Batch cooking but never fancy leftovers

[HiDuggee]

I try to save a portion of leftovers here and there for the freezer but for some reason I have a block and never seem to fancy it once it's frozen , it just seems a faff to defrost. Can I cook them from frozen? Eg chicken casserole, spag bol? Things get left in the freezer forever until I chuck them for being there too long, need to get past this as it seems more cost effective. Can stuff be kept in the fridge for say 3 days? Spag bol/curry?
I would love to be organised and have meals in the fridge & freezer ready to go

What I do with things like bolognese/ soup etc is freeze them as flatly and thinly as possible in sandwich bags (rather than in a solid lump in a bag or carton) so they defrost really quickly. I can go from freezer to meal in 10 mins using that method.

Sometime I freeze whole shepherds pie type things etc, I just cook them from frozen in the oven with foil over the top.

But yes things like bolognese and curry can go in the fridge for a few days (3 would probably be my limit) and often taste better for it.

Thanks snowy! So would you defrost in fridge/micro still if in a flat bag? Then just wash the bag out and reuse?

I love batch cooking! I normally bulk buy mince then make lasagna and shepherds pie.

I cool then divide the cooked mince into plastic tubs then label with masking tape (easy to remove) and put in freezer.

When I need it, I put in fridge night before to defrost over night and only need to warm up when cooking dinner.

My lazy hack is freeze up whatever it is in a take away style plastic container, then I pop it out of the container and straight into the oven on low-ish with foil over the top in the oven. Never had any issues with casseroles, bolognese, chilli etc.

The mince based dishes are more than happy with being defrosted and cooked in the microwave too, nobody has died. Chicken can go a bit rubbery so we avoid microwaving that if possible.

These are fine kept in the fridge for a few days:

Butternut and lentil samb www.maryberry.co.uk/recipes/main-courses/butternut-squash-and-lentil-samb
Vegetable tagine www.truefood.coop/RecipesVegetabletagine6.cf

This beef ragout can be turned into chilli and tagine. www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/mains/slow-cooked-beef-ragout The instructions for both are at the bottom of the recipe. As it says, it can be kept in the fridge for 3 days.

Tart which you can reheat from frozen www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/goats-cheese-potato-onion-tart

Fish pie (reheating instructions are bottom of recipe) www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/friday-night-fish-pie

Enchiladas (reheating instructions at the bottom) www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chicken-and-bean-enchiladas

Pasta bake makes a delicious leftover lunch the next day, hot or cold, with fresh salad. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

No, it's frozen so thinly that you can just snap it into bits. I just break it up into bits and tip as much as I need into a pan/dish and reheat from frozen. Very easy to increase/decrease portion sizes numbers as needed if you have a few bags frozen at any time.

Very handy if I suddenly have to feed an extra person. I also use a lot of frozen mash. I can have mince, mash and peas, spaghetti bolognese or a homemade roast veg soup on the table in less than 10 mins if needed which on a farm is often.

Follow the batch lady on Facebook, she has tons of ideas like that and recommendations for reusable bags etc.

If I do spag bol I usually use the leftovers for a pasta bake 2 days later with cheesy topping. We all prefer that to the plain spag bol!