Talk to me about bulk making freezer meals

[myusernameisusername]

So me and DH have decided to start making all our months meals (60 meals) in one go and freezing them. i have the shopping list sorted and raring to go but worried about what times are like for re heating pre cooked frozen food in the oven ? do you defrost then heat or just bung them straight in for 30mins or so

sliced peppers can be frozen. They freeze really well but best to freeze on a large baking tray and then one they're frozen bag them up (otherwise they sometimes stick together).

Mash freezes well but don't leave it in too long since it will spoil. It can also absorb other flavours and so make sure its bagged properly.

Roast potatoes will freeze and can be reheated in the microwave. I prefer to par boil and cover in semolina, then freeze, then cook from defrosted.

peppers (and many other fruit and veg) also dehydrate fantastically. They then last for a very very long time if stored properly.

As you can probably tell from my username, storing food is something I know a bit about (paranoid zombie prepper type).

Lots of things like onions, leeks, peppers etc can be chopped finely, frozen in layers on baking trays and then decanted into plastic bags - makes it easy to just grab a handful of each, flash-fry, mix in to cooked pasta (buy fresh, divide into bags of individual portions, freeze - tip into boiling water and cook in 4 mins) and then add either a jar of sauce or some crème freche and parmesan, stir and heat. A meal in 10 mins tops....

I've never thought of freezing toad in the hole. I wonder why?? How long does it take to cook from frozen? Doesn't the hole burn before the roads are hot through?

I make so much Shepard's pie when the potatoes have finished growing (the only successful thing in our garden so far). Also, bolognese sauce, lasagne, soups, meatloafs and casseroles still taste good after reheating.

poisoned I generally use chipolatas to make sure the sausages are cooked though but yes they do cook through properly due to the heat of the yorkshire pudding mix.

DH makes pancakes every sunday morning and always makes too much and so I literally throw in a few sausages, add some salt and pepper to the pancake mixture pour the pancake mixture over the top and whack in the freezer. Takes about 25 minutes in a reasonably hot oven (about 210).

I'd be concerned about full sized sausages cooking through properly

well for toad in the hole im cooking the toads and then putting the raw batter into the mixture and cooking it from frozen like that its how the ready meal toad in the holes are done

I use the Quorn sausages from the fridge section. I do a sausage and bean stew in the slow cooker then freeze it.

I bulk cook and freeze as below, foil & plastic containers from wilkos, bags from IKEA

Freeze in foil, defrost during day and 180c oven reheat

• Shepherds pie (lamb mince & mash)
• Cottage pie (beef mince)
• Fish Pie

Plastic containers for microwave reheat or tip into pan for hob heat

• Meatballs (pork and beef)
• Chilli (mince or braised beef recipe)
• bolognaise
• cooked sausages in gravy
• cooked left over roast (also shred into freezer bags to add to stir fry)
• Curry

Freezer bags for hear job or micro

• pasta sauce (Annabel Karmel hidden veg is v good)
• mashed potato
• mashed sweet potato (I freeze before adding milk & butter)
• stewed fruit

I buy pies from butchers, fish cakes and breaded fish from Aldi and always have oven chips and micro rice in for speed

im using 6x6 square foil containers i have a habit of over proportioning meals so it will help keep the meals small i think DH wants small healthy meals to help him with his weight loss
does anyone have a recipe for bean salad ? i have pinto beans canneleni beans and haricot beans

Op, would you mind if I asked mumsnet to move this to credit crunch? There's some really good ideas here that will be deleted in 90 days.

no sure

@Fluffycloudland77

Op, would you mind if I asked mumsnet to move this to credit crunch? There's some really good ideas here that will be deleted in 90 days.

We've done this for you
Happy Freezing all
not place-marking at all

Awesome thanks can't wait for some more advice and recipes I've got a freezer full of meat and vegetables ready to me made up into meals

You can freeze gravy, I make stuffing balls too. Pork or breadcrumb, you can get a roast on the table really quickly like that.

I make curry paste in the blender and freeze it in tiny plastic containers from Wilko, just chuck it straight into the pan.
I also freeze lemon juice when I use half a lemon in a recipe I juice and freeze the other half for next time.
Leftover wine (should you have any!) can be frozen to use in cooking and so can chopped herbs mixed with olive oil. Freeze into ice cubes and chuck them into recipes.
We also make and freeze part-cooked pizza bases and raw cookie dough.
Great ideas on this thread btw!

Great thread- I always worry how to re heat frozen food.

I've done the pizza dough thing too, much better than anything shop bought and so cheap.

I wonder if you can put all the toppings on after you've part baked the base, then you'd just chuck it on a hot oven.

Soon as long as you cook it all the way through its fine. Defrost it in the fridge obviously.

You can freeze slices of lemon etc for gin and tonic too. It's an ice cube and a garnish in one.

I make lots (more than we need) of bread sauce and two different stuffings for Christmas Dinner. Any left over I freeze in smaller amounts and then serve with roast chicken dinner until it is gone. I wouldn't normally bother making even one of those for a standard roast chicken dinner.
I also make double Yorkie batter for roasts or toad in the hole and cook two batches - one for the dinner and one for the freezer. (Sadly I have a habit of defrosting Yorklies and eating as a snack with 'Bisto posh fake' gravy so I usually end up making them every time anyway)
I freeze pesto too and use it straight out the freezer (you can chip bits off) so you don't end up with a half full mouldy jar in the fridge, same with tomato puree if I buy a jar and not planning on using it all - but I put that in ice cube trays.
I also use herbs from the garden in things like bolognaise (marjoram and thyme) and I gather and chop lots and freeze the rest.
When I lived on my own I used to freeze milk in ice cubes. Just drop a cube into my drink - so I never ended up with no -or maybe worse - rancid milk for my coffee in the morning.

Gosh that last tip about ice cubes of milk is frikkin' GENIUS!

I am going to start working on my freezer in the next few days

Do you have a chest freezer op? Just wondering about the size of your 'stock' .

I try and freeze anything and everything. Especially leftovers.

The only things that (weirdly) didn't work was lasagne made with quorn mince in the slow cooker. Just turned to mush.

Never had a problem with meaty lasagne.

i bought a new 4 drawer undercounter freezer just for meal prepping last week

Unlucky I am just defrosting some Xmas pudding to eat later!
When we have lots of herbs in the garden I put them in the food processor with stale bread and freeze it in bags to use to make stuffing.

I don't remember who told me about the milk ice cubes -but it is fantastic! (although a friend complained that it made their hot drink too cold - but they liked their tea steaming -too hot for me to drink!) I guess you could defrost before...wouldn't take long.
Oh pointless I have xmas pud in the freezer too! (I'm the only person who likes it but we have to get one every year ) - I pushed the left overs into little one bowls ...like the individual ones you buy ...(And I could eat one right now -if I hadn't already eaten too much today anyway)