To ask whether you fill the freezer with batch cooking and then don't eat it?

[SpudsandGravy]

Just that. It's embarrassing, and obvs a waste of money and effort :-(

From time to time I'll make stews or risottos or things like that and freeze them in tubs. When it comes to the crunch, though, I look forward to dinner so much during the day that I tend to make a daily plan (which might well be sandwiches, which I love with fresh crunchy bread) and never get round to eating what I've frozen.

Not only is this a waste of money and effort, the freezer then fills up with all this stuff and there's no room for other interesting items like ice cream (though maybe that's a blessing, right?)...

Weekday dinners come form the freezer in our house usually. Both of us working full time, and When not in lockdown, kids coming and going to activities, we've found proper healthy freezer meals a god-send. All we have to do is cook rice or pasta, or just some bake-at-home breadrolls and we're done.

I don't put things away in individual portions but as full meals for all of us, but I always cook double of something. It means I only cook 2/3 meals each weekend for the following week, and really takes the pressure off. I only ever cook what I know will be eaten.

I batch cook because I live alone
So no point making 1 portion of cottage pie, I make 6 and freeze them. Same with pasta bake, beef stew etc. Sometimes it's 4 portions, sometimes 6 but I always make more than I need. Well, have you tried making a beef stew for 1 portion?

I sometimes have similar reticence to eat the batch stuff in the freezer unless it's something I love. I've come to the conclusion a large part of it is sensory for me, so if it's something like a very run of the mill chicken casserole, it comes out of the freezer in a solid, pale and unappetising lump. When it was cooked initially, all those lovely fresh ingredients were tempting and then there was the smell of it cooking to whet the appetite and you don't get that from the depressing frozen lump. I usually find once I've heated it and the smells are there again I'm looking forward to it and enjoy eating it. I have however stopped batch cooking anything like that for that reason, simply because I tend to ignore them for as long as possible in favour of more appealing chilli, bolognaise etc which I still batch cook.

I don't do a whole lot of this. Double up at times and freeze. We always eat it though. I don't have a massive freezer which probably helps!

I only batch cook on a very small scale. we have Double Cook Mondays (my day off), and eat the second portion on a Thursday so it doesn't need to go in the freezer. I then sometimes get ahead part-preparing for the week - making some salsa to go with tacos, or boiling potatoes to have cold in a salad. I might occasionally cook double of something at the weekend as well, but only ever one spare portion.

Just me and DP, and quite often we cook meals that last two nights, plus a portion for the freezer. So eg we would have chilli with rice, then the next night in jacket potatoes with salad, and a tub goes in the freezer too. We do a meal plan on a Sunday and tend to have one freezer night a week, so it all gets used.

Per pp, I love a yellow sticker! The other week we had a roast, a risotto, and soup, all from a chicken reduced to 90p in M&S and frozen!

I can't get on with batch cooking and freezing. It never tastes the same the second time around and always seems a little bit watery. I don't know what I'm doing wrong

I never batch cook, never have and never will. I detest eating leftover or reheated food.

I cook the amount we need on the day depending on how many i'm feeding (could be anything from 2 to 7) and so it's extremely rare there is anything left over more than a scrape.

Actually the only time i expect leftovers would be when we have a roast. There is usually meat left over and we have it the next day with chips or i put it in DHs work sandwiches.

I only make enough for one meal, or with somethig like risotto, I'll make enough for leftovers the next day and maybe arancini if there is any left after that.

I stopped batch cooking years ago. Got fed up of seeing four casseroles, six bolognese, three chillie con carne , two curries etc... in the freezer , taking up valuable bread , milk, chicken, pea space.
We don't eat these meals very regularly and we don't have that much space.
We like varied meals .

If anything is left over then we'll eat it the next day.

Knew someone once who felt that it was her life's mission to batch cook as often as she could. She basically did it to make herself feel good. Trouble is, all that her family ate was something batch-cooked and that was it. She even bought an extra freezer to hoard her batch stuff.

I do a lot of batch cooking and currently I am trying to empty out the freezers so we have eaten 5 out of 7 meals from the freezer for the last 2/3 weeks. I need to label better though. During the first lockdown (This is very outing as I have told everyone this in real life) I got out 2 pots of cheese sauce to make Mac and cheese, served everyone up and went to sit down as everyone was happily eating. I took my first bite and thought it tasted a bit sweet. I then began laughing madly because right realised the Mac and cheese that everyone was happily eating was half cheese sauce and half custard!! They all didn't seem to mind it but always want to check now when I get a pot out that it is sauce and not custard

@1Morewineplease

I stopped batch cooking years ago. Got fed up of seeing four casseroles, six bolognese, three chillie con carne , two curries etc... in the freezer , taking up valuable bread , milk, chicken, pea space. We don't eat these meals very regularly and we don't have that much space. We like varied meals .

If anything is left over then we'll eat it the next day.

Knew someone once who felt that it was her life's mission to batch cook as often as she could. She basically did it to make herself feel good. Trouble is, all that her family ate was something batch-cooked and that was it. She even bought an extra freezer to hoard her batch stuff.

Yes don't really fancy any of it.

I occasionally make a lasagne with the bolognaise leftovers

I freeze mine and then eat it within the week cos I CBA to cook. I wouldn't freeze risotto though, the rice goes claggy.

And just to say, I'll batch cook a tomato sauce using a glut of tomatoes from the garden as it's a universal ingredient and I freeze homegrown chillies... just not meals anymore.
Too many throwaways after so many months.

Nohomemadecandles okkkkkaaaay, why would you batch cook anything you don't want to eat and then chuck it out? I'm not sure how this reduces/increases waste if you have a brain and are making logical choices?

If you're intentionally buying food you don't like, to cook it for hours and then freeze it, knowing you won't eat it....well, I think that's a bit nuts!

We eat ours, but we have 2 big freezers and I don't make a not of the date I put stuff in, do last night chili may have been 2 years old, who knows.

I batch cook and we will use it a lot this week, we're both on unsocial shifts so most meals will have the foundations from the freezer, lamb saag, chilli, Bolognese and cheese sauce that I'll make into a quick lasagne, slow cooked chipotle chicken with black beans will make tacos, I roasted a load of left over veg; peppers, carrots, courgettes, aubergine, onion etc with chillis, garlic and herbs and it's frozen in large ice cubes for quick pasta, I roasted a large chicken today for lunches (salads/sandwiches/pasta).
Only freeze stuff that you want to eat and stuff that freezes well. I froze left over risotto once (mushroom DH won't eat it) it was gloopy mush, chicken stew the veg goes all mushy and unappetising, things like that linger because you know it won't taste as good as the first time. The chipotle chicken we will have with mini wraps, salad, salsa, sour cream and fresh avocado mashed with smoked sea salt, chilli flakes and garlic, line squeezed over the top, you're eating a fresh meal, it's just the longest to cook component you've reheated and the rest takes ten minutes to throw together. If it just feels like eating left overs you'll keep passing it by.

I always use up ours. But rather than batch cooking, I do “mini” meals made of leftovers. That way the kids have always got pasta bake/chilli/chicken sweet and sour/casserole/sausage and mash/bolongese (sp?), etc to eat when they come in from school.

My mum has a theory that every time you open the freezer and see these meals, you are reminded of them and almost feel like you’ve eaten them. So you get bored of them much more quickly.

I reckon cooking two meals’ worth at a time is worth doing (so one to eat one to freeze), but any more than that and you’re risking having too much of the same thing and getting bored with it.

I don't generally like meals that have been frozen. Sauces perhaps but full on meals always taste different and not in a good way. Other than sauces I don't bother with batch cooking because it's a huge faff and I don't enjoy the results.

Nope. I have a few batch cooked things that I will definitely be thrilled to eat (Bolognese, veg curry) and my freezer is otherwise filled with gluten free bread and yellow sticker meat (currently have some salmon and high welfare mince that I got at almost half price). This is my favourite way of saving money and eating well.

I double cook. I only freeze things that will reheat ok. So not risotto. Just freeze the pasta sauce etc. rather than the pasta too.

There are things that get chucked occasionally, but quite rare.

@Royalbloo I don't usually reply to insults but go on... I don't like anything particularly that's been frozen and reheated - whether I like the original or not. I lived like that for years because it was all I could afford. I don't need to now. So I don't. Not that it's any your business. You can pearl clutch and faux horror all you like!
Now take your infinitely better and worthier brain and bother someone else!

I don't do batch cooking, but I do freeze leftovers. Freezer is so full as usually my ds is home and has midnight snacks (meals) but he's at his gfs house for lockdown so no one is eating it!
Every now and then we have a leftovers dinner, so we'll try and get through some of it then. But we are too at serious risk of running out of room for the important stuff ie ice for gin (when Jan is over) and ice cream 🍦