Resisting takeaways

boo81

How do you do this?

I meal plan but things go wrong, we stay out and get back late, we are too tired to contemplate cooking or we just dont fancy whats on the plan!

Can we freeze whole meals and cook from frozen quickly? What would you recommend?

Please help my budget and waistline are suffering!

squeaky

Make your own take-aways.

Honest

Any time that you make a meal that will freeze well - make extra portions on purpose and then freeze them for a day when you don't want to cook.


For info on what does and does not freeze well - just stick freez* in the search box and you'll get hundreds of ideas and suggestions

boo81

Ive thought of making my own pizza bases and they would be easy to top and cook but im not sure about other options, wouldnt things like chicken need defrosting before cooking? I cant find a good substitiute to be honest.

Could I prepare chips and freeze them uncooked and then cook from frozen?

I simply cannot think of homemade ideas, the only curry recipes I have are a veggie one that boyf wont eat and a chicken one that my dad has always told me to defrost first.

Sorry im still stuck. Its not neccessarily the takeaway that we crave to be honest, its normally the ease of cooking or time taken.

odds-n-sods

If you've got frozen meals - take one out when you get up + stick it in the fridge. That way when you come home, all you have to do is stick it in teh oven or microwave. And it doens't matter if its meat or veggie then.

Pizza bases are good, also shepherds pie, pasta, casseroles, soups.

Penelope_Penguin

When I cook, I often make a double batch and freeze half for when we're too tired to cook. Examples are:

chilli
bolognaise
vegetable pasta sauce
soup
curry
pasties
slices of quiche
lasagne
etc, etc

HTH, Penny. x

FBThree

We often "overmake" curries, or sausage/veg casseroles, and our rice cooker cooks enough for 3 meals, so when we do a curry we freeze the rest, and portions of rice (immediately don't wait until next day). We find if we cheat and put the plastic containers in warm water they don't take long to defrost (but each to their own Health and Safety) So yup, you can freeze whole meals.

Sometimes we put the curries with e.g. chinese noodles, quinoa or buckwheat since these only take 4 mins or so to cook.

If you have a microwave (we don't believe in them) I believe they have a defrost setting.

Oh and my REALLY quick meal is chicken thai curry, 20 mins start to finish. Put rice cooker on. Cut up an onion, fry with thai paste, whilst cutting up chicken pieces. Throw in chicken - cook through, add can coconut milk, packet coconut cream, optional can of green lentils, heat through and should be ready to serve when rice cooker is done. Rice cooker our best ever purchase - doesn't boil over like pot on cooker does so can be left to its devices whilst you cook the main meal.

Raspberry_Swirl

noodles are always a good speedy home-takeaway option. boil some egg noodles for 3 minutes and the add to some veg or anything that you fancy stiry-frying. splash of soy sauce, oyster sauce (if you have it), ketchup, anything really, and you're done.

if you're nearish to a chinese supermarket then invest in a tub of curry concentrate or some jars of chinese curry paste. add a couple of tablespoons of that to some water or stock in a wok/saute pan with some chicken, onions, mushroom and peas and simmer for 10 minutes. in the time it takes for that to simmer the rice will have cooked too.

i know you're probably not meant to, but i ALWAYS defrost frozen chicken breasts in the microwave for about 2 minutes just before cooking them in the curry. have been doing this for years and never once been ill.

scuzz

A lot of resistance for me is self control to be honest!

I always make sure I've got a good supply of pasta, tinned tomatoes and bacon. This can be cooked and on the table in about 10mins.

Other quick ideas, are salads at this time of year or make up a batch of soup in the winter and freeze individual portions

> something on toast - sardines, beans, etc
> cold meat, cheese with bread

I'll also confess to buying frozen pizzas when they're on offer in the supermarket. In the oven and done

never_too_late_2

hmmmmm, quick dinners when we're feeling lazy, all less than 15 mins from start to finish:

- omlettes - chuck in anything you have veg wise, put eggs in and voila. serve with bread and lots of ketchup!
- pasta and sauce - put pasta on and for sauce best is onion, garlic (or garlic paste if you're being very lazy) and then a tin of toms - add a stock cube crumbled in and dash of soy sauce and serve with grated cheese
- anything on toast smothered in cheese - my DH's speciality by far. He tends to take a slice of bread, butter it and add a good squirt of primula (squeezy cheese) and then top with say ham and cheese. Pop in oven on gas mark 6 for about 5-8 mins (keep checking it) and enjoy.
- beans on toast with cheese
- beans on toast with scrambled egg
- stir fry - chuck in whatever veg you have lying about and add soy sauce, garlic and noodles
- toast and tea
- cereal (yes i am this lazy sometimes!)

But otherwise, I definitely agree with cooking more than you need and then freezing it. We often take something out of the freezer in the morning before work so it's defrosted when we get in. Excellent when we're both working late.

And don't beat yourself up about getting the odd takeaway but just try to resist with all the tips here ;-)

Good luck and hugs,
ntl
-x-

Pink.

There are some great ideas and alternatives to takeaways on this older thread:

When only takeaway will do?

Pink

(Land_of)_Maz

was reading this thread when my boyf phoned and asked what we needed in from the shops, he's a daily shopper, terribly wasteful but he's not in need of moneysaving/debt busting like me! Anyways the conversation ended in him offerring to buy a chinese tonight!

Yay me! And on a no spend day for me too!!!! lol