Batch cooking containers- lots of questions

[Icedlatteplease]

I have a new freezer and am determined to keep it tidy and organised

What size do you use for individual shepherd's/cottage pie?

I have some le creuset baking rectangles about but no lid. Is there anything you can use as a lid fof freezing?

Are there any containers you recommend? I have some larger ones pyrex and ikea ones, but ideally would like some individual maybe 500ml ish ones. The plastic takeaway ones are perfect size and stack but of course are not oven proof and are "one use" plastic (although I'm using ours until destruction).

I use the takeaway ones for things like dahl or soup. I don't make the things you suggest for myself, but when I cook for my dad, I do the foil containers with lids, at least they can be recycled and I write the contents/instructions on the lid. Some things I freeze in bags and flatten, eg thick pasta sauces so they stack.

Yes-I use bags for sauces and soups. I have some 500ml glass containers with lids but my freezer is small and they take up an annoying amount of room. So I still shamefully use plastic take away type containers. I do reuse them a million times though.

Ilea glass one with there plastic lids. They do three sizes I think. We use the mid size rectangle for two adult ( and sparrow eating toddler). The square smaller size for just sauce part like bolognase. These smaller square size would be good for one person cottage pie I think

@CurlewKate would 500ml be big enough for an adult portion?

@Caspianberg are the ikea ones these ones

@Peepshowcreepshow are the foil ones strong enough? I had some from the pound store that was a disaster.

@Icedlatteplease - it’s these https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/ikea-365-food-container-with-lid-square-glass-plastic-s39269120/

They are the 600ml ones. We use the 1lt (1000ml) for two. So the 600ml fine for one, just fill not to top if it’s slightly too much.
They are great as just take lid off and oven proof so you can freeze cottage pie/ lasagne unbaked and straight into oven ( I usually take out morning and leave in fridge to defrost. But have cooked at lower temp for longer from frozen if forget)

I batch cook in a large container and put portions into plastic for microwaving on the day (we usually will have half a lasagna or shepherds pie straight away then I freeze 3 individual portions) I would make sure you label better than me, I forget to and then get the wrong things out the freezer (eg mixing up the lentil version which one only eats and other won't eat!)

I use the black plastic containers from meal deals (like a deep bowl) which are oven-proof but not recyclable, but once frozen I turn them out into plastic bags. Labelling is important because everything looks the same once frozen.

I really like the price of those b&m ones.... but I suppose the advantage of ikea is that you can replace easily when things get used or broken