Colman's cook once eat twice challenge feedback thread. Non-testers: share your top tips for bulk cooking. £150 voucher up for grabs. NOW CLOSED

[KatieBMumsnet]

This thread is for the 20 Mumsnetters who are taking part in the Colman's cook once eat twice challenge.

Here's what Colman's say: "Wasting food costs families up and down the country money and has an impact on the environment too. As many of you already know, bulk cooking is a simple way to reduce this, as it can help with meal planning and provides a solution for those mealtimes when you just don't have the time or inspiration to cook. So join us in making your family's favourite dishes go further and save yourself time and money in the process!"

Non-testers: We know many of you are already pros at bulk cooking and reducing food waste and we'd love to hear your top tips on this. How do you organise your freezer space? Do you colour-coordinate food types, or is a Sharpie your best friend? How about meal-planning, is this essential to reducing the amount of food you and your family waste?
Whatever your tips may be, please do share with other Mumsnetters on this thread.

Everyone who adds a comment to this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one winner will receive a £150 M&S voucher!

Testers: We'd like you to post regular updates on this thread over the next couple of weeks, below are a few questions for you to answer but please also feel free to add any other comments you may also have. You may want to answer some questions now and some at the end of the challenge.

Questions to be answered at the start of the challenge:

• How often do you and your family normally cook in bulk? If you hardly ever do, why do you think this is?
• Which recipe mixes are you going to/have you already cooked? Which of the recipes do you think will work best with bulk cooking?
• Do you usually plan your meals for the week to come or not?

Questions to be answered towards the end of the challenge:

• Which of Colman's dry recipe mixes did you/your family like best and why?
• How many portions/meals did you get out of each recipe you tried?
• How did you find freezing the extra portions?
• Did the challenge help you reduce your food waste at all? Did it help you to save time & money? If so please say how.
• After taking part in the change do you think you’re more likely to plan your meals for the week ahead?
• Do you think you'll be likely to continue to cook in bulk more often after the challenge? If so why? If not, why not?
• If it came up in conversation, would you recommend bulk cooking with Colman's dry recipe mixes to friends/family? If so, why? If not, why not?

Everyone who adds their feedback to this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one winner will receive a £150 M&S voucher.

Thanks and good luck,

Katie @ MNHQ

How do you organise your freezer space? Do you colour-coordinate food types, or is a Sharpie your best friend?

It's pretty chaotic but in general the basket is full of frozen fruit and veg, while the body of the freezer is a rammy of bits and bobs sandwiched between a bottom layer of milk and a top layer of bread. I store leftovers in tupperware but don't bother labelling. I like the frisson of excitement when you don't know what's coming out of the microwave!

How about meal-planning, is this essential to reducing the amount of food you and your family waste?

Yes, although I don't do it properly. I have a set of basic meals which are loosely pulled out of the hat depending on what I have bought on offer that week. So if I have a chicken to roast, we will have chicken one day, curry/enchiladas another day, then noodle soup. There are always freezer essentials such as white fish for making fish pies etc. DH works weird shifts so often he takes leftovers instead of me freezing them.

I don't think we waste much. DH is a bloody hoover so nothing gets as far as the bin.

Tester - thanks for choosing me!!

How often do you cook in bulk. If not very often why do you think is?
Not as often as I'd like to. I keep on planning on getting into the routine of bulk cooking and freezing but never quite get around to it. Now it's coming into winter I'd like to get better organised and plan ahead more which I think is where I'm going wrong at the moment.

Which recipes are you going to/have you already tried? Which do you think will work best for batch cooking?
I've tried the chill con carne so far which was very tasty, easy to prepare and simple to portion up and freeze. This is a firm favourite in our family and one I have batch cooked in the past.
I think the beef casserole and sausage ones will work well with batch cooking. I've not tried batch cooking with chicken before so it will be interesting to see how it goes.

Do you usually plan your meals for the week ahead or not?
It's somethin I keep on meaning to start doing but never quite get there!! Would like to start doing it and I've even invested in a weekly meal planner notepad to get motivated!

We have tried a few of the frozen meals and all of them have required more liquid when re-heating.

The DC loved the sausage casserole which I served with yorkshire puddings and broccoli. I liked that it only took me 30 minutes to put dinner on the table after a long day at work.
The flavours seem to be quite DC friendly but it was not quite as simple as putting in the oven for a re-heat. It did require more additions of hot water and stirring so that it didn't burn unless I am doing something wrong.
The DC have already asked me to cook that one again so thumbs up from them.

Non-tester here - my biggest tip would be to make the most of seasonal fruit/veg and cook batches of soup/fruit mixes accordingly. And keep a look out for mega reduced items when shopping. We made a large vat of marmalade a couple of years ago with some Seville oranges that were reduced to about 40p per 2 Kilo bag (seriously)! It all helps.

Tester

• Which of Colman's dry recipe mixes did you/your family like best and why? I liked the chili best - flavour was good and tasted natural and home-made.
• How many portions/meals did you get out of each recipe you tried? 4 good sized portions from each single packet mix.
• How did you find freezing the extra portions? Good idea and easy to freeze - put in freezer bags in individual portions. Took no time at all.
• Did the challenge help you reduce your food waste at all? Did it help you to save time & money? If so please say how. Yes, by freezing portions they didn't sit in the fridge forgotten for days which would then mean they would probably be thrown away and wasted. Def saved time and money. Future dinners all ready to defrost and eat - what's not to like.
• After taking part in the change do you think you’re more likely to plan your meals for the week ahead? Yes, I hope so. Would love to save time and money without compromising quality or taste of food.
• Do you think you'll be likely to continue to cook in bulk more often after the challenge? If so why? If not, why not? Yes, I will. Have bought decent freezer bags and will certainly freeze portions. If I fridge them am unlikely to eat next day, boring to eat same meal 2 days running. If frozen would certainly eat them at later date.
• If it came up in conversation, would you recommend bulk cooking with Colman's dry recipe mixes to friends/family? If so, why? If not, why not? Yes I would recommend - quick and easy, cook once and eat twice. Bit of a no brainer really.

Tester here

How often do you and your family normally cook in bulk? If you hardly ever do, why do you think this is?
I do cook enough for two meals at least once a week- but this is usually the result of cooking too much by accident, rather than planning in an organised way!

• Which recipe mixes are you going to/have you already cooked? Which of the recipes do you think will work best with bulk cooking?

I like the look of them all and have already made the chicken casserole and the chilli. The casserole has been most effective so far as it has veg in it so the second portion only needed a jacket potato bunging in the oven to make a no-fuss meal.

• Do you usually plan your meals for the week to come or not?

Yes I do plan for us, but not in a fixed way- so I have an idea of what I will cook each week but not on which days, then we discuss it in the morning or sometimes the night before.

Non-tester:

Whenever I have made the effort to freeze any leftovers etc, I have always found that they were never at their best when used the second time around. Our freezer isn't that big so cooking in bulk at the moment is limited and as we are a fairly large family we rarely have leftovers but it is something that I want to make more of an effort with.

Oh my goodness, reading this has made me feel like a failure! I've never dreamed of batch cooking food and colour coding tubs in a freezer! On the positive side, I enjoy cooking good wholesome, healthy food every day. Any left overs go in the dog so nothing goes to waste.

Non tester...

I bulk cook anything like chilli, bolognaise, soup, stew, casserole etc, i bag up individual portions and then put into clip n lock boxes to be stacked neatly in the freezer..each box has a small piece of paper in it stating what it is, what date it was made and also cooking instructions in case my other half is cooking! Makes life incredibly easy on the busy family days!!

Ok I have my Colmans packets, which include Chicken casserole, beef casserole, sausage casserole and chilli. I have used all of these mixes before. The one I have used most often is the sausage casserole, I tend to do chilli from scratch - but- dd now likes a mild chilli so I'm planning to test the packet mix on her because I can't seem to make my version mild enough for her.

I tend to cook in bulk regularly, it saves money and I do try to use up everything I buy so towards the end of the week you will get fairly eclectic meals with odds and sods thrown in. These mixes do lend themselves well to that kind of cooking. If we have too much for one meal I will freeze variously sized portions in those plastic boxes you get from takeaways as they stack brilliantly in the freezer. I'll do portions for dd, portions for all of us, jacketpotato sized portions etc. to reheat I will microwave them (either from frozen or if I've thought ahead (rare) from defrosted).

I'll be trying all of the packets as I know they're all nice!

Non-tester. I actually have two freezers, one is a fridge freezer and the other a small single freezer bought when a rental property had only a fridge with an ice box.

I use the little freezer for storing extras. This is those items which I see on offer and know I'll use so buy a few, or when we make a large batch of something and then we can have quick easy meals another time.

I particularly found making a large batch of mince and onion and dividing into portions was great for when I'd just given birth. I didn't feel like cooking but I could easily get the mince out and add a tin of tomatoes to make an easy bolognese, or top with mashed potato and make a quick shepherd's pie. I will certainly be reading the ideas and stocking my freezer before my second comes along as those first few weeks the last thing you want to do is cook but with a child already in the hosue you need to have nutritous food that is easy to prepare.

Questions to be answered towards the end of the challenge:
- Which of Colman's dry recipe mixes did you/your family like best and why?

We liked the chili and the sausage casserole best as I guessed we would, they are already family favourites and were very tasty.

- How many portions/meals did you get out of each recipe you tried?
I made each dish using 2 packet mixes and this made 8 portions which I added side dishes (e.g. rice/jacket potato/cous cous) to as we ate them.

- How did you find freezing the extra portions?
I found it fine, I used plastic tupperware type tubs and froze in individual portions as this suits our household more than freezing it as family sized portions.

- Did the challenge help you reduce your food waste at all? Did it help you to save time & money? If so please say how.

It did help as I planned our meals for the fortnight rather than not planning and things going off.

- After taking part in the change do you think you’re more likely to plan your meals for the week ahead?

Yes I will be upping my game in terms of meal planning and bulk cooking.

- Do you think you'll be likely to continue to cook in bulk more often after the challenge? If so why? If not, why not?

Yes I will, it saves me time and encourages me to make sure we are eating healthy home cooked meals rather than relying on quick cook, processed stuff.

- If it came up in conversation, would you recommend bulk cooking with Colman's dry recipe mixes to friends/family? If so, why? If not, why not?

Yes I would, I've found them nice taste wise and they've helped me to throw dishes together easily when I'm busy.

Non tester

Freezing food is fantastic, soups are great as well as bolognaise. To save space I use freezer bags which are fab. It may seem a bit OCD but what I try to do if I can is use a small-medium rectangle clip tub, line with a freezer bag, fill with content, tie the bag, put lid on and freeze. Once it's frozen I take the bag out of the tub, and this makes perfect 'bricks' making it easy to arrange in the freezer compartments and means you don't need many tubs which can take up a lot of space.

We always roughly plan our weekly meals and buy what is necessary for the week. The other great thing about freezing is it means if you feel like something different or going out for a meal, it means the food will keep and you have a bit more flexibility.

Which of Colman's dry recipe mixes did you/your family like best and why?

The chilli con carne one, but made with quorn mince. Just the right amount of spice and the recipe was very easy.

• How many portions/meals did you get out of each recipe you tried?

I would say either 8 medium adult portions or 10 much smaller child's portions (but I bulked out the mince with a few green lentils, which were a very tasty addition).

• How did you find freezing the extra portions?

Easy, but if I bulk cooked more than twice a week I might run out of containers!

• Did the challenge help you reduce your food waste at all? Did it help you to save time & money? If so please say how.

I think we were very good about food waste anyway. However, the time saving was a revelation and I feel a bit of a twit that I hadn't thought to bulk cook a bit more. It only takes a bit longer to chop a few more veg and saves a whole day of cooking when we defrost it!

• After taking part in the change do you think you’re more likely to plan your meals for the week ahead?

I am likely to plan ahead, yes, but I always did do a lot of planning.

• Do you think you'll be likely to continue to cook in bulk more often after the challenge? If so why? If not, why not?

Definitely, yes, as I enjoy the afternoon off it gives me later when I defrost the earlier meal!

• If it came up in conversation, would you recommend bulk cooking with Colman's dry recipe mixes to friends/family? If so, why? If not, why not?

I would, yes, but cooking is not generally a topic of conversation that comes up that often!

Non Tester -

How do you organise your freezer space? - I have a drawer for meat, a drawer for frozen veg such as broccoli, peas etc, another for 'junk' like pizza and icecream and the last is for meals I have made in bulk and then frozen.

Do you colour-coordinate food types, or is a Sharpie your best friend? I use sticky labels so I can write down what is in each tupperware tub/pot.

How about meal-planning, is this essential to reducing the amount of food you and your family waste? Meal plannig certainly helps, we usually sit down and agree a list of meals for the coming week before we go shopping, so we know exactly what we need to buy, we find it results in less 'impulse' buying, and ultimately less waste.

Tips I think most mumsnetters do this anyway, but my slow cooker is my best friend especially for bulk/batch cooking. I use it to make big portions of chilli, sauces, stew, goulash, gumbo, I can then portion it out and freeze some so we have a stock of meals.

This thread is amazing.

I do a bulk of bolgnese but stuggle with other meals.

Recently tried shepherds pie and as I hate doing mash made sense to make more than one.

Definaltey meal planning is way forward. We use bags and sharpie pens.

Non tester.

I only bulk cook by default as I always overcook and then freeze. My freezer would make others weep as theres no organisation, but meals are frozen in plastic containers from the thai takeaway and then sharpied

Quick update.

We have now tried the chicken and beef casseroles. I warmed one through in the oven as directed and boiled some gnocchi which I drained and tipped into the casserole. Again the casserole needed more water when being warmed through in the oven.

The gnocchi went down really well with the chicken casserole so I did this again with the beef casserole but this time warmed it gently on the cooker top which worked a lot better.

The DC's are asking for these meals again and it has really got me back into the routine of shopping, bulk cooking and freezing, dinner on the table within 30 minutes of being home from work/school and everyone being a lot less stressed. I need to keep this up.

I've tried two of the packets now - the Chilli Con Carne and the Sausage Casserole. Two more to go.

Which of Colman's dry recipe mixes did you/your family like best and why?

Sausage casserole and chilli are both meals we eat a lot anyway as they are cheap in terms of the meat used. I particularly liked the Chilli because my dd (5) is reasonably adventurous with food but doesn't like spicey heat. This packet mix was tasty without being hot. It was a winner with her and me and DH just added chilli sauce.

• How many portions/meals did you get out of each recipe you tried?

Now this is the problem. If we have a big pot of something I will ladle a generous portion. This means inevitably we over eat a bit and then there isn't enough for a full meal for four of us with what is left over. I would have to be rigid about separating the meal into two equal portions and then serving up. Which, frankly, isn't going to happen.

• How did you find freezing the extra portions?

Easy, just did what I normally do, which is to portion it up and freeze in takeaway plastic boxes because they stack nicely. I ignored the instructions which came with the packets - something about wrapping it in foil in the original casserole dish then freezing blah blah blah - load of nonsense. I can microwave straight from the freezer if I've forgotten to defrost. I see no point putting the oven on again as per the instructions - that's cooking twice!

-- Did the challenge help you reduce your food waste at all? Did it help you to save time & money? If so please say how.

Well buying anything in bulk is cheaper, and yes it does save time and money by meaning that the oven is on less and if I've defrosted it really doesn't take more than a few minutes to re-heat in the microwave. It helps with food waste as all the meals lend themselves to chucking in odds and ends of things in your fridge. I dislike the slogan - cook once enjoy twice.

• After taking part in the change do you think you’re more likely to plan your meals for the week ahead?

Nope, I'm just not organised enough. I cook what I have in - and I try to use everything up - if anything I have got into a habit in terms of shopping - I buy only what I think I will use.

• Do you think you'll be likely to continue to cook in bulk more often after the challenge? If so why? If not, why not?

I already cook in bulk and will continue to do so. It had never occurred to me to use two packet mixes at once before however.

• If it came up in conversation, would you recommend bulk cooking with Colman's dry recipe mixes to friends/family? If so, why? If not, why not?

Possibly. But to be honest, I can cook all four of the meals featured from scratch using store cupboard herbs and spices and don't have to buy two packet mixes all the time, which adds to the cost which is why most people bulk cook.

I am not too bad at bulk cooking actually! Not a very good cook though ;) lol! I am very hot on food waste and limit it as much as possible, the children have to eat everything on their plates as do we. If there is any food left over from cooking, i try to re use it the next day.
We dont use any colour coding in the freezer or fridge but there is a place for everything so 1) it does't get missed and 2) we know where everything is. Eg;frozen veg is in one drawer in the freezer, meat is in another, ice cream and treats in another and we have a drawer for fish.
In the fridge we keep fruit and veg in the drawers, milk and jams in the door, leftover foods/half cans on one shelf and unopened foods such as meat, yogurts etc on another shelf!

Tester
Just had chilli con carne very tasty but not spicy enough for our family so will add chillies to the next one for us!!

Which of Colman's dry recipe mixes did you/your family like best and why?
It was the casserole mixes that the family liked best, they were versatile and could be served with potatoes, gnocchi etc so were considered to be different meals by the DC. This is always a bonus my DC are not that fond of too much repetition with main meals.
How many portions/meals did you get out of each recipe you tried
The meals fed 4 Dc's for two meals, I would be concerned that those portion sized would not be enough for adults.
How did you find freezing the extra portions?
No problem at all I used gallon freezer bags with permanent marker written on with what they were and date cooked.
Did the challenge help you reduce your food waste at all? Did it help you to save time & money? If so please say how
Yes it did help save food waste. I only ordered exactly what I needed with the shopping and everything got cooked and frozen so no vegetables other than the allocated side veg were hanging about the fridge.
After taking part in the change do you think you’re more likely to plan your meals for the week ahead?
Yes this has really got me back into a routine with bulk cooking. I had forgotten just how much stress it removes from my week.
Do you think you'll be likely to continue to cook in bulk more often after the challenge? If so why? If not, why not?
Yes it has really helped the family routine and I have been organised enough to bulk cook for DH to take his meals away frozen for the week so he is very happy.
If it came up in conversation, would you recommend bulk cooking with Colman's dry recipe mixes to friends/family? If so, why? If not, why not?
I would recommend bulk cooking and using the Colman's to get you started but would be concerned about relying on then because they do contain some added extra's that can be removed by bulk cooking without them.

Non-tester...

We use a slow cooker to save on energy used during cooking and allow me to cook a large amount in one go. We then freeze the excess into one-person tubs, making it quick and easy to defrost when DH is out (and the temptation to order takeaway is high!)

We try not to buy more food than we need and sometimes therefore buy a more expensive but smaller portion to avoid food waste. I like to make smoothies with left over fruit/veg and am investigating making ice lollies too.

Non-tester here.

I cook often but also bulk cook and/or freeze leftovers , or make extra on purpose so there will be extra to freeze.

I save the plastic takeaway cartons when we get them, wash & reuse, good for curry (as you can't get the curry smell out no matter how well you clean them).

For stew, bolognaise etc, freeze in single portions. Work out roughly how much is a portion, put in a freezer bag, then freeze in the bag, inside a freezer safe plastic box. When fully frozen, gently remove from the box & ta da! A square block of stew that fits easily into the freezer. It takes a little more planning but really saves on freezer space in the long term.

Label EVERYTHING with a sharpie or similar, include the contents, date made and/or use by. Label the bags before you fill them - trying to write on a squishy, frozen bag, or a bag of frozen cubes of baby food, is over-rated.

Never stand at your freezer with the door open, deciding what to have for dinner. The longer it's open, the warmer it will get & have to cool down again. Plus, it will take moisture from the air which will freeze all around the door frame, so you have to defrost it sooner or risk losing loads of freezer space.

Wrap raw meat, fish, bread, etc in greaseproof paper, then in a freezer bag. Seal with a twist tie or freezer clip. The paper will protect against freezer burn. Slice bread before you freeze it & don't squash it in - if you want to just get one or two slices out, it's a lot easier if they aren't compressed together. Exclude all the extra air from bags, containers etc wherever possible. This will help for 3 reasons: firstly, it will reduce freezer burn. Secondly, it will reduce the chance of the container bursting if the contents expand as they freeze. Thirdly, it will take up less space in your freezer.

We have a drawer for meat, one for fish, one for veg & vegetarian food, one for bread & ready meals, & one for sweet things, frozen fruit, & anything for DD who is a toddler so I still make batches of things just for her, eg unsweetened rice pudding, or super mild curry.

When DD was weaning, she had her own drawer as I made all her food. Divide into baby food trays, then as soon as it's frozen, push it out into labelled bags. Make sure you have a decent supply of baby food trays as one pan of food can make more than 20 of those little portions.

Non-tester.

I always meal plan for each week and try to match my batch-cooking with the things I'm buying already e.g. if I'm buying basil I have to buy a whole bunch but won't use all of it so then I plan to batch-cook pasta sauce; if I'm buying meat in for 3-for-£10 range I'll buy minced beef for Bolognese sauce. I also cook double-portions of food quite a lot e.g. as a family we only need a 250g pack of minced beef for burritos but I buy the 500g pack and freeze half the filling once it's cooked. It works out more expensive in a single shop but really saves money over the month.

I use resealable sauce bags (about £1.20 for 6 or 8 in the supermarkets I use) and label with a Sharpie. For small portions that I'll use just for me, or for the baby, I use normal resealable sandwich bags, although I tend to double-bag as otherwise they leak most annoyingly.

One of my favourite things to batch-cook is bread dough. I use 1kg of flour and make up the dough until it's ready to cook, then divide into about 20 small-ish balls, wrap each one in greaseproof paper and put the lot into medium resealable sandwich bags. That way I can defrost one ball at a time as I need dough - for breadsticks, pizza bases, rolls etc.

We only have a small freezer (3 drawers) so raw meat goes in one drawer, vegetables and ice cream in another and batch cooking in another. When I batch-cook I always make sure the food is cold before I put it in the freezer. I label everything with the date and contents and rotate food so I'm using the oldest first.