Can we have a freezer check I am losing inspiration?

[mummyinspain]

Right I love to batch cook, just as well as we work really long hours but I am losing inspiration for Freezer Staples.

I have the following all home made
Tin Tomatoes
Tom Purree Cubes
Passata
Chopped Onion
Diced Peppers
Chicken Pie - minus pastry
Chicken Soup
Roast potatoes
Bolognaise minus the pasta
Fish cakes
Chicken Kieves
Shepherds Pie minus the mash

But I really want a freezer full. come on give me some ides?

If you want the recipes just holler thanks

Sorry forgot

Chopped Garlic
Pastry, short crust and puff.

oh, come one someone must batch cook and freeze? :o

chicken curry? Stew-y things? (goulash, chilli, casserole etc)

Pizza bases to go with you tomato bits. Jamie oliver's recipe freezes well. Or slices of HM pizza. Things like stewed fruit for quick puddings? I batch cooked loads of cakes the other week and then froze them in portions for packed lunches and picnics. Quiches? Pies?

My freezer currently is fairly empty. It usually is full of fish, and then a selection of food leftover from when I cooked 2x for any given meal - so various curry's chillie, pie filling without the pastry, pastry separate, pizza dough, bolognaise sauce, cheese sauce, frozen spinach, (cheese and spinach sauce for gnocchi - always make too much in a batch), beef stew etc, also meat bought on 2 for 1 offers and frozen in small quantities for when I need it.

The food in my freezer is a bit tricky to identify. I put it in there and am always sure i'll remember where things are but a few weeks down the line it's all a blur.

I think i have...

Spicy apple crumble filling
Apple sauce
JO curry sauce
My own curry sauce
My Dad's curry sauce - bit of theme going on here!
Afghan dhal/carrots
Passata
Veg chilli
A single serving of bolognaise
Soup? - can't remember what kind but it looks a big tomatoey with lumps in!
Half a pack of puff pastry

Plus a few packs of meat which i really ought to use up. DD decided to be a vegetarian a week ago so we've all adopted it for now since i don't want to start messing about with seperate meals.

Does Cheese source freeze well?

Don't do pudding in this house I'm afraid.
Cake now that is a good idea I love cake and DP hates any unless it is Death by chocolate
Pizza Base anyone got a good receipe? DD is lactose intollerant so that would be a great idea so I can make her pizza

chilli be a good idea

I make stew with things like pearl barley lentils etc do they freeze ok?
Oh please give me a good curry sauce receipe

Meatballs of various kinds a must in our house
Just started doing batches of creamy, cheesy leek sauce that can be paired with frozen salmon filets
Plus I have several 'dinner for one' leftovers fom meals in there so DD2 and I can have a proper lunch when we feel like it without having to cook

I have a few ready made pizza bases in my freezer, it makes a quick meal on a busy night. I use a kg of pasta (00) flour, 2 7g sachets of quick yeast, a tablespoon each of caster sugar and fine sea salt then roughly 600ml of lukewarm water. Mix together, knead and leave to rise for an hour. Knock back, divide the dough into 8 and roll out into pizzas. I use pieces of tin foil brushed with oil and dusted with flour to put the pizza bases on and stack them.
That way you can cook them on the foil and it is much easier than trying to transfer a loaded pizza into a hot oven.

I also make a chicken and chorizo dish with peppers, tomatoes and paprika which freezes well and can be served with rice, couscous or potatoes.

Can i have a good curry recipe too please?

I batch cook and freeze:
Goulash/sausage goulash
Sausage and bean stew
Chicken and chorizo stew
Chicken ham and leek pie filling
Beef stew for either dumplings or as pie filling
Chilli
Bolognese
Lasagne/mousaaka
And curry.. But i cant find a good one.

This is what I do. I'm not proud of it, but it works. Chuck chopped veg of your choice into bottom of cooker (I usually do peppers, celery etc). Then put lamb fillets that I've taken the obvious bits of fat off, on top, or skinless chicken thighs. Then I pour a bottle of curry sauce over the top. Cook on slow for 8 hours.

MrsPnut can I have the chizo and Chicken reciepy (I live in Spain)

The docs wife, can you tell me how you are freezing your lasgane, every time I do the pasta sheets go like rubber!

It's just a bung it in dish, diced onion softened in a little oil, add chopped chicken breast and a sliced chorizo ring and fry until cooked. Add a red and green pepper diced fairly big and as many tins of tomatoes as you need. I usually add twice as much paprika as smoked sweet paprika but do it to taste.

Simmer until the sauce has thickened and either serve or freeze.

I do Vicky Bhogal's creamy chicken curry recipe and it freezes well. It's from her cooking like Mummyji book which is now out of print unfortunately.
I can type it out if you'd really like it.

I make the following in huge quantities and freeze:

Veggie chilli (well, we're almost vegetarians, but you could make a mince version) with quorn mince. Service with rice, wraps, grated cheese, sour cream etc

Grated cheese (I grate all the 'end' bits of cheddar, and add them into an ongoing zippy bag - just chuck it onto hot food, frozen, and it melts quickly)

Jamie Oliver's curry-sauce base. Someone linked to it on MN a few weeks ago - its genius. Makes 2-3 litres of base, then you just defrost one quantity, chuck in some fresh veg and 15 mins later you have a fab home cooked curry.

'Saugage rolls' - precooked, made with beef mince (mixed with tomato puree, chopped onion and oregnao), set into puff pasty, brushed with egg, cut into 'sausage roll' size portions and baked. Defrosts and reheats brilliantly.

Macaroni cheese.

Yy, cheese sauce freezes fine.

Oh yes, also

Leek and Potato soup
Asparagus soup
Minestrone soup (really full of veg and pasta)
Mash potato
Chicken shnitzel
Lamb stew
Chicken, apricot and prune stew
Beef stew

....in the fillyhousehold, everything is freezer-able :)

Oh chicken shnizel! yippie take it you mean viner shnizel only with chicken?

Um, maybe? Flatten a couple of chicken breasts (or get your butcher to do it for you), dip in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. Shallow fry for a couple of minutes on each side, until golden then cover and cook in medium hot oven for about 10 mins. Do not allow to dry out.

They freeze and reheat brilliantly (but again, keep them covered as they can get a bit dry otherwise).

Cheese sauce freezes OK. You need to slowly reheat in a saucepan and add more milk when you do to get back to a smooth sauce.

Pizza base recipe ( this is from my bread machine so its in cups)
3.5 cups strong white flour, 1 cup warm water, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 sachet instant dried yeast, 2 tablespoons honey, 1 teaspoon salt. - obviously with a bread machine you bung it all in on a dough setting and come back 90 mins later. To do it by hand make a well in the flour and other dried ingredients, add water oil and honey and mix in. Knead and leave to rise in warm place. The left over amounts freeze and thaw quite well as raw dough.

Mummyinspain hmmm i dunno really i make sure that the sauce is quite wet and dont precook the lasagne sheets. I cook it then freeze it and reheat covered in foil. It doesnt go rubbery if anything the pasta has gone too far over but thats the price i pay for convienence.

mummyinspain can I ask is the reason you freeze the shepherds pie mashless is so it defrosts quicker? Or does mash not freeze well?
Anyway I can get round this?

I freeze it without the mash as I find it does not freeze well - maybe I am making the mash wrong wrong! if anyone has any suggestions please tell me!!!!!!!