Good Freezer meals for 1 year old

[tatty33]

Hello hello,

I pick my 11 month ds up from his childminders at 5 and run home so we can have supper together. I'm running out of ideas of make ahead meals, we're moving away from mushed up stews with pots ( I'm not blw, sorry!) to more adventurous food but really need help to think what I could make the night before, or ideally cook and freeze in batches

Thanks

i cook batches of mashed potatoes, bolognaise, thick soup and vegetable or tuna pasta for my toddler. i just throw them in the microwave then.

Don't apologise for not doing BLW! It's just an option, not The Law (and I say this as a truly lazy arse hardcore BLWer...).

OK - well, if you're moving on, how about lots of pasta sauces, perhaps lasagne, chilli (meat or veg) or curry - that way all you have to do is cook some pasta or rice. Fish cakes are a really handy and very nutritious freezer staple - you can make them with tinned skinless and boneless salmon. DD loves Puy lentils cooked with onion, carrot, celery and herbs - not sure how well they freeze, but it's about 20 mins start to finish. She also loved dahl the other night. Will try to think of more...

curry freezes well - I make one with a mild curry power and DD wolfs it down. Shepherd's pie also a good nursery-night freezer dinner. Also do omelette, and fresh tortelloni/ravioli with olive oil and grated cheese, both of which can be on the table within 5 mins of taking coats off.

i make a batch of jazzed-up beans too. couple of tins reduced salt beans, tin of kidney beans, tin chopped tomatoes, herbs...add it to some sauted onion and peppers and leave it simmer for hour. freezes well, nice with sausages.

am trying to think what my dd ate at this stage ( I didn't do blw either)....i used to freeze a lot of stuff too.
hmm, shepherd's pie, meatballs +pasta, agree fish cakes are v. good, macaroni cheese, butternut squash risotto, various soups (lentil was a big favourite)...my dd used to really love pasta with cheese sauce, salmon and broccoli...

Oh, yes, omelette - dd is very taken with omelette filled with cheese and spinach right now. Potato cakes, or little fat pancakes with peas, sweetcorn etc stirred into the batter - batter can be made first thing in a blender, add veg, into fridge and very quick at tea time.

Thank you, will start plotting next weeks meals now. Would love to do some risotto but I've got my old cookery teacher shouting in my head about the food poisoning dangers of old rice, is it safe to freeze?

This site is so helpful for clueless people like me!

tatty my dd used to love the risotto so i would regularly freeze down batches. Think the problem with old rice is more when it's left out at room temp, or not chilled properly or something.

Annabel Karmel's Popeye Pasta has been a real favourite with both mine, who will happily eat bowls full of it, while mother smiles benignly at her children eating spinach. It's dead quick and easy too, and freezes well.

Boil about 50g of tiny pasta (I usually buy this in a deli - alphabetti shapes or teeny stars)

Meanwhile take a bag of baby spinach - wash it and fry in a little butter until it wilts down. Add a couple of tbs of milk, a couple of tbs of cream cheese (I usually use mascarpone, but philadelphia just as good) and about 40g of grated cheese (cheddar or something similar). Whizz all that in a blender and then bung in the cooked pasta.

Et voila!

Butternut squash risotto, fish pie, mousakka, lasagne, chicken pie, fish cakes boblognaise sauce.

hello Trixy . Is DS eating a bit faster these days?

hi Midnight!!

yes Ds is eating a bit faster these days! He has been eating pretty well now i've stopped giving him tomato, another thing he's allergic to.

Really don't want to jinx things but he's been sleeping a bit better too. how's your DS been sleeping?

When do you move,? We'll definitely need to meet up soon, see how much the LOs have grown.