Once a month cooking

moneypanicker

Just wondering if anyone has tried doing batch cooking to last them a month or even a week!
so then you are basically eating from the freezer. i do it to some degree, but only generally cooking 3 meals at a time when the oven is on and to save husband cooking when i'm at work. I used to do it with baby food and a big "cookathon" once a month when the kids were little which was fantastic as a just used to take it out of the freezer in the morning and didn't feed kids jars. So wondering those that do
1. Is it really stressful :eek: and do you really devote a whole day
2. Is it cost efficient
3. What kind of things do you cook?
4. Does it save a lot of time in the long run?

Thanks in advance.

p.s. sorry if this has been mentioned before but i couldn't find anyone when i searched!!

cat4772

Moneypanicker,

I tend to this every so often - things like stews, casseroles, shepherd's pie, lasagne, soup etc and make enough to cover 4 meals (for the 2 of us). I have a little supply of pyrex dishes (10) that I tend to freeze things in (reuseable, microwaveable and straight to oven).

Start off by doubling quantities (just in case freezing doesn't fit the food), but in general when I'm going to be really busy one month - I'll spend a day cooking ahead, then I can just go to freezer in the morning, remove the meal to defrost and cook it when I get home.

It does help if you do as much prep in advance (chopping onions, browning [veggie] mince etc), so that you are in effect assembling dishes rather than cooking from scratch.

Good luck, Cat.x

cheerfulness4

I started recently using the first week of my shopping month to batch cook the meals planned for that week. ie, 3x spag bog mix, 3 x HM burgers, 3 x HM soup, 4 x lasagne.

Certainly have found that it's helped me because I've found that my worse time for overspending is when I'm worn out at the end of the day. So quick & easy to slam a lovely HM lasagne in the oven and just pop some frozen veg in the steamer. A year ago I would have nipped to the takeaway even tho I knew we couldn't afford it.

I do likewise with HM dough in the breadmaker. The first few days of the month I make various doughs so that I'm not caught out and can whip up a pizza or breadcakes in no time. Works well for us.

pollyanna24

I used to do something like this, but have slacked of late.

At the start of the month, I always make sure I have the basics in for my meals (things that will keep anyways).

I usually make up all my portions of spag bol, shepherds pie, chicken tonight etc. and then freeze.

Been bad this month. All my mince is in the freezer, so when I get it out, I have to start from scratch. I still have all my bits that I need though for the month, so hopefully I won't resort to takeout when I'm tired.

moneypanicker

Thanks for replys. I do have a breadmaker and i'm thinking of making up pizzas so i can just bung them in the oven when i don't have much time. Does anyone do this? Do they come out alright?
Cheerfulness4 - what are breadcakes? they sound interesting!

angelavdavis

Yes I regularly batch cook on a Sunday usually. Answers below to your specific questions. I do it to keep costs down, ensure OH is eating properly if I am working away, reduce the temptation to get a takeaway and also to keep the salt/sugar intake down.

moneypanicker wrote: »

1. Is it really stressful :eek: and do you really devote a whole day. Yes I do - once every 6-8 weeks or so, usually after I do a major shop.
2. Is it cost efficient Yes because you can cook lots of stuff in the oven at once. You can buy larger packs of meat, etc or use veg that is on special. I also freeze expensive veg such as peppers to stop them going off before we use them up. It stops you caving in and buying instant meals or takeaways.
3. What kind of things do you cook?

• Soups,
• batch of mince (then turn into shepherds pies, lasagne, meatballs in tomato sauce, chilli con carne, bolognaise),
• fishermans pies,
• salmon encroute,
• turkey schnitzel,
• moussaka,
• stews (usually make 3x quantity in slow cooker and freeze some),
• individual yorkshire puddings (tray freeze then bag up),
• carved roast beef, also blanch peeled parsnips ready for roasting,
• blanched carrots,
• brocolli and cauliflower bake,
• breadcrumbs toasted in warm oven then bagged up,
• curries
• Prepared stew veg (such as celery, turnip, swede) - buy on special and bag up into stew portions ready to drop in with other ingredients as and when necessary into the SC to make a stew.
• Grated cheese - buy on 2for1, do two large packs in the food processor, tray freeze then bag up. Added frozen to dishes before going in oven.
• Mozarella cheese - again buy on special, slice, tray freeze then bag. Use frozen before going in oven.
• Red/Green/Yellow Peppers - slice up, tray freeze then bag. I got fed up with throwing them out when they get manky. Use frozen into a saucepan a little earlier than you would use fresh.

I also batch cook rolls in the BM and freeze in batches of two for OH's lunches.

Most stuff is taken out the morning of the day it is planned for dinner except peppers, parsnips and york puds I put straight into hot oven with other roast stuff from frozen.

4. Does it save a lot of time in the long run? I think so, you can have a roast beef dinner in just half an hour by warming the defrosted sliced beef in gravy in a hot oven and putting boiled potatoes, yorkies, parsnips and broc/cauli bake in same oven. You just need to ensure everything is cooked through. We would never bother having a roast dinner once a week if I had to start from scratch every week.

Its quite satisfying seeing a full up freezer with all your HM goodies. Like Cat, I tend to put stuff into freezer bags or freezer/oven proof containers to freeze. Believe it or not, I only have a 2.5 draw freezer, but it is usually full up when I have finished! I would probably do even more if I had the room!!

cheerfulness4

moneypanicker wrote: »

Cheerfulness4 - what are breadcakes? they sound interesting!

Ooops, its just what they call soft, flat bread rolls around these parts. Never heard the term until I moved up north many years ago. First time I went into a bakers and asked for a roll the young girl gave me a strange look. Apparently, a crunchy roll, which was what I was after, was called a crusty cob.

Angela - those are really good tips. I like the breadcrumbs one, and the added info about freezing on the tray first and then packing is really helpful. I froze my first peppers last night and had misgivings at the time about the fact that they may clump together. Should have flat frozen them first. Will know for next time mum brings some round.

angelavdavis

I cover a baking sheet with either my non-stick silicone baking sheet or cling film to stop stuff freezing to the tray too!

cheerfulness4

Ah I have a couple of silicone baking sheets that I newly acquired. They are fantastic.

carolwat

Im actually looking for recipes that I can make up and then freeze before cooking such as making the lasagne up but freezing it before cooking it in the oven so I can just get it out of the freezer and cook when required but I have found some fab ideas on here. I would never have thought of tray freezing but what great idea to stop things sticking together.

Does anyone know if theres a thread with ideas on recipes to freeze before cooking or would I need to start a new one?

Thanks for all the tips.