to ask for your 1 pot Freezable Meals - Meals on Wheels style!

[LittleOwl153]

So your receipies/ideas please for meals that I can freeze in 1 dish, to be reheated as it is. (Dont mind if they are made in more than 1 dish initially).

I have:

Shepards Pie / Cottage Pie
Fish Pie
Sausage and Mash
Corned Beef Hash

But this must be getting boring...

I have tried pasta - but I can't get that to heat up so it still tastes decent. I cant use anything 'spicy' (So curry etc are out)

My mother in Law is struggling, I need to set up food for her similar style to Meals on Wheels. She lives alone, doesnt eat more than a half ready meal sized portion a day, the physical effort of cooking is too much for her such that she just doesnt bother eating at all. I've put some shop bought ready meals in the freezer - split in half and this seems to have improved things - but this is expensive and not that healthy so now looking to alternatives for the longer term.

She does not qualify for any home help - we are too far away/work so cant visit daily. We will continue to look at alternatives on this front but need to get her eating in the meantime.

Sausage casserole. Two or three different kinds of sausages (normal, chorizo, frankefurter type), mixed beans, tomatoes, onions or leeks, peppers seasoning. Big favourite in my house.

Pea and ham soup.

A chicken or beef casserole...add potatoes to the actual casserole so it doesn't need added carbs.

Oh and I know what you mean about pasta. It's a bit odd after freezing but lasagne works fine.

I make a large amount of bolognase and then freeze in portions. Maybe you could freeze small amounts in containers with some rice at the side. Poundland do some cheap containers.

My son made some salmon fishcakes recently which I froze. I defrosted then, coated in flour and shallow fried. Very tasty.

Homemade burgers? Also homemade lasagne in portions.

Goulash or casseroles with the potatoes in.

If she can manage the microwave, some brands do a children's portion of pasta in a sachet. That way you could do a pasta sauce in a tub.

I like this pork and apple dish, I freeze it with the potatoes too

www.thechunkychef.com/one-pan-pork-chops-apples-onions/

Fish cakes (although I'd honestly just buy those — my grandma loves the Aldi salmon and watercress ones).

Stew? She could have that with a frozen Yorkshire pudding? How about a large quiche portioned up to be served with beans? Sunday dinner? Are there any lunch clubs or social groups near by - possibility of eating out on the odd day?

How about some soups? Lakeland do some good freezer bags especially for soup portions. Consomme, leek and potato, carrot for lighter meals and maybe lentil, beef broth with veg, and pea and ham for when she is feeling hungry.

And maybe a few stews? Beef and chicken but packed with potatoes or cannellini beans and loads of veg so they are a complete meal? Same with lamb and haricots.
And make them slightly wetter than usual so they withstand re-heating better.

Various kind of bean burgers and fish cakes can be frozen and reheated successfully. Best to look out for recipes where they are cooked in oven and not fried at the last minute.

Beef in red wine or Guinness.

Have you come across wiltshire farm foods? They do decent frozen meals.

Thank you!

@formerbabe The Chicken/Beef casserole sounds like a go-er. Do you just add bolied potatoes?

@Ishoos yes I have some quiche portioned up - just wondering what to put with it as I would do salad - but that doesnt work.

Oh and when we were batch cooking for an elderly relative, we made sure she had good supplies of fruit cake and gingerbread, both of which last a long time, even if they are just having half a slice with a cup of tea once a day.

Pies? Mini Cornish pasties? Sausage rolls? Mini quiches?

You can do regular meat and veg meals. Meat in gravey, sweed and carrot mash, peas and potatoes?

@Shadycorner yes Mr Kipling Cherry Bakewells are in abundance!! :)

Pastry pies are something I could try. I'm just really strugging with the portion size!

Chicken or any meat curry with boiled rice.
Lentil soup with garlic bread or bread.

Beef stew with dumplings
Irish Stew
Lasagna
Cheshire Lamb crumble

And I know M&S aren't cheap but they do mini meals, basically a small ready meal that can be frozen.

Does she like rice? Cooked rice freezes quite well, so you could also do mini ready meals with a protein/veg/sauce component on one side of the container with rice on the other side squidged next to each other - like
Pork or Mushroom stroganoff
Chicken Mediterranean (tomato based sauce)
Sweet & sour chicken or veggies
Anything Korma (it’s not spicy at all, just creamy and coconutty and yummy!)

Equally there are lots of microwaveable rice pouches which are not huge portions (the Tilda ones are quite small portions) that you could do little pots of the protein/saucy component to go with.

You can batch book and freeze jacket potatoes. That might give you a side for bol, if pasta isn’t working for you.

Have you tried freezing mac cheese? I find it’s ok, not quite as nice as fresh but ok.

I also freeze no-bake cheesecake into individual portions. Might liven things up a bit?

When Mum broke her hip, I bought her a small slow cooker.
I then made up freezer bags with a chicken breast and sauce such as honey and mustard or honey and lemon.
I also cut up veggies and portioned them into freezer bags and bought portions of microwaveable rice.
She could put the contents of a chicken and sauce bag and veggie bag into the slow cooker, then heat rice when ready to serve.
Brothers also batch cooked pumpkin soup, lasagna, curry chicken and rice, chicken soup and beef lasagne.all frozen in single portion serves.

Risotto.

Cauliflower and broccoli cheese.

Definitely the casseroles with potatoes. Here are some chicken ones.

So. www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10052/spring-chicken-in-a-pot

Or a coq au vin type

Or chorizo chicken and peppers

When I was a struggling I used to freeze bread rolls individually or break up a garlic baguette into separate bits before putting in the freezer. One for each portion of soup/stew/bolognase. That way I never had to worry about not having any bread in to have with them.

Is she up to heating two things up?

Like a sauce and a pack of microwave rice? Or a pack of the microwave pasta? Or the packs of flavored couscous - you can just add water don't need to heat in a pan. I know they are expensive but would help add variety.