Advice on cooking and freezing meals for Mum to re-heat

[OldPosterOlderMum]

My (90yo) mum manages very well on her own and does her own online grocery order, but she is in a bit of a rut with her 'cycle' of ready meals. She doesn't really cook any more, but likes a hot dinner, so tends to put something in the oven, or occasionally microwave, and sometimes boils some pre-prepared vegetables on the side as well.

I only visit very few weeks but she definitely appreciates home cooking, so I was wondering what meals we might be able to cook here that I could freeze to take there for her to store, then somehow re-heat without going all cludgy and overcooked/tasteless.

Also tips sought for freezer-to-oven receptacles. I really dislike the idea of reheating things in plastic. Should I splash out on a set of small pyrex dishes? Or perhaps some loaf tin type pans that can thaw out first then go in the oven?

Or (I've just thought of this!..) could I freeze something in plastic that she could turn out into an oven dish to re-heat?

What do other people do? But mainly, what meals seem to respond OK to this kind of cook- cool -freeze -thaw -cook process, and stay in some way reminiscent of home cooking!

DH has Wiltshire Farm Foods delivered for his mother. The carer goes in at lunchtime and helps her with the veg and the microwave and makes her a sandwich and bit of salad for tea later. Sometimes she'll heat up a bit of soup with that. She's only 86 but has Parkinsons.

I have some rectangular Pyrex dishes with plastic lids, so I cook lasagne, shepherds pie etc in them, let cool, & then freeze. Then just taken the lid off of & cook from frozen, usually in the oven, or sometimes defrost (with the lid on) & then warm through in the oven/microwave. Also use them for leftovers, freeze & repeat the above.

Not sure what type of food your mum likes but I’m a big batch baker. I freeze in those disposable tin foil trays or recycled plastic tubs. Suggestions of what I do and works well, although maybe not the most exciting to some:

Lasagne (or just bolognese sauce and she does the pasta)
Fish pie
Shepherd/Cottage pie
Any type of casserole (coq au vin, beef bourgignon etc.)
Chicken/mushroom/ham pie (mash potato topping)
Curries
Chilli
Cheese sauce (so she can add to cauliflower etc. )
Crumbles
Sponge puddings

Happy and healthy Christmas wishes to your DM🌲

I find that shepherds pie, chilli, curry, lasagne, sausage casserole, bolognaise (with pasta freshly cooked) all freeze and reheat well. Primarily something that has a decent amount of sauce so it doesn’t dry out.

Just to add, meals I seem to do this way (apart from lasagne & shepherds pie) is

cooked meat & gravy, sometimes with veg/tatties
mac & cheese, sometimes with added chicken
Enchiladas
Fish pie
Sausages in batter, add instant mash/gravy after
Batches of chilli

I usually have a few of these in the freezer for quick/easy' meals, so find they cook well from frozen in a microwave and finished off in the oven for 10 mins

We look after MIL at Christmas. A home cooked meal fills her with joy. Especially a good roast. She'll get that on Christmas Day.

When I used to do this for my dh Mum I'd just make an extra meal of whatever I was cooking. I'd buy those tin trays with lids so I could write on them, and she could wash and recycle them. Not great if she's going to use the microwave tho.

Most meals will freeze and reheat ok

I have glass pyrex too,they work great.

awww - my mum used to do this for me at uni. I could cook but every time she visited she’d bring down a batch of chilli, curry and corned beef stovies and it was amazing to have as a little taste of home!

I don’t know how much space she has but my mum would put a portion in a sandwich bag, freeze it flat (and therefore thin) and they took up no space, thawed quickly and I’d just transfer them to a saucepan/bowl to heat

Plastic tubs are hard to decant the food from

The foil trays are good as can peel out easily.

As pp I do spag bol, chilli, curry, lamb stew, chicken & wine casserole, curries, soups. Must label tho as otherwise end up with freezer surprise!

My elderly friend has Wiltshire farm foods delivered and she loves them. X

Ooh so many helpful resonses, thank you! I had forgotten about those foil tray) dishes things, they would be great for the oven. And pyrex with a plast lid sounds genius dor micowaving stuff.

Really reassured that most of these normal-sounding meals freeze and reheat ok. We've only ever really bothered with casserole at home otherwise whatever it is have left over just gets eaten next day. So these answers are incredibly helpful, really grateful to one and all 🙏🙏

My DGM had Wiltshire foods and quite liked them.

Fish pie seems to freeze quite well. Or a little piece of salmon and butter (frozen) to go into the oven and frozen mash for the microwave. Maybe cottage pie.

A roast dinner that she can add a Yorkshire pudding to?

On the rare occasion I cook properly I love making up extra so it can be chucked in the oven.

Oh and thanks also for the encouraging mentions of wiltshire farm foods 👍 Keeping our powder dry on that one for now so she's not already bored of them when popping on a few veg starts to become too much, at which point i think they'll come into their own.

Ikea have some good glass dishes with plastic lids, much cheaper than pyrex so good if you need ten! I also use the plastic takeaway type tubs but they crack if you try to turn them out from frozen. Also like the small sachets of frozen mixed veg for the microwave.

In poundstretcher they sell small glass dishes with plastic lids, I'm assuming they're oven proof as they're with the Pyrex stuff but you'd have to check.

Mini pies:

Small foil dish things (like you get takeaway in). Cook a thick stew or casserole E.g beef & ale. Put in foil dish, leave to cool. Cover with square of raw ready rolled puff pastry, make small hole in middle. Cardboard cover on. Freeze.

To eat: cook from frozen. remove cardboard lid, brush pastry with milk (optional). Put in oven 180 for 40-45 mins. When pastry is golden brown and crispy, filling will be reheated.

Not sure if these are the ones you mean but I have quite a few of these and love them, they're super handy and come in different sizes.

www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/ikea-365-food-container-with-lid-rectangular-glass-plastic-s89269071/

I’m in exactly your position and looking to expand my ‘range’ of frozen meals for my Mum.
Mum is on the verge of stopping cooking and tends to just heat things up. (89 and almost blind).
On Sundays we buy a massive joint of meat and make tonnes of gravy. The following day I mince up the lamb or beef and make shepherds pie/cottage pie loosely based on Delia’s leftovers recipe although I use the gravy instead of stock. I get to make a couple of family sized ones and individual ones for Mum. I use the tin foil containers.
Alternatively, you could freeze slices of meat in gravy and she can add her own veg. I’ve bought frozen mash, which comes in croquette size and can be microwaved in seconds. Frozen baked potatoes are also a good option.
If we have chicken, I pick it clean then boil the carcass for an hour and use the liquor to make Covent Garden Cockaleeky soup. I use plastic snap top tubs for this and it freezes very well - it’s Mum’s favourite.
Soups and casseroles freeze well.
Mum prefers to stay home alone for Christmas Day and I live too far away to pop a meal to her. She’s not going to cook and has asked me to pick up a chicken dinner ready meal - I’m still trying to think of a nicer solution.
I’ve looked into Wiltshire farm foods and believe from reading reviews that they’ve gone down hill since being taken over, over a year ago. I’m more inclined to buy ready meals from M&S.
Another option is meals on meals which I was hoping she’d try maybe once or twice a week. She’s agreed to it but yet to start!

Parsley Box are another range of home delivery foods to try. Many don't need storing on a fridge or freezer.

More great tips! Thanks! Ikea here I come. And mum loves pies so that pie idea is genius, thanks so much Rubies.

I think I've seen favourable mentions of Parsley Box too, so we'll park that on the back burner as well...

If you are freezing a lasagne, do you cook it then freeze or freeze it after assembly?

I need more ideas too. But my mum is pescatarian

I make soups, risotto, mashed potato, kedgeree, macaroni cheese, and arrow in plastic boxes. She uses the microwave to heat up and can cook veg on the side but doesn’t like using the oven these days.

i have bought frozen baked potatoes and she likes those so should try making some for her myself