Batch cooking meals for freezer ideas

[Stardust127]

Hi!

I am currently 32 weeks pregnant & would like to start batch cooking meals for the freezer that can be used when baby is here so it’s one less pressure/thing to think about at the time.

I’d consider myself a good cook but pretty clueless when it comes to what exactly you can and can’t cook for freezing meals, so looking for ideas, recipes and tips please :)

DH and DC1 eat meat but we are mainly a vegetarian household as I don’t eat meat and do most of the cooking. They don’t mind and I do happily cook meat if it’s requested, which doesn’t really happen

thank you in advance :)

I frequently do lasagna, both meat and veggie, shepherd's pie, which could be veggie if you used lentils, you could make both, soups, moussaka. Pies freeze well. Curries could work too then you'd just have to do rice or naan etc.

I'd avoid things with cream as sometimes it can split, but otherwise most thing freeze ok.

Thank you both! I also forgot to add to post about how to safely reheat :)

Good tip about the cream, thank you. I don’t usually cook with cream as I’m lactose intolerant (can handle cheese) but definitely good to know!

I do a veggie lasagna for the freezer a lot. I freeze them in tin foil containers and put in the oven when I turn it on. Other things I defrost first.

Veggie soups freeze well.

anything in a sauce freezes well......curry, pasta sauce, chilli, soup

Thank you, I’ll definitely do some sauce based dishes then :) how would you cook them - would you defrost then microwave, or just microwave from frozen?

Google The Batch Lady - loads of recipes on there and she explains the basics

Casseroles and chunky (not creamy) soups freeze really well in individual portions (I use old takeaway containers) - and you can eat them one-handed if needed.

I usually defrost overnight in the fridge and then microwave but you can microwave from frozen too if it's stored in a suitable container to go in the microwave.

I too store in foil trays and oven heat, generally half an hour at gas mark 5 with the card lid taken off when defrosted, they taste nicer.

I defrost on the side overnight then stick in the fridge in the morning, not died yet!

Dal batch cooks and freezes really well.
Lentil Bolognese
I make a yogurt based korma sauce, then add protein when serving
vegetable sauce, which you can then change up by adding different spices, herbs when eating.
chili is always easy and reheats well
refried beans

I defrost over night then either microwave or in a pan.

I made a batch of breakfast muffins for the freezer last week. Veggie sausage smooched into a patty and fried, seasoned omelette, slice of Gouda, onion or tomato if you fancy it. Assembled on a muffin spread with the condiment of your choice and then wrapped in foil. Reheats in the oven in 20m or so for a superior McD's breakfast experience!

I'm planning in doing this over the weekend! Op I don't know if you can still buy those quorn sausage patties but they would be excellent for this. The recipe I saw had the omelette baked in a big pan and cut into squares

We froze a bubble and squeak mix post Xmas dinner, basically spuds, veg, stuffing etc from leftovers , a couple of boxes of that make nice patties when defrosted. So you could do some spuds and veg and freeze in tupperware then mash. Fry up, or rather DH can, crack an egg on if you like it, and you're good to go.

Hint for storing soup in the freezer, put a tie handle bag in an old tupperware, as said, takeaway boxes are great, no lid. Pour, tie. Freeze, remove the box and you can stack bags of soups like bricks! Remember to label them though....

Another one voting for The Batch Lady. Excellent recipes and a good variety between mince / chicken / fish and veggie choices.

I did this when I was approaching my due date too and it was a lifesaver in that first week! I made:

Beef stew
Chicken casserole
Chilli
Mac n cheese
Chicken crown carved into slices (we had that with jacket potatoes and cheese after baby was born)
Chicken pasta

I made plenty of each so a lot of those ended up being two days' worth of meals each. It was so worth the time it took to do it!

Oh and a bolognaise as well, I knew there was one I'd forgotten haha!

Hi
Some base recipes are good then the bulk of the work is done and you can twiddle with it to make something different.
If you make a load of bolognese and batch it it is then easy to make it into lasagne, chilli, moussakas, other pasta bake or even at a push cottage pie!

When I used to batch cook for my dear old dad I did the following ( a lot of casserole type things as you need a certain amount of sauce to reheat in microwave) :

Chicken stew ( with carrots celery barley parsnip/ potatoes)
Tarragon Chicken (cook chicken breast then simmer in stock with tarragon -thicken and add elmea if you are lactose intolerant)
Pork and apricots (/prunes) casserole (shoulder steaks saute, add cider/ stock and fruit and simmer)
Beef bourguinon
Chicken chasseur

Then you could do the bases of pies-
Chicken and ham
Fish pie
Cottage

Frozen mash is your friend!

Start using left over bits of joints
Pulled pork freezes well and is easy to cook in the pressure cooker from a left over bit of a pork joint
Yuk sung - chinese dish with chopped pork celery, carrots, nuts , mushrooms served in lettuce leaves
Leftover bits of lamb- bung in cuury sauce or make little pasties with mint sauce

Vegetarian stuff
Make a lad of a ratatuoille type base then you can add it to pasta/ make a lasagne out of it
Aubergine vietnamese hotpot with star anise
Freeze a load of roasted veg you can just then bang onto puff pastry- aubergines, peppers, squash, garlic, red ionon
Mushroom stroganoff 9 do not try risotto it goes horrible after freezing
Big curry with chick peas peppers and aubergine
Thai curry with butternut squash

Chickpea & spinach curry
Chickpea & cauliflower curry (I use frozen cauli)
Paneer (can be frozen raw or cooked) Desi is the best version imo
Dal or channa dal

Soup

Although not batch cooked or suitable for freezing, egg based meals are quick and easy to cook

Fish pie is popular.

Refried beans for quesadillas or fajitas

I had bought loads of veg this week - (potatoes, carrots, courgettes, peppers, onions) to prepare for a meal for guests who then had to cancel. I just roasted the lot and bagged them up for the freezer. Also had spring greens that I blanched and froze, and a bag of tomatoes that I turned into a jar of pasta sauce. The veg can be used in variable quantities for different things - pasta sauce, casseroles, sides, soup. I am away next week, so didn't want to waste anything. Sometimes it is handy to have some bags of extras as well as mains.

All brilliant tips and ideas thank you so much everyone, really very grateful. I got started today and made two batches - one of a veggie bolognese sauce which i put flat in the freezer in freezer bags (will cook pasta fresh) and a veggie cottage pie which I put in those foil tray things with lids :)