Frozen homemade meals to microwave

starlight09

Hello,
I would like to make homemade cooked frozen meals for my son who is away at collage, that could be reheated in a microwave as most evenings he finishes late. I've googled it but a lot of the meals include foods I've never even heard of.

All help appreciated.

Paudee

starlight09 wrote: »

Hello,
I would like to make homemade cooked frozen meals for my son who is away at collage, that could be reheated in a microwave as most evenings he finishes late. I've googled it but a lot of the meals include foods I've never even heard of.

All help appreciated.

While not really answering your question, Aldi do a new 'slim free' range and any ones I've tried are pretty legit and really handy when short on time. In saying that you in the short term and he in the long term would probably be better served sending him back to college with the necessary ingredients to cook for himself!

lazeedaisy

Depends on what your son likes.

I make spaghetti bol, lasagne, shepherds pie, quiches, etc, etc, etc, all can be frozen,

But I take them out of the freezer before I go to work, and my husband microwaves them when he gets in,

Is that the type of thing you are thinking about?

rubadub

There have been numerous threads about this before. General advice was to stick to stuff heavy on sauces like curry, chilli, stews, spag bol. These all freeze well and microwave fine.

Frozen food does not microwave well, as ice does not readily absorb microwaves, you can get overcooked "hot spots" as the moment it does defrost all the microwaves go into that defrosted section and obliterate it with energy/heat.

A tip is to take it out in the morning and leave in the fridge to at least partially defrost. If cooking from frozen I strongly advise cooking at medium power, 50% or less for a longer time. Too many people follow this dogma idea/concept that microwaves HAVE to cook quickly, many will use nothing other than full power -and this a big factor in what gives microwaved food such a bad name, if people insisted on cooking everything in their oven or on the hob at 100% hob they would then ovens & hobs would also have a worse reputation too.

Some parts might be cooked freshly and added to frozen stuff. e.g. I might have small jars of curry frozen. I cook rice in the microwave using the absorption method, add 1 volume of rice to 1.5-2 volumes water, microwave until boiling on full (2-4mins), then microwave on low/defrost for 10-12mins. You have to learn how your own microwave behaves, but it is very repeatable, with one microwave I use the lowest power, with another 30%. I could bring rice to boiling and add in a jar and increase power to medium for the 10mins, so it both cooks the rice and reheats the curry.

I would highly recommend he gets a philips airfryer too. I am guessing he is not exactly heston blumenthal, but you can easily cook frozen stuff in these really quickly, like oven chips, donegal catch, nuggets etc. They are ideal for students or anyone cooking for 1. No preheating is really needed, and it cooks at a little over half the time needed for a regular oven. It is quite comparable to the speed of a microwave for some stuff -the timer means it is very repeatable, if you find some new product you just set your time cautiously, if not cooked increase a few mins, and remember this added time for the next batch. e.g. I know chicken nuggets take 10mins with no preheating at 200C.

starlight09

lazeedaisy wrote: »

Depends on what your son likes.

I make spaghetti bol, lasagne, shepherds pie, quiches, etc, etc, etc, all can be frozen,

But I take them out of the freezer before I go to work, and my husband microwaves them when he gets in

Is that the type of thing you are thinking about?[/quote

yes lazeedaisy that's exactly what I was thinking of. Thank you so much.

starlight09

rubadub wrote: »

There have been numerous threads about this before. General advice was to stick to stuff heavy on sauces like curry, chilli, stews, spag bol. These all freeze well and microwave fine.

Frozen food does not microwave well, as ice does not readily absorb microwaves, you can get overcooked "hot spots" as the moment it does defrost all the microwaves go into that defrosted section and obliterate it with energy/heat.

A tip is to take it out in the morning and leave in the fridge to at least partially defrost. If cooking from frozen I strongly advise cooking at medium power, 50% or less for a longer time. Too many people follow this dogma idea/concept that microwaves HAVE to cook quickly, many will use nothing other than full power -and this a big factor in what gives microwaved food such a bad name, if people insisted on cooking everything in their oven or on the hob at 100% hob they would then ovens & hobs would also have a worse reputation too.

Some parts might be cooked freshly and added to frozen stuff. e.g. I might have small jars of curry frozen. I cook rice in the microwave using the absorption method, add 1 volume of rice to 1.5-2 volumes water, microwave until boiling on full (2-4mins), then microwave on low/defrost for 10-12mins. You have to learn how your own microwave behaves, but it is very repeatable, with one microwave I use the lowest power, with another 30%. I could bring rice to boiling and add in a jar and increase power to medium for the 10mins, so it both cooks the rice and reheats the curry.

I would highly recommend he gets a philips airfryer too. I am guessing he is not exactly heston blumenthal, but you can easily cook frozen stuff in these really quickly, like oven chips, donegal catch, nuggets etc. They are ideal for students or anyone cooking for 1. No preheating is really needed, and it cooks at a little over half the time needed for a regular oven. It is quite comparable to the speed of a microwave for some stuff -the timer means it is very repeatable, if you find some new product you just set your time cautiously, if not cooked increase a few mins, and remember this added time for the next batch. e.g. I know chicken nuggets take 10mins with no preheating at 200C.

Thank you rubadub, that is a lot of information. I agree with letting the food defrost first. To be honest I'm not very familiar with microwaves, I always cook fresh fresh. The airfryer is a good idea also.

starlight09

rubadub wrote: »

There have been numerous threads about this before. General advice was to stick to stuff heavy on sauces like curry, chilli, stews, spag bol. These all freeze well and microwave fine.

Frozen food does not microwave well, as ice does not readily absorb microwaves, you can get overcooked "hot spots" as the moment it does defrost all the microwaves go into that defrosted section and obliterate it with energy/heat.

A tip is to take it out in the morning and leave in the fridge to at least partially defrost. If cooking from frozen I strongly advise cooking at medium power, 50% or less for a longer time. Too many people follow this dogma idea/concept that microwaves HAVE to cook quickly, many will use nothing other than full power -and this a big factor in what gives microwaved food such a bad name, if people insisted on cooking everything in their oven or on the hob at 100% hob they would then ovens & hobs would also have a worse reputation too.

Some parts might be cooked freshly and added to frozen stuff. e.g. I might have small jars of curry frozen. I cook rice in the microwave using the absorption method, add 1 volume of rice to 1.5-2 volumes water, microwave until boiling on full (2-4mins), then microwave on low/defrost for 10-12mins. You have to learn how your own microwave behaves, but it is very repeatable, with one microwave I use the lowest power, with another 30%. I could bring rice to boiling and add in a jar and increase power to medium for the 10mins, so it both cooks the rice and reheats the curry.

I would highly recommend he gets a philips airfryer too. I am guessing he is not exactly heston blumenthal, but you can easily cook frozen stuff in these really quickly, like oven chips, donegal catch, nuggets etc. They are ideal for students or anyone cooking for 1. No preheating is really needed, and it cooks at a little over half the time needed for a regular oven. It is quite comparable to the speed of a microwave for some stuff -the timer means it is very repeatable, if you find some new product you just set your time cautiously, if not cooked increase a few mins, and remember this added time for the next batch. e.g. I know chicken nuggets take 10mins with no preheating at 200C.

Thank you rubadub, that is a lot of information. I agree with letting the food defrost first. To be honest I'm not very familiar with microwaves, I always cook fresh fresh. The airfryer is a good idea also.

phormium

I freeze a load of dinners for microwave for my father. I have been doing this years and don't tend at this stage to freeze whole meals as they never heat right without careful operation of the microwave as a previous poster said, you can't just bung it in and hope for the best.

What I now do is freeze dinner components as such and pack a dinner in a freezer bag then. I use a lot of those small plastic chinese takeaway style containers to mould the packs.

For example I make a big pot of mashed potato, you need to make it extra tasty to survive the whole freezing/microwave thing and still taste good so I add lots of seasoning and usually something like chopped spring onions or leeks as well. Then I put in say 3 scoops of mash into the chinese container, flatten it all down with a spoon to the shape of the container and freeze, then pour hot water over back of container and pop out the frozen mash block. Wrap in clingfilm then. I do same with turnips, carrots/parsnips, mushy peas. My father likes soft textured foods but obviously you can do different things. For meat then I do things like pork chops, I cook and freeze again in the container in some gravy, same thing, pop out block and wrap in clingfilm. Anything in gravy works well, turkey, chicken etc. Then into a freezer bag I will put a block of mash, block of veg and block with meat. The mash and veg can then just be heated until hot in microwave, because they are thin blocks the thaw and heat quickly although they do benefit from being roughed up and stirred before actual serving to fluff up the mash a bit and ensure it is same temp all over. While you can also do the meat in the microwave I find it works better if just popped into a small pan on a low heat as the gravy comes out better that way, doesn't take long either and ready about same time as microwave stuff.

I also do blocks of basically shepherds pie mince without the mash (you can do it with the mash on but it's just harder to reheat as you can't stir it about which gives a better result), another favourite is bacon, cooked and sliced and frozen on top of a bed of blanched cabbage, again in the plastic container and popped out. I blanch the shredded cabbage and after cooling and straining freeze it with a ladle of bacon water and two slices of bacon on top. To heat and thaw that it's into a saucepan, the water cooks the cabbage and the steam thaws and heats the bacon, then you have your mash block from the microwave.

I know these are a little more difficult than just firing something into the microwave and coming back when it goes ping but you get a better result. There are lots of other things suitable too but if you have a few blocks of this and that they thaw quick and can be mixed and matched. I do the same with rice and curry, separate blocks again.

Dial Hard

phormium wrote:

I know these are a little more difficult than just firing something into the microwave and coming back when it goes ping but you get a better result.

Or she could just teach the son to cook?

phormium

That would be the ideal answer but will it happen

Dial Hard

phormium wrote:

That would be the ideal answer but will it happen

It might if he has no choice! There's absolutely no reason a student can't learn to cook for themselves. I get the impression with your dad it's an ability/age issue.

I know the OP just wants to make sure her son is getting a decent meal every night but it just seems to be a bit... molly-coddling. Cooking is a life skill; she'd be doing him a far better service in the long run buying him a few basic utensils and teaching him how to cook for himself.

Jellybaby1

A vote here for the dry fryer too! Students love their chips and a dry fryer is much safer than if they try to deep fry. Also don't forget their five a day! You can also 'roast' root veg. i.e. carrot and parsnip, in the dry fryer! Win-win!!

the beer revolu

Dial Hard wrote: »

It might if he has no choice! There's absolutely no reason a student can't learn to cook for themselves. I get the impression with your dad it's an ability/age issue.

I know the OP just wants to make sure her son is getting a decent meal every night but it just seems to be a bit... molly-coddling. Cooking is a life skill; she'd be doing him a far better service in the long run buying him a few basic utensils and teaching him how to cook for himself.

Yeah, moving away from home was the start of a lifelong love affair with cooking for me. If I didn't need to cook to have the kind of homemade food I was used to, I might never have started cooking.

phormium

Yes as you say with my father it's age and health unfortunately, he's a former chef so well able to cook

I strongly think no child should get to mid teens without being well able to cook for themselves but student laziness comes into it too. I have several younger relations in college, perfectly capable of cooking but still rely on fast foods etc for convenience or prefer to spend the money on partying! I wouldn't mind giving a kid some ready meals to make life easier for them if say they were working as well as college or something but wouldn't do it from a molly coddling point of view, if they have the time they should be able to fend for themselves with the skills they should have been taught.

exaisle

Give him ingredients and a recipe for something simple.

Hunger is a great motivator.

If you don't help him to become independent you'll never get rid of him!

You need to be kinda cruel to be kind, but in the long run, you'll be doing him a favour.

PS. Girls like guys who can cook! :-)

kylith

Agreed. There are some excellent student cookbooks out there. And needing to feed yourself is a great way of learning budgeting too.

starlight09

I can't believe what I'm reading. I asked for ideas for meals not on how I should have raised my son.

To set the record straight my son doesn't drink or smoke, so no partying. He and his girlfriend meet up with their friends about once a month.

As for the fact that he should be able to cook for himself, yes I did teach him and he's quite good at it.

Now the fact is that my son has been quite sick with a few months, he's now back in college and trying hard to catch up, therefore he doesn't have the time or energy to do much cooking.

To those of you that answered my question without comment, thank you.

To those of you that made comments, don't be so quick to judge

cbreeze

Tesco do handy 600 ml square containers which are great for freezing good meal sized portions of stew, bolognaise sauce, curry or stir-fry. They come in packs of three and are microwaveable. Taking the pack out of the freezer in the morning before work or college will save energy and microwave time.

As an accompaniment, there are now single serving portions of rice in packets ready to microwave, and ready-to-wok noodles in individual sachets can go with anything.

starlight09

cbreeze wrote: »

Tesco do handy 600 ml square containers which are great for freezing good meal sized portions of stew, bolognaise sauce, curry or stir-fry. They come in packs of three and are microwaveable. Taking the pack out of the freezer in the morning before work or college will save energy and microwave time.
This
As an accompaniment, there are now single serving portions of rice in packets ready to microwave, and ready-to-wok noodles in individual sachets can go with anything.

Thank you cbreeze, that is so helpful, gratefully appreciated

starlight09

cbreeze wrote: »

Tesco do handy 600 ml square containers which are great for freezing good meal sized portions of stew, bolognaise sauce, curry or stir-fry. They come in packs of three and are microwaveable. Taking the pack out of the freezer in the morning before work or college will save energy and microwave time.
This
As an accompaniment, there are now single serving portions of rice in packets ready to microwave, and ready-to-wok noodles in individual sachets can go with anything.

Thank you cbreeze, that is so helpful, gratefully appreciated

Loveinapril

I am on a freezer batch cooking frenzy at the moment to prepare for my little baby to arrive in a few weeks. So far, I have made shepherd's pie, chicken curry, beef stew, pulled pork, carrot and turnip mash, cauliflower and sweet potato curry, lasagne and chicken brocolli bake. I got tinfoil takeaway containers in Dealz 10 for €1.50 but will be looking out for those plastic takeaway ones so I can reuse them.

shar01

I would recommend Justine Pattison's book "Freeze". Plenty of recipes and tips for freezing. Some of the recipes require defrosting first but some can be horsed into the microwave or oven from frozen.

Jellybaby1

shar01 wrote: »

I would recommend Justine Pattison's book "Freeze". Plenty of recipes and tips for freezing. Some of the recipes require defrosting first but some can be horsed into the microwave or oven from frozen.

Might look for that myself. Our first freezer came with a great little handy book on freezing almost every type of food, but subsequent freezers don't seem to have them any more. I'm getting good info here myself. I still assist my 'little ones' (in their 30's now ) when they are busy or shattered after a long week. They have cooked for me too!

starlight09

Loveinapril wrote: »

I am on a freezer batch cooking frenzy at the moment to prepare for my little baby to arrive in a few weeks. So far, I have made shepherd's pie, chicken curry, beef stew, pulled pork, carrot and turnip mash, cauliflower and sweet potato curry, lasagne and chicken brocolli bake. I got tinfoil takeaway containers in Dealz 10 for €1.50 but will be looking out for those plastic takeaway ones so I can reuse them.

Wishing you all the best with the arrival of your baby. Thank you for the all the ideas. I will check out about the container's

starlight09

Loveinapril wrote: »

I am on a freezer batch cooking frenzy at the moment to prepare for my little baby to arrive in a few weeks. So far, I have made shepherd's pie, chicken curry, beef stew, pulled pork, carrot and turnip mash, cauliflower and sweet potato curry, lasagne and chicken brocolli bake. I got tinfoil takeaway containers in Dealz 10 for €1.50 but will be looking out for those plastic takeaway ones so I can reuse them.

Wishing you all the best with the arrival of your baby. Thank you for the all the ideas. I will check out about the container's