Freeze & Batch Meat or Meals

[Fatcrab]

Do you freeze meat or meals? I used to come back with hoards of meat (when on offer) but space is limited so im thinking to have a clear out. Go and get some more meat & fish and just make loads of different meals.

How do you freeze/batch? Whats more cost effective?

I usually just freeze fresh meat if I'm not using it within a few days. I don't batch cook but freeze leftovers occasionally.

I don't batch cook because I don't want to be stuck having to eat meals I don't fancy on that day, meaning I would go out and spend more money at the supermarket for something I did want. Plus, things don't taste as good after being frozen imo.

But if you're happy to eat whatever you get out to defrost in the morning, then it's a great time saver and saves having to think about what you're going to cook and making sure you have the correct ingredients.

I freeze meals because what we're short on is time for cooking. But if you've plenty of time to cook it, then just freezing meat will take up less space than family sized portions of stew etc. In terms of being cost-effective, if you eat a lot of meat, then it's probably cheaper overall to bulk buy it when it's on offer and freeze it, as you're currently doing.

I do both, I always like to have some half ready meals in freezer. For example today I took some raw chicken which I freeze chopped up so throw it directly in frying pan, cooked it and thawed a small container of rice and one of sweet and sour sauce in microwave. Dinner on table in 10 mins max. I do the same with curry sc in containers and some chopped cooked chicken separately which is very quick as well. Lots of bolonaise/mince small containers, only need cooking pasta then. I also keep mashed potato frozen in scoops, same with marrowfat peas and then some containers of roast lamb in gravy, yum, dinner with that in 10 mins as well. I practically never take them out in morning or night before as I only decide when I look in the freezer what I will have. Things like mashed potato need to be heated up well and stirred around to fluff up again. Bad defrosting/heating is usually the reason frozen food doesn't taste good, done correctly no one can tell the difference! I also would have raw meat as in mince, pork steak trimmed and flattened ready for stuffing, sometimes a chicken, small amount of fish as I buy in clearance usually and when I have enough then make a fish pie. Would normally have containers of stock/white sc/soup/apple sc/gravy etc ready to throw something together.

We don't really batch cook but do always have a bolognese or some other type of ragu in the freezer for those nights when we can't be bothered or one of us is away for work etc.

There's just me and DP so we freeze meat in portions for two so we're only defrosting what we need most of the time. We also invested in a vac pac machine which has also made it really easy to portion and store stuff, and stops things from getting freezer burn.

@IDontLikePinaColadas Oh I forgot about vacuum seal. Il have a look at that. Thanks.

@MrsJHernandez Yeah i know what you mean, atleast if its just meat then I have options. I think il have a clear out and maybe do a combo, or make better choices.