Pre made freezable meal ideas?

Ladyluck1

Hi!
Just looking for some ideas on frozen meals I can prepare/cook in advance of my due date (2 weeks) to be frozen and easy for hubby to 'make'.
Nothing too expensive really and id like it to be fairly healthy as I'll be breast feeding and we have a 3 year old too.

Hubby is really rubbish and he wouldn't be able to cook sone carrots without my help, he can just about manage to put a pizza in the oven! :T
I'm struggling a bit!
So far I have cottage pie.....

trolleyrun

Shepherd's pie, lasagne, spag bol sauce, soups, moussaka. All these can be easily reheated in the microwave or oven, with the spag bol sauce it'll only be the pasta to boil and add. I'm sure others will have more ideas.

One suggestion though: would you be able to show your hubby how to cook some bits before baby arrives?

Hope all goes well with the new arrival

Ladyluck1

trolleyrun wrote: »

Shepherd's pie, lasagne, spag bol sauce, soups, moussaka. All these can be easily reheated in the microwave or oven, with the spag bol sauce it'll only be the pasta to boil and add. I'm sure others will have more ideas.

One suggestion though: would you be able to show your hubby how to cook some bits before baby arrives?

Hope all goes well with the new arrival

He's not very receptive to the idea if I'm honest!
He will have to learn though if he has to, I'm sure boiling pasta or veggies should be ok for him though
I'd just rather have it done so I don't have to think/ worry about it
And thank you! Getting a bit nervous now.

Topher

You could try making Base sauces for things, e.g. a pre made bulk of tomato based sauce simmered down, could be pizza, bolognese, Arrabicca, sausage casserole, llasagne (oops, that's the Welsh version). A frozen cheese sauce either complements some of these, or can be a separate macaroni, or pasta, or cauliflower topping. For past mass freezing, I have roasted up a couple of chickens & stripped them, bagging up the meat in double portions (breast could be separate) which has been a useful base for some meals. The bones can than boil up in one stock, (left with less water for freezing) soup, gravy, base sauce for different chicken dishes. Desserts could be advance prepped, but stored in a small space, by making crumble mix, separate from stewed fruit portions, easy to put together, but store in less space separate. Sponge puddings baked up to their last five minutes freeze well. Quorn mince stores well, & can be shaken out and heated up from frozen (In some of the above menu ideas). Meat loaf & nut loaf are good compact almost complete meals, and store well in foil containers which they can then be reheated in. (You can write instructions on the cardboard tops too).
Besides freezing ahead, there are some decent store cupboard ideas on here, so you could stock up on the tinned ingredients. I do like Tuna, sweetcorn, & condensed mushroom soup, either with rice, or as a jacket potato filling.
Best of luck for the next few weeks, Love T

Any

To trolleyrun's list I will add Chilli con carne and and any stews.
I like pork shoulder stew with carrots and parsnips (or beef one for that) for example, or goulash.
All these ideas are virtually just take out of the freezer in the morning, let it defrost and heat up on the hob in the evening. Either with boiled potatoes or rice (can buy one in bags, with a timer no one can go wrong with that!).

But I think whether he is receptive or not is neither here nor there - this is 21st century, there is 2 of you for everything, it is a life skill and we all have to sometimes do something we don't exactly like!!!

God forbid you had an accident in few years time and he would have to look after himself AND a child for couple of weeks while you recover???
Not wanting to bring on catastrophical scenarios, but you both have 20ish years ahead while the child/ren will need you and no one can rely on being 100% fit all that time!!

sketchingkari

Fish pie is one of my goto recipes at the moment, easy and cheap to make, freezes well and you just bung it in the oven for half an hour to reheat. Could you make some pasta bake sauces, freeze those, then all hubby needs to do is add pasta, some cheese on top and bung in the oven?

NoahsPennilessMummy

this might be useful
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/07/freezer-cooking/

lynsayjane

We had tacos the night before last that had been frozen leftovers. Froze the mince part and OH just had to defrost and heat on the hob and chuck the shells in the oven (obviously those weren't frozen).
I also freeze macaroni cheese and stovies, have been known to freeze currys.
With regards to healthyness, a lot of it can be made healthy with how you cook it. No fatty oils, extra lean meat or substitute with quorn etc.

Best of luck with it
LJ
x

Butterfly_Brain

I always have HM ready meals in the freezer, just in case I end up in hospital at short notice, DH is ok with a fry up and a roast if I tell him step by step how to do it, both the children are competent in the kitchen but DD is a vegetarian and so it is unfair to ask her to do meat dishes. DS still has a lot to learn but is eager.
In my freezer at the moment I have

• Sausage stew
• Beef stew
• Chicken stew
• Lamb stew
• Mediterranean pork casserole
• Sausages with mushrooms, onions, sweetcorn and peppers in a pasta sauce (Tomatoes, garlic and herbs HM ) Just add pasta, rice or potatoes to serve
• Chunks of smoked cooking bacon with mushrooms in a creamy mushroom sauce
• Chunks of smoked cooking bacon with mushrooms and peppers in a tomato pasta sauce
• Chilli
• Pizza
• Chicken curry
• Spaghetti bolognaise
• Lasagne
• Mincemeat and potato layer
• Ham and cheese potato layer
• Shepherds pie
• Sausage toad
• Chicken and Ham pie
• Chicken crumble
• Dumplings for adding to stews
• Cobbler topping which is just a case of taking out of the freezer and laying on top of a casserole that is reheating in the oven
• Also lots of different soups and cakes and puddings
• If you want any recipes let me know and I will post them for you

Bluegreen143

At the moment I have:

- coconut & spinach dal x2 (made 4 portions last night but only needed 2)
- savoury mince (i.e. the mince bit of mince & tatties or cottage pie) x2 (made 6 portions at the one time and ate a third that night
- spicy chorizo pasta sauce x4 (again made 6 portions)
- chicken & veg soup x3
- pizza dough (enough for 1 meal for the two of us) + enough pepperoni for two pizzas
- tonight I'm making squash & ricotta cannelloni, and will make double so I can freeze two portions

I second the suggestions for spag bol sauce, or we make arrabiata sauce with roasted veg (any tomato based sauce freezes well and I think you can freeze pesto too); cottage, shepherd or veggie shepherd's pie; mousakka; pasta bakes/lasagne; stews or casseroles; any type of curries; veggie or meat tagines; mushrooms (or beef) stroganoff) - the list is almost endless

daftmummy

I used to make a mix in a freezer bag ( labelled with instructions i.e fry and add sauce ) with everything ready and chopped so you just need to cook/fry.
I didn't have good pregnancies or births and was very ill for a long time after as I also have a brain disease that got worse, luckly had some stuff ready so easy to just put on when my husband came home from a full day at work he would get changed put dinner on, do bottles, feed kids, bath them and put them to bed. It was hard but we couldn't live on takeaways and we both had to learn new skills, the joys of being a parent. I have a view if people can get away with not doing something they will chose not to do it.

Some of the things I made up
Onion, mushroom,garlic and mince= spagbol just add a jar of sauce

sliced peppers, onions, mushrooms, spices and mince-add to taco or wraps for Mexican

peas, carrots, onion and mince - add gravy and mash or boiled spuds.

boil pasta, add tin of tuna, cheese and jar of pasta sauce less than 80p at aldi.

My friends husband used to not make an effort as he was brought up its a woman's role and couldn't be arsed to learn I'm sure he used to be rubbish on purpose so she would be fed up end up doing it.
Good luck