Cooking up a storm... or at least hoping to!

[sammyleh]

Hi all...

I've posted this in the recipes section too but always seem to get more of a response in this thread :)

I'm 37+2 and now spending lots of time at home preparing for the impending arrival of my DD. I'm wanting to get loads of meals cooked and frozen for the first couple of weeks but struggling for ideas. Really don't want to have to resort to ready meals as a quick fix every time so just wondered what kind of easy dinners you might recommend that freeze well and come out nice and tasty still.
We don't really dislike anything so open to any ideas you might have.

Cheers xx

Shepherds pie is always a good one. You can also freeze quiche in portions for a lighter meal you can just bung in the oven for half an hour. Curries and chillies would be brilliant, but might be a bit spicy if you're planning on breastfeeding.

Also sauces and things you can add to fresh ingredients -think of freezing small quantities of cheese sauce, parsley sauce etc that you can then chuck over other things.

Oh, and of course macaroni cheese.

Good luck!

Things I've been making for my freezer while I've been on mat leave:

Macaroni cheese
Lasagne
Chicken Stew
Various soups
Chilli con carne
Risotto
Home made burgers

I'm doing / planning the same thing. With a small freezer I've done a few portions of curry and tonight will tackle chilli con carne...

As a very breakable rule I try not to eat ready meals. HOWEVER, I've just discovered frozen risotto (Frozen Pea & Asparagus Risotto Family Bag Waitrose 1.2kg) from Ocado (Waitrose) which is really tasty (I added extra cheese at the end) and cooks in 5 minutes. (Ignore the instructions saying 1/4 packet does one person though... even in a non-pregnant state I'd want more than that...) Happy cooking! :)

Oooh I'm feeling hungry now with these suggestions :)

Hello! I am a recipe / cooking fanatic at the best of times and now I'm nearly 37 weeks I'm also batch cooking for the freezer! I can't recommend bbcgoodfood.com highly enough - I have made literally hundreds of their recipes over the past few years and it is full of uncomplicated and tasty meals that don't require a zillion different ingredients and gives you the nutritional values and clear instructions too. If you go to the home / recipes page you'll find specific sections on batch cooking and freezable recipes, although in every section they have a symbol by them if they are suitable for freezing. You can set up your own online recipe folder and save the recipes you like the look of.

Currently in my freezer are chicken and bean stew, beef and carrot stew, chilli, and enchiladas!

Have fun!! :)

The bol bit if spag Bol, curries, stews or freezer pack the ingredients and seasonings for slow cooker things so that all you have to do is add to pan & add fluid?
Pie fillings and some packs of the ready rolled pastry so you can defrost and lid up?
Mash pots
I'm off to Costco tomoz and then cooking on Thursday!
Soups aswell for easy lunches?