I can't cook but I need to start batch cooking... Help!

[FortyCoats]

Dh and I are both shift workers, sometimes passing eachother on the doorstep and not seeing eachother for days. Dd is a teenager and is rarely awake/home/'in the mood' () for dinner at the same time as one or both of us. As a result, we each find ourselves making single portion meals or snacky, unhealthy foods. Sometimes mostly cereal or pot noodle or take out crap as cooking single portion, nice meals is just a PITA.

Dh is a really good cook and he actually likes it. He cooks for pleasure and not just necessity. I, on the other hand, am a disaster! I hate having to time separate foods so that a meal comes together at the same time. I am terrified of under cooking and tend to incinerate over cook to be on the safe side. I like the idea of one-pot meals that can be batch cooked, portioned and frozen. That way, we can have readily available, single portion, healthy options always to hand and ready in minutes.

I've invested in a slow-cooker but here's the next problem - because I'm so shit at cooking, I tend to make the same things over and over again. I'm sick of curry, bolognese and chili.

So, wise, culinary queen MNers, please tell me all your easy-peasy, one-pot, one-dish dinners that can be cooked in advance and frozen.

Tia

Bump

Have you seen slow cooked wonders on Facebook? lots of ideas on there.

I am a nanny so make a lot of stuff which I freeze for the children and there's often a portion for the parents too. I tend to make portions rather than a whole thing, which I then freeze flat in plastic bags so that I have something quick to go to.

One of the most important things I have batch cooked is a big vat of tomato and vegetable. Basically I fry up lots of veg, and stock and chopped tomatoes and then leave to cook, I portion this up either still chunky or sometimes blend it before freezing, this then becomes ratatouille [with cous cous] tomato sauce to add to fish, use as a tomato sauce to add with mince to make spag bol/chilli etc. The ratatouille and cous cous takes about 5 minutes in total to have a meal served and ready.

Things I have made this week; lasagne, shepherds pie, fish pie, I have served up portions and then frozen the leftovers.

Next week I am batch cooking some chicken curry, lentil and vegetable pockets [a bit like samosas] which can be eaten as a meal.

Somewhere in the freezer there is beef casserole, cod and broccoli bake, cod and broccoli in a cheese sauce, vegetable daal, sausage casserole,

Thanks Fluffy, I'll have a look

I love the sound of sausage casserole, yum!

We have an extra freezer in the utility room and I have few days off at the end of the week so I'm thinking of scouring the Internet for 10 new ideas to start off with and go on a crazy cooking, portioning and freezing spree.

If DH likes cooking and is good at it and you are not, why not have him be in charge of food (including boring duty cooking as well as fun recreational cooking) and you be in charge of some other household tasks?

That's how it mostly works at the moment but as I work 39hrs, Dh can work up to 80 so I'd really like to take the pressure off him. When he cooks then, he can do the things he really likes (mostly very spicy stuff) instead of worrying about two fussy eaters (me and dd)