What do you have in your freezer stash?

[Friendshipissue]

Just that really. Have been finding staying on top of cooking a bit hard with jobs, toddler, house work etc so looking for some meal / breakfast / snack ideas. I will spare a good few hours to cook this weekend and build my stash!

Lots and lots of "drop bags".

Basically, all of the ingredients for a meal ready to drop into the slow cooker.

So, I'll buy a large amount of pork, let's say. Portion it out into the right sized for 4 people, put into a sealable freezer bag, along with everything else needed for the meal. Might be peppers, onions, tomatoes, soy sauce, spices, you get the idea. Then, freeze, uncooked.

The night before I want that meal, get the bag out of the freezer and drop the whole think I to the slow cooker. In the morning, when defrosted, open up the bag, pour out and set the slow cooker off.

There are only two of us that eat meat, so two meals + two to use later in the week.

I like this method, so I don't end up with masses of the same meal frozen.

We've got home made:
lasagne
Ragu
Macaroni cheese
Fish pie

Supermarket:
Chicken burgers
Chips

Bolognese
Chili con carne
Beef casserole
Chicken Curry

Drop bag is a nicer term than dump
Bags but I like these

I need to destash I have a chest freezer and fuck knows what is lurking beneath!

Re the drop bags - when do you sauté the ingredients prior to cooking them%?

@PollyThePixie you don’t need to. You can just dump in the slow cooker and go.

I have lots of frozen veg in the freezer - chopped onions, garlic, herbs, peppers, butternut squash, bags of root veg for stews. Chicken breasts, diced beef. Very easy to cobble something together.

Love this idea!!

Love the drop bag idea but Isn't it a bit flavourless if you don't seal the meat & fry off the onions etc?

I think it is nicer when you do. I do a big batch book and cook off loads of onions and garlic, seal off meat and then do the bags.

I also do a double quantity every time I make shepherd's or cottage pie, lasagne, bolognese, chilli, pulled pork, that kind of thing. So I have a shelf of homemade ready meals.

I freeze leftovers and we have leftover night monthly. I have individual portions of soup and
also of things the baby can eat if our dinner is a takeway, or things like spinach muffins and pinwheels etc I batch cook for her, and things I can heat and put in a wee thermos for my son to eat if he does not like whatever is on the school lunch menu.

I could never have a small freezer!

I make breakfast muffins for the freezer; English muffin with sausage & egg or bacon & egg, wrap and freeze and take out in fridge night before. Wrap in kitchen paper and heat in micro for 1 min.

Thank you.

Frozen leftover tubs to take to work. Usually some bolognese or curry and rice, sometimes fish pie and cottage pie.

I've tried to "not sautéing" method and it really doesn't work for me. Much tastier to sauté meat, onions etc first, then freeze for later use if you want.