Meals to Freeze

noseypoots

Hi. I'm not a very good cook, but I have been trying to save money,time and be healthier by making some meals in bulk and freezing them up to use as ready meals during the week. So far I have made a big batch of morrocan stew using a recipie from a friend, but I'm at a loss as to what else I could make. I'm not even sure what kind of things I can frreze! I have recently moved house and have only just got a proper freezer so it's all new to me. Has anyone got any good ideas please? Like I said, I'm not a great cook (yet!), but will give anything a try & eat most things. At the moment, I have got some chicken and lamb which I could make things with, but any ideas would be really welcome.

jessicamb

I've made corned beef and potato pie and successfully frozen and recooked it.

Lasagne freezes quite well too.

I have part cooked and frozen roast potatoes too and they were ok (well no worse than shop bought ones)

[Deleted User]

Bolognese sauce I make in bulk and freeze into portions. Chilli, Casseroles, shepherds pies, beef bourginon, italian chicken. Pretty much most things that come in a sauce I bulk cook in the slow cooker and freeze.

JillD_2

I am maldy batch cooking to have loads on for September when my 3rd baby is due.
So far in the freezer we have
moussaka
chilli
spag bol
shepherds pie
veg pasta bake
fish pie (for kids - we are veggie)

Have 26 adult portions and 13 kids of the above varied, so 13 nights for me and OH which if we intersperse with things like pasta, omelettes, jacket spuds etc I reckon will last 3-4 weeks.

I am also planning to do
chicken (well, quorn) caserole
sausage caserole
lasagne

I also heard my friend say she makes pies by freesing the pie misxture and then a square of uncooked pastry next to it and then cooks them in the same square dish so might try this as well.

Ideally I want to eat well without doing too much cooking for the first 6-8 weeks.

Hope this helps!

nitnurse-not!

All those things mentioned freeze really well. One piece of advice to help is whole eggs don't freeze!!!! Eg scotch eggs. any tomato based food is great- and cheap- as Morrisons are doing 100% free on tinned toms.
I often freeze single portions of food left when I am at my caravan as I am off for 6 weeks and ds isn't!! Kids don't always want a hot meal in the summer-Can anyone remind me what summer is?- but I like "proper food" at least once per day.
Try cooking stewing steak in a slow cooker and freezing it to go with jackets, pasta and quick veg- green beans, sweetcorn, broccoli etc. By the time you have heated the meat thropugh, the veg will be cooked.
Good luck.
xxx

Sharifa_2

Curry works well.

noseypoots

Wow- thanks for all the replies - There's lots to try then. Can I just check, with the cottage pie, does the mashed potatoe freeze OK or do you just freeze the mince part and add the potato afterwards?

juliapenguin

Hello

I would say you're fine freezing the mashed potato bit too! I think that potato freezes best when it's mashed - unmashed tastes a bit different afterwards (but fine).

Julia

Ianna

I find anything saucy freezes well so curries, soups and so on are ideal.

Pollycat

If I'm freezing Shepherd's Pie, I freeze the base separately from the mashed potato.

It's easier to thaw out this way.

In fact, if I'm getting towards the bottom of a bag of potatoes or going on holiday, to avoid wasting them, I cook the potatoes in a large pan (pressure cooker is good) and mash them and freeze them.

They reheat well in the microwave.

To ring the changes with mince, I do Piglet Pie (Pork mince) or Gobble Pie (Turkey mince).

I put in mushrooms, tomato puree (or some chopped tomatoes) and spice it up by adding chilli flakes.

Polly

belfastgirl23

These are all good suggestions. I was just going to add that it's worth having in some frozen veg as well to bulk out meals. Also as a recent convert to freezing there's no substitute for cooking a little bit extra of your ordinary meals and seeing what happens when you freeze them Maybe a bit wasteful at the time but if you keep the portions small it's not so bad.

Oh and also just to say both pizza dough and pizza sauce freeze really well and make for a quick and tasty comfort dinner as well.

Finally (maybe obvious but I didn't know it) the best way to defrost is overnight in your fridge. I find this is especially so for potato based foods. If you defrost too fast the cells break down and everything goes mushy. There are some exceptions (lentil soup is fine whacked in the micro) but if at all possible leave stuff to defrost overnight before you use it. It does give a far better result.

Good luck with your efforts! I can't believe i didn't do this before!