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Freezer recipes before baby arrives?

19 replies

charcb · 28/02/2021 12:57

Hi ladies,

I'm not a great cook here but have been slowly improving since lockdown last year! Would you share any freezable meals you can batch cook and freeze ahead of a baby arrival? Trying to try a few before baby is due so that I know what we like and implement in due course Wink! So far my only fail proof ones are the usuals - Bolognaise, Chili con carne... we also batch cook salmon and chicken and freeze and then have it with some veg and some cous cous or the like.

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alanpartridgefromtheoasthouse · 28/02/2021 13:03

Veggie or beef lasagne freezes well! We just did loads of mince-based dishes. Lasagne, shepherds pie, bolognese, chilli ...

Soups are good too for a lighter meal.

fallingsnowflakes · 28/02/2021 13:08

Fish pie, curry, bolognaise, meatballs. Also you can freeze uncooked meals like chop up veg & sausage then tip it out & bake, so there is less prep to do. Or if you have a slow cooker, freeze the ingredients for stews etc.

Ihatesandwiches · 28/02/2021 13:16

Curry. Corned beef pie. Casserole.
Slow cookers are great since you don't need to bend down into the oven.

BoffinMum · 28/02/2021 13:23

I have four weeks of Cook Fests planned on the Austerity Housekeeping website, and a lot of the stuff will freeze. austerityhousekeeping.wordpress.com/2014/04/05/the-weekend-cook-fest/ I've grouped it in categories:

1 - Bolognaise sauce, lasagne, chili con carne (all freeze)
2 - Lemon roast chicken, with chicken risotto and chicken soup (latter two would freeze)
3 - Scouse, lamb curry, shepherds pie (all freeze)
4 - Roasted vegetable side dish, roasted vegetables and pasta (both freeze)

HoldontoOneMoreDay · 28/02/2021 13:46

Have a look at the batch lady website. She does a lot of grab bags as well as cook ahead and freeze stuff - so the idea is that everything is just sitting waiting for you in the freezer, you defrost it, tip it into the oven and cook it.

As well as curries, Bolognase and stews, I freeze bags of simple tomato sauce. When I get a veg box, I get the food processor out and chop onions, celery, garlic and carrots and freeze it in small bags as often it's the standing chopping that takes up time (and needs two hands!).

It's also about buying smart - there is so much great freezer stuff available now. Chopped peppers, onions, spinach, garlic, ginger, herbs. Also potato products - croquettes, frozen chips, potato rosti.

So batch lady method would say: get a big box of chicken breasts and freeze them individually with oil, lemon, salt, pepper, spices you like. When you want to eat them, defrost over night then tip onto an oven tray. Heat up the frozen potato product of your choice. Boil some peas from the freezer or give some peppers and garlic a quick stir fry. It's as much about thinking of your freezer as a stock cupboard as cooking big batches.

Fivemoreminutes1 · 28/02/2021 13:50

Pork and apple burgers www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/pork_and_apple_burger_94249

Dontforgetyourbrolly · 28/02/2021 13:52

Buy some of those foil containers from b&m then make shepherds pie, lasagne with meat and also veggie
A slow cooker is good for chicken casseroles, beef stew , soups .

BunnyRuddington · 28/02/2021 14:06

This Urdu is great and you can freeze it. I'd just have it with microwave rice Smile

BoffinMum · 28/02/2021 14:28

Someone on MN said she had a Freezer Drawer Of Flavour and I for one copied that idea. It transforms all the stuff you have randomly lying around into actual food.

charcb · 28/02/2021 20:00

Amazing! Will check these out and try them ahead.

What's the freezer drawer of flavour? Will have to google that! And the big batch lady! Great tips.

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BunnyRuddington · 28/02/2021 20:04

We're all enjoying this pie from a Pinch of Nom currently.

You could split it between 2 dishes to make 2 pies and freeze them.

SpaceOp · 01/03/2021 12:06

Lots of good ideas here. One thing I'll say is that think about what you can freeze that is "lighter". We had lots of mince-based/stew type dishes and it got a bit much. I had frozen a chicken casserole and that landed up being my favourite thing as it wasn't red meat.

In similar vein, rather than buying ready meals, we bought quite a few of those cook at home type dishes - things like parma wrapped chicken or some kind of baked fish that you stick in the oven in the container they come in. Very easy (especially if we bought pre-prepared veg/carbs to go with it) and was a nice change from the sausage casseroles and bolognaise sauces.

On a similar, but different note, Waitrose (M&S too probably) does a few frozen risottos which, if I was having a baby now, I'd probably keep a few in the freezer.

charcb · 01/03/2021 13:16

@SpaceOp good point - baby due in spring so lighter meals will be nice! Now... that's a challenge though! I guess soups? Your tips on stuff you throw in its package are good - I know Waitrose has several so will check!

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HoldontoOneMoreDay · 01/03/2021 14:38

It also depends on the baby and on what particular bits of cooking stress you out. I have a friend whose baby is quite chilled in the evening, but the friend HATES planning the meals and is trying to avoid shops as much as possible in these times. So she gets Hello Fresh and loves it - baby doing her thing on the playmat, the DH is WFH so done for the day at teatime so is around to play with baby, friend pottering around doing a bit of cooking where all the thinking/shopping has been taken care of for her.

(This would NOT have worked for my baby... but it's a thought...)

BunnyRuddington · 01/03/2021 15:58

That wouldn't have worked for my first either, getting time to actually eat was enough of a struggle but I can see how pottering around in the kitchen making a nice meal for the two of you would be relaxing Smile

MotherWol · 01/03/2021 16:58

I found snacky things you could eat with one hand came in very useful- things like a big batch of cookie dough that could be baked from frozen, frozen burritos, and soup. The bit of cooking I like least is cleaning up, so freezer to oven dishes that can go straight in the dishwasher/bin rather than needing any extra work in the evening is ideal.

familyof4boys · 01/03/2021 20:38

One thing to bear in mind- are you planning on breastfeeding? If so, my baby does not take kindly to spice, beans, parsnips, or cauliflower... so all the stuff we usually eat (lots of curries, Indian and Thai, and loads of pulses and vegetarian food) don’t work for him and makes the baby very windy and unsettled for several hours. We tend to have fish fillets in the freezer and eat with potatoes and veg, couscous and ratatouille, those pouches of pre-cooked lentils from time to time and veg, also stuff like risottos and pasta bakes are fine, lots of vats of mash, soups, fish pies, lasagne, shepherds pie... etc! We find dinners easy but struggle with finding anything vaguely interesting for lunch besides soup, salads, sandwiches or cold plates of picky bits etc. I’d go through what you normally eat/ what you like to eat and start from there!

BoffinMum · 03/03/2021 20:37

Freezer drawer of flavour is things like frozen herbs, garlic, chopped onion, lardons, mushrooms, special vegetables and so on that you can thrown into other dishes to pimp them up a bit. When I was creating mine I found Waitrose has the broadest range of suitable things.

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