Freezable batch cooked meals

[MyBreadIsEggy]

I'm trying to think of what meals I can cook and freeze toddler-sized portions of.
When I make certain meals, I deliberately make too much, and get 2 or 3 toddler portions to freeze out of it. I do this with:

• Cottage Pie
  
• Lasagne
  
• Sausage pasta bake
  
• Chilli con Carne
  

Dd won't eat rice, so curries are a no go unfortunately, and she seems to have developed a weird hatred for bolognese all of a sudden Any ideas of what other meals I can freeze, defrost and microwave for her? We are expected DC2 in 6 weeks, so I want to be able to keep cooking to a minimum after the birth, and make things easy for DH. Even he can't mess up defrosting a portion of something and putting it in the microwave!!

[Cantthinkofarelevsntnamechange]

Could you do her curry (if she likes it) and give her it with mini naan breads instead of rice?
For ds I do macaroni cheese, stew/chunky soup type things, little muffin pizzas, sausage caseroles, meatballs

[speak2me]

We do this too. A couple more ideas:
Sweet and sour (serve with noodles instead of rice?)
Tomato based pasta sauce with veg and herbs
Mild Thai curry
Meatballs in tomato based sauce (tend to cut them up a bit smaller before freezing to make sure the cook)

[Blondie1984]

Fish pie
Chicken and veg stew

[atticusclaw2]

chicken and potato pie (like cottage pie but with chicken and veg)
moussaka
tuna or tuna pasta bake
moroccan chicken (chicken and veg (tomatoes, butternut squash, carrots, peppers and chickpeas) in mild tagine paste) with cous cous

[BreakfastAtSquiffanys]

Moroccan chicken, loads of version online. I add sultanas, cranberries and diced carrot to mine as well as the usual apricots.

Serve curry on a slice of bread instead of rice

[AnyTheWiser]

Boston baked beans
Moroccan lamb/chicken
Chicken casserole
Cheese sauce for pasta
Couscous is very fast to accompany curry, tagine, etc. Boil water, pour over couscous (child's portion in a ramekin) leave for five minutes, it's done.

[MyBreadIsEggy]

Thank you all!!
I have frozen portions of chicken pie and casseroles before, but completely forgot about those! I blame my baby brain Now it's getting colder, stews and pies will probably be on the menu more often!
Do you think I would be able to freeze and reheat pulled pork? I've got a big pork shoulder in the freezer that needs using up, and there's more than enough for me to get a roast dinner and a big pot of pulled pork out of it

[1frenchfoodie]

You can definately freeze and reheat pulled pork, I regularly do it with pulled beef as I think you need to start with a nice big joint and we are only 2 + 6 month old DD.

Boof casserole and pork casseroles good too. This pork, cider and parsnip casserole is lovely. I like to serve with tagliatelle for a change www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2534644/slowbraised-pork-shoulder-with-cider-and-parsnips

[MyBreadIsEggy]

DH is away with work, so I think I'll defrost the pork joint tomorrow, slow roast it for dinner on Friday, then make a BBQ sauce and do pulled pork baps Saturday, and freeze some of it

[BiddyPop]

On Monday night, I did my macaroni cheese for dinner and had a family portion and a 2 person portion to freeze which make great pasta bake dinners.
Pasta, cheese sauce, bacon chunks (this time was leftover from a joint, often its a packet of lardons), chopped and fried mushroom/onions/garlic, chopped peppers, frozen peas, chopped courgettes that cook in with the pasta for last 5 minutes - all mixed together.

Smoked fish cooked in milk, use the milk to make a white sauce, small florets of broccoli and the flaked fish in the bottom of an oven-proof dish, white sauce over it, top with mashed potato, a decent sprinkle of breadcrumbs and a generous handful of grated cheese.

Another one I do for freezing is roasted meditteranean veggies. Dice up veg into the same sized chunks - peppers, onions, tomatoes, courgette, (aubergines), French beans, whole garlic cloves, (peas). Marinate with olive oil, a dash of balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, herbs (basil, oregano, rosemary and thyme are all good here) for a while (can be overnight). Can be roasted then frozen, or frozen then roasted. I start out with a massive bowl of veg, roast 1 tray with a roast dinner (great mid-week option with chicken thighs or legs and some halved potatoes) and freeze and leftovers from that. And pop the uncooked into another bag and freeze. The cooked veg are great to just throw into plain tomato sauce with pasta (and some meat if you like - cooked chicken, chopped sausages, bacon pieces etc), either as it is or as a bake. I have frozen the cooked veggies already mixed with the sauce too if I need something ultra easy.

Chicken and mushrooms in a white sauce (with some cream and white wine for flavor - cooking gets rid of alcohol) to have with rice, pasta, potatoes or baked under a pastry or mashed potato top. Tarragon is a really nice herb for this one.

If DD won't eat bolognaise, or rice - can you do a few things that she would eat in toddler-sized portions and the spag bol or curries or chilli for yourselves? I still keep a few M&S kids meals in the freezer for DD too as some nights she just doesn't want what we're having and its not worth the row at dinnertime.

[Sparklesilverglitter]

Thai curry, I know your DC won't eat rice but it could be served with noodles

Lentil and chorizo stew

Chicken tagine, fluff up some cous cous with it

I also freeze pasta sauce in portions then when I reheat it I add chilli/tuna to it with pasta

Soup

Chicken breast stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon. Do some chips/wedges with it

Meatballs

Some dessert things? Cheesecake. Brownies

Remember things like jacket potatoes with beans/tuna are quick and filling if short of time

[MyBreadIsEggy]

This is going to make me sound really silly....
But thinks like fish pie, macaroni cheese, carbonara, chicken in white sauce etc are all completely off the menu I have a serious issue around white, creamy sauces Just looking at it makes me feel physically sick! Ever since I was a kid, even pouring the white sauce while making a lasagne turns my stomach.
I will make some veggie pasta sauce, and the morrocan chicken sounds great. Dd likes spaghetti, so will probably eat noodles too which could definitely be an option for curries

[BiddyPop]

OK - do my "macaroni cheese" with a tomato sauce rather than a cheese sauce!! Sorted!!

[atticusclaw2]

use a bbq sauce for the chicken and potato pie

[clairedunphy]

Watching with interest, there are some great ideas here.

Can I just ask though, what containers does everyone use for freezing toddler size and 8 year old size portions (8 year old doesn't eat big portions for his age). I'm always struggling with what to put stuff in.

I've got a chest freezer so plenty of room. I avoid bags because it feels like a waste and getting food out of them makes such a mess (for me anyway!).

Sorry to hijack.

[atticusclaw2]

I use a normal tupperware and portion it off using foil if I'm portioning different sizes. Just get a bit of foil and lay it on the bottom of half the tupperware, put the food on and wrap it loosely over to keep it separate from the portion sitting next to it in the tupperware (IYSWIM)

[BiddyPop]

I use small Tupperware type containers to actually freeze smaller amounts, and the pop them out into Ziploc bags or freezer bags closed with a clippit. I tend to have a few of 1 thing so put those all in 1 bag together - and if DD is hungrier, I just take out 2 rather than 1 portion, so that might work well for toddler and larger child portions.

It also means that if we all want "curry" but DH wants a hot curry, I want a lamb one and DD wants mild chicken one, I can take out what suits us all.

That said, there are plenty of things that I do in larger Tupperware type dishes, or a couple of ovenproof/freezerproof pyrex dishes for 2 or 3 of us. The pyrex are great, but I only have 3, so sometimes if I want to do a lot, I will freeze something in the dish, pop it out and transfer into a large freezer bag for longer term storage - when I want to defrost and cook it, I will take it from the freezer bag and put it back into the pyrex still frozen, so it defrosts still in shape and ready to cook/reheat.

[MyBreadIsEggy]

Thank you all for your ideas
DH is away with work this week, and I struggle to eat dinner as early as Dd, so I used this week to make lots of meals and freeze portions.
Yesterday, I made lasagne, gave some to Dd for dinner and froze the rest. I also roasted a big chicken in the morning, then turned that into a casserole/pie filling and a mild curry and froze both of those too