PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Hello Forumites! However well-intentioned, for the safety of other users we ask that you refrain from seeking or offering medical advice. This includes recommendations for medicines, procedures or over-the-counter remedies. Posts or threads found to be in breach of this rule will be removed.
We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Batch cooking ideas please

Options
1464749515262

Comments

  • nataz
    nataz Posts: 435 Forumite
    Theres a great curry recipe on the boards somewhere, by Curry Queen. It consists of a huge vat of base sauce, which you can turn into almost any curry. I did it yesterday and the recipe made 4x425ml portions which is enough for 4 meals for 3-4 people! And it was mega easy and mega cheap!

    Look for Curry Night or Indian Takeaway I think :D
    Debt at LBM - £11,505
    Debt 2011 = [STRIKE]8K[/STRIKE] £7760 - DF in July 2013
    DMP Paddle no. 1 Sealed Pot No. 1375
    Grocery Challenge Aug £418.31/£450 Sept £ /£450
  • courgettes provencal/ratatouile

    pasta sauce made with toms, onions & any veg you like
  • chirpychick
    chirpychick Posts: 1,024 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    This isn't spicy but its really nice.
    We have it sometimes minus the chicken & potatoes as a sauce with pasta.


    1 Tbsp curry powder
    2 Potatoes
    Chicken
    1 Onion
    1 Garlic Clove
    1 Dessert Spoon Sugar
    1 Tbsp Tomato Ketchup
    2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

    Chop onion, garlic, cube the potatoes and chicken.
    Fry the ingredients in a saucepan with olive oil and curry powder for 5 minutes.
    Add some water with the tomato ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and sugar, cook on low heat until cooked thoroughly.
    Everything is always better after a cup of tea
  • zippychick
    zippychick Posts: 9,339 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker I've been Money Tipped!
    You can always adapt any recipe to be healthier by changing the oil and adding more veg etc :)

    ive merged this with our batch cooking thread. Cooking for the freezer may also be useful & meal building blocks for the freezer

    Zip
    A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men :cool:
    Norn Iron club member #380

  • Confuzzled
    Confuzzled Posts: 2,323 Forumite
    hello all,

    i just got a new chest freezer and i'm going to start batch cooking soon. i bought a massive box of 225 chinese takeaway containers with lids (yes they're suitable for freezing, says so right on the box :p) but i'm wondering WHAT do i use for labeling them

    i tried masking tape once but that unsticks at cold temps. does regular clear packaging tape stick in the freezer? if not what about some sort of marker pen and if those work what kind do i need?

    as you can see i'm a little clueless in the past in the freezer portion of my fridge/freezer i've never had enough cooked things in to really need to label them but if i'm cooking things for weeks in advance i think labels are definitely needed as most things look kinda brown and similar in the freezer :p
  • lisa26_2
    lisa26_2 Posts: 2,100 Forumite
    Confuzzled wrote: »
    hello all,

    i just got a new chest freezer and i'm going to start batch cooking soon. i bought a massive box of 225 chinese takeaway containers with lids (yes they're suitable for freezing, says so right on the box :p) but i'm wondering WHAT do i use for labeling them

    i tried masking tape once but that unsticks at cold temps. does regular clear packaging tape stick in the freezer? if not what about some sort of marker pen and if those work what kind do i need?

    as you can see i'm a little clueless in the past in the freezer portion of my fridge/freezer i've never had enough cooked things in to really need to label them but if i'm cooking things for weeks in advance i think labels are definitely needed as most things look kinda brown and similar in the freezer :p

    Lakeland sell labels specifically for use in the freezer. My mum also got some from poundland but she hasn't mentioned if they work ok or not.
  • I use labels bought from Asda. They are on a roll and were on the aisle with the stationary. I usually cut them in half and they stick fine.
  • Uniscots97
    Uniscots97 Posts: 6,687 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Always try to bulk cook things like chilli, spag bol etc easy just to get them out of freezer when family are coming in at different times for meals. Does anyone have any healthy recipees that I can do this with. Getting a bit bored of the same old meals but need to eat a bit more healthy. Do like quite spicy/ tasty food so any along those lines would be great.


    Can remember the proper name of this but you'll need:-

    500g mince
    500g rice
    2 onions chopped finely
    tumeric
    saffron
    garlic
    garam masala
    chilli (crushed, how many depends how hot you want it)
    cup of frozen peas
    cup of vegetable stock

    brown the mince off and drain away any fat. Cook rice (with pinch of saffron). Add chopped onions to mince and let them go soft, add
    1 clove of garlic (chopped finely) to mix, then the garam masala (1 heaped tsp), tumeric (1/2 tsp) and chilli. Stir quickly then add the stock and stir again, leave for a few minutes then add the frozen peas and leave to cook for about 10 minutes. Drain the rice (should be a nice yellow colour), and once the liquid in the mince has reduced right down then fold in the rice to the mince and serve.


    I batch make the mince part and cook rice separate each time. Wondering if I can freeze the cooked rice?
    CC2 = £8687.86 ([STRIKE]£10000[/STRIKE] )CC1 = £0 ([STRIKE]£9983[/STRIKE] ); Reusing shopping bags savings =£5.80 vs spent £1.05.Wine is like opera. You can enjoy it even if you don't understand it and too much can give you a headache the next day J
  • hi, rach is due to give birth in november, and we are looking at ways to make life easier/cheaper.

    one idea we had is to make a load of very large curries, chillis etc and portion them out before freezing. if we did this with say chicken curry, lasagne, maybe pork curry, how long are they safe to be frozen for? and how do you advise rehetaing etc?

    we have done it before with chilli with no problems, we have always let it thaw but could we reheat from frozen?

    we have a slow cooker which we use where possible, but there are times when it woudl be nice to be able to reheat a curry etc.

    any advice as to what we can cook and how to reheat etc greatly appreciated. we love asian/african dishes, but i am thinking maybe there are some soups/mexicans etc we could do aswell?

    i am planning on doing a huge food shop in october/end of htis month, and will spend a day happily cooking huge dishes to have ready to go
  • RazWaz
    RazWaz Posts: 1,070 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    As long as your freezer is freezing correctly at the right temperature things will always be safe to eat. You can reheat from frozen in the oven or microwave, as long as you make sure it is piping hot right the way through.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 351K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.6K Spending & Discounts
  • 244K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 598.9K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 176.9K Life & Family
  • 257.3K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.