Batch cooking

[Ms_Derious]

Does anyone cook to freeze for future meals? I have a toddler so don't gave much time for cooking at the moment so I'm really after cheap, healthy, freezable meals.

It's no prob to cook a bit of rice or pasta of an evening, so curries or pasta sauces that make for a fair one pot meal would be great.

[Blueberries]

Heya Ms D, casseroles and shepherds pies freeze pretty nicely. I also make big batches of beans and freeze them in small bags so that I cam throw them into one pot meals.

[Risker]

I made some salsa recently as it's so overpriced from the shops but it would have worked as a pasta sauce as well. I put it in jars rather than freezing it though.

[Hula Girl]

My youngest daughter, 15 months, won't eat sandwiches so I always have my freezer stocked with portioned meals for her so I can just heat it up at lunchtime. I do a big cook-off once a month or so and make 5 or 6 different things. It works really well. Here are some of the things I have made for her that have been successful:
lentil shepherds pie
pumpkin and spinach dhal with brown rice
pasta napoli (I make the sauce myself by roasting tomatoes with olive oil, garlic, onion and herbs)
roast pumpkin pasta
pumpkin soup
cream of broccoli soup
cream of cauliflower soup
chickpea and sweet potato curry with brown rice
vegetable and chickpea tagine with date couscous
pasta with lentil and vegetable bolognaise
mejudarrah
pumpkin, lentil and sausage casserole
mexican beans with brown rice
coconut and lentil soup
Hope I have helped :-)

[Aurore]

Yes, i'm used to cook for a few people, not just me, and there are some recipes you just cannot cut in 4. Cereals like quinoa, rice, or pasta, because it saves time for the next meal, the "everything in one" kind of meal like a chili con tofu, lasagna, veggies, soup, bread and anything sweet like cookies, crepes, cupcakes. You can always cut down the sugar but the flour or the egg replacement, much more hazardous.

[Lentils]

I cook about 1-2kg (raw) of beans at the start of the week and store them in the fridge, reheating in a pan for 5minutes or so as needed. This combined with a rice cooker and some fresh veggies means that there's always something quick and easy to eat.

[Andy_T]

Ratatouille, pasta sauce and ready-made vegan lasagna here...

Best regards,
Andy

[TJ]

Soups and stews and sauces tend to freeze well. There are very good resources available online for freezing meals. I do not know if you have ever 'canned' foods yourself but that may be an option. All of these things may be easy for deploying on short notice but they do require a fair amount of effort on the front end.

I have frozen and canned things some. It works quite well. But I also spend a lot of time in the kitchen which really is not a big to do for me since I enjoy cooking so much.

Not sure how much that helps.