Timesavers

[Therealme56]

Hello, I'm spending the morning going over meal plans and shopping lists. Can you tell me of any food prep timesavers shopping timesavers that might make life easier for me please? I'm especially keen to prep veg for the week but how is it best stored? Boxes or bags in fridge? How many days can it be kept fresh? And what about cooked rice or home made meals - do I have to freeze them all our would they be fine in fridge for 3 or so days? I have a disability so anything you can suggest is much appreciated!

reheating rice is potentially dangerous, you can get really bad food poisoning - saying that i often cook enough for 2 days and use it for egg fried rice on the second which is really easy. make sure you cool rice down quickly and refridgerate

personally i'd get a slow cooker as you can sling things in and leave them. i can easily prep a meal in less than five minutes in the morning whilst eating breakfast

do you have to prep vege? Do you have an allotment or something? why not just buy frozen which is probably better nutritionally than fresh from a supermarket and can also be cheaper

Thanks both! I do use a slow cooker for my meat dishes and soups but I like fresh veg with a casserole and in my own stir fries - I find frozen veg very watery though I do use it in curries. Think I'll stick to cooking rice as I need it so thanks for the heads up on that!

I always cook a load of rice ( gen a 2kg bag ) all at once , slightly under cook it . Cool it quickly then portion it up into meal size portions and frezzer.
To use , no need to defrost stick a pan of water on bring it to a fast boil drop rice in and bring it back up to a fast boil for a few mins ( this is why you under cook it a bit so it doesn't get over cooked )
The same can be done with pasta but for some reason speg' never seems to fair very well.
I batch cook on Sundays often so I do all my veg prep then , most stuff keeps well in air tight pots for 3 or four days.

As for time saving on shopping , do it on line , Tescos cost £7 per month for as many delivers as you want as long as you don't have more than one a day to your home address . Last week I had one deliver to my home and one to another address on the same day at no extra cost.

A lot of supermarkets do frozen prepped veg now, some might be cheaper than the fresh stuff, others more expensive, but obviously depends on budget etc.

If you're making a bolognese, you can either just throw in a load of frozen prepped carrot/onion/celery mix and I don't think it's any different after long slow cooking, or chop your own, but because we only really use celery in bolognese and soups etc, never in salads, every so often I buy a celery and use what I can fresh, but chop the rest finely and put in the freezer to use in ragu and soups.

I know that people always say don't reheat rice, but I've done it thousands of times and never been ill so the risk must be pretty low.

There’s a YouTube channel called The Batch Lady. That will give you some ideas.
I find prepared vegetables don’t keep that well (carrot, pepper sticks etc) but OK for 3 days.
Boiled eggs , shelled is an easy option for salads or sandwiches.
Cooked breaded chicken (I coat in flour first, then beaten egg, then semolina then shallow fry until cooked through. Season everything) - eat as it is reheat in oven in foil or cold, or remove coating and use in Cesar salad or sandwiches it keeps for about 4 days I usually cook a whole big box of chicken breast like this.
Cut up pineapple in sticks keeps well, melon and watermelon OK for about 3-4 days.
I use normal Tupperware or plastic takeaway containers, yet to invest in glass containers.
Cooked grains mix with a bit of chilly, lemon juice, olive oil, pomegranate seeds, chopped parsley keeps a few days use cold.
Cook and freeze batches of Indian food (just meat, add fresh vegs after defrosting when reheating), cocq au vin, bourguinion things take long to cook. Batch cook apple pies and any other pies and freeze.
In reality you can only prep safely for 3 days, things go off or loose vitamins when you peel, cut or cook.