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Thread: Cooking for the freezer

  1. #1

    Join Date
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    Default Cooking for the freezer

    Hi there

    I'm new here, and also newly vegan (have been about 3 weeks now, have a checkered food history, including having been veggie for a long time, going back to being omni (various reasons) and then suddenly deciding that I really need to be vegan. So here I am!

    Now, I have a veggie OH, and two omni kids (they have NO interest in being veggie or vegan, but do love some veggie meals, eg felafel, tacos with veggie chilli, macaroni cheese).

    I work silly shifts, and so would love to organise myself better, and do some batch cooking for the freezer, meals that would appeal to everyone (I might occasionally put some chicken drumsticks or sausages in the oven to cook, to be served alongside what we are having, but I will not do separate meals for everyone) but I am looking for inspiration. I could also do with losing some weight!

    Ideas I have for batch cooking and freezing at the moment are:

    Bolognaise
    Chilli
    Soups
    Lasagne
    Curry
    Dhal
    Pies/pasties (although not so good for the waistline, they can be cooked from frozen which is great in a hurry)

    But from here I'm a bit unstuck. What else could I do that would appeal to the family and would freeze well? I make my own bean burgers/felafel - would they freeze? They can sometimes fall apart a bit when cooking, so I'd be a bit wary freezing might make that worse.

    All ideas welcomed!

  2. #2
    baffled harpy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cooking for the freezer

    How about veggie shepherd's pie (made with lentils, I don't know about refreezing the fake mince)? OH tends to make too much of that so we freeze the leftovers with satisfactory results.

    Spinach pasty things made with filo pastry also freeze OK and are not quite so bad for the waistline as the other kinds of pastry. Although having said that I froze some "sausage" rolls from a recipe that is to be found here http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17633 and they were fine too.

    I imagine burgers and felafel would freeze fine seeing the commercial kind do. In fact I've never had any real problems freezing anything vegan that I can recall although not everything benefits from the process

    ETA hello and congratters on going vegan!

    EagainTA how about homemade pizzas? The kids should like those.

  3. #3

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    Default Re: Cooking for the freezer

    Thanks!

    I used dried tvp mince, so freezing that is absolutely fine. In fact refreezing is far more an issue with animal products, as it is to do with bacterial growth, which isn't such an issue with most vegan foods - although I wouldn't try it with rice.

    Pizza! Of course! The kids can get cheese on their before it goes in the oven.

    That sausage roll recipe looks fab, and has made me think I could do nut roast and maybe try vegan haggis as well. (I love the Halls vegetarian haggis, but I'm not sure if its vegan..)

    Umm - yes, I'm scottish!

  4. #4
    baffled harpy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cooking for the freezer

    Yes, I think it would be quite hard to poison yourself by freezing vegan food, famous last words. Even rice would probably be OK provided you cooled and then reheated it carefully, but there's not much point in risking it is there?

    Here's an ancient haggis recipe for you. I imagine the fillling would freeze, not sure about the onions though. Some commercial veggie haggises are vegan but I'm not sure about the Halls one.

    From the defunct magazine "BBC Vegetarian Good Food" for Jan 94 (I think).


    Baked Onions with Vegetarian Haggis
    Serves 6

    6 medium unpeeled onions, trimmed
    50g/2oz sunflower margarine
    50g/2oz organic rolled oats
    50g/2oz pinhead oatmeal
    50g/2oz chopped mixed nuts
    1 onion, finely chopped
    100g/4oz mushrooms, finely chopped
    1 carrot, finely chopped
    200g/7oz can red kidney beans, drained and chopped
    50g/2oz vegetable suet
    1 teaspoon yeast extract
    1 teaspoon ground black pepper
    2 tbsp chopped mixed fresh herbs
    pinch of grated nutmeg
    juice of 1 lime
    1 tbsp whisky
    chopped fresh chives and parsley, to garnish

    1 Cut a slither from the bottom of each of the onions, so
    that they stand upright. Cut a cross in the top about three-quarters of
    the way down. Place in a large pan, cover with cold water
    and bring to the boil. Simmer for 15 minutes, drain and refresh under
    cold water.

    2 Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. To make the haggis, melt half the
    margarine in a pan and add the oats, oatmeal and nuts. Cook over a gentle heat, stirring, for about 3 minutes until toasted and golden.Transfer to a bowl.

    3 Melt remaining margarine, add the onion, mushrooms and carrot and cook gently for 5 minutes until softened. Stir into the toasted oat mixture with the remaining haggis ingredients. Season.

    4 Snip out the centre of the onions with kitchen scissors, leaving the skin and 3-4 outer layers intact. Stuff with haggis, place in a roasting tin and bake for 40 minutes.

  5. #5
    cobweb
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    Default Re: Cooking for the freezer

    hi Trow, whereabouts are you? (i'm in Orkney)

  6. #6

    Join Date
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    Scotland
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    Default Re: Cooking for the freezer

    Harpy, I'm getting to like you - that haggis recipe is just the kind of thing I would be looking for, I saw one I wasn't so happy with (it had pearl barley in it - uugh!) so that saves me searching

    Cobweb, I'm not terribly far from you.... I'll wave at you the next time I'm travelling south on the Hjaltland or the Hrossey as we pass by.... (although to be honest I try to travel direct as it saves two hours on the boat, and I'm sure you'll agree the less time on there the better!)

  7. #7
    cobweb
    Guest

    Default Re: Cooking for the freezer

    hm-hm, i thought as much, your name was a clue!

    yes, give me a wave. I actually like going on the ferries, but there again i don't have to do it very often, if i did i would probably hate it. Me and my son are off to Aberdeen soon and i'm excited about having a cabin for the overnight crossing .

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