Ideas for meals to cook ahead and freeze?

[ComtessedeFrouFrou]

I'm planning to run the contents of the freezer down and get batch cooking. Any ideas of meals to cook that will freeze well? So far I've got mince pretty well covered and the following:

Moroccan chicken
Chilli
Lamb curry
Spaghetti Bolognese
Cottage pie
Fish pie
Lasagne
Fish cakes

Any more bright ideas?

Mousaka, stew, potato and broccoli bake, pasta bakes?

I love batch cooking!

I do lots of things on your list, which is fab, and also I make and freeze pork meatballs and chorizo sauce. (The chorizo sauce is easy - chopped onion and garlic, tin of tomatoes, chopped up chorizo and some paprika, any herbs knocking around.)

Do you freeze your cooked pasta as well? I do, and it microwaves rather well.

Ah yes, meatballs. I'm not sure about pasta, I suspect DH would turn his nose up, plus I am sure we can gather the wherewithal to stick some pasta or rice on.

I do a nice pasta bake borrowed from a M & S ready meal we had with mushrooms, ham, marscapone and mozzarella. I've made a list of store cupboard type timings to make sure we have in so that we can knock up something quick as well if we're feeling up to it.

I'll make some pasta sauce as well.

Ah you have loads there.. I also batch cooking but it is very basic. We buy a very large turkey every once in a while for curries. I also do braising steak with onions and freeze.
Salmon darnes are what I planning to stock up on also. Will cook from frozen if we get sick of the gravy type dinners.
Another one I am going to do it slow cook pork chops in gravy.. now DH is a very plain eater.
How long have you to go?

I was surprised about the frozen pasta being ok, tbh. But DD (17) comes in quite late some nights from college and rehearsals and stuff, and Cannot Be Trusted With Flames, so I tried out freezing individual meals of spaghetti bolognese (pasta done al dente) that she just has to nuke in the microwave and it's really ok.

But if you can cook it up separately for the meal, I would, especially if you have nice pasta.

Please give more info on the Morrocan Chicken and the naice pasta bake, I would like to steal try them.

I always try to keep in some home made frozen potato wedges. Cut into wedges and chuck in a freezer bag with a good splash of olive oil and some spices/seasoning. I normally used boullion powder, chilli powder and paprika. If we get fed up of nuked food I can pop those in the oven, do a few veg and grill some chicken or steaks. Not quite food you can grab and go, but very minimal input to cook on the day.

Also Thai green fish curry, and risottos. Be careful with risotto though, what with the rice.

Chicken chasseur is good.

I would also love any recipes (pretty please) especially the potato and broccoli bake

Sausage casserole, veg chilli, and fish pie are going in my freezer. I seem to remember from last time the most important thing is to have meals that you can eat one handed.

doing the same but everything seems wintery ! so far chicken pies ( pastry to go on hopefully !), bolognese, chilli, meatballs in sauce, goulash, chicken curry. need to cook sausage pasta sauce then I am out of ideas, ideally trying to find slow cooker recipes for ease.

Well, it's all a bit "recipes in my head". The Moroccan Chicken can be done one of two ways. One slightly more authentic and one slightly embarrassing

Moroccan chicken
For 4

• Chicken thighs (or whatever kind of chicken you prefer) in a suitable amount
• Tin of tomatoes (I use chopped but it doesn't matter)
• Vegetables - usually courgettes, carrots maybe some butternut squash or sweet potato, pepper, in winter turnips or swede are nice. We often use frozen grilled mixed mediterranean vegetables from Sainsburys. Chop the vegetables quite large, for example keep the carrots cut into four pieces and the courgette into eight
• an onion sliced or chopped as you prefer
• Ras el Hanout spice blend - a good rounded teaspoon, you can get it in Sainsburys - or a jar of Marks and Spencer's tagine paste if we're feeling lazy
• 200g dry couscous

Fry onion and a little garlic if you like. Add the chicken, tomatoes, Ras el Hanout or tagine paste and vegetables (except the courgette if using). Simmer until the chicken is done and the vegetables are quite tender. Add the courgette now and cook for another 5 or 10 minutes.

When you've put the courgette in (or 5-10 minutes before you want to eat) boil the kettle and pour about 300mls water over the couscous in a bowl and cover with cling film. Add some lemon juice and/or olive oil if you like. After about 5 minutes fluff the couscous with a fork. Cover again for a minute or two.

Serve with suitable flourish. Watch in horror as your DH picks out all of the chicken skin and leaves half the chicken on the bones as he eats it.

This could also be done with lamb, in which case I use lamb neck and brown it with the onions and spices before adding the tomatoes and vegetables.

Pasta bake a la M & S (can you tell we've got a Simply Food near us?!)

For 4

• Tin of chopped tomatoes or a jar of some fairly plain tomato sauce
• Naice Ham - about two large slices, cut into squares
• About 5 or 6 mushrooms, sliced
• Tub of mascarpone
• Ball of mozzarella - the cheap stuff is fine
• 200g pasta (anything you like, but probably not spaghetti or tagliatelle etc)

Fry the mushrooms in butter or some oil and garlic. Meanwhile, cook the pasta until just al dente. Heat the oven to about 180 c.

Drain the pasta and tip into an oven dish. Pour over the tomatoes or sauce and roughly mix in. Scatter over the mushrooms and the ham. Cut the mozaarella in half and then slice each half. Dot evenly over the other ingredients. Scoop some dollops of mascarpone over in any remaining gaps (probably about half a tub).

Bung in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the mascarpone and mozzarella are suitably melty. Serve with salad or garlic bread

This is particularly good for a Friday night in front of the telly (with a glass of wine if you are allowed one )

I make individual chicken and mushroom pies and vegetable pies in a cream sauce. You can get the foil containers from the supermarkets and I use bought puff pastry but the filling is made from scratch. It's easy to serve with chips, mashed pots or roast pots quite quickly. Cornish pasties are another staple. They are easier to batch cook.

DH started batch cooking yesterday :) he cooked a chilli and a lasagna.

I'm going to cook a beef stroganoff and some vegetable dishes.

This is prob TMI but my advise would be to add as many vegetables as poss because going to the loo for a no.2 can be tricky after, and when your tired if you're anything like me I reach for the carbs .

I'm an idiot when it comes for freezing and defrosting food I have cooked, can you just put a spag Bol in the microwave from frozen?

Yes igirisu, you jut have to zap it for longer.

I sometimes start it on the defrost setting (it's a bit gentler) and then zap it once its melted a bit. Makes things a bit less rubbery.

You're right about the veggies Longfufu - well, I don't know about tr number 2 business, but I do know that if they're already in whatever it is I will eat them but if I have to do them separately I won't bother

Soup and risottos paella

I also buy ready made pastry then cooked a load of what could be pie fillings sling the mix in casserole cook then cover with a lid 10 mins pie that will do two days

mrs mango biscuit can you freeze the potatoes raw? I do potato wedges all the time and would love to have them ready to go from the freezer. Dp refuses to eat bought oven chips

Does anyone know if I have mince in the freezer already, can I defrost it, make a chilli/spaghetti Bol etc then freeze again, or should I buy fresh?

Yes littlemiss, if its been cooked once defrosted it will be fine to freeze and reheat again once more (but not more than that)

Yes it's fine little miss. I do it all the time and could explain why it's ok but dd is demanding attention.

sarahandemily, yes. I just shake them up in the bag to make sure they're well covered, lie the bag down as flat as I can, usually stacking a few bags together, and freeze.

Just make sure you pre-heat the oven and cook from frozen, otherwise they go mushy.

My understanding is that meat and fish can be frozen once raw, and then once when cooked.

Just thought, rostis! Yum! You can easily make a big batch of them, cool them, then stack them with grease proof paper between, put in a freezer bag and freeze. I also do the same with oat pancakes, which you can then toast and have with fruit and yoghurt, or ice cream and maple syrup.

Marking my place, lots of good ideas here, will be coming back once I'm on mat leave and ready to start the cooking.

Our freezer isn't that huge, so my alternative/additional plan is to preorder a few Ocado deliveries for after the baby arrives, maybe one a week, with the ingredients for lots of easy meals!

Pusspuss I intend to do the same, although we're only about twos minutes away from sainsburys. One less thing to do when the baby arrives!

I made stroganoff (just had to add the soured cream in reheating), chili, bolognese and lasagne. Im grateful for all the ideas on here though as I'm a bit unsure of what you cam freeze/ideas of things to cook. In particular they have to be family meals suitable for us adults as well as two under 4!! (I struggle to think of things at the best of times, for days I'm working for example).

Keep the ideas coming and I'll try to add some more!