in the time the pasta cooks.

I would also have some 'oven ready stuff' like lasagne made up. On a Sunday I quite often get Monday night's dinner ready, as I work on a Monday followed by fetching kids from school after rehearsals. It's nice to walk into the house, stick a meal in the oven and unwind with a cuppa while it's doing.

thriftmonster

We love Chilli con Patate - I think that's how you spell it - basically chilli with diced potato in instead of the meat. You can also make a very nice veggie Greek Stifado using potato instead of beef.

carrottopsuk

Brilliant advice - Thanks!!!

charlies_mum

Have you thought about investing in a slow cooker. You could put all the ingredients in and use a light timer to switch it on mid-afternoon, so your meal would be ready when you get in.

You could also do a casserole, curry, whatever, and just put one of those 2 minute sachets of rice in the microwave when you get back, or stick a couple of jacket potatoes in the microwave

Boomdocker

Thriftlady - that's sounds yummy that potato chilli dish. Do you have a recipe that you wouldn't mind posting or is it as obvious as it sounds. (Sorry for butting in to your thread Carrottop). xx

Hanniebis

charlies_mum wrote: »

Have you thought about investing in a slow cooker. You could put all the ingredients in and use a light timer to switch it on mid-afternoon, so your meal would be ready when you get in.

You could also do a casserole, curry, whatever, and just put one of those 2 minute sachets of rice in the microwave when you get back, or stick a couple of jacket potatoes in the microwave

This is a really good idea. If you're tired and coming back from the hospital you'll probably want something substantial and yummy to keep spirits up. A slow cooker is a really great investment because it makes even the super cheapest ingredients taste brilliant with a tiny bit of flavouring.. at the very least, you can throw in - left over veg, chopped potatoes, cheap lentils, veg stock, tinned tomatoes, spices (like paprika, chilli powder) and you have a really, really yummy and filling soup to have with a bit of bread. Also means you don't have to worry about defrosting things. Slow cookers are also really easy to clean.. I reckon mine's worth its weight in gold! Hope things go okay with your nan in hospital. Hth.