Bolognaise/Chilli/Shepherds Pie Batch Cooking

XSpender

Good Morning

I have a 500g pack of beef mince that I want to use to cook a batch of Bolognaise sauce, chilli and shepherds pie for my DH but dont know how to make a batch that I convert into the three dishes.

As a recent covert back to eating meat I cannot face mince myself and will be making veggie batches of the above for me but I havent a clue where to start with beef mince and DH wont eat the veggie version.

I want to bulk the chilli out with lentils and peppers and the shepherds pie out with peas and carrotts and the bolognaise with mushrooms and will also be adding lentils (can't add oats as we only have GF ones in and they are expensive). I have some beef oxo cubes and lots of onions, chopped tomatoes and the usual herbs and spices.

Please could you share your base recipe to batch cook these dishes and what you do to convert them into the three different dishes?

Many thanks

MrsChristmas

Funnily enough,I got up early Saturday morning & batched cook a weeks worth of meals for the first time. I've recently started a new job & found that we've been eating a lot of quick, easy, unhealthy & more expensive teas because of how tired I am when I finally get home.
Inspired, after an evening of browsing on here, I firstly boiled up a pan of lentils & added them to Spag bol, a chilli, 2 currys & finished them off in last nights tea of Enchiladas. I cooked all the meals separately but I'm sure,in answer to your question, you would just brown off the mince, onions & garlic first & then split into 3 pans/frying pans & add the rest of the ingredients for each individual dish.
As my lentils had already simmered away for 15mins, I added them 5mins before the end of cooking time, cooled all dishes for about an hour & then froze.
I was a little bit worried that the children would turn their noses up at the lentils being added to the dishes but they didn't even notice in last nights enchiladas!

I HAVE A QUESTION THOUGH!... Do I need to defrost the dishes or can I reheat from frozen??

XSpender

Thanks Mrs Christmas. I hadnt thought of doing the lentils seperatley and then adding them to the sauces. Will give it a go as I have tons of red lentils to use up.

I am not sure about cooking the batch meals from frozen. I normally get them out of the freezer in the morning so they can be heated up quickly on a night. I dont see why they couldnt be cooked from frozen cos you can buy them and cook from frozen.

I am sure someone with meat experience can give you a better answer

maman

What I tend to do is cook up a batch of each meal. So, for example, I'd use this whole pack of mince for bolognaise and freeze that in portions. I add carrots, mushrooms, peppers and onions to make it healthier and go further. Another time I'd do chilli. I use the Bolognese to make a shepherds pie or a lasagne when I'm cooking mash or cheese sauce for something else. I also make my own burgers and freeze those.

savetosave

Hi
I like mine more meaty than tomatoey so I would brown mince and add onions, mushrooms, oats if I was using them, stock cubes, a tin of chopped toms and grated carrot, which bulks it out but is invisible. The add some liquid and gravy granules to thicken.
Then I would take out enough for cottage pie.

Next I would add more chopped toms, tomato pur!e and mixed herbs and garlic and take out a batch for spaghetti Bol.

Lastly add peppers and chilli powder.
I would usually wait and add the kidney beans when I was going to eat the chilli as I don't think they taste as nice when they've been frozen.

Also if there was any leftover chilli, I add more stock and turn it into soup for the next days lunch. This is really lovely for drinking from a mug whilst watching fireworks on bonfire night.
Hope this helps

XSpender

Thank you maman and save to save for your methods. I might just try chilli and shepherds pie and see how I get on.

Poppy9

I wouldn't freeze all the meals as they will keep quite well in the fridge for 2 or 3 days before using.

I would also defrost overnight simply because it would save on electricity in heating as it would need less time to heat back up.

Also whenever I make a Sunday roast dinner I always make at least one extra and plate up for DD to have when she finishes school on the Monday. She adores roast dinners and OH and I can have a left over meat curry which we love but she dislikes.