Yes, I'm nesting - any good freezer friendly recipes to share?

[Enid]

I am nesting madly and desperate to fill my freezer with simple healthy-ish meals for the post-baby period. Does anyone have any tried and testing recipes that will freeze well? We all eat pretty much anything.

Er, I'd prefer 'tested recipes' to 'testing recipes' if its all the same

Enid I freeze everything!. Whole meals that I freeze include salmon fishcakes (already coated in breadcrumbs and cooked and then just heated up in the oven), fish pie (just the base in the pie dish and I then freshly cook some mashed potato and add it to the top before putting it in the oven) and chicken and mushroom pie (again I freeze the base in a pie dish and then just top it with bought pastry and stick it in the oven).

Meatballs and koftas (either cooked or uncooked) and of course always bolognese sauce (to make either lasagne or spag bog out of). Chinese dumplings freeze beautifully and are great to hand around as nibbles to guests or as a supper on their own. Other things in my freezer include home made red and green thai curry paste which of course can be used in a host of Thai dishes from curries, fishcakes to stir fries, chicken stock (for soups and sauces).

I also keep large vats of home-made tomato sauce which is fantastically useful. You can obviously use it as it is for pasta and so on but also I turn it into tomato jam (using cinamon and honey and cooking it right down) and serve it with souffles / tarts etc or you can add cumin etc and turn it into a more North African accompaniment for things like koftas and kebabs.
I also freeze pizza and bread dough and things like Goats cheese tarts. I have also frozen beef stroganoff. Most cakes, muffins and puddings also freeze beautifully. At various times I have probably had almost the entire contents of Nigella?s domestic goddess in my freezer and would say that the kuchen and schnecken freeze especially well.

Mmmm, thanks Bells - can you give me your chicken and mushroom pie filling recipe?

Also big fan of frozen bolognese. But my favourites are beef stew (throw beef, onion, veg in slo-cooker, leave for a day or two - you can also freeze portions of mash although they need a good stir on defrosting) and fish pie - as in fish in white sauce with potato topping. mmm

Afraid that its very mundane Enid but its the way my mum always made it. I just poach chicken breasts in some chicken stock and then fry up the thinly sliced mushrooms in butter with a few herbs. Then make a thickish white suace (remember to use full fat milk if you want to freeze it) and add to it the chopped chicken breast and mushrooms, a good slug of the stock, some fresh tarragon and a generous amount of salt and pepper. I have seen many other vastly more interesting recipes which involve more veggies and so on but have never tried any of them.

I use ready rolled puff pastry for the top.

I freeze meat & potato pie, shepherd's pie, various quiches, chicken and veg crumble etc. Also I make the equivilant of bologneise but use chopped bacon instead of mince. Another favourite is sausage casserole. HTH

Posted chicken and sweetcorn stew on "dinner tonight" thread.....it's really tasty and good to freeze. Thinking of you.!

Lasagne freezes well. I usually put it all together but don't bake it. Just wrap with cling film then it can be baked when you need it for that just made taste.

Curries of almost any type freeze well too, but you might want to steer clear of these if you are breastfeeding.

We have at least three frozen meals a week on the days I work and it works really well for us. Chilli is another possibility. Also you can freeze pastry dough and crumble. Crumble doesn't even need defrosting. If you make it with the fat and flour you can use it as a savoury topping or add sugar for a pudding. OK maybe this is straying away from your healthy request.....

Enid, I freeze everything - milk, bread, flora. Always useful for emergencies. Mary Berry has a really good freezer book.

Pumpkin soup. Make it nice and thick, serve with bread for a winter meal. My freezer is always full of it.

What do you put in a savoury crumble? two or three people have mentioned them, and I've never heard of such a thing.

Copper to make a crumble topping I basically just rub in half the quantity of fat (normally marg) to flour to make breadcrumbs and thats it. I think adding finely grated cheese might improve it. I then cook pieces of chicken breast in a griddle pan along with onions, leeks, turnip, carrot, parsnips, mushrooms, garlic and mixed herbs (or whatever i have...). I make white sauce and put this together with the chicken and veg in a shallow oven dish (a quiche dish works well) spread the crumble on top and bung n the oven for 20-30 mins.

I'd put my feet up - enjoy the peace and quiet and rely on TESCO.com to provide the ready made / pop-in the oven meals

Doesn't really help the nesting bug tho' does it ??

Mmm, yes I see your point crystaltips that does sound relaxing, but unfortunately I MUST COOK!!!!!! in a mad, nestingy kind of way.

V excited as Nigella is coming to my town for a book signing at the beginning of October and I've already had sad loserish fantasies of having a cosy, girly chat with her about pastry etc

Enid, how exciting..I caught a glimpse of her once and she was more much gorgeous in the flesh!

I remember making triple quanities of Delias Mediterranean pork and olive casserole, and freezing that, when I was nesting.

Think "casseroly" (!) things. Nigellas "Oxtail in Mackesons" (How to Eat) freezes too.... Well, you did say you'll eat anything!!

Bells2 - that tomato jam sounds FAB. Can you enlighten us further?

My vote goes for freezing some puddings and cakes as well as savoury casseroles. Scones and biscuits freeze well, too. Maybe it's just because I'm pudding obsessed at the moment, but there's just something so enjoyable about whipping some fairy cakes out of the freezer to decorate with dd. Know it sounds obvious, but I'm picking as many blackberries as I can at the moment, stewing them with apple in the slow cooker, to take out and make eve's pudding with later on.

Oh, bells2, Nigella's kuchen.....think I might make and freeze some of that myself. Yum. You must tell us what she's like in the flesh, Enid.

Oops...just noticed the 'healthy' bit. I batch cook up Delia's ragu from time to time, and that's sort of healthy. A nice vegetable curry maybe? Chunky vegetable soup? Or a bean casserole?

This is probably quite boring and obvious, but Ialways find cauliflower cheese and shepherds pie freeze really well. If you make double quantities before you have the baby. When I make shepherds pie, I just make double quantities of the mice mixture and freeze half, then make fresh mash when I dfrost it. They bear the freezing. Wheras soup doesn't, I have learnt to my cost.

Bobbins
not too sure about the mice mixture - aren't they a bit too fiddly to prepare?

Certainly fms, the tomato jam isn?t hugely exciting but is v useful. I make a tomato sauce in the standard way i.e. gently fry some garlic and onion in olive oil then add loads of both tinned tomatoes and fresh tomatoes (skinned and deseeded). For tomato jam, I would add a generous amount of cinnamon and a pinch of cumin to the onion and garlic as it cooks.

You need to cook it over a lowish heat for a good hour or so until it is heavily reduced and there?s not much liquid left. I then add a good few dollops of honey and cook for a further 15 minutes or so. Before serving, I usually add some of fresh coriander or flat leaf parsley. It is particularly good with things like caramelised onion and goats cheese tart or any other cream/cheese based tart or pie. It is also v good with BBQ?ed lamb or chicken skewers alongside a dollop of greek yoghurt which has garlic and lemon juice mixed in with it.

I made lots of curries and chillies, then let them down with a tin of ratatuille after defrosting. Spicy things in moderation have never affected my b/feeding. I also made basic stews and spaghetti sauces. Recipes are a bit hit & miss with me - I make it up as I go along, but I'll try and find some more ordered ones for you later. Good luck!

I freeze sweet and sour chicken, pies of all descriptions, bolognese, chili, soup, fishcakes, a tomato sauce thing for pizzas, bolognese etc and I freeze vegetables people grow and give me (unfortunately I don't get around to growing my own)in portions big enough for our family for one meal, then just plop them out the bag into the water.

Some of these other ideas sound great.

Copper, they're not fiddly at all - you just have to watch the tails as they tend to be a bit chewy, but my favourites are mice pudding and mice cream sundae (can you tell I'm bored??)

wow I'm really impressed with you all, I don't do any of this. My freezer is full but i think it's all things waiting to be cooked...I'm going to print out this thread as I'm really inspired, especially like the sound of the chicken and mushroom pie. My one effort is to pick the apples off a tree in our garden, far too sharp to eat raw but when stewed for 10 mins make fantastic weaning food (or nice stirred into yogurt for big people too).