Need to stock the freezer with midweek meals.

[fruitstick]

I'm sick of midweek dinners being stressful.

I have a free day on Saturday and would like to fill the freezer with a bit of bulk cooking.

We have a slow cooker but no microwave.

Me, DH, and teenage DS.

Give me your best suggestions, recipes, strategies.

Get a big tray of chicken breast/ pork loin steaks/drumsticks whatever you like that takes about 20-30 minutes to cook in the oven.

Split it into ziplock bags in portion sizes and add a marinade?

Take it out of the freezer the night before.

Onto a baking tray and in the oven to cook. Serve with microwave rice, roasted greenbeans/broccoli/cauliflower done at the same time as the meat, corn on the cob or cous cous.

I need to remember couscous more.

Make a large batch of ragu & freeze in suitable portion sizes.
Easily turned into spag bol, lasagne, moussaka, shepherd's pie with different herbs etc.

Anything that is vaguely casserole - y. e.g. chicken tagine, boeuf bourguinonne

Pork char sui in the sc, then add quick stir-fry veg & rice/noodles.

I would go to Cook. 😁

Ha! I did have a 30% discount at cook for a few years, but it has now expired so that's for special occasions only.

Pork char Sui sounds excellent.

Yes Ragu will definitely be on the list. I may do a shepherd pie mix or two as well. Then I only need to do the mash.

Also remember that an evening meal doesn't have to be a big affair, was chatting to some friends the other day and we all grew up having stuff on toast or tinned soup with bread at least one day a week. We all enjoyed it, went to bed full and grew up to be healthy-ish (but that's more a fault of chocolate and wine) people.

Went home that evening and had fried egg on toast, slightly runny yolks soaking into the toast, little bit of salt on the white. Mmmmmmmmmmmm

I did a lot of batch-cooking and freezing over the summer holidays to take the pressure off after school this term.
I did:
Fish cakes
Fish pie
Full-sized sausage rolls (which we eat with ketchup and a green salad!)
Pork and apple burgers
A quiche
A savoury crumble
Goulash

These are some of our favourite slow cooker recipes:
slow cooker tagine
Peanut butter chicken stew
Chicken fajitas

We do a HUGE bol mix then make and freeze portions of

lasagne
Bol
chilli

Cottage pie
fish pie
(or just the fillings of then make mash fresh)

chicken Curry
Chicken casserole or chasseur
beef stew

Look up Taming Twins. Her recipes this week are slow cooker dump bags and they look delicious.

Spag bol, chilli, chicken curry.
We also freeze the meat part of tacos and burritos the latter with the rice ready mixed, bagged salad tortilla wraps and some cheese and salsa to go with. Enchiladas also freeze well, but can be faffy re-heating.

Chili is very versatile, you can make a batch then keep it warm in the slow cooker which is handy if you’re eating at different times. Serve with rice/jackets/nachos/as sloppy joes.

Taco packs - your protein of choice in a marinade, into a freezer bag with a pack of wraps, bag of grated cheese, and into the freezer together.

Same with pizza - couple of balls of dough, sauce in a ziploc, grated cheese and pack of salami, all bagged up together. Saves the “I was going to make [x] but someone’s eaten the cheese” problem.

We have beige stuff on a Wednesday. I can’t say I even enjoy it but takes the pressure off thinking.
Pre children DH and I used to have soup and sandwich night, although we both had canteens in those days so dinner was less important.

Absolutely - we still do this. One evening a week will be soup and a bread roll (homemade or one of those frozen part-baked ones) and we quite often have omelettes, or scrambled / boiled eggs on toast for supper. We sometimes jazz these up with avocado, bacon, roast tomatoes and/or feta for something extra.

Yes I think we put far too much effort into dinner - but end up eating more than we need. I'd be quite happy with a jacket potato once a week.

These are great suggestions thank you - particularly the freezing stuff (cheese etc) together. That's always our problem.

We're going to need to rely a lot less on bagged salad too as it is so expensive, so might stock up on frozen veg.

Things like whole lettuce last an age on comparison op.an ice very is great.
Not saying you have time but salad leaves are also one if the easiest things to grow.not soace takers either.so the bunch you get you can easily use up, no waste.

And do u have time in the mornings ever.literally minutes? A pack of chicken thighs.few chipped peppers and tomatoes.then pour over a jar of sauce/ marinade.in fridge.ready and perfect for chucking in the oven when you return.we do this with curry pastes and yoghurt,Reggie Reggie sauce.sweet and sours. Jar sauces have major upped their game as of late.more tasty, natural.you can get some really nice ones.
Also when using your oven one night bung in a chicken too.then the night day you've got a while bird to either stop apart for sandwiches or have for tea with jackets and salad or heat for a roast tea,chick in couscous or toss through pasta.
A really easy tea when no time for us is a jar of dolmio, then some chipped frankferters,mixed through pasta.easy,nice.cheese on top.
Equally a tin of condense Tom soup,time of tuna again mixed through pasta.loterally no effort 10 minute meals.
The kids love a good eggs of your choice night.suprisingly excited over all cooking different favourites eggs.
And cereal supper don't forget!
Qausilades to freeze.
Savoury chicken and veg crumble is a winner.this time of year male double crumble and add sugar for a sweet crumble too
Those packs of tortellini with some salami dolmio onions mix is fab and quick.
Always have a ready to roll pastry in freezer to woo out in morning.makes seen pizza.or a pie/pasty out of any fillings u have.
Fish cakes
Fritters
Spanish chicken.
Base mince mix for every dish under the sun ha.particular quick one is layer wraps in between mince and cheese.winner.we use cake tin.

We have a bread machine and dinner is usually fresh bread, cheese or eggs, and some chopped up veg and fruit. Lunch is usually our main cooked meal.

The Batch Lady is who you need - website and/or social media - does exactly what you require, easy recipes.

Have you consider dump bags? Massive in the USA. You spend a couple of hours prepping raw ingredients into bags which don't include much liquid so you can fit loads in the freezer. Each morning you add one plus the specified stock etc you've written on the bag and leave them to cook all day.

(In a slow cooker)

Ooh I like the sound of dump bags

I make pulled pork in the slow cooker which freezes well and then we have it wraps, or rice and salad. We also have a something on toast night on our busy night and the kids love it. www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chicken-tikka-masala this freezes well too and is easy to make.

I second the suggestion of the Batch Lady. I follow her on Instagram and there’s loads of good freezable meals.

This is super. Thanks

You can freeze baked potatoes too, though not sure how you’d easily reheat it without a microwave. Perhaps cut in half under the grill?

But I feel your pain, same thoughts here, we’ve gone to sausage/fish dinner sandwich one night a week.