Batch cooking ideas please

tiger_eyes

The most simple and efficient system I've figured out is just to make huge quantities when I'm cooking, freeze the leftovers in tubs, then take out the frozen tubs and pop them straight in the microwave until bubbly hot. That way, each time I cook for dinner, I'm also making lots of future meals.

Steve059

And one recipe can lead to another. If you can make one, you can make the next one up. For example, start with a simple tomato pasta sauce, which can also be blended to make a pizza topping. Add minced meat and you've got Bolognese sauce. Then add red kidney beans & chilli powder and you've got Chilli Con Carne.

Dinner tonight for my partner and I is going to be something from the freezer that we cooked earlier.

PS. Don't tell DH about "batch washing up".

PPS. Dinner is leftover lamb hotpot, made from leftover roast lamb breast joint.

Butterfly_Brain

You can roast a joint and slice it up put it in gravy and you have a quick roast dinner.

Casseroles are easy to do just double or treble the quantities, this saves on power as well.

Mince is great, you can make cottage pie, mince and potato pie (I am am another who freezes the pastry raw, but the filling is cooked) meatballs, meatloaf, lasagne, bolognaise, pasties, keema curry and chilli.

Quiches, Bacon pasta, sausage toad, sausage pasta, HM pizza

Roast potatoes and yorkshire puddings can be frozen and reheated.

I have to go in for an operation soon so I am in a batch cooking frenzy,

So far I have in the freezer

2 x roast lamb in gravy
2 x roast beef in gravy
2x roast pork, one in gravy, one in cider sauce
1 chicken and bacon in mushroom sauce casserole
1 chicken and bacon pie (using the left over casserole)
1 mince and onion pie
2 cottage pies
2 lasagne's
4 pizza
4 calzone
2 bolognaise sauce
2 toad in the hole
2 beef casseroles
2 mediterranean pork casseroles
2 sausage casseroles
1 beef in black bean sauce
1 sweet and sour chicken
1 chicken chow mein
1 chicken korma
2 x bacon sauce for pasta
1 smoky bacon lasagne
1 barbecue chicken sauce
1 cheese and onion pie
1 sausage slice
1 steak and kidney pie
8 HM tuna fish cakes
1 Tuna sauce for pasta
3 dinners worth roast potatoes
48 yorkshire puddings
1 apple pie
1 apple crumble
1 rhubarb crumble
1 apple sponge
1 treacle pud
1 jam sponge
1 marmalade sponge
2 magic chocolate pudding
1 apple braid
1 chocolate and hazlenut braid

That should see them alright

evie451

OMG Butterfly Brain what size is your freezer! :rotfl:

Butterfly_Brain

evie451 wrote: »

OMG Butterfly Brain what size is your freezer! :rotfl:

A chest that holds 550L, I also have an upright one for everyday use

Sniggle_2

I'm rubbish at cooking and saving money.

Does anyone have any fail safe batch cooking recipes (please bare in mind I don't often cook from scratch ... See other thread).
Once frozen, how do you know how long to defrost them for?

themarsbargirl

Defrost on the side for the day if you pull it out in the morning, in the fridge if you do the night before.
I batch cook soups, pasta sauces, curries and shepherds pie base. I tend to cook up the eice/pasta when i eat.

sparrer

It's almost impossible to go wrong batch cooking in the slow cooker. I joint a chicken (or you can use chicken pieces but it's a bit more expensive) and add curry paste, bolognese or sauce of your choice and lots of veg then portion and freeze. For just myself I get around 8 portions from a small chicken. It works just as well with mince for shepherd pies etc., and cheap cuts of meat are beautifully tender after 5/6 hours in the sc.
As themarsbargirl says ideally you should take the dish out of the freezer in the morning but if you're in a hurry the mw usually has a defrost button. Take it out of the mw and give it a good stir every few minutes so it defrosts evenly.

JIL

If you have a slow cooker and want to ease yourself in gently, Schwartz do packet mixes especially for slow cookers. I got my parents to try them as they were keen to use their slowcooker but used too much liquid.
Have a look on the first page of the April grocery challenge there's loads of recipes on there.

Collieheartsyou

Batch recipes like cold pasta salad or rice salad with last for about 3 days in the fridge, which is perfect for lunches or as a quick snack. Your family can just help themselves to it whenever they want.