freezing meals

[Rothwellmummy]

I have heard of people cooking meals in advance and freezing them and wanted some advice from some experts out there!!

I've never tried cooking in bulk and freezing, didn't know how safe etc it was

I am planning to cook a couple of moussakas. Do i cook them 'oven ready'. white sauce and all?

How do i freeze them? I have the cooking dishes i would use for the oven but don't know what i would cover them with! Sorry for all the questions, complete novice here!

I would make them up until the point at which you would put them in the oven and then freeze them at that stage. Then when needed, defrost completely, put in the oven at whatever temperature you would normally bake them at, but allow extra cooking time (15-20 mins?) because you are baking from cold.

I use the foil trays and lids, like the kind you would get from a takeaway - should be able to find them in the supermarket.

Just for info, I have been stockpiling freezer food in advance for when baby arrives, and have got:

Lots of portions of: bolognaise, chilli, chicken curry - all can just be defrosted and then reheated in saucepan.
Shepherd's pie and fish pie - made up as far as putting potato on top, ready to bake when defrosted, in their little foil tins.
Chicken and sausage bake - chicken thighs and sausages marinated in mustardy stuff - all smooshed up and in a plastic zip-lok bag, ready to be defrosted and then just tipped out into oven dish to cook.
Home-made soup - again frozen in zip-lok bags, single portions, to reheat in saucepan.

I love moussaka, but DH dislikes aubergine so I almost never make it .

I love it too!!

thank-you for the advice :D

Sounds like you have lots of lovely food in your freezer. :D

My freezer is full of things DH buys when he shops ( whis is rare!)
which neither the kids nor I like
( processed chicken nuggets etc . Maybe i need to get the kids friends round and cook it all and then have a lovely empty freezer to fill with frozen cooked dishes! :D

Good idea to stock pile which pregnant, i never have before but certainly will next time! :D

Hi... I did this in Jan ready for when DS arrived....
We had:
Moussaka
Lasagne
Pasta Sauces- cheese and spinach, tomato and basil, vegetable
Spaghetti bolognaise sauce
Tuna Pasta bake
Chicken Pie
Beef stew
homemade soups
chicken casserole
chicken curry
chilli con carne
cottage pie
fish pie

made a huge difference the first month!
I used foil trtays, but also got some cheap plastic storage (woolies were selling them off) sainsbury sell them, and have some pyrex rectangular dishes with plastic lids- very useful. I prefer to use reuseable than throw away IYSWIM, especially if you plan to do it a lot.