Batch cooking ideas please

Kevie192

With the pizza bases, I've just been reading a long thread on here and the general consensus seems to be that you should make the bases as usual, then bake for 6 mins, remove, add toppings (if you want to) and then freeze them. These can be cooked from frozen.

I think chutneys and jams are a bit of a guessing game... I'd not keep any longer than about 4 weeks in the fridge once opened though. When making them, you sterilize the jars and then pour the chutney/jam in when it's still hot and the jar is still hot then screw on the lid. As the jam cools, it will lose some volume and seal the jar.

I also like to freeze part-cooked small new potatoes to eat like wedges. Chop them in half, add oil and spices/herbs then cook for 10mins or so before freezing on a tray. These can be cooked from frozen - think they take about 25mins or so.

HTH

Kevin x

gailey_2

Ohh thanks for tips on wedges.

did read some of freezer thread b4power cuts but wanted to know quite specific things especially the pizzas as hubby loves it and i hate making pizza dough as find it quite mssy so if i could make say 12pizzas readymade with toppings then freeze i was wondering foil hubby reckons clingfilm is just be like buying pizzas then.

I also get confused about defrosting and cooking method times as guess it depnds if it was frozen raw or cooked.

As for keep i always worry so will make 12jars of strawberry jam and 12 of blackberry and keep in fridge I guess jar a month the rest will make lovley presents only saved 12jars so need to get saving again.

The different recipies baffle me as jaimie at home had quick easy jam recipie without pectin and wasent cooked for hours said last up to a year.
Im guessing depending on how much sugar gives in shelf life.
Still got frozen mincemeat in freezer from xmas to make xmas chutney as was hit last year but meaning to experiment with other chutneys but its now june so bit slack.

was hoping to do quite a few relishes and ketchups and have big bbq for mates.
love idea of having homemade condiments. especially in winter.

We growing so much in garden this year dont want it to go waste.
so need to find recipies like carrot cake far too many carrots and freeze and either make fresh meals and freeze or blanche and freeze.

would rather batch cook in bulk then chill.
making hubby scavange more hes blooming picking blackberries with me this year and we off nut hunting as chesnuts stupidly expensive to buy.
hes city boy so not close to nature just need to ask my dad where to find nut treeas hubby wont be pleased if get him lost down country lanes again.

My biggest bugbear with my family is not so much homemade dinners have that pretty sussed its

lunches- hubby and daughter take packed lunch but might try school dinners in sept

even at home lunch is snacky affair usually sandwiches, wraps something on toast i buy reduced bread sometimes make my own out of packet mix which hubby says he eat if desperate.

wish i could make huge french stick or pain /choc/croisent.
Theres farm shop near me sells them frozen you just bung in oven would love to know how they do it, used to work for somerfeild was all frozen and bunged in oven.

condiments both hubby loves his pickes relishes and daughter adores ketchup so thinking homemade be healthier.

if I could make homemade cakes and bicuits more plus freeze could save tonnes as they huge snackers.

Can you freeze flapjacks.

guess things like shortbread or gingerbread mix best freeze the dough as gingerbread tastes nicest when just cooked and warm.

Want to do cereal bars and freeze as be fab for snacks packed lunches.

also do mini meals for 9month baby who eats more than 4year old.

Those frozen wedges sound fab idea will try no matter if we keep potatoes in dark cupboard they always seem to sprout.

I tried freezing ham b4 despite pack saying not to was ok but made me wonder if cooked joint of fresh pork then guess could freeze ham.

Sorry if questions seem silly i just want to build on what I do and step it up as its finding the time in the week need to be super organised in order to cut costs feed family of 4cheap, healthy and yummy need to cut back without them feeling deprived and inconvinenced.

Allegra

gailey wrote: »

Sorry if questions seem silly i just want to build on what I do and step it up as its finding the time in the week need to be super organised in order to cut costs feed family of 4cheap, healthy and yummy need to cut back without them feeling deprived and inconvinenced.

Did you ever see this site, Gailey ? I think they may be a thing or two there that might suit you (especially the pizza recipe - the quantities are all for 12 pizzas, just what you wanted !). If the idea grabs you, here is a bit more on batch cooking.

Oh, and there's a carrot cake recipe there, too

beerqueen

I've frozen jacket potatoes before and they're good to take into work for lunch - they don't come out with such crispy skin though.

And I've never had a chutney go off once it's been open - and sometimes we don't get through it for months and months! After all that's what the original point of chutneys and pickles were - to preserve food for eating later. I never refrigerate them, they just sit in the cupboard. Jams do sometimes go a bit mouldy but not often.

Wee_Jo

Unfortunately I can't add much more than what has been said so far - I usually just freeze the normal things like bolognese, casseroles, soup, etc...but I am learning a lot about what else can be frozen! Thanks for starting this thread, Gailey! :money:

Jo

rachbc

for crumble I freeze crumble topping in a bag and stewed fruit seperately- then I defrost fruit, add frozen topping and bake, find that more versatile as can use topping on on any fruit that needs using up etc

cooked egg things like frittata and quiche freeze well. My frozen pizza was a disaster but will try the part cook method.

Never tried freezing jacket spuds but mash freezes really well - i dollop into bun tins, freeze then take out and bag the lumps up - that way I can take out as many lumps as I need and nuke!

I tend to freeze components to make dishes rather than whole dishes - so ragu, white sauce, mash, pastry, crumble topping etc- can defrost white sauce, add fish and mash - fish pie, ragu and white sauce for lasagne etc.

chutney keeps for ever - I have some open from months ago and it still good

grandma247

If you want your jams and chutneys to be shelf stable indefinitely use the information on this
site. You do not need a special pan or jars,
it just has to be deep enough. Jar lifters are a very good idea because it is safer for your hands. They are not expensive and should last a lifetime.

gailey_2

Thanks guys

love crumble idea.

I just want to work with the seasons produce wise,make stuff then freeze or preserve as that be tasty in winter and bring food bills down.

Hubbys growing

lots of carrots- was thinking blanche and freeze, carrot cake, maybe a coleslaw which cant be frozen.

cabbage-need to find a menu that needs cabbage and can be frozen

brocoli and cauliflower could be baked with cheese or in a quiche.

onions and leeks-lots of things including soups
maybe i could try pickling for xmas

peas-seen few things on river cottage, I like them raw but hubby liked my mushy minted peas with fish

sweetcorn-again lots of things I can do with that.

pumkins-roasted wedges maybe, soup, curry as kids like pumkin.

Tomatoes-chutneys, pasta sauces, salsas.

Im sure theres more but forgot but dont want any wasted.

we off to farm shops with pick your own stwarberries and rasberries.
Would like to try tarts, crumbles, jams and icecream maybe.
Sometimes pureed fruit nice in natural yogurt for kids as its like mulller corner but much healthier.

Picking blackberries in sept hoping to make tonnes with that, even tried blackberry muffins but wasent keen might just stick with jam and crumble.

Going to try getting some chestnuts too as was going to try maybe a stuffing and a pate.

Contemplating try elderflower chamapagne as they oit at moment but seems quite technical and scary with exploding bottles.

Im quite good at savoury meals most are made from scratch now so only way to decrease shopping bill is

shop around more

less meat- tough one as im pricipled with poultry only buy freedom or free range despite hubbys moaning, get lean non fatty mince, lamb and pork quite rare.

cook much more things homemade as we do buy cakes and biscuits.
we quite boring dessrt wise and probably only have dessert once/twice a month its usually icecream or yogurt for kids.Still now and again nothing like vienetta or arctic roll.

When I think back to my nana on a sunday always had a roast dinner followed by homemade desert sadly cant afford roast weekly we try to do once a fornight and vary the meat and like duck when on offer.

Like i say dabbled with biscuits and chutney last xmas was qwuite pleased, make nice mince pies too.

What I really want to do which might be impossible is keep december grocery bill fairly low as with 2kids and large family xmas can be expensive time, we havent had turkey last 2years as couldent justify cost as got leg of lamb, goose, chicken and lobsterind lidls for same price as small free range turkey in sainsburys.

Hoping as its june I canb hone my cookery skills and

make lots of lovley presnets with jams, biscuits and hampers ect.

But my master plan is

you know in december all shops got so many lovley tempting premuim products for xmas such as

partyfayre-mini quiches, pizzas, tarts, sausage rolls.
bakery- cakes and mince pies, fancy breads
lovley flavoured hams and pates
shortbread and other lovley biscuit selctions
posh range stuffing, chutneys and gravys.

well was wondering if started early could do all these in advance and freeze or jar up so when it comes to december apart from meat maybe we have lovley gourmet homemade from scratch xmas and we wouldent even notice we tight on money as be nicer than shop stuff.

Can you freeze mince pies/
gataux not sure hopw to make but give it a go and hope they can be frozen
I take it sausage rolls, spring rolls, samosas, quiches and tarts can all be frozen as thats how they sold in supermarket.
stuffing i think you can freeze.
mince meat could make in advance as i made mine from scratch and freeze ready for mince pies.
If i can make flavoured icecreams now from berry season.
jaimie oliver flavoured butters can be frozen and really bring alive vegetables.

Dabbled with soups but need to improve as can put in flask for hubby to take to work.
need to do more exiting packed lunches think daughters having school dinners winter term maybe packled lunches for summer.

Breads only ever made from mixes would love to make from scratch with more speciality flavoured, seed loaves, rolls.

Theres so much more I can do its just doing it.
Im stay at home mum still busy with clubs, school runs and playdates but definatly could make more although spending whole weekends cookinga dfreezing suits me better than cooking daily as some days you just short on time or very tired.
So i feel happy when i got huge stash of frozen homemade readymeals in freezer my lasagne makes 10portions and hubby loves it with chips or sometimes take to work with him.

Having 4year old and 9month like to be them as natural as possible and let them know where food comes from.
Done babyled weaning with fingerfoods rather than homemade purees and been so much easier so need to get few cool recipies for kids and freeze mini kids meals and mini homemade pizzas as takes pressure off then.

rachbc

chestnuts can be boiled or roasted, peeled then frozen whole - I am seaching Leeds for a sweet chesnut tree as I adore them - hubby thought I was bonkers bringing back a carrier bag I collected when we went away for a weekend!

re bread making I found a simple 'formula' for maing bread thast can then take endless adaptatons - its done as percentages as I find then I can adjust up or down to make 1 loaf or as many as I want

100% strong white flour
60% water
1% yeast
1% sugar
1% salt

So for 1kg of flour would be 600ml water, 10g yeast (dried - use twice this for fresh), 10g suagr and 10g salt

I make a sponge as its just easiier to fit in my day - mix the water, half the flour, yeast and sugar and leave somewhere draught free (I put it in the turned off oven) for a couple fo hours or even overnight it will get bubbly and lovely smelling! Add rest of flour and salt and knead for 10 mins. Rinse the bowl out and oil it then put the dough back in, cover and leave to rise til double in size. Knock back, shape cover and leave again to prove. Bake in hot oven til sounds hollow when tapped.

can add a table spoon of oil or fat to make a softer loaf, half wholemeal flour, seeds, cheese, herbs etc etc

HoneyBee83

Im the same! I love to batch cook and freeze especially during the winter months when a filling hot meal is much needed!!
Im limited to the dishes i can do as my daughter is a little fussy. I do cottage pie,lasagne,pasta sauce,bolognese.

Freezing pizza with the topping on:make up the pizza and open freeze until firm then wrap in double thickness of foil and return to freezer. Unwrap and cook from frozen.

I've never had a problem freezing cakes:Wrap plain cakes with freezer film or foil between layers.Roll swiss rolls in cornflour not caster sugar before wrapping. Ice if you like but dont fill with jam as this soaks into the cake.Freezer life:Iced 6 months/plain 3 months/fruit 6 months +
Unwrap iced cakes before thawing-room temp up to 4hrs.Cream ones slice better when frozen. Thaw plain unwrapped-room temp 1-2 hrs.

Hope something here helps!