One-pot veggie meals - please save me from endless chili!

[Secretlifeofme]

DH is veggie, I'm not but have no objection to eating vegetarian food every night. I'm a confident cook but have very limited time to cook in the evenings between work and baby's bedtime. So we try to batch cook as much as possible, but I seem to have got stuck in a rut of veggie bolognese and veggie chili. Does anyone have any ideas for meals that can be batch cooked, frozen and reheated? Nothing that requires last minute prep apart from bunging on some rice or couscous. Thanks

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Alison Roman has a couple of lovely veggie recipes - videos on YouTube with instructions. Chickpea, coconut and turmeric stew, also her spicy white bean stew. Both firm favourites with us and 3 yo DD. Could also be adapted easily for the baby (ie no stock cube and easy on the chilli).

We love this and it freezes/reheats really well...

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/jerk-sweet-potato-black-bean-curry

Thanks everyone, some fab ideas here! Really appreciated

Do they have to be one pot meals? Otherwise I'd make up a batch of black bean burgers and have those with salad.

Love veggie chilli and bolognese too but you're right it definitely gets a bit boring after a while!

You can make very filling soups if you make ones like minestrone or scotch broth and have with chunky wholemeal bread.

Not one for batching cooking and freezing, but I sometimes try onion and add it to chopped potatoes, carrots, parsnips and a can of butterbeans cooked in a veggie stock. Then add pepper, herbs to taste. Serve with crusy rolls, or cook some dumplings and add. Fairly quick, tasty, filling and warming in the winter.

I do a cauliflower curry with boiled eggs. Easy to do but I’ve never frozen it so cannot say if it would good if frozen.

Fry potatoes (pre boiled) & onions in a pan and add green beans (for example) & top with poached egg or cheese or have with some meat.
(I do this to accommodate meat and veggie eaters in my family!)

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sweet_potato_and_68565
We make this a lot, but with (frozen) butternut squash instead of the sweet potato. It freezes fine.

Look up vegan jambalaya. It's lovely and all in a pot or slow cooker

I'd definitely recommend the Green Roasting Tin cookbook, it's amazing. We've fallen into a bit of a rota of favourite recipes from it, but they're all easy to cook, delicious and healthy.

Bean stew

Soften chopped garlic and large onion in olive oil, add 2 tbsps each of Worcestershire sauce, wholegrain mustard and ketchup and 1 heaped tbsps of dark brown sugar. Stir and simmer for 5mins. Add 1 tin good crushed toms and a tin each of (washed) borletti, butter beans and cannelinni beans (or any mixture will do but well washed). Stir round and add veg stock to cover and season well (add fresh parsley if you have any but not really necessary). Simmer for at least 30mins until beans soft - adjust seasoning (adding more mustard etc if necessary). Freezes perfectly and yummy with crusty bread.

Worcestershire sauce isn’t vegetarian. It contains anchovies.

I impulse bought a great recipe book called 'The Green Roasting Tin' and I'm so glad I did, it's got a bunch of great tasting quick and easy recipes in it. Quite a lot of them are easy to adapt or add to if you want. We often add tofu, halloumi or salmon fillets to the tomato orzo pasta recipe -it's delicious! www.amazon.co.uk/Green-Roasting-Tin-Vegetarian-Dinners/dp/1910931896/ref=asc_df_1910931896/?hvlocphy=9045125&linkCode=df0&hvptwo&psc=1&psc=1&hvnetw=g&hvadid=310762441626&hvpone&hvlocint&th=1&hvpos&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl&hvqmt&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=pla-488786546040&hvrand=2604830345502487632

You can make calzone pizzas and pasties from wraps. One of my DC is dairy free.

Falafel work well in the freezer. Make the mix as a big batch, form into balls, freeze enough for dinner.
On the day defrost and then fry (6-8 mins something like that). Serve with some salad and pitta or something similar.

We get a lot of veggie recipes from hfw's books Veg Everyday and Much More Veg, loads of one pan things and lots of substitutions for veg so you don't have to have specific things.

PurpleDaisies

Worcestershire sauce isn’t vegetarian. It contains anchovies.
Sorry, never looked. Could add chilli flakes instead.
Jamie Oliver does a great Green mac'n'cheese with loads of broccoli in it.

Currently in my freezer, I have batches of bolognaise, chicken / chickpea curry, chicken with roasted med veg, they're easy to bung on a plate at night with the relavent rice/ pasta.

But my old favourite, is my electric steamer with timer - that's the key!! Chuck in new potatoes, veg, I use chicken, you can use quorn, set timer for 20 mins, walk away. Granule gravy is my friend here.

Disclaimer: I'm not a very good cook... 😁