Batch cooking ideas please

Skint_but_Optimistic

After some help and inspiration!

We batchook religiously, bolognese, curry and chili are staples. Coq au vin less often. We pad out with beans, lentils etc.

can anyone share any recipies for fantastic frugal food?

honeythewitch

1 bag of farmfoods mince and onion (two for £6)
I bag of farmfoods frozen stewpack. (three for £2)
1 bag of spuds. (£1 ish)
Beef stock cubes (10p from tesco)
White pepper. (20p Asda)
Bung the mince and vegetables in a huge pan Fry for a few minutes, add water to cover and boil.
Add the sliced spuds and some stock cubes and plenty of white pepper once the vegetables are soft.
Turn the heat down low for at least an hour but leave it as long as you like.
This is good for freezing into lots of "ready meal" helpings for the freezer.
Serve with pickled red cabbage or beetroot.

(About as basic as you can get, but handy for people starting out, It can possibly be made cheaper but this is the easiest version)

boultdj

I use good quality sausage and cut it in to 3/4 bit's and then do individule[sp?] toad in the hole, which can then be frozen.

K9sandFelines

Ratatouille, really easy and quick and can be done in SC or pan.

I use these quantities and usually gives me three servings.
1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes,
1/4 of a tin of sweetcorn or handful of frozen sweetcorn,
one onion,
1 x pepper,
1 x medium courgette,
1/3 of a carton of passatta,
herbs, garlic, s & p squirt of tomato puree.

Chop courgette and onion and fry off in pan. Add rest of ingredients, bring to the boil then simmer until courgette/onion/ pepper are cooked through. Serve with pasta and freeze remaining portions.

Similar with Ariabatta

• 2 fat red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
• 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves,peeled and crushed
• 400g passata
• 200ml vegetable stock
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Saute the red chillies, onion and garlic over a high heat for 5 minutes until softened.
2. Add the passata and stock, bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes until reduced slightly and thickened. Season to taste.
   
   I also grate a courgette into this or a carrot.

honeythewitch

Three packets of pasta (three for a pound in Asian shops)
One packet of bacon (three for six pounds in farmfoods)
1 packet of frozen mushrooms. (two for a pound, Farmfoods)
1 packet frozen peppers. (three for two pounds. Farmfoods)
Three tubs of full fat soft cheese. (61p each. Asda)
Black pepper.(20p. Asda)
Boil pasta.
Chop bacon up (with scissors) and fry with mushrooms and peppers.
Chuck it in with the cooked and drained pasta.
Add the soft cheese and black pepper.

This makes umpteen "ready meals" for the freezer.
If you dont like grey food, swap the mushrooms for sweetcorn.

zippychick

ive merged this with our batch cooking thread

Cooking for the freezer may help and bulking out meals

Zip

Ruby789

Hi all,

I'm looking for a little help. I used to be the queen of batch cooking, and meal planning was no more complicated than defrosting something and then preparing the appropriate accompaniment (rice, potato, bread). I could pretty much choose in the morning what I wanted out of my stocks for that evening. Simples.

Alas, things have changed. I have been learning to cook (not hugely successfully*), and where efficiency once reigned, now there is chaos! I have one cupboard, one fridge shelf and one freezer compartment for my food storage, all of which are now stuffed full with 'ingredients' but little actual food.

I realised (not nearly early enough) that batch cooking untested recipies was a mistake. Several horrid creations had to be eaten many times over to avoid waste and so now I'm trying to cook for one each time I try something new. Inevitably this leaves me with odds and ends to use up, more stock-piled ingredients and many more adventures in the supermarket than are safe for a girl on a budget who likes to buy things.

I am going to reduce the hoard I currently have by choosing the recipies off my wish list that use what I already have first, and then I want to start the new year with a system.

Anyone have any tips for me? How far in advance do you plan at a time? How do you leave a little flexibility in your plans?

* p.s. I am enjoying the cooking far more than the eating so far. Of 15 recipies tried, theres only 1 I'd make again.

maman

I'm a little confused here ruby.

First I thought you just took a shop bought ready-meal out of the freezer previously but then you said you used to be the 'queen of batch cooking'.


So why did you need to learn to cook? What have been trying to do that hasn't worked out?


If I could get smilies to work I'd be looking for a confused one.

meg72

Another one confused here, if you were queen of batch cooking before, why not go back to what was successful for you. and what you liked to eat.

welshbookworm

Batch cook basics eg
mince, onions and tomatoes, then you can add
curry spices and vegetables for curry
kidney beans and chilli spices for chilli
gravy and put in a dish with mash on top and brown in the oven for shepherds pie