Batch cooking ideas please

coldcazzie

Yeah courgettes and mushrooms don't freeze well at all. Potatoes can be parboiled and then frozen if you want although they should keep fine. Onions, peppers, carrots, celery, should all be fine. My freezer meals are a range of soups, a range of homemade pasta sauces, lasagne, cottage pie, casseroles - pork, turkey, beef, lamb, and sausage, curry, chilli, bolognese (I make a batch, use it to make x number of lasagnes, then stick the rest in pots to mix with pasta). Also have various supplies for making the above things: frozen chicken leftovers for curry, cooked ham for things like chicken and ham pie, simple ham risotto, sausages for toad in the hole and sausage casserole, etc etc.

Jellybabies

Thanks again for all the advice.

Just found a good website which advises how to "blanche" different types of vegtables (was going to post the link but it won't let me as i'm new)

I want a get a good list going for shopping so i have everything prepared for next weekend!

Is chicken ok to cook and freeze?

Jellybabies

coldcazzie wrote: »

Yeah courgettes and mushrooms don't freeze well at all. Potatoes can be parboiled and then frozen if you want although they should keep fine. Onions, peppers, carrots, celery, should all be fine. My freezer meals are a range of soups, a range of homemade pasta sauces, lasagne, cottage pie, casseroles - pork, turkey, beef, lamb, and sausage, curry, chilli, bolognese (I make a batch, use it to make x number of lasagnes, then stick the rest in pots to mix with pasta). Also have various supplies for making the above things: frozen chicken leftovers for curry, cooked ham for things like chicken and ham pie, simple ham risotto, sausages for toad in the hole and sausage casserole, etc etc.

Thank you, loads of great suggestions there!

Can I ask what you use when you make your bolognaise and chilli?

pinkypig

Mashed carrot and swede freezes well as does braised red cabbage with apples. Sliced green beans and broad beans are also OK.
I tried freezing par boiled potatoes to roast from frozen as recommended on here and they were great.:T

PP xx

Jellybabies

pinkypig wrote: »

Mashed carrot and swede freezes well as does braised red cabbage with apples. Sliced green beans and broad beans are also OK.
I tried freezing par boiled potatoes to roast from frozen as recommended on here and they were great.:T

PP xx

Thank you

Do you think mashed potato freezes?

Pink.

Hi Jellybabies,

These threads should give you some ideas:

Batch cooking ideas please

Cooking for the Freezer..

Freezing vegetables

Freezing fresh Mash

I'll add your thread to the first link later.

Pink

Patchwork_Quilt

I don't blanch veg to be frozen if they are not going to be in the freezer more than three months. It seems like a lot of fuss to me and I did read somewhere that G00d H0usekeeping said it didn't make any difference to the taste. However, you may want to try it.

Linda32

Jellybabies wrote: »

Is chicken ok to cook and freeze?

Yes it is, this is what I do and infact did so yesterday. I bought a chicken from Co-op in the morning and cooked as per instructions.

I then stripped the meat of the bone and portioned up in plastic food boxes. (We got four portions for two of us)

Three I froze and one I put in the fridge to have later.

Now if we are having it hot which we only do in the winter. I re-heat in Gravy (you might think this sounds odd, but it keeps it nice and moist, and you put gravy on your dinner anyway, as long as you use Bisto that is) Make up gravy and stir in chicken, in the oven at gas mark 6 for 30 minutes. You oven might be different but you want it bubbling away.

Alternatively, I pour a jar of curry sauce over (I've never mastered home made currys, they smell wonderful when cooking but taste of nothing) re-heat in the same way and make a batch of rice and naan breads to serve.

The portions which I have frozen, say next Saturday tea time I will take one portion out of the freezer and pop in the fridge until Sunday tea time then re-heat as above.

If its summer time we have chicken salad and use the defrosted chicken without re-heating it. Its quite safe, its been cooked after all.

Trust me, I'm a complete wuss about this sort of thing and never ever take a risk

krlyr

Jellybabies wrote: »

Thank you

Do you think mashed potato freezes?

Definately, we've started buying sacks of potatoes and preparing them. About 1/3 as HM wedges (chopped, par-boiled, then coated in olive oil & seasoning), 1/3 as mash potato and the rest a mix of roasties and hash browns.
I freeze the mash portioned into plastic takeaway tubs and tend to just microwave straight from frozen for dinner. It can take a little longer than expected to heat all the way through and does ideally need decanting into a bigger bowl when partially cooked so that you can stir it - otherwise the middle tends to stay frozen (or at least, colder than the rest). Also it can go a little softer when microwaved so now I tend to make it up with a bit less milk than usual, slightly 'stodgier' than usual, and it microwaves to a good consistancy. When it's nearly done, check in it on frequently because overmicrowaved potato can go quite runny!

Jellybabies

Thanks again everyone!

I have loads of ideas now! Just need to make up a list of ingredients i'll need for it all.

I don't think i'll bother blanching the veg (except potatoes). I definitely won't be making more than a months worth as my freezer isn't that big! I'd like to invest in a chest freezer if it goes well. I'm really hoping it does, it will be such a time saver, cheaper and will save us wasting food which I hate!

Thanks everyone again for the suggestions and links. I'll definitely be keeping this to refer back to x