Building up my freezer

kah22

I'm retired, live on my own, and with the exception of family and friends popping in I have no one to cook for bar myself, and then it's just a cup of tea and a bar or traybake.
Recently I cleared out my tall freezer and is now almost empty, so how to fill it for a single man, that's the question. Batch cooking, but what?  stew for the coming winter, soup of course and maybe a dessert or two?  I do all of my own baking but I'm not that great of a hand at cooking - that's my sister's department
Fire away your suggestions and maybe it will encourage other singles to join in!

Brambling

I make a large lasagna (meat or veggies) and usually portion it into 6.  Things like bolognese, curries, cottage pies all bulk cook really well and freeze

you can also freeze vegetables, I make a large pot of mashed root veg (carrot, swede, parsnip, turnip and celeriac) and portion up the same with mash potatoes just don't make it too wet you can use a ice cream scoop and open freeze them before packaging up.  I use a Delia Smith recipe for braised red cabbage again i tend to make 6 portions.  Make a batch of jacket potatoes when the oven is on and freeze 

p00hsticks

I prepare several stew packs at once - get a bag of carrots, parsnips, a swede and onions, slice / dice them all and divide into individual stew packs for freezing. Then just let one defrost in the (not turned on) slow cooker over night before adding meat (diced chicken or beef) and stock the following morning and switching the slow cooker on. 

In the run up to Christmas, the supermarkets usually compete to see who has the cheapest carrots and parsnips, so that sets us up for stews until the summer!

elsien

I’m not a fan of freezing vegetables, I don’t like the texture.
I don’t do batch cooking as such, more if I’m cooking something I’ll do two portions  and freeze one.
There’s also things like moussaka, lasagne, various curries, the ubiquitous spag bol sauce and chilli. If I’m doing a roast, I will also freeze the leftover meat in gravy because I do like a spot of home-made gravy.
I also make and freeze frittata because it handy getting a slice of that out for a quick lunch.

DullGreyGuy

Mainly freeze those long slow cooks like stews, chili-con-carne, ragu, tomato based curries etc. Plus do a batch of pulled/shredded meat like el pastor pork. The Mrs likes to season chicken breasts, sous vid them and then freeze them so on the day it's just a case of letting it defrost and a quick fry/grill to reheat and brown.

p00hsticks

elsien said:

I’m not a fan of freezing vegetables, I don’t like the texture.

Not sure what vegetables you are referring to but in my experience sliced raw carrots, swede, parsnips and onions used in a slow cooker stew look and taste exactly the same whether they've been previously frozen or not. As above, I prepare a number of packs at at time - the first will always be used fresh, and the rest go in the freezer and I've never noticed a difference between the two. 

bouicca21

I do batch cook some things but also use the freezer for YS things and special offers.

Wraithlady

Breadcrumbs - grate up your stale bread/leftover ends of loaves and freeze. Useful for crumbles, coating fish etc and you don't even need to defrost before using.

joedenise

Most recipes seem to be for 4 so as there are 2 of us I usually make the full recipe and only dish up half, the other half goes into the freezer to use another time.  You could do similar but use 1 portion and add 3 portions to the freezer.  It's amazing how quickly those HM ready meals add up.

-taff

I'm with elsien on the frozen veg, like carrots or cauli or broccoli, they just go limp when cooked instead of firm. The only ones I don't mind are broad beans, sweetcorn, green beans. The last one because I normally put them with oil, vinegar, garlic and parsley so theyd be limp anyway.

I've roasted tomatoes and garlic [ from the garden, not suggesting you buy them] and whizzed them up, then in bags for tomato sauce or additions to any recipe that calls for some kind of tomato sauce, chilli, jambalaya, bolognese etc [ recently saw a recipe for risotto bolognese which shocked me to my core, never heard of it before but, it sounds lovely and I'll probably try it.

 I also kind of bulk buy things like butter and freeze that, large packs of meat get broken down into bags. I batch cook curry and parcel that up, crumbles, fruit [rhubarb, blackberries etc]. I have watched a video with a woman who has those big silicone bags ad puts things in for the slow cooker, all veg and meat and spices, freezes, sticks them in, puts them in the slow cooker in the morning and it's ready when she gets home, but not your usual soups/stews, things like fajita chicken stew with sweet potatoes etc. Should be easy enough to google. And I freeze loaves of bread ready sliced because I can just snap off a couple of pieces and it comes out the same way it went in.

CapricornLass

I freeze bread rolls to go with soup, and also portions of cake, as an 8 inch sponge for one is a bit much, even for someone as greedy as me!  Otherwise, its raw meat, portioned up, salmon and white fish, ditto, and frozen fruit and veg that I can use while I'm cooking something else.  The veg I use most are peas and chopped spinach, while I either freeze fruit I've grown in the garden, or I've frozen when they are at their cheapest and best in season.  The only batch cooking I do is mince, which is cooked down with onions, tomatoes and stock.  I then develop other meals from that, i,e,. one mince portion becomes bolognaise sauce with more onion, tomato herbs wine and mushrooms, another becomes chilli with onion, tomato, chillies and red kidney beans, a third cottage pie with onion, carrots and peas added.  

It may also be worth your while peering over your sister's shoulder while she is cooking, or maybe she might give up some of her time to hold your hand (metaphorically speaking) while you practice your cooking skills!