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vegetarian meals that can be frozen - ideas pls

15 replies

roundabout1 · 16/02/2012 16:12

I want to make some meals for my friend for her to put in her freezer. She's due to have a baby & is on her own so figure this will be a practical help. She's a vegetarian & I'm not so pretty stuck for ideas. Ideally they would be meals that my lot could eat too, mind you as mine are sooooooo fussy thatmay make it really awkward!

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Frontpaw · 16/02/2012 16:15

Lasagne, moussaka, the aubergine and mozarella layer thingy (I forget what its called but an Italian recipe book will have it), lots of portions of Napoli sauce, soup.

What a lovely friend you are!

Frontpaw · 16/02/2012 16:18

Quiche.
Or make some bread dough and freeze fist sized portions so she can make it into pizza, rolls or squish it down, sprinkle with salt, herbs and olive oil and bake.

BornToFolk · 16/02/2012 16:19

Soup, ratatouille, any kind of beany stew, curries. You can cook with Quorn and re-freeze but lots of veggies don't like meat substitutes so check with your friend.

You could do lots of portions of cheese sauce - you can make lots of things with that fairly easily.

Lovely idea, you are a good friend!

Frontpaw · 16/02/2012 16:23

I would steer away from spicy, beany or wind/bloating/fart-making foods if she is breast feeding. I know the jury is out on this one but I had lentil curry when breastfeeding and poor DS was up all night with reflux from hell.

Bunbaker · 16/02/2012 16:25

I agree with Frontpaw. DD suffered terribly if I ate windy food in the early days. It also meant that I was even more sleep deprived.

nickelDorritt · 16/02/2012 16:25

anything that doesn't have meat in! Grin

bakes, things with potatoes, soups, lasagnas.
anything really can be frozen.

I would avoid meat substitutes personally, as most are frozen to start with (and she might not like them anyway even if they're fresh)

but you could also do nut roasts.

and make sure you put cooking instructions on the lid (and make stuff that doesn't need to be thawed first)

sharond101 · 16/02/2012 22:13

These are super handy, www.food.com/recipe/make-ahead-twice-baked-potatoes-57062

CountessOlenska · 16/02/2012 22:21

Soup, and those part bake loaves.

Mashed potato- perfect comfort food

Nice idea to do this

dandycandyjellybean · 17/02/2012 11:57

Make a big batch of bolognaise (I do use Quorn mince but you can substitute finely chopped open cup mushrooms.

You can add mild chilli spice, cummin and coriander to some with red kidney beans and freeze in portions. I also freeze rice in portions, then she only needs to micro.

Add barely cooked (so they don't go soggy on re-baking) pasta shapes to some of it and top off with a layer of cheese sauce (cheats lasagne). She can then just sling straight into oven from frozen with a bit of garlic bread if fancied...

Then freeze the rest in portions that she can use with spag.

If you make plenty of cheese sauce and cook extra pasta shapes you can freeze up portions of 'macaroni' cheese, simple but really tasty and satisfying on a cold day.

I also do a pasta dish with sauteed leeks and mushrooms. Saute (in lots of butter for flavour) then add tin of chickpeas and a couple of tins of mushroom soup lots of black pepper, splash of white wine if you've got some. Then again add barely cooked pasta shapes and freeze in individual portions. She can top off with grated cheese and bake.

You can do a cottage pie, as above with Quorn mince or mushrooms. Use lots of finely chopped veggies such as carrots, celery etc. Veg stock and red wine make this very flavoursome, as do Marmite and veggie Worcester sauce. Top with buttery, cheesy mash.

Make extra buttery, cheesy mash and mix with sauteed leek. Freeze in portions then she can have with veggie sausages and veg.

Sorry if too much obviously you don't need to do all of it, but I just wanted to show you that if you plan, you can make loads of diffferent things from one or two big cook offs i.e. cook one big pot of pasta for the 'lasagne' mac cheese and leek pasta bake. Sautee extra leeks and take out before adding the mush and you can use them for the leek mash. Make extra mash for the cottage pies for the same reason, etc.

Oh and you are a lovely, lovely friend. Have a Wine and some Thanks

chezchaos · 19/02/2012 22:36

What a lovely idea!

I agree that avoiding lentils and pulses would be wise.

Macaroni cheese freezes really well, and simple tomato sauces are really useful too.

perplexedpirate · 19/02/2012 22:39

If you make soup and then freeze it in silicon bun cases it's really easy to defrost as you need to, a lot or a little (take the cases off when its hard).
This is the one thing I know about cooking!

Wheresmycaffeinedrip · 19/02/2012 22:51

That's such a lovely thing to do! What a good friend you are. Some home made tomato/ cheese and vegetable based sauces for pasta would also be a good idea all she has to do then is just cook some pasta. Soup is good too and lasagna and Mac and cheese freeze well. Or maybe a vegetable stew .

roundabout1 · 20/02/2012 12:19

Thank you everyone what good ideas you have, just need to get the time to make some now! sexbombbikerchick love the idea of using what I make already to do some meals. I don;t think I'm that wonderful but thanks anyway! My dp is pretty useless with the kids but is useful as he does ocassionally cook & can get takeaways etc so very aware that my friend may struggle to get meals when her baby arrives.

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witchwithallthetrimmings · 20/02/2012 12:27

cooked beans if you freeze them on trays and then transfer them into bags then your friend can use just a handful here and there when she needs do - like frozen peas
soup base (fry off onions and root veg until very very tender but not coloured) add tinned toms or passata and cook on low heat for an hour. This can be turned into all sorts of soup when defrosted given the fresh stuff she has
any bean or chick pea dish is actually better for being frozen. - boston baked beans for example
falafel
glamorgon sausages

roundabout1 · 20/02/2012 16:43

Thanks again for all your suggestions - having twice baked potatoes for tea & doing some extra for the freezer for my friend. Now I bought 2 huge bags of mushrooms marked down at the co op just, decisions decisions, what shall I make!

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