Batch cooking food: some questions!

[Focusfocus]

Hi all

Our baby will be due anytime from Mid October this year and we want to batch cook a few things for the early weeks. I have a few questions if you wise ones can help please :-)

(to put it into context - we have 2 freezers - the regular 4 shelves freezer in our refrigerator-freezer and we also have a tall 5 drawer free-standing tall deep freezer.

Secondly - DH and I are both on joint shared parental leave for the first 3 months.)

1. If we want the food to be okay for consumption till say - mid December - when is the best time to cook it? Can we cook now i.e. end August or is it too soon?

1. We know once thawed dont refreeze - by that logic- should the ingredients we use for the cooking be non-frozen fresh stuff? I.e. Can i use my 1 kg of butternut squash/sweet potato to make soup and freeze the soup or should I get fresh never-frozen veggies for that?

1. Apart from cooked ready meals what else is good to have handy? Currently we have a shelf for "junk" food (pizzas, oven chips, fish fingers, frozen burgers that sort), a shelf for frozen rice, bread and tatties, 2 shelves for frozen veggies, a shelf for frozen fish/prawns/meat if DH fancies cooking

1. In terms of the actual food, what's good to have. Again - context - I am Indian, and my amniotic fluid is perpetually full of onion, garlic, chilly and curry, I was born and raised in India for 23 years and my diet is very diverse but curry is integral to it. DH is British and is okay with eating anything. So - to facilitate one handed meals - I was thinking of some favourites around here - Veggie Soups, Lamb/Chicken Casseroles, Meat Biriyanis, Beans-loaded beef chilli, Bolgnese sauce, seafood curries. Will use microwave rice chucked in nuker with micro veggies for first bit and then DH can make rice/pasta I think? Or should we also make these? As in - make rice/pasta in huge amounts and have it mixed in with Chilli/curries etc? a bit unsure about that aspect.

1. For the food cupboard I am thinking - lots of canned beans to chuck in my soup (soup is largely for me), canned tuna/salmon if we fancy on our jacket potatoes, oats for my porridge, nuts, seeds, oat biscuits, cookies, squash, teas, rice.

I dont have a sweet tooth at all, and DH very rarely.

Do let me know if I have left things uncovered!

Thanks!!

Everything you've listed there sounds good for freezing. I am funny about cooking fish and freezing it though but that's me personally. I'm due November and as dp bus a type one diabetic he will probably do most of the cooking as he's one routine which is not going to work around baby all the time. The rice and pasta cooked and froze I would also be funny about. I think if you freeze the main parts of your dishes like curries bolognese etc and then just cook the pasta ND rice when you need it x

We'll have frozen stuff that's been there 12 months plus - I'd get cracking filling the freezer now.

You can freeze raw food, defrost and cook, then refreeze cooked - I often do that if I see cheap meat for casseroles etc at supermarket - I buy it, freeze, and defrost to make freezer casseroles when I get time.

I've never frozen anything with rice in it, though I have frozen batches of macaroni cheese (though things with a cheese sauce do, IME, end up very very thick and stodgy when reheated).

Watch with seafood curry - if you use king prawns its hard not to overcook them when you're heating. Eggs don't freeze well so whilst you can freeze fish pie exclude the boiled eggs.

I buy foil trays from pound shop, ideal size for 2 people, they have lids, they stack well in freezer, you can write on them what they contain, and you just leave to thaw (lift out night before and put in fridge) and put them in the oven to heat up - less washing up too! You can cook from frozen obviously needs to be turned out of the foil tray first.

I've discovered frozen mashed potato (but to admit it IRL)- great in a hurry!

When we got home from hospital with DS it was great to have a good home cooked meal for supper, and all DH had to do was heat it up.

Most of those meals are good for freezing. Anything in a sauce freezes well, such as curries, spag bol, chilli, shepherds pie, soups. We also make big batches of cauliflower cheese and freeze in single portions for a midweek roast.

I do freeze mashed potato, but never rice or pasta. I just defrost the main meal and then freshly cook the accompaniment. It's still easier!

I would happily cook something with previously frozen ingredients (veg/meat), then re-freeze. For example I might defrost some mince, make it into spag bol, then freeze that. Defrost and cook when needed.

The only thing to be wary of doing is freezing again once you have defrosted, if not cooking it. Once something is defrosted it needs cooking thoroughly to kill any bacteria.

Pesto is a good store cupboard standby - nice with pasta or gnocchi for dinner or spread on a toastie with some cheese for lunch. We usually have a few different flavoured jars as they don't need heated - just tossed in the pasta or gnocchi straight out the jar.

I freeze a lot of stuff - soups and stews like chilli and bolognese - in single portions in zip loc bags as they freeze flat so are space saving and as they are frozen so flat they defrost in minutes - just squeeze the contents straight into a pan and put on a low heat for a few mins. I freeze things that I cook in the oven like lasagne, cauliflower cheese etc in the foil takeaway tins - cuts down on the washing up.

When you're batch cooking try and throw in a few extra veggies to keep up your five a day as you might not have time to prep veg. A few bags of frozen veggies are a good stand by too.

Cous cous is a good one to have in your cupboard too. :)

I freeze loads of curry based dishes, onion bajhis and the like, as well as 'english' dishes - bolognese sauce, lasagna (which I realise are Italian), shepherds pie, fish pie etc.

I always use frozen meat to make batch cooked meals as I buy in bulk from the reduced section at the supermarket. The rule is freeze it when you buy it, defrost it, cook with it, refreeze it. That goes for meat and veg. You shouldn't thaw and refreeze, though I thaw, reheat, cool, refreeze sometimes.

Food is supposed to be kept in a freezer for 3 months, however I have and eat, food which has been in there for a year or more.

I don't use the foil tins - I use plastic ones, as you can heat from frozen in the microwave- dinner ready in less than 15mins.

I freeze almost everything, with the exception of pasta unless it is pasta bake or lasagna as I think it goes rubbery.

I have frozen pasta when I've made a batch of spag bol - it's never spoilt it for me

Sounds tasty!

I find pasta doesn't freeze well and I never, ever reheat or freeze rice as its one of those high risk foods for food poisoning (Bacillus cereus is notorious for growing on cooked cooled and reheated rice.)

I also find that creamy things don't freeze as well- the solution for that is to cook the thing and freeze without the cream then add the cream when reheating.

Wow, thanks all for all your wisdom!! Will do. Looking forward to loaaaads of tasty food ????

I use my freezer a lot to batch cook stuff, as there's currently only 2 of us so it's the best way to avoid waste (and having the same thing for days on end!).

Some things are better made in huge batches - bolognaise sauce, lentil curries, soups, fish pie all freeze well. The joy of finding a lasagne tucked at the bottom of the freezer when you don't know what to have! I make the bol sauce into lasagnes, freeze it as is to cook spaghetti with, and you can chuck some beans and chilli powder in to convert into chilli for jacket spuds.

Sometimes I make up bags of slow cooker meals - chop up meat, some veg and freeze. Dump in the slow cooker to defrost overnight then add your flavours/stock/passata etc in the morning when you turn it oj. Today we're having Cajun pork & rice thanks to some pork chops with peppers onion & carrot in a bag I found lurking. Will empty a sachet of fajita spice over and some passata and let it get on with it. Will serve with rice later.

I also freeze homemade bread as it doesn't last long once made, so I make rolls and freeze & get some out each night for sandwiches. Takes up a lot of room though. And I always have a good stash of frozen fruit for smoothies.

Having my first in November and am nowhere near as organised as you Focus!

Spiced butternut squash soup is great for freezing. You could also do arabiata sauce to go with lunchtime pasta. The main thing is to cook food that is right for the time of year when you'll be eating it. dd1 was born in March and all my February batch cooking was a bit too warming and heavy by April.

In terms of junk food for the freezer, how about part-baked pain au chocolate or croissants? Something to bung in the oven after a bad night that will be warm and will taste freshly baked. You can do the same with mini bread rolls if you'd prefer something less sweet.

Focus, I have successfully frozen cooked rice for years with no problems but as a pp said, you do have to be careful with it.

The botulism toxin builds up in rice that is left warm and, unlike some other food poisoning caused by bacteria, it is not killed or lessened by reheating. So, once your rice is cooked, you need to cool it immediately and completely. I do this by transferring it from pan to sieve and running cold water through it until completely cold. Then I add it to the curry/chili/whatever, which must also already be absolutely cold (or even pre-frozen if possible) and put it in the freezer straight away.

Once it's been thawed or reheated it then also needs to be eaten immediately (no sitting on the side defrosting at room temp all day). I usually microwave from frozen and eat immediately.

This has always worked for me and I am comfortable that it minimizes the risk to an acceptably low level, but only you will know whether it would work for you or whether commercially bought instant rice might be easier!

Hi focusfocus

You mentioned keeping tins of beans, chickpeas etc. You'll save tons of money and space if you buy dried pulses from cash n' carry. There is a minor bit of prep in terms of soaking them overnight for the day you want to use them, but given all the other prep you'll be doing for your baby, soaking some pulses is nothing!

I also second littleoakhorn's part-baked bread and cakes suggestion. Iceland sell these and so do IKEA (amazing part-cooked cinnamon buns, I wish they didn't exist)