Once a Month Cooking - is it really possible? Does anyone do it?

[Ceolas]

Have been reading about this from a labour- and penny-saving perspective.

Any experiences?

if you're happy to eat the same thing 7 nights a week, you only need to make 4 lots of 7 things...

back in the days where I was a bit more organised I used to cook a big batch of something once a week and would put the rest (another 3-6 meals worth) in the freezer. so once a week it was freshly cooked, another 3 nights I ate from the freezer and Fri, Sat and Sunday I did whatever.

It really worked for me. And was cheap. I should really do it again. IMO it works best in teh winter because in the summer we eat lots of salady stuff and less casserole and freezable stuff.

meal planning I love, but could not eat the same thing on the same day each week. I know it would work.

Can you really freeze cheese sauce? Would never have thought...

A friend of mine has just started one of these 'prepare food for the freezer' companies. I have to say I wasn't so sure it would be as popular over here as it is in the USA but it seems to be taking off.

I tend to cook too much much of everything so half of it ends up in the freezer for another meal.

Lasagne/canneloni freeze ok

does the chesse sauce not seperate out a bit when you defrost it though?

cheese obviously not chesse

How about meatballs. When my dd was weaning I used to make batches of food for freezer but haven't got back into the swing of it yet - although I'd like to. No microwave so have to remember to get things out night before.

My mum always used to make the same meals on the same nights, Tuesday was spag bog, Saturday scrambled eggs and spaghetti in tomato sauce on toast, one night was risotto - not really freezable and as a kid I used to sometimes think it was really boring but now I'm beginning to see her reasoning...

Brilliant idea about list.

I've two more suggestions.

Lamb casserole (made with onions, lamb noisettes or chops on the bone or both, carrots, celery, flageolet beans, couple tins chopped tomatoes, thyme, sometimes half a glass of red chucked in too, s&p, simmered on top of stove in heavy-based ban for 2 and a bit hrs until everything tender.) Freezes beautifully once cool. For younger children, I screen for little bones before bagging in to 1 or 2-person portions.

Another suggestion: bit of a faddle initially but worth it in the end. Made Jamie Oliver pizza recipe (it's a basic white bread dough) and cooked half of pizza bases for half the time (it suggests doing this in recipe). Then poss to freeze. Froze half of the tom sauce too. Then poss just to defrost - add different toppings (my dd loves doing this) and - bung in oven again for 5-10 mins. No hassle home-made pizzas at the ready! Good for Saturday evenings when you've been out for the day and everyone's tired.

Oh and fish cakes. (See Annabel Karmel recipe.)

This may be obvious to everyone else... but why isn't risotto freezable? Is it just because it loses its nice texture or is it something more sinister to do with rice and bacteria growth?

Message withdrawn

I can just about manage batch cooking once a week. Any longer term and I just end up with a freezer full of wierd shaped unlabelled food bags I daren't use in case they've been there 2 years! Hopeless!

I've found the following freeze well
Cheats Boston Beans
Chicken Pie
Beef & Mushroom Pie
Pizza Bases (with or without tomato base on) I have a non dough recipe if anyone wants it, only takes 10 minutes to make - more scone than bread.
Beef Goulash

I also freeze biscuit mixes in case I want anything for people who drop round. Only have to slice them and pop in oven for 15 minutes max and fresh biscuits.

I do a large shop from Supermarket online and get all non-perishables once a month to save dragging the kids round for basics each week.

Although are lucky as can get our local Greengrocer to deliver and also fishmonger and butcher.

My eldest loves to see all the products and choose her own veg and meat and fish.

Bitzermaloney - could be to do with liquid content - but soup freezes well - so not sure. Or perhaps starch content of rice makes it too gluey when it's defrosted???

Agree BrummieontheRun difficult to fit in than one batch cook a week. Not sure once a month cooking feasible to be honest (if by that you mean not doing any other cooking at all Ceolas) but I find even having just one meal a week prepared in advance can make a huge difference. On money saving front, it definitely saves the pennies when dh and I take home-made soup to work instead of buying a salad or sandwich.

What's up with casserole Cod?? Just meat & two veg mushed up together really ....

Great idea about biscuit dough ParanoidMother. Going to try that.

oops - 'more than' one batch cook a wk

I often do a day of huge batch cooking

it is excellent

once you get it going on a rolling basis you can cook about one day in every 2 or 3 weeks and have different things almost every day

those of you who do bulk cook and freeze, whwat do you store things in? surly you don't have enough pots?

I save ice cream and margarine containers for freezing in.

I have never actually tried freezing a risotto. In my head it wouldn't work though. Don't know why. Have never reheated either

ah that's a thought, i've tried the little take away container thingys but they're not really good as it's too small to be of use to anyone. iycwim. and they're £1 odd for 8.

get a slow cooker

you can bang a whole load of raw stuff in in the morning blearily and it is a meal - hey presto - in evening

and cheap

I have tiny freezer I love my slow cooker

mixture of glass casserole dishes with plastic lids (bought on offer in supermarket), plastic boxes from IKEA, bags from Lakeland and Tesco's 1 litre ice cream containers- it's simply a case of working out what quantity fits which container, how often you want to batch cook (less often needs more containers), and how bothered you are by re-using ice cream containers