Cooking and freezing dinners for 1

Trotter

I'd really like to start cooking proper dinners for myself. I can cook but my GF tends to eat later in the evening than I would so we tend to cook different things.

Can anyone give me ideas as to what healthy stuff I could cook and put into single portion tubs in the freezer?

I'm trying to lose a bit of weight so I reckon that knowing the food is ready to just reheat would keep me away from going out to eat out of laziness!

Thanks a lot in advance for the suggestions.

Faith

You can freeze pretty much anything. You could make a Shepherd's pie and freeze it in individual portions. You could make the meat mix for spaghetti bolognase and freeze that, cooking the pasta each time. The possibilities are endless!

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Have a read in the "Here's what I had..." thread.

There are plenty of things in there worth trying.

I do this all the time, cook and freeze.

Thai Curries, Stroganoff, Goulash, Stews....loads of things tbh.

Dave!

I gather once you freeze something, it's good for a long time to come... My mother recently had a slice of lasagne after about 3 months

But is there anything that you CAN'T freeze (for fear of death, for example!)?

And if you freeze the meat mix for spag bol for example -- do you have to leave it out overnight to defrost, or can you just chuck it in a pan and heat it straight from frozen?

Just wanna be sure, cos AFAIK eating something that's not properly defrosted can make you ill.

Mr Magnolia

You could defrost the bolognase in the microwave. I wouldn't put it in the pan from frozen as the outside would start cooking again while the inside was still frozen. Put it into the fridge the night before or the microwave if you forgot to take it out.

As DesF pointed out any sauce based dish will generally freeze well.

BaZmO*

I’ve started to freeze a lot of stuff lately. I love cooking but sometimes the effort involved in making a complicated meal can be too time consuming ever time you want something to eat.

Two staple of my freezer would be Bolognese and Shepherds Pie. Delia has a great recipe for a Ragu (an authentic Bolognese) on her website which I’ve tried recently and it’s great. It takes about 5-6 hours to make but it Makes 8 x 8 oz (225 g) portions, each serving 2 people and she give instructions on how to freeze it. Next time I’ll make I’ll just put it into individual portions though. When you want to cook it you can just take a portion out the night before and let it defrost in the fridge or what I normally do is defrost it in the Microwave. It’s really economical too. All the ingredients cost less than €20 and you get about 14-16 meals out of it.

When doing the Shepherds Pie I cook up the mince and sauce part (you can use whatever recipe you like) and divide it into individual portions. I use those tinfoil takeaway trays that you normally get your 2 and 1’s in. You can get them in most supermarkets. When the mince and sauce has cooled down I put mash on top, put the lid on and then freeze. You can then cook these from frozen in their tinfoil trays, just put them in the oven for about 45-60 mins in a hot oven.

The most important thing when freezing food is to freeze it quickly. Wait until the portions have cooled down first before putting them in the freezer. With soups you can place the pan or container into another bowl of iced water to cool it down quicker. Also, don’t pack them into the freezer too tightly, make sure there’s enough space around them so that the cold air can circulate around them. Once frozen solid you can pack them in more tightly. And when defrosting, always defrost in the fridge unless you’re using a Microwave.

Supercell

I couldn't live without my freezer!

I do a big cook at weekends on a Sunday usually and make a weeks worth of food and pop it in individual tubs for nuking in the microwave during the week. I've built up to about five weeks supply now (no more room) and cook a different recipe every weekend so by now there's quite a variety of meals to choose from.
I haven't got food poisoning or ill at all in a long long time so can only sing its praises.

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^^

I wish I could do that.

I have great plans for it, but I always get busy at the weekends.

Trotter

Lots of good advice, thanks a lot!

When microwaving a plastic chinese tub with say.. frozen shepherds pie in it, how long and on what level would you do it at?

OR.. would I be better off putting it in the oven for 50 mins ish?

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You'd only be nuking it to defrost, then re-heating on a pan/in a pot I think.

So, lowest, or "defrost" setting on the microwave until it's thawed. You can open the microwave to check I suppose.

That's what I do..

Actually, sometimes I don't even use the microwave, I just bung the frozen mass into a pot on the hob on a very low heat setting to thaw it out, then whack the heat up to re-heat while I'm cooking my rice.

I haven't gotten any ill-effects so far.

*twitches*

Supercell

Trotter wrote: »

Lots of good advice, thanks a lot!

When microwaving a plastic chinese tub with say.. frozen shepherds pie in it, how long and on what level would you do it at?

OR.. would I be better off putting it in the oven for 50 mins ish?

That depends on the portion size I suppose.
Usually 5 mins on high does most of my dinners, with a bit of a stir half way.

A solid square like a Shepards pie or Lasagne really should be done low and slow (boring) - I'd just nuke it for a couple of mins on high then divide into four with a knife rotate the squares frozen side out and then do for another few mins.

Yes..there is an art to reheating frozen food

Faith

Longfield wrote: »

I couldn't live without my freezer!

I do a big cook at weekends on a Sunday usually and make a weeks worth of food and pop it in individual tubs for nuking in the microwave during the week. I've built up to about five weeks supply now (no more room) and cook a different recipe every weekend so by now there's quite a variety of meals to choose from.
I haven't got food poisoning or ill at all in a long long time so can only sing its praises.

I'd do that, except my freezer's TINY.

Trotter, it's always better to leave your food defrost naturally if you can. Microwaving can destroy many of the nutrients in food (there's a recent discussion about it in Nutrition and Diet). Avoid over-microwaving when reheating too. I never give anything more than 3 or 3.5 minutes on high.

Mr Magnolia

If you do microwave to defrost, open the lid on the container. You can leave it on but open it incase any pressure builds up.

CJhaughey

I like to cook Moussaka as OAMC (once a month cooking).
Double the recipe and chop into the portions that you need, double wrap in foil and freeze.
Great for families thast don't always have time in the evening.

Glowing

Chile con Carne is a great one to freeze. You can defrost it whenever and have it with potatoes, rice, on nachos, in tacos, in a wrap with lettuce - and never forget the sour cream! Very versatile stuff, and you can easily make a vat of it of a Sunday evening!

Calina

Anyone know if you can freeze risotto? I have icky feelings about it on account of the parmesan and also reheating rice which I thought you were never supposed to do?

thanks a million.

Faith

You can reheat rice, just make sure you do it properly. If it's not properly reheated all the way through, it can give you serious food poisoning.

Not sure about freezing risotto though.

Calina

Somehow I think it might be easier to do the rice from scratch each time then.

The Sweeper

I think risotto would be better from scratch just due to the nature of the dish. Like pasta - always best cooked fresh.

Amen to chili being a freezer staple - tastiest meal in the world is reheated chili in any variety of flatbread with shredded lettuce, sour cream and chopped spring onion.

Alun

Faith wrote: »

You can reheat rice, just make sure you do it properly. If it's not properly reheated all the way through, it can give you serious food poisoning.

It's actually a bit more complicated than that.

http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/asksam/keepingfoodsafe/asksamcooking/#A220063

Basically if you've left the rice too long before reheating it, you can reheat it all day long, and it still won't get rid of the toxins. Personally though, I do it all the time, and have done for years, and I'm still alive.

Dizzyblonde

You can freeze parmesan, so that shouldn't cause a problem with it.

I never got into the whole freezer thing cos of worries about food poisoning - my parents never reheated food so I always just used to make fresh every day. Now I'm working 50 hours a week, I really need to start freezing stuff!

What type of container should you use to freeze stuff? How long should I leave stuff (to cool) before putting it in the freezer? How long should I let it thaw in the fridge? What are some really great things to freeze? I assume bolognese, chili, tikka masala etc?

chuckles30

I use the plastic boxes from the Chinese/Indian etc. Any other plastic container also works. Just don't fill them to the top as stuff has a tendency to expand when frozen. These work great for spag bols/curries/soups etc. For more solid stuff like quiches, I just stick them in a freezer bag.

Freeze them the right way up, but once frozen, you can turn them sideways or whatever to maximise your space. I always let stuff go cold before I freeze it. Most stuff will defrost overnight in the fridge. But I have taken some things out and microwaved them straight away no problem.....very handy when you come in from work tired and hungry.....and I'm still alive. Your fresh rice/pasta will be cooked in the same time. All the things you mention below will freeze perfectly.

If I didn't freeze stuff I'd go hungry or have a lot of waste.......as I cook for myself all the time.