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.

How often can you visit? The first day or two of stuff can be fresh. Just thinking about your salad and quiche comment.

Fish pie would be a good one

Also check out everdine meals, they are frozen meals and a little expensive but v tasty and healthy.

Ready meals that are healthy - go to Iceland and get some Slimming World ones. They are surprisingly good. Very tasty and very fresh tasting. If it says it's spicy though, it means it.

There's really no reason you can't do any meal at all - veg on the side of a roast for example can be warmed through with everything else.

That said, if she's only getting microwaved food, she must be missing out on textures - crunch of things that have come out the oven.

When you say salad doesn't work - why not? Can you send a small online delivery of fresh food or take some fresh things with you when you drop the meals off? A small amount of salad to go specifically with the quiche you mentioned for that meal. A side of fresh asparagus to warm through to go with a pie with crisp pastry top she can warm on the oven instead of the microwave?

oh you already do fish pie! sorry

Yanbu

Ooh what about a hearty soup?

Wiltshire farm foods. They are all frozen so you can microwave them. I was very unwell a couple of years ago and had them for a few weeks; they're fine. My mum has them every week now and is doing much better than when she was cooking for herself, as her diet had got so poor.

Having said that, I do batch cook and freeze meals in those little foil containers because I work until 9pm 3 nights a week and don't want to cook. I make shepherds pie, liver and bacon (not to everyone's taste but I love it) fish pie, hotpots with dumplings, curries (you said not spicy but you can make a korma really so mild it barely classifies as curry), casseroles, chicken chasseur, pork casseroles like a type of sweet and sour, savoury mince with gravy and veg, steak and kidney pudding and freeze it with veg - the suet outside means you don't really need potatoes. Other meals too like Chili but that would be too spicy for her unless she would eat it if you made it extremely mild.

@LittleOwl153

I usually add peeled raw potatoes to the casserole when it's got about 30/45 minutes left to cook...but yes, I reckon you could just as easily add cooked potatoes at the end.

Chicken and potato bake is nice and easy.

Cook chicken, leeks and bacon in a creamy sauce... basically like how you would make a pie filling. You could add mushrooms/peas to the mixture for added veg.

Put in a dish and top with small cubes of boiled potato. Top with grated cheese and bake till the potatoes are browned.

Then freeze.

I make a version of chicken paprikash (chicken breast or thighs off the bone (brown first) , onions, garlic, peppers, mushrooms (saute) then add loads of smoked paprika, tinned tomatoes, chicken stock , chicken back in and bung it in the oven for an hour or the slow cooker while you're at work, add butter beans near the end to warm through, it freezes really well and is nice with extra veg (micro bags or frozen peas are easy) or some crusty bread. It's a favourite in this house and freezes really well

@BlueSkiesLies 2 dishes would be too much for her - (we have mildish dementia thrown in with big breathing issues - so simple is absoloute key or she just doesnt bother) Also those microwavable rice pouches are huge! there is no way she would eat one of those! I am wondering if I can split one though...

THANK YOU EVERYONE - I am reading though and adding to my tesco shop... I have saved leftovers or even 'cooked for the freezer' before but not at these portion sizes and with the restrictions of simplcity and one pot at the end!!

OP the above chicken recipe is also fine with rice, you could cook a pot at the same time and just put them next to each other in a small Tupperware, you'll probably get a dozen portions at that size from a standard pack of boneless chicken thighs. I get six or seven and DH has seconds when it's first cooked.

I think in your situation I would make a menu of sorts, so that you can see how many days between visits, and time it.
So if you know you're going to visit every 10 days, then you can do quiche and salad or similar for the first 2 days, then put it in the fridge. Chili con carne and rice/ wedges for day 3 & day 7, beef casserole and Yorkshire pud for 4&8, etc. You can do bigger portions and batch cook, but you might find that a routine helps you both.

Marks and Spencers children’s ready meals are nice, would she like those?

www.prudentpennypincher.com/100-cheap-easy-freezer-meals/

Op here is some freezer meal recipes

If you google things like cheap freezer meals and batch freeze recipes it will bring up some more ideas for you

You can get smaller microwave rice pouches for one in m&s also try the kids baby section in the supermarket. Tilda do rice pouches for toddlers as they are a perfect size for what you need

I have one of the Lakeland pie machines, basically like a toastie machine but for pies! They are quite small so would be perfect for an elderly person. Plus so easy to match make, freeze and then reheat in microwave (they make 4 at a time)

Honestly if she is eating poorly I would just pay close attention to the ones she eats most of and repeat 2 or 3 consistently. Older people can struggle with indigestion from pastry, onion, garlic and spices.

Savoury beef mince with potatoes and favourite veg would be my contribution (or look up Wiltshire farm foods for inspiration).

@KnobJockey yeah I am trying to plan ahead - so I can cook along side our family meals even if that means I am cooking 15 portions of say chicken casserole, 5 of which we eat that day, maybe 5 go in the freezer for us another day, and then the 5 remaining are split for freezer portions for MIL. I have the freezer space to stack them up so she doesnt get the same every day, and we can transfer over periodically, That way I am not committed to cooking lots of additional dishes each week - I simply dont have the time for that.

Knobjockey’s idea of a menu is a great idea too - get your MIL involved and she keeps some autonomy about her diet.

Having cared for someone with advancing COPD for a long time, you can't possibly overestimate just how exhausting even the prospect of meal or even drink preparation can be to the point where people fear it and would rather just go without. In fact the very act of eating even a small meal can be extremely difficult.

I wish you luck with your endeavours, OP- hopefully you can find ways to fortify a small portion with lots of calories- does your MIL like puddings? Rice pudding made with evaporated milk, sponge and custard etc?

Braising steak and veg with a nice gravy, done in the slow cooker is simple and tasty, a similar veg base (diced onion, carrot, celery and swede) can be the basis of hearty soups that can be blended or left chunky, to the person's taste.

As you mentioned your MIL has breathing problems, it's worth noting that certain foods can cause difficulties (for example "gassy" vegetables and pulses, bacon & processed meats etc). I shan't speculate but it might be worth you doing a little research in case that helps at all.

Would she eat moussaka? You can layer potatoes with the aubergine.

Another vote for M&S children's meals. I don't know what the range is like now, but a few years ago I got them for my mum when she wasn't able to eat much and she did seem to enjoy them.

Suggestion - if not already don't forget to add labels and a Sharpie to your shop so you can label the containers so she can read them from the freezer.