Want to improve batch cooking....

Primrose

Basic Bolognese type sauce is a godsend, as you can mix in red kidney beans and chilli for chile con carne, or some curry spices for a keema to be served with rice.


A basic beef mince mixed with veg such as onions, celery, carrots can be used for cottage pie, or again mixed with curry spices to make a curried minced dish.

melanzana

Just to mention, when making meatballs, I soak white bread in some milk, squeeze out the milk and add to the mince with the usual herbs and flavourings.

They are just so soft and tasty when cooked and freeze really well. Small meatballs are the best IMV!

Nomoonatall

Definitely invest in a bigger saucepan. Try and make enough for eight portions minimum. Even if you use your slow cooker, try and double the quantities.

Freeze what you can, you probably won't want the same meal two days in a row! x

retiredlady

Check out the charity shops for large cooking pots. The smaller shops rather than the bigger well known ones are often cheaper.

tori.k

our current batch cooking list (2/3 weeks)
Chilli, bolognese, mince beef hot pot. chicken bacon& leek, chicken curry, Cajun chicken. veg tagine and kale & mushroom lasagna.

when I started I would just look at the ready meal section in the supermarket at meals I knew my family would eat then replicated at home.

Pollycat

Kildare wrote: »

I'm using 500g mince but I don't think I could get any more mince in my pan & my pan is barely big enough to boil enough potatoes.

I'd say your pan is definitely not big enough.

My stock pan is 8 inches tall and 9.5 inches in diameter and, believe me, it takes a lot more than 500 grams of mince.

I have 2 slow cookers, the largest is 6.5 litres and I have had it almost full with mince, carrots, potatoes etc.

I batch cook bolognaise, chilli, shepherd's pie bases (I freeze the mash separately as I find it more convenient for reheating) and I use lamb, beef, pork, turkey and chicken for the bases.
I also batch cook sausage & bean casserole.
When I use my smaller slow cooker, I always do enough for 4 (there's 2 of us).

paddy's_mum

Kildare wrote: »

I do have a crockpot I was given but I've not had a lot of success with it. Last thing I tried was a whole roast chicken. It tasted fine, but the whole thing completely collapsed so not sure about doing it again!

I venture to suggest that your crockpot (slow cooker) was VERY successful if a whole chicken was so beautifully cooked that it fell apart - that generally means it's cooked to a point beyond tender!

Why not try a few inexpensive adventures with it such as beef stew and veg, or chicken casserole using chicken joints or indeed your basic mince mix and see how you get on?

I'd be lost without mine and I believe there is a huge thread of info, ideas and recipes for a slow cooker in this section.

I find any amount of slow cooker books in charity shops for just a few pennies. My favourite is the BBC Good Food guide. Hope that helps.

Kildare

maman wrote: »

I almost always use my slow cooker for batch cooking. What I like about it is that I can fill it up and then ignore it while I get on with my day rather than have to keep checking something on the hob...

I cook for 2 people mostly. OP I'm assuming there are 3 of you and your DS is quite young so wouldn't be having massive portions... My portions are 2 generous tablespoons (like the large ones you get in sets of kitchen utensils) each and then you'd need to add in perhaps one spoonful for the DS.

I rarely, if ever, make up meals like pies or lasagne. I find it more versatile and more space saving to just have the sauces frozen and do the pasta or rice or potatoes on the day.

HTH.

Thanks! Interesting to know that's how you use your slow cooker and the portion sizes. DS is only 2 so doesn't need massive portions. Interesting you don't make up pies/lasagna etc as I thought that's what I should be having ready in the freezer. Perhaps the aim is to have a batch of sauces / bologneses ready.

Primrose wrote: »

A basic beef mince mixed with veg such as onions, celery, carrots can be used for cottage pie, or again mixed with curry spices to make a curried minced dish.

I'm wondering if I have too high a meat content recipe - this is what I get for following Annabel Karmel :rotfl: Although more pies=more potatoes so will definitely be investing in a bigger pan. Thanks everyone for the tips on where to look for one!

paddy's_mum wrote: »

I venture to suggest that your crockpot (slow cooker) was VERY successful if a whole chicken was so beautifully cooked that it fell apart - that generally means it's cooked to a point beyond tender!

I cooked it for 8 hours on low in my crockpot (2.4L) but it's like it collapsed so was a bit tricky to get all the meat off. Any recommendations on how long to cook for? I just cooked it on it's own and did it breast side down and with a bit of water in the bottom.

Thank you all for the tips. I'm definitely going to try a big batch of bolognese in the slow cooker next and padding out with more veg. At the moment I usually use onion, courgette, grated carrot wit the mince - would you recommend any other additions and also how long would you cook it for?

Pollycat

Kildare wrote: »

Thank you all for the tips. I'm definitely going to try a big batch of bolognese in the slow cooker next and padding out with more veg. At the moment I usually use onion, courgette, grated carrot wit the mince - would you recommend any other additions and also how long would you cook it for?

If I do a mince base using pork, chicken or turkey I add mushrooms and tinned chopped tomatoes.

You could also add lentils.

suki1964

Defo bulk that mince out with veg and lentils, esp lentils as they increase your protein, are cheap, and when slow cooked long enough melt down so as to be pretty unnoticeable to fussy eaters ( grandson has never noticed them or onions yet lol )

A recipe is just an idea, it's shows the steps to make a dish. What goes into that dish is very fluid. Our fav pie is leek and chicken. It started life as a turkey and leek pie by Jamie Oliver, believe me, sometimes it's hunt the chicken

800grm of mince will make 9 adult meals in my house at least, depending on what I turn it into.