Frozen meals

corblimey

Getting into the whole cooking once or twice at the weekend and having meals for the week ... thing. I cooked chili on saturday and a stew on sunday and froze what i didn't eat. I now have 6 good meals waiting for me in the freezer. I'm trying to come up with other meals that can be cooked in a big batch and frozen for later. Spag bol, obviously. Would roast dinners (beef, chicken, etc) work ok? Any other recommendations?

olaola

Have never tried any roast dinners - tbh I dunno if they would work so well. Maybe chicken, but I'd say lamb & beef might suffer.

Lasagna, curry all things saucy will work very well. Even cottage pie with spuds on top is quite successful.

corblimey

olaola wrote: »

Lasagna, curry all things saucy will work very well. Even cottage pie with spuds on top is quite successful.

Ooh, didn't think of curry. How about stirfry?

olaola

corblimey wrote: »

Ooh, didn't think of curry. How about stirfry?

Hmmmm, I'd say it would get soggy on reheat.

Stews/casseroles would be good too - chorizo and bean, beef & veg, chicken & mushroom. I'm really not too keen on re-heated lamb. Fish pie would be good too I'd say. And those broccoli & tuna/chicken pasta bakes.

corblimey

olaola wrote: »

Hmmmm, I'd say it would get soggy on reheat.

Stews/casseroles would be good too - chorizo and bean, beef & veg, chicken & mushroom. I'm really not too keen on re-heated lamb. Fish pie would be good too I'd say. And those broccoli & tuna/chicken pasta bakes.

Yeah, all types of stew work well. Any good recipe for a chicken pasta bake? I would've though that the pasta part wouldn't work too well?

Dizzyblonde

Roast meats freeze really well, once you freeze them in gravy. I always cook twice the amount of roast beef or lamb and freeze half so I have a handy roast dinner. Ziploc bags are great for this.

corblimey

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

Roast meats freeze really well, once you freeze them in gravy. I always cook twice the amount of roast beef or lamb and freeze half so I have a handy roast dinner. Ziploc bags are great for this.

Hmm, I can't abide by gravy, but being able to freeze roasts would be great as when I do the roast chicken on a sunday, I'm then eating cooked chicken for most of the week. being able to take a break for a steak would be nice

Dizzyblonde

I don't use gravy much myself, but when you defrost roast meat that has been frozen in gravy it's really tasty.

Supercell

Stir fries are fine, I freeze them all the time for the same reasons the OP does. I've currently got a months worth of dinners in my freezer. Every once in a while I let it run down to maybe a weeks worth of food just to keep it rcycling, amazing the dinners that you find after doing this for a while
Only thing I find that don't freeze well is whole potatoes - roast or boiled, turn very soggy and mushy on microwaving. Even making mash tends to seperate on nuking. I just use bulgar, rice or pasta with roast type meals strange as that sounds, works out fine - you don't have to have spuds with your roast dinners!

corblimey

Supercell wrote: »

I just use bulgar, rice or pasta with roast type meals

Do you freeze these or make them fresh each time? I think since most of these things can be done single servingly, it makes more sense to cook them as they're needed, just that it's rather difficult to make a stew for one person (although I'm ashamed to admit that the first time I made it, it didn't last much longer than 2 servings )

ETA: Bulgar? Where would you get that and how is it generally cooked?

Supercell

corblimey wrote: »

Do you freeze these or make them fresh each time? I think since most of these things can be done single servingly, it makes more sense to cook them as they're needed, just that it's rather difficult to make a stew for one person (although I'm ashamed to admit that the first time I made it, it didn't last much longer than 2 servings )

ETA: Bulgar? Where would you get that and how is it generally cooked?

I bulk cook them like yourself, every weekend i cook for a family..but theres only me! Then split it into five or more portions.
Rice I find freezes really well (Basmati rice - that easy cook muck is going to expand the waistline in no time) as does Bulgar and its hard to cook rice during lunch hour in work
Bulgar is available in any Tesco's usually with the raw beans, its like rice but high in protein and fibre and has a slightly woody taste to it I suppose (I have heard it tastes nutty but am allergic to nuts so woody is as close as I can go to describing it!!). It's easy to cook, just bung in pre-boiled water and let soak for a bit. Texture wise its a bit like very very slightly chewy rice but isn't sticky like rice, i rather like it.