Can I put a meal in oven instead of fridge??

[Tommychoochoo]

I am changing hours at work and won't be home til 5:30ish some nights. We all eat as a family at 6 and want to keep to this. As dh is a terrible cook I thought I will make the meal the night before and leave it in the oven til the next night then dh only has to switch the oven on.

I'm thinking cottage pie, lasagna etc i should probably put my fridge is really small and always full, I couldn't fit a meal in it.

Can I leave a meal in the oven (switched off) for 20-24 hours or does it have to be in the fridge?

Thanks in advance

Nope, the bacteria would grow in that time. Needs to be in fridge

What about a slow cooker

Agree.

How about putting it in the fridge overnight and telling DH to take it out and put it in the oven as soon as he gets in (assuming he gets in before you do)? If he puts it in the oven as it's preheating, you'll have a smaller risk of a burnt top and cold middle.

I probably wouldn't as a regular thing.

Perhaps your DH should actually learn to cook properly? Being a crap cook is a poor excuse when you're an adult with a family.

What she said ^

No, not a good idea. You could make components of the meal the night before and store in the fridge then you or DH would just have to quickly assemble it and bung in the oven.

Do you have a freezer?

I thought as much - thanks. I think I will look into slow cooker sounds like that might be best idea.

Dh is a crap cook, I didn't say he won't cook. He has cooked many times but I don't enjoy his meals. We agree he does the cleaning and ironing and I do shopping and cooking, it works for us.

Thanks monster yes we have freezer and its a good size.

we do all the time! our kitchen is coldish.

Make up a load of meals and freeze them then? If you get them out of the freezer in the morning and put in the oven it will be defrosted by the end of the day to be reheated.

My mum did this every night from when I was about 10-18

She would leave me a note on when to turn the oven on with specific instructions about any veg etc that needed preparing, so that everything was ready when she and DF got home.

I agree it's probably not recommended, but no-one was ever ill.

As Gales said - my mum did this all the time and I have done so too, although I probably wouldn't now unless I forgot it was in the oven, in which case I would use it. But our kitchen is cold, so not much chance of nasties growing.