To ask what you keep in your freezer /cupboard /fridge for quick tasty meals

[Mammalamb]

Looking for inspiration!

We always keep the following:

Pasta/couscous/rice
Bag of chargrilled veg in freezer
Pesto in freezer
Part baked bread
Halloumi
Tinned tomatoes
Frozen onions

And a load of batch cooked meals! What do you keep and what do you cook with them?

Frankfurters, varieties of pesto, pasta, tortilla wraps, mushrooms, frozen chips, potato wedges and battered onion rings. I don't usually have all these at any one time coz I plan my meals a few days in advance. No visitors here !

Also watching with interest - my go to is normally something on toast!

Tubs of soup and stew and ragu - the latter gets defrosted and thrown into pasta bakes, or if I have time then I'll make lasagne. Every few months I have a bit of a mad day where I do huge vats of stuff and then curse the fact that I don't have enough tupperware to house it all! Plus fish fillets - which we are having tonight. The gastro ones are really nice. Bags of frozen veg; I prefer to get it frozen because I use what I need and don't waste anything (as there is only the two of us).

Eggs and rice plus fridge/freezer stuff for egg fried rice.

Instant noodles - Asian import ones are the best - for cup a soup type noodle (add random fridge stuff which will "cook" in the boiling water) or proper stir fry.

Pasta, pasta sauce plus whatever is in fridge

"Lunch dinner" - ham, salami, cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, crackers/breadsticks/crisps etc

Jacket potato with tuna or beans - OK potato not quick but low maintenance.

Tuna pasta salad

Frozen chips and fish fingers/chicken nuggets/schnitzel/etc. With froz peas or baked beans if I can be arsed.

Frozen pizza, ready meals (Aldi do a nice steam one)

Ham, egg, chips and beans - yum.

Stuff on toast

Mushrooms plus packet curry mix which is like curry sauce - quick and dirty but goes amazing with chips, or could have with rice. I do it with chicken if we have any but more often mushrooms + onion and frozen peas to add green.

Jar sweet and sour sauce for chicken with rice. When I lived in the UK we used to have chicken tonight type sauces quite often too with chicken and rice or mash.

I don't really bother with complicated or longwinded meals very often!

I always make a vat of curry paste and put portions in the freezer so I can cook up a curry quickly. Same with tomato sauce that can be a base for anything and fresh pesto. Just make loads in one go, a food processor is your friend! Shredded, cooked chicken to add to curry, stir fry etc. Prawns for a quick risotto/ curry/pasta. Mince dishes such as ragu, chilli or a cottage pie base. Only me and DD so easy to have leftovers.

Anything with a yellow reduced sticker on, especially salmon for a really quick meal. Peas, steam fresh frozen veg and also frozen onions in case we have run out of fresh or are in a massive rush. In the store cupboard loads of pasta, rice and noodles and Aldi packet risotto. Kids love this and can it can be bulked up very quickly with veg, chicken and some extra cheese. Quick cook pouches of rice for when I need a small portion. Tinned tomatoes and passata for a very quick base and onions and garlic in the veg drawer. We always have tuna for sandwhiches/pasta, dried herbs and spices. Tins of coconut milk for rice and a noodle dish we make. Mushy peas coz DD is a yorkshire lass and loves them. Ditto corned beef which I hate but means corned beef hash can be on the table very quickly, even quicker if I have frozen some mash. Parmasen in the fridge to grate over a simple pasta or rice dish and sweet chilli sauce, crunchy peanut butter to make lazy satay or pad thai. I have been won over to frozen jacket potatoes in the freezer and beans in the cupboard for when a meal is needed in minutes. I have realised typing we could totally survive the apocalypse (although wine never lasts). I alway mean to buy some UHT milk because I am a tea drinker and cannot function without tea but I always forget. It is foul but preferable to being out of milk.

I keep a ring of chorizo in the fridge. Lasts forever and fries up brilliantly with egg and potatoes.

Tins of black beans for burritos.

Sour cream for above, pasta dishes, potato salads, sauces

Buckwheat/quinoa with veggies or with eggs for breakfast

Res/white cabbage for coleslaw

Lentils for soups

Definitely frozen prawns. They're very quick to cook from frozen either for a curry or pasta or if it's just me I make spicy prawns with chorizo and have it with microwaveable rice. Takes less than 10 minutes

Tinned tuna, tinned tomatoes, tub of stock, rice for tuna rice. merguez, peppers and halloumi (thanks Nigella), batch cooked stuff in the freezer - and I always have bacon and sausages in the freezer. There's normally eggs, cheese, ham etc for an omelette.

I’ve never tried frozen jacket potatoes! It’s not something we have on weeknights as we need something that cooks very quickly!

Freezer dump bags (nice name) are essentially freezer bags filled with all the stuff you'd just chuck in the slow cooker. Then you defrost whatever bag you want and dump it in the slow cooker.
For example, pork chops with BBQ sauce, soy sauce and apple sauce.

I've got some frozen prawns, just little ones, Sainsbury's basics. I used some in a fish pie frittata but what else can I use them in?

I buy reduced price fresh meat and freeze it. Also keep diced frozen onion, soffrito mix (celery, carrot and onion) and free-flow beef mince. I can make Bolognese, chili or shepherds pie quickly. I also keep Iceland frozen mash-it comes in little pieces like Styrofoam packing. My husband loves it.

I’ve never tried frozen mash! But I do make my own mash and freeze into portions to have with veggie sausages