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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think batch cooking and freezing is bleegghh

312 replies

Notgotajarofglue · 22/05/2019 07:55

FT working busy mum trying to follow all the tips and hints on getting through these hectic years.
One thing always comes up:batch cook, freeze and reheat.
AIBU thinking that everything comes out Envy Not envy
Watery sauces, soggy veg and dry over cooked meat in all the favourites recommended for this. Husband said it was like prison food. I don't know what I'm doing wrong as I'm a fab cook and it seems from mn that everybody loves batch cooking.
Can't just be me, they've got to be settling for eating horrid food just to save time right?

OP posts:
pantsville · 22/05/2019 15:57

Some of these responses are taking this way too personally. People are allowed to have different opinions about food so just chill out, life is too short to get angry that another family you've never met doesn't like the same dinners as you.

I don't batch cook and freeze either. While I don't mind curries, chilli, bolognese, lasagne and cottage pie, and will eat them, they're not something I want to eat regularly frozen or not, so why would I sentence myself to a lifetime of them in my freezer? When they've been frozen I find they taste not horrible, but kind of like slop anyway. Maybe I do it wrong, maybe it's just not to my taste, who cares? I don't have frozen ready meals, meat or vegetables either. Just not very keen. The types of dinners my family has are quick enough to prepare anyway so not wasting any time by doing it one way or the other.

Foxmuffin · 22/05/2019 16:08

Maybe try gusto or hello fresh if you have the budget. I used to use them when both DH and I were working long hours, before the baby.

Pimmsypimms · 22/05/2019 16:11

I only batch cook the sauces really, so Bolognaise, curry, chilli, cottage pie (without the mash topping) and then finish it off when needed. I find mash and pasta don't really freeze well, but the sauces do.

HappyRoots · 22/05/2019 16:43

My DP does most of the cooking. He freezes mince, meat for stews and tomato sauces he's made for pasta, stews, etc. and stock. I also often buy frozen ready meals just for me for nights when I'm on my tod. We are fairly skint at the moment and the batch cooking does save a good bit - I was always using jars of pasta sauce before I got together with DP. If you're watching money then batch cooking is def a good way to cut your food bill right down. Only downside I find is the freezer space as ours is pretty small.

graziemille567 · 22/05/2019 17:03

I'm not a big batch cooker, just not organised enough! But when I do make dinners like bolognese, chilli, curry, shepherd pie, etc I always freeze a couple of individual portions and then one night a week we have freezer dinners where we all just pick what we fancy for tea out of the freezer. They always taste absolutely fine and in no way are they worse for having been frozen. My DS loves a freezer leftover dinner because he actually gets a choice in what he has for tea for once.

I have found though that Thai curries made with coconut milk don't reheat well - the coconut milk seems to split and goes all oily, so I don't recommend freezing a Thai green curry.

TatianaLarina · 22/05/2019 17:10

Corrected that for you. A ready meal is a ready meal full stop. There is no such thing as an 'upmarket' one. That is just what people tell themselves, because they think it makes them a better person than those who buy one from Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons etc. (Whose 'ready meals' are as good as 'Charlie Bigham's' in every way...)

Upmarket ones are more expensive - that’s what upmarket means.

In general they have better quality ingredients, better flavour. Bigham’s, Waitrose and M&S ready meals are generally better than Sainsbury’s ime. The Asda ready meals I’ve tried were vile.

Sainsbury’s coffee and walnut cake is much better than the Waitrose and M&S ones though.

TatianaLarina · 22/05/2019 17:16

I find the choices for freezer friendly meals (spag bol, tomato sauce based mince things) fairly limited and personally a bit boring, but useful to have especially in the winter and also when with a newborn!

I don’t think tagine, curry, goulash, coq au vin, stroganoff, game casserole, cassoulet is ‘limited’...

formerbabe · 22/05/2019 17:25

It is limited...everything is basically based around mince/meat which needs slow cooking and tomatoey sauces.

TatianaLarina · 22/05/2019 17:29

Which most of my examples are not... I don’t eat mince.

BertrandRussell · 22/05/2019 17:36

“It is limited...everything is basically based around mince/meat which needs slow cooking and tomatoey sauces.”
I freeze dahl, soup, curry, pies, various lentil and bean based dishes, risotto- loads of stuff. Honestly, it’s like we’re in a world where freezers have only just been invented! Look at the freezer section of your supermarket- is everything there mince based?

AriaFitz · 22/05/2019 17:44

Can someone please answer a question about the Charlie Bingham meals? (Sorry OP to hijack but lots of people on this thread have tried them!)

I really want to try the macaroni cheese because it looks amazing, however it is in a cardboard (?) box with a paper (?) liner and I’m worried it will ‘catch’ in the oven, does it?

I’m a bit paranoid after using a dr oatker ‘bake in the box’ cake and the box went a very dark brown and my oven and home smelt like burnt paper for hours after!

BertrandRussell · 22/05/2019 17:51

Can I just send you a recipe then you can buy wine with the left over money?

Foxmuffin · 22/05/2019 18:05

Those saying they don’t like mince based meals etc, the fact they are frozen is then immaterial. If you didn’t like it fresh you’re obviously not going to enjoy it frozen and reheated.

HardAsSnails · 22/05/2019 18:06

Aria they cook fine, the paper is greaseproof which has been used for ages in baking, and the containers are bamboo which is very heat tolerant.

Karwomannghia · 22/05/2019 18:37

Foxmuffin, it’s not that we expect to like them from frozen but not fresh, it’s that the things people are mentioning are often mince based or meaty as opposed to dishes with a lot of fresh vegetables.
I bought frozen ginger after it was recommended on here and it was like grating an ice cube in. We’ve had frozen veg and berries on recommendation and they end up being forgotten because they taste horrible.
My cooking tastes great fresh and not the same defrosted! Curries are great the next day but not after a spell in the freezer imho.

TatianaLarina · 22/05/2019 18:41

I can confirm Charlie Bigham doesn’t catch fire in my oven.

But I’m not paying £7.50 for macaroni cheese!

TatianaLarina · 22/05/2019 18:45

Waitrose frozen cherries are delicious! I eat them with yoghurt instead of ice cream.

The only frozen veg that works for me are peas and broad beans. Everything else goes floppy.I also buy frozen onion, garlic, ginger and herbs to save time.

I don’t grate frozen ginger tho - it’s ready chopped.

AGirlHasNoCake · 22/05/2019 18:56

We just had enchiladas from the freezer - they were yummy. I made them last week when I did a big load of chicken dishes, and they turned out really well.

Last week we had Brides chicken, which was OK but not a "make again"

Some of the recipes get you to do the prep work and then put things in the freezer uncooked - like hunters chicken.

So I have chicken breasts wrapped in bacon ready to go in the oven. Then in separate bags I have hunter BBQ sauce and cheese. I could have made these from scratch with little effort but sometimes batch cooking is about making sure you have everything you need for a dish in one place, rather than staring at the fridge sadly and wondering what the hell you are going to cook with 3 potatoes, 2 chicken breasts and a small cube of cheese, because the starving teenagers have eaten the other ingredients for the dish you were planning.

AriaFitz · 22/05/2019 19:04

Thank you for all the Charlie Bingham advice. I would make it from scratch but....I only cook for myself and I’m lazy and (sorry) I don’t like freezing food and eating it later really. I don’t know why. I do eat leftovers the day (or however many days it’s fine for) after though. I just don’t want to make huge 4 portion meals because then I have to eat the same thing for 4 days which gets boring because I like such a wide variety of foods.

Gth1234 · 22/05/2019 19:12

you can cook stuff in the Charlie Bigham wooden crates.

The round camemberts come like that, and they are OK.

Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury) is the temperature paper burns. I imagine wood needs a bit more. Your oven isn't that hot.

220C oven is 428F.

BertrandRussell · 22/05/2019 19:14

“just don’t want to make huge 4 portion meals because then I have to eat the same thing for 4 days which gets boring because I like such a wide variety of foods.”

But that’s the whole point- you don’t have to. 3 portions of something in the freezer- one a month!

Oh and something else that freezes brilliantly- fishcakes!

AriaFitz · 22/05/2019 19:18

I do know that makes sense I just really hate frozen food, all frozen food except ice cream really. I have no idea why, I just never enjoy it.

TatianaLarina · 22/05/2019 19:23

Fishcakes - yeah! I cheat with Sainsbury’s King prawn and lemongrass and Thai crab cakes.

BreakfastAtSquiffanys · 22/05/2019 19:24

But do you always know that if you are eating (previously) frozen food?
If I serve you a moussaka, could you tell if I'd made the meat sauce bit today or in April?

Chewbecca · 22/05/2019 19:24

I’ve now bought CB’s macaroni cheese for dinner tomorrow after all this talk about it I am craving it. I haven’t found a recipe anything like as good.