How do I organise myself/life /food

[Shithole101]

Ok so my house is now managerble reasonably tidy , on top of washing. All is good house wise

Now for my next step which is food/cooking eating better.

I have made a start on things with some batch cooking . So far I have made , chilli , keema mince beef, beef goulash, which I have frozen I think there's around 20 meals and I have a bbq chicken pasta meal cooking now that serves 6 ish . So 26 meals in all.

Question 1 can I freeze pasta meals once cooked ?

Question 2 how do I organise myself. I have read that I can freeze most things for 3 months. I'm thinking should I batch cooking roughly every 6 weeks to correspond with the kids being on school holidays. Or should I do it once a month when my 2 youngest are at their dad's.

Also any suggestions of what I can do with chicken? That can be batch cooked. I will do chicken curry . No one is to keen on stew so that's a no . I feel like there must be other stuff I can do ?

I have a multi cooker/pressure cooker. And an air fryer. They are the things I like to use . I do have cooker if its a must but I like to avoid it.

Last thing what can i do so it does not become boring , how can I encourage myself to stick to it .

I'm also hoping it will help me loose some weight. I don't want to call it a diet . But I thought if I eat differently stop with all the prossed crap. Be careful with portion size is may loose some weight?

Dahl is good to freeze. And it makes loads for not much £.

I tend to make eg Spag bol and freeze some of it so
i always have something in the freezer.

See what works for you timings wise. I’d prefer little and often rather than one huge cooking session.

label everything otherwise you end up with freezer surprise!

I do chicken not-pie that my dc love

brown chicken chunks and take out of pan
brown chopped onions (chopped small)
add chicken back with some carrot cut up into chunks, frozen peas and frozen sweet corn
add a chicken stock cube dissolved into some water
let it bubble a bit.

my aim is for it to not be very wet and stew like (my dc dont like that either) but just a bit saucy and moist

if you like it richer add a splash of milk/cream/creme fraiche

taste for salt and acidity and then add salt and lemon juice to taste

cool and freeze in portions

When serving I cook it from frozen for a good 40 mins as that finishes cooking the chicken and carrot chunks and then put put a baking tray in the oven too that has a sheet of puff pastry cut into squares and dusted with parmesan (if your dc like cheese). So then there is pastry and chicken pie filling but because they are separate the dc call it chicken not-pie

If I were doing it for grownups I would add more veg, herbs de provence and a splash of wine etc but my dc like it quite plain.

Pasta like lasagna freezes well. if you have chicken there's options for chicken lasagna that are nice, this for example.

https://chefjonwatts.com/chicken-alfredo-lasagne/

We do shepherd's pie, cottage pie etc for freezing. Also pies and soups.

lentil chicken creamy curry

chicken fajita pasta I freeze this without the pasta and cook a batch on a Sunday night to add

Bolgnaise- again add pasta later, or a jacket potato

Tomato/ red veg soup, cauli and leek soup.

We use these for lunches, so what I try to do is one chicken and one mince dish on a Sunday afternoon, and freeze half of each in portions for another week. If I do one for dinner during the week, I'll do at least 2 portions extra for lunches.

One really handy thing has been measuring how much volume the food flask we use is, and using a corresponding size tupperware - handy and good for portion control.

Also, I often have things in the freezer for longer than 3 months, don't worry about that.

Yes I have stuff in the freezer from july that I’ll still have.

Remember to label things or you'll be in for a lot of 'freezer surprise'. While this can work out, it can also be 'interesting'.

🤣 I haven't labeled. I need to get some. I will do tomorrow.

Definitely label!

Top tip for freezing soups, pour into a sandwich bag inside the base of a tupperware box, takeaway ones are good sizes for this. Knot the bags stick a label on and freeze. When frozen you can remove the boxes and stack the soups like bricks. It saves space.

I also have a list on a piece of paper on the freezer door saying what's in each drawer. Things that are taken out are crossed off, new things added . When it's too scribbled on, I redo the list. Once a month is fine. It sounds a bit freezer nazi but it helps me know what I have.

I was thinking i could probably go over a bit.

If its just kept on the fridge it seens to say 3 days .

Fine to ignore that. I think a year is my record. If you get yellow sticker stuff, freeze before the expiry date and it's fine for months.

For the fridge, yes, 3 days if open and meat. Max. Freezer, no such deadline

You've got this, I remember your previous threads about the house, and you can do it!

I don't have lables yet . I think might get them out of the freezer just put each batch into a bag and just stick a bit of paper on the bag for now . And get proper labels in a day or so .

I have chillis in the freezer that I grew in 2022, which I'll be using to make chilli jam next week. 3 months is a red herring.

My top tip for batch cooking, is to just make double each time you cook, and freeze the additional portions and label them as you go. I'm using our double veg frozen from Christmas day today and double mash from 2 days ago to make dinner.

I also make one thing one day such as a curry or chilli and have it with rice day 1, and potatoes day 2 so that you cut down cooking times on the second day. And no need to freeze.

Don't try and do too much at once, maybe bring a new thing into your organisation one a month, otherwise you set yourself up to fail.

Sounds good. I just get a cheap roll of them from the corner shop. The current roll has been going for a good 4 years, there are a lot of labels!!

Some great ideas here: www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/freezable-chicken-recipes

Also this is lovely:
www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a32450737/slow-cooker-white-chicken-chili-recipe/

Savoury pancakes are great with a chicken and mushroom filling. You roll up the pancakes with a bit of filling and lay them in a foil dish then you can freeze. Defrost and bake with a bit of grated cheese on top.

Similarly, enchiladas or cannelloni.
Sausage plait
Meatloaf.

You can freeze quiche and other flans as well, which serve cold or warmed up quickly with a side salad, potato salad etc.

@Shithole101 just coming here as I’m a step behind you but working on being better at planning meals, shopping costs, etc and want to pinch all your good habits. ;)

I just want to adult better in 2025 and maybe finish the decorating and diy projects I have in every single room.

#helloADHD.

I'm kind of cooking as much batch food as I can . So i dont have to cook in the week. Don't like the thought of cooking every day even if day 2 is toned down . Just want to batch cook as much as I can. Then not worry for a bit .

I'm thinking to batch cook once a month . See how it gos

Yes, for me the main point is going on Tuesday night , I can't be arsed tomorrow, grab something to defrost for Wednesday.

Ah bless you . I'm still working on things my first phase took over a year. But im starting to feel settled now . So I feel ready for the next part now which is food and better eating

I still want to decorate and do more things . But its not needed. So that's something I will do when ever

I hope you get sorted and find away that works for you

I don't know why. I find bbc good food so hard to look at . It really confuses me I don't know why .

I definitely want to do a meat loaf . I have never tried one before. I just need to get bread crumbs .

Can I freeze pasta?

I do in lasagna but not in anything else, just freeze the sauce and make fresh ( well , dried) on the day. So I'd freeze a bolognaise sauce, and make fresh pasta

Yes you can freeze pasta, but it changes to acceptable rather than perfect in terms of consistency..so if you arent fussy about food, it will be fine..

I also roast chicken breasts, cut them up and just freeze them plain. Then I can just throw them in a sauce on a week night and they defrost and warm as the sauce cooks…