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?)...

@Schoolhouse123

No we eat it. Every week when I'm doing the food order I meal plan, check what's in the freezer and work out what extras I need. I have a list in the kitchen which I cross off when we've used it so I know what is left.

This is what I need to learn to do!

[quote SkeletorAttack]@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.[/quote]

I could do that, and thanks for the suggestion

Who on earth would want to cook in batches?

My freezer needs defrosting every 3 months or so. It's a good time frame to eat it all up actually. Everything still tastes fine.

Every now and then I come across a nameless tub I forgot to marker pen and either I or the dog brave it.

Ahahahaaa!

I really cannot bear food waste. If I've made something big I always freeze the leftovers and we always eat them. Granted its not always 100% what you fancy that day but I'd rather than than throw away perfectly good food. Just cook smaller portions rather than wasting it.

I batch cook components. So chicken thighs, or bolognese or cheese sauce, or pie filling, or sausages, or sausage rolls.

I find i use the parts more readily than whole meals - I add the other elements fresh

Nope, nothing tastes the same once its been frozen ime. I do however have a bad habbit of buying things in the reduced section freezing th and never using them, or freezing things like chicken or beef if they are getting too close to their use by, and convincing myself I will use them eventually, but I never do.

I am fussy about what I freeze. I think stewing meats are more than ok frozen because you want to break down the fibrous texture.

I like frozen green beans but not broccoli as it goes soggy too easily.

I keep home made soup, raw crumble mix, baked cakes and chopped mixed raw root veg for casseroles. All of these are perfectly fine.

You can freeze cake?! This is a game changer

We always eat the stuff we batch cook.

My freezer is full of dine in for 2 desserts. Wish they would let you have extra veg instead as we're not pudding people. The DC have allergies so can't eat them either.

Same. I tried. I failed. Nine times out of ten, I just don’t want frozen food. I’ll sometimes pre-cook and freeze the base for a bolognese/lasagne/shepherds pie but I really hate how veg tastes when it’s been frozen. I just keep meat and ice cream in the freezer now.

I wish I could embrace it, but it’s just not for me!

If my 23 yr old son is home, it gets eaten otherwise it will sit for a few weeks - months. My son - the human dustbin :)

@minipie most cake freezes beautifully. We are working our way through a carrot cake and a chocolate cake at the moment, frozen individually in slices. They defrost very quickly too.

I have home made banana loaf, carrot cake and onion bread in the freezer - sliced for easy retrieval. My problem is I want to bake more than I want to eat. No space left.
I’ve actually lost quite a bit of weight in lockdown since Christmas - lockdown 1 and 2 weight gone. Just can’t be very bothered. Not good !!
Off to freezer for something or other

Right will be trying frozen cake idea very soon

How do you freeze in slices? Do you need something between the slices so they don’t all stick together?

I don't deliberately batch cook but my partner decided to go on a diet and for some reason I find it impossible to adjust recipes to one person, so the freezer has a few odd meals in. I would eat them but they weren't especially good (trying new things!) so they're sort of languishing there until we're either out of tastier food or I really can't be arsed to make something else. Beans on toast is always more appealing than a flavourless curry, but I really hate throwing out food.

I am planning to batch cook later in the year (baby on the way) but will make tried-and-tested favourites!

I don't really batch cook in a planned way - but whenever we cook something freezable we cook too much on purpose and the leftovers are frozen. Sometimes just a couple of portions, sometimes we cook double so we have a full 5 person portion to freeze.

We probably eat from the freezer twice a week. Sometimes it's pot luck...I grab 5 tubs and you'll have someone eating chilli, someone with veggie curry, one spag bol and a couple of chicken casseroles, just cook some rice or pasta to serve on.

Caution - below may be controversial 😂
I also have a large 'food compost' tub in my freezer.
It sits and gets filled up gradually with odd extra spoonfuls of this and that (tomato based things) - when there isn't enough of whatever left to freeze a full portion.

Then when it's full it feeds the 5 of us for a meal, served over rice...and it's just a tasty pot of mixed mince/curry/chilli/casserole/bean/veg... impossible to tell what it actually is but delicious! 😁

@minipie I wrap the slices separately so they don’t stick together. I use greaseproof and then foil.

@AtLeastThreeDrinks

I don't deliberately batch cook but my partner decided to go on a diet and for some reason I find it impossible to adjust recipes to one person, so the freezer has a few odd meals in. I would eat them but they weren't especially good (trying new things!) so they're sort of languishing there until we're either out of tastier food or I really can't be arsed to make something else. Beans on toast is always more appealing than a flavourless curry, but I really hate throwing out food.

I am planning to batch cook later in the year (baby on the way) but will make tried-and-tested favourites!

Yes that was my experience, no one else would eat the frozen leftovers unless I made lasagne

@minipie I do cake in either portions in greaseproof or in 'one family serving portions' so there are five of us so I'd cut it into enough for us all in one sitting. Good for lemon drizzle, anything almondy or moist. wouldn't do a victoria sponge or anything with buttercream but that's personal preference as I think it goes a bit weird. Plain sponge is fine. Banana bread also fine although better toasted after freezing than fresh (not that my kids care).

I think the main thing is to be intentional about it. Is it something you are really likely to eat? Is it enough to be a real portion? Is it stored properly and labelled properly? I have lots of systema tubs which are the right size for various portions for my family so I know if I take out a tub of stew that size it will feed either me and DH or all of us or just one person.

Thanks afaloren and FreeButtonBee! This is brilliant - we often don’t get through a whole cake by the time it starts to go a bit stale (partly as I only have a 23cm tin...) so if I can freeze half that will be fab. I generally bake almond or moist cakes anyway as they’re my favourites. So good they will freeze well.

I've been batch-cooking all week off the back of this. I'm sure my future self will thank you for this post.

If she chucks them in the bin, I'll kick her ass.