need meal makign and freezer help please!

sammy_kaye18

Hi All

I have a tiny freezer and im wondering if anyone can give me tips on the best way to freeze portions - i have bags, and boxes but im not sure whether to freeze portions or to freeze thigns whole - liek shepherds pie etc.

The thing is my partner goes in on monday mornign to have his lens transplant in his eye done so he is goign to need alot of care when he comes home as he wont be able to see and will be totally dependent on me for a few days possibly weeks. Well thing is is that i also have my three year old to think abotu so im thinking of usign today and tomorrow to make some melas and freeze them in the freezer so when its late and all my chores are done, babies in bed and bf is comfortable and settled i can simply blip some thign in the microwave and have a nice hot meal

Any ideas on the best way to freeze??
what i can freeze??
best meals to freeze??

Thanks in advance

angelavdavis

Hi Sammy-Kaye,

I do a mix of meal sized portions clearly labelled and items in their cookable containers.

I use bags as I have only 2 and a half drawers in my freezer and I find containers too bulky. I also unpack boxed items into bags to reduce the bulk.

Pies I do freeze in the containers, so they just need defrosting and popping in the oven to cook through.

My favourite batch-cook-n-freeze meals and meal components are:

Freeze in portion sized bags:
Spag Bol
Chilli Con carne
Meat and Veg curries
Meat Balls
Sauces - eg tomato for pasta, white sauces to pour over microwaved salmon or white fish
Cooked mashed potato
Soups - usually vegetable but sometimes chicken
Beef casserole/stew
lamb casserole/stew

Freeze in container to cook:
Shepherds pie
Fish pie
Lasagne
Moussaka
Beef pies (made with portion of the casserole but with a pastry lid

Other Items:
Chicken stuffed with garlic butter (made fresh then frozen)
Pork escalopes stuffed with stuffing (again made fresh then frozen)

Stuff I keep because I BOGOF but it goes off in fridge:
Grated Cheese
Sliced mozzarella open frozen then stored into bags for pizzas or topping pasta bakes
Sliced peppers open frozen then stored in bags
Fried Aubergine slices open frozen then stored in bags
Blanched mushrooms

Almost without exception, the recipes for the above are in the Old Style Recipe list.

Another idea you might want to consider is using a slow cooker as you can get something out of the freezer, chuck it in the slow cooker in the morning and leave it all day on low if necessary.