Hoping to start meal prepping - some questions

[RumpleDumple]

I think I need to start having a freezer stocked with nutrious food. The past 2 weeks have seen us eat more takeaway than we should, some ready meals and this needs to change. (Unexpectedly needing to work late, a couple of hospital visits straight from work etc, needed easy quick food)

My questions are (probably stupid ones but I don't do a lot of cooking)
Can I freeze food that has cream or coconut milk? I make chicken tikka but only enough for that night (and perhaps a small dish for the next day) would love to have a stock of this in the freezer buy worried the cream would spoil.

Those tinfoil cartons - can I use these as baking tin? So could I make lasagne in these as individual portions and just defrost and heat as required?

And also, how can I cool food down quickly? I have no idea, I rarely make enough food other than what we are going to eat that night. But I'd love to make cartons of soup - how can I cool these quickly to put in the freezer?
Thanks

Yes-you can freeze dishes with cream and yes you can use the foil containers as baking dishes. But remember Tupperware type containers to go in the microwave.

Why do you want to cool things quickly?

I used to do a ton of batch cooking when I had kids at home. My advice is to not do too much of the same thing-maybe just double the quantities-or you'll end up getting sick of the same things. And I always had different sizes of containers-one portion boxes are brilliant if you have people going to evening activities or working late. Always have a bag of frozen peas or spinach so that you have a quick green available. It takes a while to get into the swing-but sooooo worth it!

I don’t don’t always manage to keep it up but here are my tips / answers.

cream in things like curry should be fine. Creamy sauces can split a bit but they taste exactly the same.

Tin foil containers are great but you can’t defrost in the microwave 🤷‍♀️ so I tend to avoid them. I use glass dishes for the freezing / defrosting/reheating: more robust.

Cooling down… I tend to batch cook on a Sunday for the week ahead. It has time to cool before going in the freezer.

Oh yes agree with the above: freeze different numbers of portions. My teens both come home for lunch and cook for themselves (French so sandwiches doesn’t cut it 😆). Having lots of single portions of bolognese / curry / casserole is really handy as they just need to make the pasta / rice / gnocchi and heat up the rest. Also handy when e.g. one person is going out early or doesn’t like what everyone else is eating. Also 2-person and 4-person portions are handy.

Thank you. Re cooling, I thought fast cooling was what I was meant to do happy that I don't need to.

And good tip about not making g too much of the same food - I can prep chillie and spag bol- and we really do get sick of it. Glad to hear that even if the cream splits, it will still take the same.

I do have a few glass containers but no near enough but could buy more if i managed to get a bit more successful at the prepping thing.

Another thing I found helpful is freezing chopped onions- it's worth getting the food processor out for a decent quantity. Also, I chop and freeze portions of carrots,celery and onions as a base for soups, casseroles and pasta sauces. Saves a lot of time.

If I make anything with a béchamel or cheese sauce I double up and freeze just the sauce so I can do cauliflower cheese or macaroni cheese as a low effort meal. And because it’s just the sauce you aren’t taking up lots of space in the freezer the way a full meal might.

Im also a fan of frozen veg as mentioned by a prior poster. Most of the supermarkets do a frozen Mediterranean veg mix, and halloumi generally has a good life span in the fridge as long as you don’t open it so if you have both in you have an easy to do meal - obviously not the lowest in calories or fat but probably still better than a takeaway.

I make a big lasagne, we eat 2 portions then once the rest has cooled down I portion it up, double wrap in cling film then freeze the portions.

How do people avoid everything being of a similar texture please?

Love a classic but they lack texture.

You can freeze just about anything. Those little ice cube trays are good for a bit of left over parsley or coconut milk.

I got a vacuum sealer from Lidl for £20 (you can get them elsewhere but a lot more expensive).
You put a portion of whatever in a vacuum sealed bag. If you lay them flat in the freezer you get a thin slab of whatever, which defrosts quickly in the microwave when needed.
Added bonus' - doesn't take up much room in the freezer and because there's no air in the bag you don't get freezer burn on the food.
Good for chilli, curry, Bolognese, soup etc.
I also bulk by things like chicken breasts and salmon fillets then bag and freeze them individually. It's cheaper and again no freezer burn.

I've just got The batch lady from the library (I think she is on insta as well) and that inspired me to do a fortnight of meal planning. Groceries all being delivered from Asda tonight and I will prep and freeze tomorrow.

For cooling things down quickly I put the foods in a ziplock bag and immerse that in cold water.

All good ideas, thank you. The zip lock ideas are fab , both for cooling quickly and for laying flat in the freezer.
I do a few slow cooker recipes so I hope to make 2 over the weekend, one big batch of chillie and maybe a lasagne and hope build the stock up from there. We all feel a bit sluggish after two weeks of really shit eating. But it's given me the kick up the backside I needed to make proper meals.

I batch cook for us and my parents. If you are cooking for lots of people an electric pressure cooker (instant pot etc) is very useful as you can cook a lot and also reheat from frozen. I also use the oven quite efficiently and cook several meals at the same time.

Chicken traybakes (can vary the flavours very easily according to cuisine)
Sausage casserole/in onion gravy
Meatballs (Thai pork, middle eastern lamb, Italian beef) I cook these in bulk and freeze in vacuum sealed bags
Roast shoulder of pork and gravy
Ratatouille
Pork "stir fry" and veg with sweet and sour sauce (again, in the oven)
Poached chicken ready to go into white sauce for pie or chicken lasagna or fajitas
Soups frozen in portions
Chicken and cauliflower pasanda
Cauliflower cheese
Railway lamb curry
Beef chili or stew
Chick pea and chorizo casserole

I batch cook pretty much everything we eat...not sure if you're looking for ideas but this is what I have in freezer

Beef and veg chilli (chop up any veg I have in fridge and add lentils)
Chicken and black bean chilli
Veggie curry
Bolognese
Tomato/veg pasta sauce
Chicken curry
Beef casserole/ghoulash
Chicken casserole
Soups
Butternut dahl
Chicken and chorizo stew
Sausage and bean stew (hairy biker recipe, lovely)
Cooked brown rice

I use plastic containers from the t/a for freezer meals. They can be re-used many times, & stack neatly.

A word of caution about foil trays; don't re-use them.

No matter how scrupulously they are washed, particles of food remain trapped in the pleated corners & are a health hazard.

The cheap plastic boxes that takeaways come in are a good size for double portions. You can usually pick them up in Poundland. I also have some boxes that come with 4 smaller pots inside that you can use to freeze individual portions of eg tomato or curry sauce. Really handy for topping a pizza base etc.

I tend to freeze "building blocks" rather than dishes - so a batch of bolognese can be used for pasta for 2 (google the one pan method for lasagne- same taste less faff) or bulked out with peas or a tin of beans to form the base for a cottage pie. I also make mash in bulk and freeze - top a cottage or fish pie or defrost and use with left over baked salmon or a tin of tuna to make fishcakes. I also tend to double up when baking so will have a couple of loaf cakes in the freezer as well. You can cut these into slices and freeze so you only need to defrost what you need for a particular meal.

At the moment I have tomato sauce in individual portions
Thai green curry sauce ditto
Mash
Bolognese in double portions
Veggie chilli ditto (can use as the base for a cottage pie also)
Mushroom and lentil ragu
Beef stew ( II usually defrost during the day and then top with sliced potato to make a hot pot)
Sliced roast chicken bagged in individual breast portions
Sausage casserole
Fruit compote in individual portions

Plus lots of chopped veg - I buy yellow stickered veg , chop and chuck in the freezer.

Thanks everyone x

One of my favourite preps is my odds and ends bag in the freezer.

There always seems to be something in the fruit bowl that on the edge of turning, so I chop it up and chuck it in the bag. It's generally berries, apples and plums. It means that there's always a bags of mixed frozen fruit that I can blitz with some apple juice for a smoothie for DD, or heat in the microwave and pour over porridge, or put into a casserole dish sprinkled with sugar and top with a sponge mix for a pudding (weigh 2 eggs in shell, then use that amount of caster sugar, self raising flour and marg, mix it till it's all well combined and pour over fruit)

Have a look at soupercubes. They come in different sizes and you can prep portions and bag them up when they are frozen. I have Pyrex dishes in same size so when we are ready to eat I pop cube in there in morning and defrosted by dinner. You can bake in them too.

We had enchiladas last night. Last time I made them I made double so last night was just a case of making sure the mixture was defrosted. Sticking it into the wraps, covering with cheese, baking and chopping the salad. I love it when you can get something like this from the freezer.

Also agree that there's no need for rapid cooling but then our kitchen is cool anyway.

I'm sorry to be 'that person' but please don't heat your food in plastic containers - a quick google will tell you why!

Asda and Tesco own brand glass containers are great and not expensive, otherwise the foil containers are good if you remember to defrost it early enough - just make sure to wash the foil bit and scrunch it down for recycling

I must admit the last time I made lasagna I made two and froze one in a glass container with a lid. It was so much easier and could go into the dishwasher at the end ready for next time.

I pretty much make an extra portion every time I cook. Sometimes it's lunch or dinner next day, but at least half the time, it gets added to the freezer stash.

I bulk buy meat and freeze in individual portions. Make burgers and meatballs and freeze. Burgers need wax paper between them to stop them sticking together, and a burger press makes it really quick to do. I mix up the meat and spices. Right now I've harissa chicken burgers and chilli beef burgers waiting to be needed.

I must admit I freeze everything. However I have resisted freezing chopped veg as I can't be arsed to blanch it first. Looks like that doesn't happen from some of the replies above. Do we still need to blanch veggies? (Fingers crossed hope not).

I never remember to get things out of the freezer to defrost, so tend to make extra portions and use over the next day or so from the fridge.

Also, frozen mixed veg, onions, garlic, ginger works for me as quick and easy to use with no defrosting.

Don't forget stir fry as a really quick and easy fresh food meal. I love noodles, mixed greens and salmon with sweet chilli sauce. Ready in minutes and one wok to wash.