Proper lasagna is a faff..

[BarrelOfOtters]

it is though.

I don’t meaning dumping jars of dolmio in a slow cooker. But a proper ragu and roux.

No argument here. I’ve not made one in years.

It is but it is so lovely! I make a huge batch a few times a year and freeze a few - if I'm messing all those pans, I want more than one lasagne to show for it!

I agree. I used to make it but I buy Aldi's posh version nowadays!

Agreed. It’s lovely though. I sometimes make one as a substitute for roast dinner.

Not if you batch cook ragù, freeze it in portions, and squish the air out of the bags to freeze it flat.

And not if you do the all-in-one method for bechamel, in a large pan to increase surface area and quicker heating and thickening.

Use the ragù from frozen, layer as normal, and you can do a lasagne from scratch in about an hour.

Trust me!

I normally make a batch of ragù with around 2kg of meat, 4 tins of tomatoes and all the other stuff, and end up with 25-30 portions of around 150g each...

If I make it, I put the ragu in the slow cooker and have spag bol that night and two days later make lasanga with the left overs.

It is a faff to do from scratch. But such a nice feeling when you make it early in the day, do the washing up . Serve it in the evening with maybe just a salad. One dish, no mess, easy clean up afterwards. But the initial effort, yes a faff.

Not being argumentative but personally I find it quite straightforward... there's a lot of things I find a lot more challenging. I probably make a lasagna twice a month. Make the bolognese sauce which isn't really difficult and separately make the white sauce and layer up.

When I do it, it takes about an hour incl cooking time. Could cook the ragu for longer, but I'm never organised enough.

It Is a total faff and my god the dishes ! I don't make it anymore its just 2 here now we just can't be bothered with it.

Yes it can be…but it’s worth it.

I can't be bothered making bechamel sauce and I find it unpleasantly rich so I just use creme fraiche instead. It's so much easier and personally I prefer it.

Not hard at all, but time consuming to do it properly. I do still make them though, as it's the DC's favourite. I do two at once and chuck one in the freezer. Nothing beats the smug feeling of a home made ready meal two weeks later.

Total faff but v nice and much better than most bought ones.

I tend to only make it when we have family over and I need to get a meal to feed lots of people done partly in advance, so I can chat with them and not be doing loads of prep. So I’ll break up the prep and do tons of ragu the week before and freeze it, then do the white sauce and assembly bit maybe the day before so I can just bung it in the oven.

I’ve never managed to make enough ragu for serious multiple meals. I think cos we are greedy and I often use it when catering for lots anyway. It all seems to get eaten!

I make it from scratch apart from the pasta but when I do o make x4 and feed the freezer.

It comes in handy when we come back from hols or we're Ill as those are the times when we need home cooking and cba to make it.

For the amount of time and money it takes to make a lasagne from scratch it's just not worth it imo. If you really enjoy it then great but cooking definitely not my favourite pastime. Waitrose do a lovely one you can cook from frozen 😆

It's not that bad. And I have to make a separate veggie one as well! Definitely a weekend thing or when I've got extra time. I often do it for guests or in advance to have on holiday on the first night. I make the ragu and while that's simmering I do the cheese sauce. DH does the washing up.

I do a halfway house and use jar white sauce but make the ragu from scratch. Still quite a faff though.

Ditto lemon meringue pie.

I've only ever made my own fish pie about twice though as the ready meal ones are so nice and fish is expensive especially if you get prawns as well. That's way more faff as you have to make mash too.

I don't find it too bad. Plus I tend to make a big one that does us 2 days of leftovers so I'm saving time elsewhere.

Love making lasagne but it does take time. I have never frozen a complete one, do you completely layer it up and put it in the freezer? Then cook from frozen or defrost first?

Yes its a faff, but like others I do a huge batch at once, so like a kg of meat, and freeze. Its good having a 'fancy' dinner ready to go midweek if we fancy it!

I don't find it that much of a faff - it's only two pans and a dish. I chop the onions, mushrooms, carrots etc for the ragu in the food processor, a bechamel sauce doesn't take very long to make and if you make a big one you have plenty of leftovers which taste even better the next day.

The Lidl one is surprisingly good and excellent value. I can’t be arsed making lasagna, I seem to use every kitchen utensil in the house and they eat it in 5 minutes flat and it doesn’t get much reaction considering the work I put in making it. I make other stuff everyone raves about and it takes 10 minutes.