to ask for some make life easy cooking tips/ideas

[ghostspirit]

time i get home from work i feel half dead. and i end up either throwing nuggets/pizza type stuff in the oven or take away. anyway just done a big fat shop. have a few questions.

if i make chilli con carn. can i let it cool and freeze it. or am i just as well just to cook it when its needed. not sure if its worth freezing?

can i freeze sausage caserole oh and chicken caserole then heat them up when wanted. and whats best way to reheat it?

beef joint and gammon joint can i precook them?

any general ideas/tips would be good as well thanks :)

Make double, or triple of most stews, casseroles, bolognese, chilli's etc and freeze. Get out if freezer in the morning and microwave when you get in.

Get a slow cooker, prep meals the night before, chuck in cooker in morning. Come home to a lovely cooked meal (you can invest in a plug timer if you don't want the cooker on all day).

Yes all of those can be frozen though I have never had sausage casserole but definately chicken casserole and mince sauces

I also make extra mash on a Sunday and freeze for so quick midweek cheat dinner (bung some sausages or whatever on)

Bologese, chilli, curry, pork chops in gravy.. All lovely reheated

Make a veg pasta sauce (tinned toms, peppers, onion, mushrooms - anything you have in the fridge really) cook and soften, blitz, then freeze in individual portions in freezer bags. Put pasta on to cook whilst sauce defrosts in microwave. Add cheese if you fancy and voila.

Do easier meals. We marinate meat/fish for example onto skewers and freeze. Then one day take out freezer, ready when home. Just grill meat/ fish, and made some salad/ veg to go with it

So something like marinaded chicken (grill), meanwhile add spinach leaves on plate, add beetroot, cucumber, goats cheese and tomatoes. Few pumpkins seeds and dressing. Eat

Frozen onions, veg, herbs & chillies are a life saver, I can cook a meal in 30 mins. It saves waste as I use just the amount I am going to cook.

You can cook fresh meat, cool it & then freeze but it's not safe to refreeze frozen meat once it's been thawed.

As other posters have said cook larger batches and freeze one portion for later. I have a slow cooker which is also very helpful & meal planning before shopping is v helpful.

mrateddy im so so bad at mashing potato it never comes out smooth. its digusting makes me want to be sick. so i buy frozen mash works out more money but cant eat my own mash its gross. people have said to buy frozen mash is really bad for you. but when i looked at the ingrediants it just said 98% potatoe and 2% milk.

flissity thank you i will give that a go. i wont like it but i know my son would totaly love it so i will make it for him. and the others will try it :)

All of the dishes you mentioned can be cooked, frozen and then defrosted and reheated later.

Some people find it useful to batch-cook on a weekend and then reheat meals through the week. There really aren't many things that can't be frozen and reheated.

Short-term pain (planning and cooking) means long-term gain. It's not that difficult to cook (several kilos) of ground beef/mince, split that up and make cottage pies from some, add tinned tomatoes for bolognese sauce for pasta, add some kidney beans and dried chilli flakes for chilli con carne with rice or put over a baked potato.

If you do that sort of cooking most weekends it won't be long until you have something different for every night of the week.

Here is a quick & easy to prepare recipe: Slow-cooked lamb shoulder with boulangere potatoes. It is a Tom Kerridge one. Dead easy to prepare. I have just put it on now and it will be ready at 7pm for dinner. No other input required.

One of these is brilliant for high speed slicing. Just mind your fingers.

What about a potato ricer ghost?

And helping with batch cooking could also be something the older children can do. You shouldn't have to be doing all the cooking when you get home.

the 12 would help with the cooking the 17 year old hahahah. going to google potatoe ricer :) thank you

YY to batch cooking. Also one-pot cooking as much as possible - eg, all veg, meat get cooked in the same pot; like bolognaise, stews, soups, anything with a sauce really Fry veg and meat, add sauce, done.

Frozen garlic, onions, herbs, vegetables. It's hard for me to chop much so I buy a lot of frozen prepared stuff - they're the same vegetables, just chopped, washed and subject to very cold temperatures.

Mashed potato - are you buying good quality potatoes like roosters ? Than Stan them and keep a close eye on them

Key is to cut them into equal sizes .salt pepper butter

Steam them I meant

I want to get a potato ricer - I have the same issues as you with my own mash.

Of course the 17 year old should help with something like this! Don't present it as a choice.

Make and freeze savoury scones to serve with homemade soups or casseroles, makes a nice change from potatoes. Try different flours, I find a 60% spelt and 40% ground almonds ratio successful.

When you roast a joint of meat, buy a slightly larger than usual piece then when it's cooked, slice and save some for sandwiches. Ditto bacon and sausage. Either pack individual portions to freeze or layer with baking parchment. After a few weeks you'll find you've got a good selection. Pork with wild thyme, honey, onion and garlic is a favourite chez Blank

Our K mixer is used to make mash - nice and smooth and no effort. I don't even peel the potatoes as the mixing process hides it all. And potato skin is good for roughage anyway. I add a bit of cheese or butter to it.

Just mentioning it as another use for those with mixers.

i know sooty but i think maybe your getting to know my family/kids a bit lol. i guess she could help prep some stuff like veg/cut the meat.. but wont let her cook she does stuff wrong and i cant afford to waste the food.

brain wave. when im on maternity leave im gonna spend bit more time with 17 year old and teach her to cook a bit. im not great myself. but i can teach her the basics timing and stuff. no point me moaning but then not actually helping her.

I freeze everything. I freeze a lot of cooked pasta and rice because I alwsys cook too much and it always comes in handy.

I have a huge pot so anything like a stew/bolognaise/casserole I generally cook 3 times the amount. I then have one meal for all 4 of us in the freezer and two each for the dc in seperate portions. DH and I would sometimes rather have an omelette or toasted sandwich than go to the bother of cooking so it's really handy to have a made meal in the freezer for the dc then DH and I can just do something quick for us when they're in bed.

I make chilli by the vat load: a big pack of Aldi mince, three tins of tomatoes, three tins of kidney beans and three onions, plus chilli powder.

that makes 8 portions even in this big eating house, so cook once, eat four times. The rest goes into plastic containers in the freezer.

same for stir-fries, casseroles etc. ALWAYS cook more than you need and freeze the rest.

do label it though..

ghost that sounds like a brilliant idea.

(I did mean her helping with the prep though)

But if you can spend time on m/l teaching her to cook I imagine you'd both benefit.

Frozen veg are a big time saver because they are already peeled and chopped. Very economical too, if you are on a budget.
Stir fries can be done in around 15 minutes, if you buy the prepared stirfry veg and diced chicken,prawns or cashews, eg.
A prepared saladbowl, some new potatoes, and chicken breasts, fish fillets or omelette is another quick healthy meal.

i did not know you could freeze pasta. how do you rehead it? micowave?

just bought potatoe ricer :)

yeah defo sooty she needs to learn at 17 should have been done a while ago to be honest. no point me moaning and doing nothing about it. give me and her some time together as well and the others will be at school. so all good :)

Jamie Oliver had a recipe for curry sauce which keeps in the fridge for a while.

Potato ricers are great.

Slow cookers are wonderful, you can cook your beef and gammon joints in it during the day.

I use a lot of frozen chopped onion and peppers. The peppers especially work out cheaper, and it is really easy to throw an extra handful in chilis etc. I also use frozen garlic and fresh herbs.

If you freeze in foil containers they can be cooked in the oven from frozen.

Another vote for a slow cooker, you can put a joint in first thing and come home to roast beef/pork/chicken.

Did a thing yesterday, sliced onion, mushrooms, courgette and peppers, a bit of salt and pepper, a glug of oil stuck a lamb steak on top and shoved in the oven for 35 mins.