Bulk cooking (to bung in oven later) tips and help with foil trays

kr15snw

So now that I'm working for myself, we don't tend to get home until 7ish from work. And ideally we'd like a meal we can bung in the oven for 30 - 60 minutes while we shower etc and then just enjoy.

So far we have done lasagne (which took an hour to cook from frozen but was great with some garlic break ) and last week we tried freezing left over home made curry. This was lovely!! We just ignored it in the oven for about 40 minutes and then did a pack of microwave rice and some naan bread in the toaster. So easy to make and tasted as good as it did fresh!

So my other question now is can I do this with spag bowl? (Just the meat and the sauce) as it doesn't take much to pop a bowl of pasta on the hob while the sauce / meat is in the oven cooking from frozen. Anyone found any issues with this?

Plus anyone got any tips on the metal takeaway trays? We've found larger ones (think what your standard indian meat comes on) which is good for my OH (hes a pig, lol) and the rice size ones (perfect for a single lasagna). But this is too much for me! Does anyone know where we can get mini ones? (About half the size of the rice ones). I'm using the foil ones at the moment as they are oven friendly, but any other tips are welcome!

Plus any tips for finding these things cheap? Tesco has them but they are pretty expensive!!

Thanks in advance guys

Piggybanker

Hi

I do spag bol and chilli in bulk all the time, and freeze in the foil trays you describe. I've managed to find them sometimes in £ shops or even market stalls.

Another tip - I cook lots (ie about 10) portions of rice at a time. I then put that in foil trays, and then to cook I take straight from freezer, add a tiny amount of boiling water (like a couple of tablespoons tiny), cover tightly again and leave in the oven for about 25mins.

HTH
Piggy

Penelope_Penguin

kr15snw wrote: »

So my other question now is can I do this with spag bowl? (Just the meat and the sauce) as it doesn't take much to pop a bowl of pasta on the hob while the sauce / meat is in the oven cooking from frozen. Anyone found any issues with this?

It's spag bol short for spaghetti Bolognaise

Why not take your sauce out the night before, defrost in the fridge until the next evening. That way you can warm it in a pan on the hob. You'll save money on foil trays (use old margarine tubs to freeze the sauce) and you'll use far less fuel than heating up the oven.

Penny. x

BitterAndTwisted

My local pound shop has those foil trays with lids. I think they come in packs of eight but I'm not certain as I don't buy them myself. I think they do plastic ones as well which would be handy for heating things in the microwave if you have one. I think if one of those metal trays is too large a portion for you I don't see why couldn't half-fill one and just mark it with a pen or felt-tip on the lid as a you-sized portion rather than a hubby-sized one.

Of course your bolognese sauce can be frozen but I'd be minded to turn it out into a saucepan and simmer it rather than heating it in the oven. Putting the oven on just to heat a bit of sauce sounds like a waste of a hot oven to me unless you've got something else cooking in there at the same time.

Pitlanepiglet

I have a stack of foil containers that came from Costco that work OK for us, I like them as they stack nicely in the freezer. As said by others, I don't cook from frozen though, I take them out in the morning or the night before and reheat in a pan whilst cooking the rice/pasta/potatoes or whatever I'm having. I also find that I can re-use the trays more easily if they haven't been in the oven for an hour.

emg

I freeze things like spag bol and chilli in plastic takeaway containers or old margarine tubs. I take them out of the freezer in the morning and by the time I get home from work they have defrosted and I just heat them in a saucepan while I cook my rice or pasta. The only things I freeze in those foil trays are lasagne and shepherds pie because of having to cook them in the oven. I dont really like using the foil ones because of the expense and waste so if anyone has any alternatives I'd be pleased to hear them!

MrsBartolozzi

What you could do is once the meal is frozen pop it out of the foil tray into a freezer bag and use tray for another meal. Just put the frozen block into an oven proof dish and cook as you would normally.
Instead of mini ones you could just put a portion in a freezer bag and then when cooking put in an oven proof dish. My cereal bowls are oven proof and I often use these for small portions as they fit in the dishwasher and I don't have to wash by hand .

zippychick

MrsBartolozzi wrote: »

What you could do is once the meal is frozen pop it out of the foil tray into a freezer bag and use tray for another meal. Just put the frozen block into an oven proof dish and cook as you would normally.
Instead of mini ones you could just put a portion in a freezer bag and then when cooking put in an oven proof dish. My cereal bowls are oven proof and I often use these for small portions as they fit in the dishwasher and I don't have to wash by hand .

Exactly what I would have said.:D I use the same 3 containers to freeze mine and they all fit in like little bricks. I put the food in the tub, with the tub lined in a freezer bag. It's kind of scary it's so perfect actually!:eek: Then once frozen , i remove the tubs and keep for the next time.

Kr - So you've got the cost of the oven and the convenience of not stirring in a pot/ the cost of the foil trays/ and the longer cooking time VS Taking it out the night before and reheating in a pot which would take 5-10 minutes, and washing a pot .

I don't know why but I wouldn't be comfortable constantly cooking food from frozen but that's just my personal preference.:) I was always taught to defrost food properly for food safety so I try to do that where possible. It's entirely your choice though The food standards agency site may be useful

Some other threads which may help

Batch cooking ideas please

How do you freeze your batch cooking?

Freezer containers

meal building blocks for the freezer

Cooking for the freezer

Really most dishes can be frozen to be honest :A

I'll add your thread to the batch cooking one later

thanks:)
Zip

Linda32

kr15snw wrote: »

lus anyone got any tips on the metal takeaway trays? We've found larger ones (think what your standard indian meat comes on) which is good for my OH (hes a pig, lol) and the rice size ones (perfect for a single lasagna). But this is too much for me! Does anyone know where we can get mini ones? (About half the size of the rice ones). I'm using the foil ones at the moment as they are oven friendly, but any other tips are welcome!

Plus any tips for finding these things cheap? Tesco has them but they are pretty expensive!!

Thanks in advance guys

Hi, I havn't read the thread so sorry if I'm repeating anything, but what I do is indeed portion mince type things, then freeze in sandwich boxes, they are about £1.00 each from Tesco etc but obviously they can be washed and reused. You can microwave these but we havn't got one.

When I want to cook the mince or whatever, I tip it into a pot dish, pirex or whatever and spread it out and cook in this.

annie-c

I just use freezer quality plastic food bags for spag bol. Just let it cool a bit then ladle it into the bags. Once fully cool stick in the freezer. Defrost overnight or just rip the bag off and defrost and reheat in the microwave.

I save foil containers for things that need to be baked like shep pie, lasagne. Also over time I have built up a collection of pyrex rectangular glass dishes, which come with plastic lids for storage in the freezer. They come in a range of sizes suitable for small indiv portions up to big family size. I think the range is called Presto and they are in all the supermarkets, the Range and Dunelm.

sooty&sweep

Hi

Have you tried using a slow cooker ?

I prep the ingredients the night before and put it into the fridge.

Plug in in the morning and come home to hot meal !

I love the smell when you walk in through the front door !

Jen