Freezer meals

Little_Miss_Naughty

Next month I am having an op. I’ve been told my knee can not be weight bearing for 1-2 weeks.

What meals can I cook and freeze now in their entirety that can be reheated for my children whilst my like this?


Can I cook veg in plated up meals? Does rice freeze? Etc

lesleyb

I freeze rice, just make sure it is thoroughly re heated. I would do lasagne, chilli, curry etc.

Maybe shepherds pie, chicken/veg pie.

I have also frozen mashed potato and roast potatoes

Hope op goes well

Mojisola

lesleyb wrote: »

I freeze rice, just make sure it is thoroughly re heated.

Thoroughly reheating rice kills off bacteria but not the toxins that may be in the rice if it wasn't chilled quickly enough after the first cooking.

jackrabbit123

I tend to batch cook and freeze my week day meals , in our household we are always coming and going with clubs etc so it's easy to make meals up freeze then defrost when needed for tea before we go out or when we are in! At the moment I have h/m Beef Burgers, chilli - which I serve in wraps or if have more time rice! , fish pie, chicken pie, Beef stew and chicken stew, chicken and chorizo and Lasagni in my freezer, all of which freeze really well ! Hope this helps and Good luck with your op.

Linda32

Pretty much any mince based meal freezes very well. I do this in the winter, we never have hot dinners in the summer.

Roast a chicken and portion into your meal sizes. Use in a variety of ways that you would use chicken.

I would stick with frozen vegetable to be cooked at the time rather than plating up. Cook rice from fresh every time.

MandM90

Space allowing, you could do some in a baking tray, e.g.:

Lasagne (make everything except final bake, then it can be thrown in oven from frozen and salad on side)
Enchiladas (ditto to above)
Shepherd's/Cottage pie with loads of veg in it
Quiche or pie with lots of veg (and someone can boil some frozen peas to go with)
Fish pie
Moussaka

Also:
Curry and rice
Chilli and rice
Sausage casserole will freeze well and if you put veg which will freeze cooked and reheat well inside it you don't have to worry about veg on side. Can just serve bread to dunk!
Stew with dumplings
Tagine (supermarket cous cous just needs hot water and 5 mins to reanimate it, but I've found cooked and frozen cous cous to be fine too)


Rice freezes and reheats in the microwave beautifully, it just needs to be cooled very very quickly - check NHS website for guidelines.

PipneyJane

Instead of freezing and reheating rice, how about using Bulgar wheat? Yes, it's more expensive than rice, but it's whole grain, full of fibre and it doesn't require much cooking or manipulating. (I've spent 6 weeks on crutches, so I feel your pain.)

I cook it exactly the same way that I do couscous. Use a tightly lidded container (I have a lidded jug). Put in 1 part Bulgar wheat to 2 parts boiling water, cover and leave for 15 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. 1 cup Bulgar wheat will feed 4.

HTH

Pip

dan958

Mojisola wrote: »

Thoroughly reheating rice kills off bacteria but not the toxins that may be in the rice if it wasn't chilled quickly enough after the first cooking.

Once the rice is cooked, just seperate it into indivual meal containers and then cool them right away. Do not leave all the rice in one large bowl, as this may not cool quick enough. It reheats from frozen well, just make sure it is piping hot.

Egg and bacon/sausage mcmuffins and breakfast burritos freeze well, as do pulled chicken burritos.

You can reheat cooked then frozen veg, but you would need to undercook it originally otherwise it might get overcooked and mushy. I recommend just having some packet frozen veg, as these can be cooked in the microwave/hob easily.

Everyone else ha already mentioned most meals I would recommend. Here are some others that I already make and freeze;

https://www.budgetbytes.com/taco-chicken-bowls/
https://www.budgetbytes.com/easy-orange-chicken/
https://www.budgetbytes.com/sticky-ginger-soy-glazed-chicken/
https://www.budgetbytes.com/vegan-winter-lentil-stew/
https://www.budgetbytes.com/slow-cooker-rosemary-garlic-beef-stew-slow-cooker/
https://www.recipetineats.com/honey-garlic-chicken/

(I really like the budget bytes website)

bouicca21

How old are the children? Is it possible that this is an opportunity to make them cook?