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 :)

ot know you could freeze pasta. how do you rehead it? micowave

Yep, in the micro. I usually freeze it in those plastic Chinese containers...micro for a minute or two until defrosted, then put a couple of tablespoons of water in to stop it drying out and microwave until boiling.

Might sound a bit unnecessary but I recently bought an electric veg peeler after seeing it tried out on TV. Used it yesterday and it blasted through potatoes for mash last night and roast potatoes for today's lunch. Also peeled parsnips with it.

I boiled the spuds together and made mash using a hand whisk with some of them - lump free mash every time. All I had to do today was roast the rest of the potatoes.

I often buy frozen mash - my main reason is peeling the veg is the bit that takes time and which I can't face when I'm tired.

I highly recommend these pyrex dishes for batch-cooking/freezing. They're ready-meal sized, and can go straight in the microwave or oven (without lid).

They also do bigger sizes for family portions. They're a little expensive (for me anyway), so I buy one or two at a time and keep stockpiling. Absolutely love them.

I also mass-mince garlic with a food processor and then freeze them in olive oil in ice cube trays. Really handy for adding to just about everything without fuss and getting your hands all garlicky.