Batch cooking ideas please

elf06

Hi MatyMoo. To be honest I find that most things can be frozen so I would just make more of whatever I was cooking and portion up for the freezer. In the past I have frozen most kinds of soup, rhubarb crumble, quiche, mac cheese, lasagne, chilli, spag bol, curry, stews, wine, yog, sandwiches etc. Maybe if you posted some things that you like to eat and would be likely to make excess of then we could say whether or not we'd freeze it??

As for leeks - I have a tub of raw sliced leeks in my freezer ready for chucking into a soup or bake and they are fine.

HTH

Olliebeak

One of my favourite meats for using in batch cooking is 'Diced Turkey Thigh'. I use it anything that requires 'diced chicken breast/thigh' and defy anyone who says they can tell the difference in a casserole!

My basic method is to sweat an onion(s), chopped peppers (frozen if necessary), mushrooms and a couple of cloves of garlic (chopped). Remove from pan and add the diced turkey thigh (may need pieces cutting a bit smaller) and quickly brown in the pan before adding the veggies back into it. At that point, I add a tin of chopped tomatoes, some mixed dried herbs (or fresh ones if you have them) and crumbled chicken stock cube(s).

That mixture can become a 'chilli-style' meal with the addition of some paprika/chilli/cayenne and kidney (or mixed) beans and a good slug of 'Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce'.

Leave out the garlic and peppers; keep the mushrooms, add chopped carrots and leeks and it becomes a decent 'Turkey Casserole' - can even add some pulses to s-t-r-e-t-c-h it even further.

I do similar with Turkey Mince and Pork Mince (depending on what I find on whoopsie) - both much cheaper than Beef Mince. Can also use any whoopsied sausages for the same type of meal.

moneydad25

Chicken Casserole.
Buy a whole chicken (or several when they're on special offer).
Bone it out - remove breasts, legs, wings etc. And freeze them for use in other dishes.
Roast the remaining carcass to cook the meat left on it and then pick it over - this is the meat you'll use in the casserole.
boil up the bones in a pan with an onion and some mixed herbs, salt and pepper, and make a stock. When the stock is made, set it to one side.
Lightly fry some onion, and then add the chicken meat from the carcass. Add in other vegies like carrots, swede, turnip, leeks, mushrooms, peas, and anything else you have lying around (great way of using old vegies up). Sweat the whole lot gently for a few minutes, and then add the stock you made. season, and pop in the oven for a couple of hours on a low heat. If you like dumplings, make some of these and add after 1.5 hours.
Portion out and freeze. (If you want it readymeal style, cook your potatoes or rice as well and pop this in the container first so the casserole juices cover it, then freeze). Easy!

cooking-mama

moneydad25 wrote: »

Chicken Casserole.
Buy a whole chicken (or several when they're on special offer).
Bone it out - remove breasts, legs, wings etc. And freeze them for use in other dishes.
Roast the remaining carcass to cook the meat left on it and then pick it over - this is the meat you'll use in the casserole.
boil up the bones in a pan with an onion and some mixed herbs, salt and pepper, and make a stock. When the stock is made, set it to one side.
Lightly fry some onion, and then add the chicken meat from the carcass. QUOTE]

---

Not trying to be funny,but what meat is left on a chicken carcass after removing breasts/legs/wings etc?....I often boil up a carcass for soup but there never seems to be any actual meat left,certainly not enough for a casserole...am i doing something wrong?

Linda32

MatyMoo wrote: »

I am particularly interested in hearty soups (Root veg maybe), Stews, Casseroles.

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

Thanks in advance

I've got Sausage Casserole defrosting at the moment

This is the receipe, I ADAPTED

Sausage and [STRIKE]Kidney[/STRIKE] Casserole

25g/1oz Butter or Marge - I didn't weigh this, just cut abit off, used Butter
225g/80z Chipolate sausages - halved. Used pack of 8 beef sausages for Sainsburys £1.32 cut into bite sized chunck
8 lambs' Kidneys Didn't use these at all, only due to extra cost.
1 large onion
15g/½oz flour
300ml/½ pint beef stock, made up on beef oxo used half this and half wine - wine is upto you obviously
6 tablespoon of white wine - see above thought red sounded better than white.
Salt and Pepper
½ teaspoon of dried dill havn't got any, usually use mixed herbs
100g/4oz Mushrooms

This is what I did,

Skin sausages (slice skin lengthways, then peel skin off)
Cut into bite sized pieces, fry until browned.
Receipe says fry kidneys at this point if you use.
But into casserole dish
fry onions in same pan
stir in flour
stock
wine
salt
pepper
dill - if used
bring to boil
stir in chopped mushrooms
pour into casserole
cook for 180c/350f gas mark 4 30-40 mins

I do the frying in two seperate sauscepans, as I don't have one pan big enough.

This made four meals for two adults. With potatoes and veg.

When it defrosts, pour into a casserole dish and make up one oxo, reheat, in my case gas mark 6 for 30 mins, 10 mins before pour abit of the gravy out, mix with a litte cornflour and pour back in.

Makes lovely really thick gravy - from someone who sometimes uses proper Bisto made thicker than the directions on the pack

JoJoB

A good way is to batch cook different meals out of the same ingredients if you can.

For example I make shepherds pies and chilli at the same time. As I don't eat meat I fry onions and garlic then split into two heavy based pans. To one I add the spices for chilli (paprika, chilli powder etc) and warm those up before adding chopped tomatoes, quorn mince, lentils, kidney beans and mixed veg. I add a cup of marmite infused stock to give a meaty kick, and tomato puree.

To the other pan I add the quorn mince, lentils, chopped tomatoes, marmite stock, tomato puree and worcestershire sauce to taste. This makes the base for the shepherds pie. I decant this into foil containers, freeze, and add mashed potato topping later.

moneydad25

cooking-mama wrote: »

moneydad25 wrote: »

Chicken Casserole.
Buy a whole chicken (or several when they're on special offer).
Bone it out - remove breasts, legs, wings etc. And freeze them for use in other dishes.
Roast the remaining carcass to cook the meat left on it and then pick it over - this is the meat you'll use in the casserole.
boil up the bones in a pan with an onion and some mixed herbs, salt and pepper, and make a stock. When the stock is made, set it to one side.
Lightly fry some onion, and then add the chicken meat from the carcass. QUOTE]

---

Not trying to be funny,but what meat is left on a chicken carcass after removing breasts/legs/wings etc?....I often boil up a carcass for soup but there never seems to be any actual meat left,certainly not enough for a casserole...am i doing something wrong?

I guess in part it depends on how deeply you cut to remove the breasts - maybe you're just better at it than me . I find roasting it at this point helps you to see what's left and to strip it properly clean, there's a fair bit around the back and ribs too.

Actually to be honest, I normally do 2 or 3 carcasses at a time so that the small(ish) amount of meat which comes from each carcas is plenty for a casserole, though I suppose if you want a LOT of meat you could always add the meat from a wing or two back in if you wanted. We suplement with a lot of veg so don't find that necessary.

doire_2

JoJoB wrote: »

To the other pan I add the quorn mince, lentils, chopped tomatoes, marmite stock, tomato puree and worcestershire sauce to taste. This makes the base for the shepherds pie. I decant this into foil containers, freeze, and add mashed potato topping later.

Good idea

zippychick

Hi

Here's a list of threads - you will be reading all day :j

Batch cooking ideas please

Meal building blocks for the freezer - this thread is good for "transforming" meals

Cooking for the freezer

Nutritionally good meals for the freezer

Help - cooking from frozen

Freezing HM ready meals

Freezing vegetables

Freezing rice

Can you freeze risotto?

I'll merge this once you get some more input

thanks
Zip

WhitmoreReans

I love batch cooking as well! A good source of containers for storing and stacking is poundland - 10 containers for £1!

In terms of batch cooking I also cook similar things to make the prep easier - I will cook bolognese, chilli and cottage pie at the same time, using the same basic veg to start - onions, grated carrot and celery (if I can find it cheap somewhere) - I can then add the right spices, seasonings and extras as needed. I love to make an extra large batch of bolognese and bake some of it into a lasagne. It makes it seem like an extra option where rummaging around the freezer the night before!

Plus, I got a slow cooker for christmas last year and just shove a load of things in at the begining of the cooking session and then 6 hours later I have a lovely stew with no effort. I just leave it there to do its thing whilst I get on with the bolognese, cottage pie and chilli. Ratatouille is done really easily in a slow cooker - that's another thing I portion up and use as an instant vegetable side dish. It's so gratifying to have an additional number of meals ready to go in the freezer with all the other dishes I have slaved over, with very little additional effort.

Plus, my main big tip is to bulk out meat dishes with grated carrot and dried red lentils - They add such a sweet taste to the dishes and make the meat go a lot further. Cottage pie and chilli really do taste loads better with them in!

Another thing I like doing is buying carrots and parsnips when they are reduced - I simply peel and slice up thinly and bag up into portions for the two of us. When I want parsnip and carrot chips (healthier than real ones!) I put them in the oven and after 10-15 min (when they have defrosted a little) add salt, pepper and a little oil and roast . You can add a little honey 5 min before the end. It's really easy, cheap and tasty.