Share some food organisation tips

[bumblebramble]

Just brainstorming some ideas as I’m facing back into the school term again.

I’d appreciate hearing any ideas or tips people have around food.

I’ve found it handy to freeze things in single portions, for quicker defrosting.
A nice beef ragu is one of my freezer staples (for bolognese, taco, chilli) as well as chopped chicken breast.

I always keep a loaf of bread in the freezer as a back up.

meal planning, as dull as it is makes things much easier. it only takes maybe 20 minutes but saves to much time later on in the week.

I keep a list of meal suggestions as its easy to get tunnel vision and keep putting the same meals on the list, then you'll get bored of it. Also helps avoid food wastage too

We invested in a vac pack machine and it’s a game changer. We have a load of meals all frozen flat and stored like books. We also have a spreadsheet of everything in the freezer by drawer pinned to the front and cross off what we eat/add what we buy each week.

My sil has one of those too and I’ve been eyeing it up.

I’ve never been able to get fully on top of meal planning. It’s great a great skill /habit to form. I definitely need to practice more

It’s brilliant and also means stuff doesn’t get freezer burn and lasts so much longer.

I "bulk cook" veg, meaning I will bake a whole big bag of potatoes, and freeze them. A big tray of Mediterranean veg, portion into tubs and freeze. Practically all meals I make a couple of extra portions for the freezer. Also freeze sliced loaves, crumpets, packs of ham and chicken slices for sandwiches. This way there is always the makings of a meal.

I only ever plan 6 nights out of 7. The 7th night allows for any changes to plan in the week (invited out for dinner, not feeling hungry and opting for dinner and having cheese and crackers, ending up with lots of leftovers). If the 7th meal is needed we eat leftovers, store cupboard or something from the freezer.

I always have a bag of soffrito mix in the freezer as a great starting point for bolognaise/cottage pie/soup etc.

Might sound weird (and I love cooking so probably doesn’t appeal to everyone) but I do an mis en place every Sunday for the week. I make a plan of meals and do my food shop, then chop all my veg into tupperwares, make a couple of dressings/sauces, marinate any meat/protein needed for the first couple of days etc. it saves me so much time of an evening doing the things that take the longest time to prep on a Sunday and massively reduces food waste too. Depending on what I’m planning to eat in the week I might make a flatbread/pizza dough, bake a loaf of bread etc too. And sometimes I’ll make a batch of cookie dough, portion out and then pop in the freezer so I can bake individual ones when I fancy too.
I find batch cooking takes the fun out of it for me but this is a good compromise!