Just Starting To Put Together Freezer Dishes For One

kah22

I’ve two freezers; an upright and a small fridge freezer. The other day there was a pool of water lying in the fridge freezer and I had a workman coming to do some outside work. When I went to my freezer I discovered I had nothing, a few steaks, some duck legs and stew and god knows how long it was there. So I decided something has to be done! And lots of unrecognisable out of date foods

At the moment I’m scouring the web to come up with about 20 recipes I can batch cook and put into individual containers..I’ve already traced down sufficient soup recipes and a few potential chicken recipes and a few meat recipes.

Any ideas? Books? Your favourite recipes?  Would be great if you posted some links

Kevin

Floss

I'm a bit confused - are you wanting suggestions to make meals from a defrosted dying freezer? 

kah22

Oh no my fridges are in great shape. Had the temp set to high in the fridge freezer and that’s what caused the water spill

My aim is to batch cook a selection of say 20 meals for 1 or 2 people and then repeat that exercise when stock begin to run down.  Basically having your own stock of ready made meals in the freezer!

I also think batch cooking would be a great money saver for if you live on your own cooking single meals each day can prove very expensive and wasteful.

It’s easy enough to trace down these kind of recipes on the internet, it’s littered with them, but how many are really successful, that freeze well and heats up well.  That’s really what I’m after, suggestions from members as what has worked for them. Maybe a few links and if you’ve found any cookbooks covering this topic their name.

Hope this helps

Kevin

JJC1956

kah22 said:

Oh no my fridges are in great shape. Had the temp set to high in the fridge freezer and that’s what caused the water spill

My aim is to batch cook a selection of say 20 meals for 1 or 2 people and then repeat that exercise when stock begin to run down.  Basically having your own stock of ready made meals in the freezer!

I also think batch cooking would be a great money saver for if you live on your own cooking single meals each day can prove very expensive and wasteful.

It’s easy enough to trace down these kind of recipes on the internet, it’s littered with them, but how many are really successful, that freeze well and heats up well.  That’s really what I’m after, suggestions from members as what has worked for them. Maybe a few links and if you’ve found any cookbooks covering this topic their name.

Hope this helps

Kevin

Myself and my missus are currently on the ‘Slimming World” diet, they offer a good range of ready made meals, which can be bought from “Iceland’ ie Lasagne, Chicken Tikka Masala, Chinese Style Curry, Burgers, Various Pastas, Thai Food etc, etc, saves all that prep, their Chips are rubbish so when we cheat a little 🙄 we use Sainsbury's ‘Taste the difference’.

kah22

That’s an interesting idea.  I’m not a fan of Iceland but perhaps if I went around it with a more open mind!
 

Anyway today I was making some soup in my soup maker and then it occurred to me ‘why not make two or three batches of soup, each different. So now I have veg soup, Bramley Apple and Carrot and beetroot soup.  

I’m now beginning to think that’s the way to go.   Next week I’ll have a go at chicken recipes, mainly because chicken is relatively inexpensive and there seems to be quite a few recipes out there. Setting Friday as cook day

Brambling

The BBC good food web site is worth looking at for ideas search one pot recipes 

I tend to use chicken thighs which are cheaper and tastier and great for casseroles, curry, chasseur etc which freeze well.  There are also many things you can do with mince, chilli, spag Bol, keema, cottage pie etc.  As well as sausage and bean casserole The Hairy Bikers do a nice recipe.  You can stretch most one pot dishes with beans / chickpeas or lentils

soup is ideal to use up left over veg at the end of the week, I often make a mix veg soup at the weekend which never tastes the same two weeks running. 

If you have room in your freezer make batches of mash potatoes or carrot and swede mash, just don't make too wet or batch cook jacket potatoes and freeze 

JJC1956

kah22 said:

That’s an interesting idea.  I’m not a fan of Iceland but perhaps if I went around it with a more open mind!
 

Anyway today I was making some soup in my soup maker and then it occurred to me ‘why not make two or three batches of soup, each different. So now I have veg soup, Bramley Apple and Carrot and beetroot soup.  

I’m now beginning to think that’s the way to go.   Next week I’ll have a go at chicken recipes, mainly because chicken is relatively inexpensive and there seems to be quite a few recipes out there. Setting Friday as cook day

As you are obviously a soup lover, I can recommend a book ‘400 Best-Ever Soups’ by Anne Sheasby, cost about £5.39 paperback on Amazon

kazwookie

Why not just cook the meals you like in a batch and then portion them up and freeze.

ratfig

I find cooking a big batch of bolognese type sauce is a good one.
You can use it for spag bol, or lasagne, or add spices and beans for chili, or top with mash for cottage pie.
Just freeze it in portion sizes you're likely to use (ziploc bags squished flat take up very little freezer space) and write the contents on the bag with a Sharpie.Bulk cook and freeze rice, again in portion sizes.
You could roast a joint, slice it and freeze it in a similar way with gravy for an easy roast dinner. You can even make a load of roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings to freeze as well, making it even easier.
Or fish pie filling....you can make mash in bulk and freeze that as well
Have a look in the ready meals section of a supermarket - you can replicate a lot of those at home and freeze them, for a fraction of the price.
Always have a good supply of frozen veg, either shop bought or home frozen. Home frozen chopped peppers, whole chilis work very well. A lot of folk find frozen chopped onions useful.
Buy a block of cheese, coarsely grate that (it'll all squish back into the bag) -easy to use from frozen.

cattom

erm yes. so tell me where does the workman coming to do some work in your o/p fit into all this. 

kah22

Well I don’t know about you but when I have a workman around my home he always gets fed and I had nothing to offer.  Call it old fashion if you will and I’ll plead guilty