Silly question about defrosting

j1992

So after all the drama with my current job, it looks like I may be relocating. It's a bigger contract so more guaranteed money, but my commute will go from 10 minutes a day to around 3 hours. Costs of travel will undoubtedly rise, but I'm worried my food shopping will go up due to most likely not being bothered to cook.


Therefore, I want to utilise my days off and batch cook for the days that I am working. However, I know it's such a stupid question but how would I defrost it? I'm planning to cook things like bolognase, shephards pie, casserole etc. so to defrost would I just take it out the night before and leave in the fridge overnight?


Sorry for sounding so stupid, I'm a newbie to all of this but I'm really trying!


Also, any extra money saving tips food-wise would be great!

craigywv

Hi, I would just take out the night before and leave on draining board and before you go to work put it in fridge till you ready to cook it.

billieboy_2

I would take out the night before and leave in fridge for safety, or even the morning of the day before you want to eat it.

PS Not a silly question at all.

Ladyluck1

I either take things out and defrost in the fridge for 24hrs if I remember or in the microwave If it's not chicken x

j1992

Thank you everyone x

LittleMrsThrifty

I am in a scarily similar situation and am planning on getting a slow cooker. I've never had one before but MSE OS-ers rave about them so I've been reading all the old threads. Could this be an option?

j1992

I've been told to get one, but the idea of leaving a slow cooker on all day terrifies me and I don't know why! I think I'm just worried something will happen and no one will know as my partner and I will both be at work.

MrsAtobe

j1992 wrote: »

I've been told to get one, but the idea of leaving a slow cooker on all day terrifies me and I don't know why! I think I'm just worried something will happen and no one will know as my partner and I will both be at work.

You could get one, and use it at the weekends as part of your batch cooking process, until you felt comfortable leaving it on all day while you were out.

krlyr

I batch cook and often just heat straight from frozen. E.g. cook fresh pasta and zap the bolognese in the microwave, voila, dinner is served! Giving it a stir every now and then helps prevent cool spots, so for things like shepherds pie I freeze the mince and mash separately - microwave for a few minutes (stirring to heat evenly), then layer in an oven proof dish, grate cheese on top and oven/grill for a while until heated through.

elsien

j1992 wrote: »

I've been told to get one, but the idea of leaving a slow cooker on all day terrifies me and I don't know why! I think I'm just worried something will happen and no one will know as my partner and I will both be at work.

I got one for Christmas and had similar concerns, not so much about leaving mine it for a few hours while I'm out (no different really to leaving the washing machine on or the radio for the dog) but more worried about being held up, it boiling dry etc.
So I did my first couple of attempts on days off, which reassured me that it would probably only boil dry if I left it on for about 3 days continuously. But I did find that if I set it before I went to work and was late in due to walking the dog, some of the food was overcooked. So I now use a timer which I set to come on midday/afternoon depending on cooking time, and to go off at 7ish in case there's any sort of problem and I'm really late home.
Nicer food and a much more reassured me.:)

edinburghlad

I love my slow cooker. The only problem is I dropped the lid and the plastic knob broke off. I almost bought a new one the other day (£20) but instead ordered a new knob from eBay (£1.65). Just waiting on it arriving from china!