How to freeze large meals?

lindseykim13

I did a search but couldn't find anything, i have tons of woopsie meats in the freezer and want to turn them into homemade ready meals that i can throw in the oven.
My DH is going back to work next week after taking a long time off to look after me while i was ill. Still coping with my illness but having not been on my own for some time with the kids i want to make stuff as easy as possible on me to start with.
I have an empty freezer in the shed so space isn't the issue it's what to put the meals in to freeze as i don't want to be putting all my cooking dishes in the freezer really. Any ideas?

TIA

Callie22

You could buy some foil containers .. or you could line your cooking dishes with foil, put the meals in, then freeze them. Once the meal is frozen you can then take it out of your cooking dish, wrap and label it and stick it in the freezer. When you need it you can just unwrap it and defrost it in the dish, and bake/reheat as normal.

meritaten

you can buy foil containers that look like the ones TV dinners come in! or just buy foil plates and freeze the meals on those.
lazy me just bungs it in freezer bags and sorts it out when defrosted!

flea72

Depends on how you plan to reheat the meals. Tinfoil shouldnt be used in microwave. Plastic pots cant go in oven

I tend to make stuff and then portion up into empty marg tubs or ziplock bags for freezing, then microwave to reheat.

Downsizing__for_sanity

Personally, I would start simply. What do you eat now on a regular basis For example, we eat tons from a simple mince base - eg bolognaise, lasagne, shepherds pie, enchiladas, keema naan, chilli, pasta bake etc. If you can cook a load of eg savoury mince and veg, you can feeze it and use it in lots of ways with just a few touches. We often buy the plastic tubs from the Poundshop etc (10 for £1 I think) as you can microwave and freeze them, and reuse them.Noodles and pasta are quick and cheap. Home Bargains do wraps very cheaply (from 39p) so we can always have a fajiitas type meal with whatever veg is around.

lindseykim13

I think i've seen the big foil takeaway trays (rather than the small ones) more like lasagne size before somewhere but has anyone else seen them? Sure they were in the poundshop.
For what i want to do which is make family of 5 size trays of cottage pie, lasagne, sausage casserole ect. It would be a pain making 5 mini lasagnes or pies especially when the little ones only have a small amount.
Have batch cooked 2 lots of sheppards pie and sausage casserole tonight. But have now used up all my dishes.
Hate spending money on stuff but if i avoid getting takeaways it will be worth it.

suki1964

Meats, cook, slice and freeze in dishes in gravy. Dishes need to be either oven proof or micro - depending on how you plan to reheat

Roastie, frozen in bags to be reheated in hot oven

To be honest I wouldn't pre cook veg. Either cook fresh , fresh from frozen, or open a tin

Downsizing__for_sanity

The pour and store bags are good value (esp if you rinse them out afterwards and reuse!) You can microwave them too and they don't take up much room.

Pitlanepiglet

The large foil trays are good and if used carefully you can get more than one use out of them. Another option is to collect more suitable dishes if you have space to store them. You can probably get some for a pound or less at a jumble sale or boot sale. If you've got a local sale or freebie Facebook group or freecycle you may get given some many of us have too many in the cupboard, I cleared some pirex ones to a jumble sale a couple of weeks ago.

Lilyplonk

I use lidded margarine tubs - in various sizes, depending on how many people the portion is meant to feed. You also need to make sure you 'label' them in some way - mine have so many 'sharpie writings' on them scribbled out again .

I also 'scavenge' takeaway containers from my son's/daughter's homes whenever I visit them - they're under strict instructions NOT to throw any away .

HomeBargains, B&M, Wilkos, Asda - all sell suitable lidded containers, including the tinfoil ones with cardboard lids - but in the interests of :money: I'd much rather re-use free containers :j.

BAGGY

Depends on what you're cooking. Stews and sloppy stuff easily go in zip seal bags and take up less space than boxes. Just defrost on a tea tray/baking tray in case the bag has developed holes in the freezer!