Batch cooking ideas please

boydE

Could I have some ideas for cooking meals in bulk, I have cooked
must be able to freeze.

tikka masala
balti
chili con carne
cottage pie

Linda32

Hi,

I've never mastered my own curry so I can't help with those. They smell lovely but taste of nothing

As for Chili and Cottage pie, well you just cook a saucepan full of chili and freeze in portions. The cottage pie, I personally would cook the meat part before you put in the oven and freeze this part.
After defrosting I would make separate mash as I wanted it.

Hope that helps.

midnightraven3

i make lasagne/spag bol base (sauce/i use quorn mince/onions etc)
and i freeze flat in ziploc bags, in 1 portion sizes

then when i know how many for dinner that night i can take what i need and either make lasagne or spag bol for dinner that night
as they are frozen flat they defrost in the fridge by dinner time, and i just assemble before putting in the oven or making spaghetti

i freeze lots of dinners this way as all 3 of our children are students so come and go at all times

Pink.

All of those will freeze well.

Try these existing threads for more ideas:

Batch cooking ideas please

Cooking for the Freezer..

I'll add this thread to one of those later.

Pink

Redlady.....

I have stopped pre cooking and now freeze meals, ready to cook.

I did away with all the boxes and takeaway containers and invested in Lakeland lockable bags (stronger than the others)and started to freeze meals in marinades and stocks, uncooked, then froze them flat and thin. I really love doing it this way but would like some new ideas.

At the moment I prepare stews (fry the meat off) curries and mince dishes. Does anyone have any nice marinades that I can use or different recipes that would work this way?

gemmylou86

Hi all!

Hope I'm posting in the right area and please feel free to point me in the right direction if there's already a similar thread out there!

I'm a stay at home mum to a 1 year old and as I have the spare time I'm setting myself a challenge for 2013 to start batch cooking and then freezing meals or at least bases for meals. Me and my partner are spending too much on food and have a lot of waste. Also would like to up our veggies and generally be healthier, as well as save money.

Has anyone got any healthy, tasty ideas and basically tips on how I'd go about this?
I even need ideas on the basics e.g the best ways to store in freezer (plastic tubs, foil, bags!), how long things last in the freezer and what does and doesn't freeze well.

Thanks in advance
Gemma

Betty_Crumble

Hi Gemmylou, I batch cook and would love to be of assistance.
I have posted a couple of times about it (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=52513673&postcount=565
&
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/57500309#Comment_57500309 )

Takeaway containers are brill for stuff that wants nuking and foils for things like lasagne and shepherds pie.

I use these bags from ikea for stuff like veggies and cheese



and i wash these out, if im pre portioning meat or bread/rolls i use a polythene bag first then pop em into these.

Soup bags are brill, i buy these from £ shops when they have them



Brill source for freezable slow cooker recipes here http://www.mamaandbabylove.com/category/slow-cooker/

good luck, i pop absolute 80's on the radio and i'm in my element lol

zippychick

Ive merged this with our batch cooking thread?

Cooking for the freezer may help, and freezer containers and what foods can/can't you freeze

Hope this helps
Zip

meg72

Today I bought 800grms essential mince from Aldi, 2,49 an thought I would have a play and see how many meals I can make from it.

I live alone so divided the pack into 4 200grms.

Taking 1 200grms I decided to make chilli con carne
added 1 onion, 1/3 cup of lentils,1 sp carton of passata, 1 tin red kidney beans.and chilli powder

This has made a good 5 portions at around 25p each. This for me but would only be 1.25 for family of 4

So the challenge is how many meals can you make with 200grms Aldi mince

splishsplash

I had a really quick and easy mince dinner tonight. Fried off 200g mince with garlic (4 cloves), chilli (green), ginger (1 inch, or 1 teaspoon dried), then add 1 tbsp soy sauce and 1 tbsp oyster sauce. If I'd had spring onions, I would've added four or five of them sliced thinly on the diagonal. But I hadn't, so I didn't.

Seved it on a bed of rice and a huge helping of cabbage and carrots. I shredded the (savoy) cabbage and sliced the carrots on the diagonal, steamed both then stirfried in sesame oil for about 4-5 minutes.

It's a really nice, fragrant, flavourful, fast dinner - takes no more than 20 minutes.

I'm not sure if your challenge is about how far you can stretch the 200g or how many uses there are for 200g minced beef... I aim to have 90 - 100g per person, unless I'm adding extra protein in the form of pulses/cheese/etc, so tonight's cooking yielded 2 pretty substantial dinners.