Batch cooking ideas please

BitterAndTwisted

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

I thought shop bought prepared meals had the air 'sucked' out of them, when they put the film over the top of them, slowing down the bacteria.

No, I'm absolutely certain that they don't do that and am pretty sure that it wouldn't halt or slow down the growth of bacteria in any case.

I've cooked and stored meals in the fridge and eaten them a lot longer than a week afterwards and have never suffered any ill-effects, but if you're concerned perhaps cooking and freezing would work better for you. Then you just take whatever it is out of the freezer in the morning and let it defrost in the fridge till you get home in the evening.

JulieGeorgiana

I am the same!! I don't like 'reheated food' so I make a lasagna, and freeze it after I put it together... and bake it when I want it (45 minutes)

With Cottage pie you can make and freeze the mince and veg, I then add the mash fresh and place in the oven!

Frozen soups and stews can be re-heated on the hob, which means they taste the same (if not better, because it thickens) then freshly made!

Also make pies, freeze before you would normally oven cook... and just bung in the oven when you want it!!

Most will cook from frozen (if the dish you freeze it in can handle the sudden change in temperatures without breaking)

One tip if to line the dish in greeseproof paper make your dish (ie. Lasagne), freeze and remove the lasagne from the dish and wrap up. Then you get your dish to room temperature place away. when you want to cook the lasagne you unwrap it, place in the dish then overcook from frozen... without damaging your dish

I go back to work Monday after 6 weeks off work... the next two weeks I only have to cook on Saturdays and Sundays because we will live out of the freezer!

Good luck x

pink_numbers

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

I am the same!! I don't like 'reheated food' so I make a lasagna, and freeze it after I put it together... and bake it when I want it (45 minutes)

Why did I not think of this before???

Thank you for yet another useful tip, oh queen of thrifty tips!

JulieGeorgiana

pink_numbers wrote: »

Why did I not think of this before???

Thank you for yet another useful tip, oh queen of thrifty tips!

LOL I just got fed up of rubber Lasagne from reheating frozen stuff!!!

meritaten

I would make a batch of chilli, a batch of stew, a batch of curry and a big pot of mashed potato and another of rice. leave some in fridge for the next three days meals (I personally wont leave them longer than that). the mashed pots I would take a tip from Aunt b and freeze them as little balls - then you can defrost what you need. rice is ok cooked from frozen if you smother it in sauce after! and then reheat! otherwise it needs a little added water.
Along with super quick stir fry suppers and plenty of salad in the fridge that should see you through til the end of the week - maybe one takeaway if you really are pushed for time?

though to be honest - by the time I have defrosted and reheated a frozen meal - I can cook a meal from scratch!

bluebellbunny

Personally I would only keep for max 2 or 3 days and check the use bys on the ingredients of food I have cooked to make sure it'll even last that long, remember you won't be adding anything to preserve you food so it won't keep as long as supermarket food. I seem to get a bad tummy if something is even slightly bad so maybe I'm over cautious. But even if you kept it for 3 days that'd feed you until Thursday then you only have two days to cook and you could do a couple of quick dinner like stir-fry/pasta/salad/a quick curry etc etc.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

thanks....i was thinking 3 - days too, so you have put my mind at rest..:T
guess what i am doing all day today...lol....

zippychick

What ya making triker?

I'll merge this with the batch cooking thread later on

thanks
Zip

rusticgal

I think they should change the name from ONCE A MONTH cooking. Too tiring to do it all on one day. I am only cooking for one.

My chest freezer is fairly full by just cooking a large batch of something once a week.

This last week I cooked sausage and eggplant casserole & egyptian soup. Cooked a whole chicken in the slow cooker, that flesh is going to be used for chicken casserole and chicken and mushroom quiche.

Last week I cooked Minestrone soup and mince base for things like pies etc. NOW I HAVE TO START EATING!

MatyMoo

Please would you wonderful ladies point me in the right direction for easy recipes for batch cooking and then home freezing.

I usually make Spag Bol, Chilli and Curry but think it is time for a change.
I am particularly interested in hearty soups (Root veg maybe), Stews, Casseroles.

I seem to have a lot of pearl barley so something that uses that too would be great.

I have seen some recipes that include leeks but they don't freezer very well do they?

Thanks in advance