Batch cooking

Maz2016

A few weeks ago I started a new job. I’m away from home 14 hours a day between travelling and working. When I get home I’m too tired to cook so I’m eating unheslthy convienience food or take aways. Not only is it bad for me, it’s really hurting my pocket.

I think I’m a good cook , I’m good at storing meals in the fridge for the next day (allow to cool etc) but when it comes to freezing meals I’m clueless.

I’m clueless as to what types of food can be frozen, how to defrost/heat them and what way to store them.

Things I would love to freeze include pasta, potato/veg/meat dinners, Shepard’s pie, lasagne, stew, casseroles etc. Can anyone help me out. I just calculated what I spent in convienience food last week and it’s scary

Muahahaha

Maz2016 wrote: »

Things I would love to freeze include pasta, potato/veg/meat dinners, Shepard’s pie, lasagne, stew, casseroles etc. Can anyone help me out. I just calculated what I spent in convienience food last week and it’s scary

Stews, casseroles, lasagne, chilli, pies, etc are all fine frozen. Im not sure how pasta tastes when defrosted and know that potatoes can taste a bit grainy after defrosting.

Batch cooking is a huge timesaver once you put the work and effort in. Take a couple of hours on a Saturday and make up batches of curry, chilli, stews, whatever you want. Then after its cooled down divide into portion sizes into tupperware and into the freezer. Its a good idea to label it too.

With meat Id often buy a 1kg joint of pork or beef, cook it, eat some and carve the rest for freezing. When needed just defrost the night before and then it only takes 10 minutes to boil some frozen veg and youre good to go.

Maz2016

Muahahaha wrote: »

Stews, casseroles, lasagne, chilli, pies, etc are all fine frozen. Im not sure how pasta tastes when defrosted and know that potatoes can taste a bit grainy after defrosting.

Batch cooking is a huge timesaver once you put the work and effort in. Take a couple of hours on a Saturday and make up batches of curry, chilli, stews, whatever you want. Then after its cooled down divide into portion sizes into tupperware and into the freezer. Its a good idea to label it too.

With meat Id often buy a 1kg joint of pork or beef, cook it, eat some and carve the rest for freezing. When needed just defrost the night before and then it only takes 10 minutes to boil some frozen veg and youre good to go.

Thanks for the advice. What’s the best way to heat the beef after you defrost it, curry’s too? I froze a curry before, defrosted it in fridge and put it in a pan to heat up - was ok but the taste had changed considerably

Graces7

Don't be too ambitious at first. Try maybe 2 dishes..

I am on my own and very limited where activities eg cooking are concerned because of illness.

Easy enough to make extra portions of what I am actually having that day.. eg
cauliflower, new potatoes and home made cheese sauce. I ate well then froze two good portions.
Same with home made chunky soups.

Wanderer78

Is this job really necessary, they are really unhealthy working hours?

Graces7

Maz2016 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. What’s the best way to heat the beef after you defrost it, curry’s too? I froze a curry before, defrosted it in fridge and put it in a pan to heat up - was ok but the taste had changed considerably

I microwave to reheat .

angel eyes 2012

Maz2016 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. What’s the best way to heat the beef after you defrost it, curry’s too? I froze a curry before, defrosted it in fridge and put it in a pan to heat up - was ok but the taste had changed considerably

I batch cook Chicken Curry and Spaghetti Bolognese regularly. I prepare them at the same time, and split into portions using plastic containers or freezer bags. I only buy good quality chicken and mince as you save a fortune cooking in this manner.

I defrost on the counter and reheat on the hob. I've been doing it for a couple of years now and it's so handy when you don't feel like cooking. I just have to cook the rice/pasta which takes 15 minutes.

gctest50

Search for mealprepsunday too



https://www.google.com/search?q=mealprepsunday

JackieChang

Just put your dinner into microwaveable containers. No need to empty everything out into a pot again.

Take a frozen dinner out the night before and put it into the fridge. When you get home the next day just microwave it and tuck in.

I've done spaghetti bolognese, thai curry with rice, sunday "roast" with mashed shpuds, bacon cabbage spuds, lentil curry.

I use these boxes from ebay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-PACK-READY-MEAL-PREP-2-COMPARTMENT-FOOD-CONTAINERS-LIDS-LUNCH-BOX-STACKABLE/351864555266?epid=809837265&hash=item51ecc30702:g:yxAAAOSwZlZaTjKy

Maz2016

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Is this job really necessary, they are really unhealthy working hours?

Normally I would say no but the crazy hours are temporary (6 weeks) then we get an extra weeks annual leave as a thank you

JackieChang wrote: »

I've done spaghetti bolognese, thai curry with rice, sunday "roast" with mashed shpuds, bacon cabbage spuds, lentil curry.

Wow really? Does mash potato, bacon/cabbage turn out ok? This would be fantastic and right up my street

Thanks for all the tips and tricks

Graces7

Maz2016 wrote: »

Normally I would say no but the crazy hours are temporary (6 weeks) then we get an extra weeks annual leave as a thank you


Wow really? Does mash potato, bacon/cabbage turn out ok? This would be fantastic and right up my street

Thanks for all the tips and tricks

Indeed yes! That is one of my favourite "Ready Meal" standbys.. From E3.25 upwards depending where you buy.

JackieChang

Maz2016 wrote: »

Wow really? Does mash potato, bacon/cabbage turn out ok? This would be fantastic and right up my street

Here's a pic of my bacon cabbage and mash. Comes out of the freezer and microwave totally fine.

Please excuse the one on the bottom left. I added in the skins to the mash in that one. Looks a bit horrid.

L1011

Used to do this and stopped when I started working in the job with the shortest commute plausible (leave the house at 8, home before 6), reality is that didn't make me cook when I got home and I became reliant on takeaways and extremely quick dishs, carbonara particularly. And I'm now about to change to a job that'll have at least an extra hour out of the house.

Need to restart but the IKEA glass freezer containers I have are bloody huge for 2 portions and its hard to fit many even with TWO freezers - what do other people use? Saving up takeaway containers would require me to buy lots more takeaways first and I don't think they survive too many goes through the dishwasher either.

igCorcaigh

Mackerel canned in teriyaki sauce (Tesco), wholegrain couscous with Chinese 5 spice, stir fried frozen veg.

Dinner ready in less than 5 minutes. And it's tasty and healthy.

Loveinapril

I freeze curries, stews, chilli and bolognaise in Ziploc bags. They defrost really well. I buy foil takeaway containers in Dealz for lasagnes and shepherd's pie.

wexie

L1011 wrote: »

Saving up takeaway containers would require me to buy lots more takeaways first and I don't think they survive too many goes through the dishwasher either.

We always use things like these :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Medium-Containers-Length-12cm-Width-10cm-Depth-5cm/dp/B00IAKYY0E/ref=sr_1_2?s=kids&ie=UTF8&qid=1531337076&sr=1-2&keywords=TAKEAWAY+FOOD+CONTAINERS

But don't normally have microwaveable stuff, more like lasagna. pasta bakes and shepherds pie and things like that.

Soup containers from Aldi (the oval ones) are perfect for a portion of spag bol or the likes. (or homemade soup)

Most of the things we would batch cook (it's usually me) are :

Lasagna, Chicken&bacon pasta bake, cottage pie, spaghetti bolognese, chili, soups.

L1011

I never did anything for microwaving. Have one but rarely use it myself, partner nukes soggy cornflakes twice a day in it. So it was containers to dump out from to a pot.

Use ziplocs for sauces (do a katsu one that is a realtively fast dinner, freeze breaded goujons from the butchers and use frozen chips) but I find you lose a lot of sauce stuck to the bag. May as well give it a go anyway for chilli or bolognese.

Maz2016

JackieChang wrote: »

Here's a pic of my bacon cabbage and mash. Comes out of the freezer and microwave totally fine.

Please excuse the one on the bottom left. I added in the skins to the mash in that one. Looks a bit horrid.

This is definitely something I am going to do this weekend. Thanks so much for the idea

appledrop

When our little boy was a baby we did a lot of batch cooking. He would only eat small potions so waste if we didn't divide it up. Pasta + potatoes didn't freeze well but still lots you could cook like curry, bolognese stews etc. You then just take it out of freezer say in morning in your case + you can defrost it in the fridge. Then just put it in microwave when home. Some people defrost it at room temperature but that wouldn't be a runner in your case if your out for 14 hours. Good luck with it.

Maz2016

appledrop wrote: »

When our little boy was a baby we did a lot of batch cooking. He would only eat small potions so waste if we didn't divide it up. Pasta + potatoes didn't freeze well but still lots you could cook like curry, bolognese stews etc. You then just take it out of freezer say in morning in your case + you can defrost it in the fridge. Then just put it in microwave when home. Some people defrost it at room temperature but that wouldn't be a runner in your case if your out for 14 hours. Good luck with it.

Thanks so much. Yeah it’s trial and error with a lot of things

Cakes and Ale

Rice freezes very well (although we cook ours in a rice cooker which produces very dry rice). Put a portion in a Chinese takeaway box and it can be microwaved from frozen in a couple of minutes. Means you can mix and match with other dishes.

Any curries, tomato sauces with meat, stew, mince all are quick to do from frozen. I've also frozen lasagne portions too.

LimeFruitGum

I wouldn’t like the idea of defrosting spaghetti, but it only takes 10 minutes to boil it. What about making batches of say, ragu or arrabbiata etc? Defrost those while you’re boiling the spaghetti.

You could cook up some rice in advance and then make egg fried rice with whatever veg, fish or meat you have. I also like The Happy Pear’s Chana Masala recipe. It keeps well, I’d always have the ingredients anyway, and you can bung in some seafood mix, chicken or beef if you want.

A large microwaved potato with whatever’s handy (grated cheese, sweet corn, diced pepper, a tin of tuna etc) has been great for me on occasion, and it is ready in less than 15 minutes. Does the job.

You could batch up homemade soups too, make turkey or beef burgers and freeze them.

BaZmO*

As mentioned already, chillis, stews, ragu/bolognese, curries, etc. are all great to freeze. Favourites in our house are chilli and ragu. I divide them and put them into ziplock bags before freezing them. Always have a good stock of both in the freezer. REALLY important to label and date them, because you’ll never remember.

To defrost them I put the ziplock bag into a bowl of hot water (although cold works too), and then either transfer to a pot or microwave it depending on what it is. This is done while either making rice or pasta. I don’t like leaving them out from the night before because I generally have them when it’s a last minute decision, unexpectedly working late etc. Chilli is great because you can have it a few different ways, baked potato if you’ve got a bit more time, or rice, or even with nachos if you’re super stretched for time.

Another thing I do is use those foil trays for shepherds pie, with mash on top. Then freeze. They can go directly into the oven from the freezer......then serve with beans of course!

RacoonQueen

L1011 wrote: »

Need to restart but the IKEA glass freezer containers I have are bloody huge for 2 portions and its hard to fit many even with TWO freezers - what do other people use? Saving up takeaway containers would require me to buy lots more takeaways first and I don't think they survive too many goes through the dishwasher either.

You can get a packs of plastic or foil takeaway containers in dealz for 1.50 thats what I tend to use. Both come in different sizes so how many you get for 1.50 depends on size. I found the plasticy ones weren't great having gone through the microwave...sometimes they'd lose their shape, so the lid wouldn't fit properly anymore which meant anything with liquid ended up spilling in my bag/car.
I'm conscious of the waste I'm creating with them now though...so wonder if you could get similar sized glass ones...would be worth the investment (although would take up a lot more storage space)


I regularly do up big batches of lasagna, bolognese, shepherds pie and chicken curry...sometimes stew too. Would like to add a little variety as i end up sometimes bringing same thing in to work a few days in a row, or just not bringing anything in and buying lunch because I'm sick of eating same thing over and over.

Jellybaby1

Just after I searched batch cooking on Youtube I found this thread here. I have been batch cooking recently and its brilliant for when I don't have time or don't feel like cooking. In a few weeks I'll be refilling the freezer, and in the meantime I'll try some of the recipes posted here already. I may try some of the recipes I found on Youtube by The Batch Lady below if anyone is interested:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvXSXS_pSElJH-4n2BsXpag/videos

She freezes raw. I prefer to cook and then freeze when the food is cold.

L1011

To answer my own question from before + potentially be of use to others - IKEA now do much smaller plastic clip boxes which hold a double portion quite neatly and with much less wasted space in the freezer - https://www.ikea.com/ie/en/products/cookware/food-storage-organising/ikea-365-food-container-with-lid-rectangular-plastic-spr-19269079/. They also stack better than the glass ones I was using, both when closed and when stacked open in the cupboard.

Microwave and dishwasher both fine. Like all plastic ones they do start to discolour depending on what's kept in it; I do so many curries there's lots of turmeric staining but even if you have to throw them in the recycling after a few months its still less plastic waste than using disposable takeway ones.

Ryath

I have 2 of these Ikea glass ones and they stack fine in my freezer I have a large american style freezer though so have a lot of shelf space. Being meaning to pick up another couple they are a good size for two portions, have one large one too for family portions.

Mostly use them for freezing extra portions lasagnes and cottage pie. Handy as emergency food for the kids or if I want to make something different for dinner they won't eat. Very hand just being able to throw it in the oven. Don't like using single use plastic and tinfoil containers

Don't batch cook as such just make large dinners and freeze whats left. Curry, Chillies, Soup and Stews. Often make extra satay or butter curry sauce and freeze that so I just have to marinade and cook some chicken and rice. Just use left over takeaway containers and tupperware for this.

Corkgirl18

I batch cook my weekday lunches every 6-8 weeks or so (whenever a school holiday appears). I wouldn't have time during the week so its a massive time saver.
Veggie lasagne, chickpea curry, veggie chilli, lentil dahl, lentil bolognese, veggie burgers, lentil shepherds pie, soups etc.
For boxes I just use the plastic dealz ones and recycle them every few weeks.

igCorcaigh

Even though I live in a tiny apartment, one of the best things I have is a chest freezer. I have quite a few batched meals in there.

Beans are great to freeze. Cook up the
whole bag and dry them off on the hob.

Into a freezer bag they go, and I can use as many or as few as I like to create lunches or dinners in a flash.

Maz2016

Some fantastic ideas. Do ye take them out of the freezer the night before? And do ye heat them in the plastic tubs ?