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?)...

We started meal planning in March due to the guidance to not shop too frequently. I have to say I find it boring as fuck to choose on a Saturday what we will eat for the following week, it really irks me. Methodical DH is very on board with it.
I miss the spontaneity of wondering what to have and picking up what I fancy on my way home from work or better still going out for dinner.
I have frozen some bolognese sauce but the kind of food people batch cook is not the kind of food I'd eat frequently so it sometimes stays in the freezer unloved.
However as we're in this for the long haul I'm trying to embrace having an organised freezer and some low effort dinners.

@FreeButtonBee what's in the 5 veg sauce? Please don't just say 5 vegetables! I mean what vegetables?

When people say they prep and freeze vegetables do you mean chop them up? Do you partially cook them?

I think that batch cooking is like a present to your future self.

With a baby and a toddler, and partner currently doing 12 hour days, I have to say that my former self was a right lazy, tight git.

I really wish I had that problem OP.

Absolutely we eat everything in the freezer. Can't afford to waste any.

This is me. Freezer full of batch cooking I couldn't fit one more thing in it. Yet we get takeaways and stuff like an egg sandwich.

No I don't batch cook,I can't be arsed.
I will freeze a portion or 2 of whatever is leftover sometimes.
But like a Sunday roast and there's some leftover,I make a curry out of it.

I usually just cook enough food,so there's no waste that way.

If I make too much we eat leftovers the next night, dh and I love it but dc look at it as if I've served them worms, even though they loved it the night before. I rarely batch cook though as other than a couple of dishes, it never tastes as good.

I keep only one freezer compartment spare for pre cooked food which would normally be some chappatis and a few curries. If that drawer starts looking too full then I'll take a day off cooking and take one meal out of the freezer.
Sometimes it's just something small to go with leftovers from the day before.

I'm terrible for stuff going straight in the bin untouched, but once I've gone to the trouble of cooking something I make sure the portions get eaten!

Although yesterday's batch cooking sat on the worktop for three hours before going in the freezer. I can't remember if that's too long to be safe

Oh absolutely. Knowing there are 30 lasagnes there is a good reason to never eat another. I have had over a hundred meals in the freezers and still end up making something.

But the children don't know, so they eat it.

@SpudsandGravy - could you, to avoid throwing it all away, just have a week or couple of weeks dedicated to defrosting and working through the freezer stash?

That way you will feel less guilty about wasting food, and will clear the freezer space.

@OhMrDarcy

I think that batch cooking is like a present to your future self. I love pulling out a frozen lasagne or fish pie in the morning knowing that's supper sorted with no effort.

It's important to only cook extra and freeze things you'll use though and not just use the freezer as a dumping ground. I either use those plastic tubs where I can and freeze in portions for one or two rather than a huge bag of sauce. Or freeze a lasagne in something that can go straight in the freezer.

Random leftovers get eaten for lunch rather than frozen.

Bless you, I say the very same thing!

I love it when Past Gwen made our dinner for us. Tonight was popping the rice in the instant pot with a curry and a daal from the freezer. Everyone fed, minimal effort.

A double batch of chilli takes no more time (bar a bit of extra chopping) than a single, and buys me a night off in the next few weeks.

Then again, it’s all vegetarian, with lots of pulses which take a good while to simmer, so if that’s not something you’d cook, I can understand batch cooking not really appealing.

I don't batch cook but if I'm making a lasagne, cottage pie, chilli I will make one for the freezer. It really is like a present to your future self.

I used to hate freezer meals.
But I find if I freeze it in the right size container, wrap well, make sure it is fully cooled in fridge before freezing, defrost in fridge the night before reheating etc this all minimises frost bite and maintains flavour. Also make sure it is eaten within three months. Food tastes just as good now if not better when reheated.

I also freeze pizza dough, pizza sauce, cookie dough in balls.

There's a lot of food I couldn't eat out of the freezer. But the above tends to freeze really well.

I always keep a box of McCain frozen jacket potatoes. I also grate and freeze Parmesan. Keep a piece of ginger which I grate from frozen. I buy Tesco frozen chopped onions and various frozen herbs. I freeze dregs of red wine in bags then I just defrost quickly under cold tap before adding to dishes. All things that make preparing meals a million times easier.

I do eat it but sometimes have a bit of a panic when I realise what I need to eat quite soon. Then have to do a meal plan - partic for fresh wilted frozen spinach and pasta sauces.
Currently have glut of rhubarb and ginger compote and blackberries from October.
A few weeks of smoothies for breaks fast or porridge with them will sort it out (not sure about blackberries - I clearly was a whirling dervish of picking!) but buttery toast is often what I’d far prefer !

We definitely eat ours. Every so often we go through and tidy it up and have a week of eating out of it to make room for...more batch cooking It works for us because we love to try new recipes but usually they are to feed about six people and there’s only two of us. DH struggles with portion control too so splitting and freezing helps with that.

Keep a piece of ginger which I grate from frozen.

That's a good idea.

I freeze tomato and veg pasta sauce in ice cube trays. If we're having something for dinner our toddler doesn't like, it's saves faffing about.

We have weeks where freezer fodder is the only thing on the menu

@minnie465 : Are frozen chopped onions any good?
I've never used them but always imagined they would be tasteless.

Frozen onions are just fine. As is frozen mirepoix - a brilliant standby for making soups, stocks, stews, etc. Frozen cabbage and spinach is great, and frozen broccoli/cauliflower florets are fab for roasting.

We eat them. Dh and I both work full time atm so with a 1 & a 4 yr old to feed after I finish work its the only way.

I choose carefully what I freeze though and turnover is regular so I really cannot tell the difference.

I've always found I save more money and get more excitement/variety by filling the freezer with reduced section bargains than by batch cooking.

I tend not to batch cook much. When I do I tend to bring them for work lunch. When I do batch cook it tends to be when I know things are going to be busy. Every couple of months we have a week or so where most meals come from the freezers.

Guilty!

I've always found I save more money and get more excitement/variety by filling the freezer with reduced section bargains than by batch cooking.

An ex made me ill several times with his obsession for reduced food. Now, whenever I see a Whoops! label, I wonder what happened to him 🤔

@SnoozyLou

Keep a piece of ginger which I grate from frozen.

That's a good idea.

I freeze tomato and veg pasta sauce in ice cube trays. If we're having something for dinner our toddler doesn't like, it's saves faffing about.

Coconut milk in ice cube bags too And a whole frozen lemon for zesting