Meals I can freeze
 

Hi all, I’m after some ideas of meals I can make a batch of and freeze.
My wife is a pescatarian so I generally have what she has as it’s not worth making a different meal for each of us.
I’m a meat eater, so are there are any meals I can make for myself and freeze?

Chilli, lasagne, curry...

My batch boxes are chilie , spag Bol sauce , Meatballs in spicy sauce , curry , sausage casserole , beef stew , creamy pork casserole all made in the slow cooker
Home made burgers frozen raw

Thank you both.

also, meat for a sunday dinner... cook a big roast, then slice it and bag up the leftovers for the freezer. then when you want some, just defrost/reheat it in some gravy that youve made.

i freeze almost everything. there are tubs of curry (at least three types), chilli/bolognese, stew/goulash/bourguignon. i also make tubs of "curry base sauce" where you add meat and a few final bits... also par-cooked curries... before you bulk it out with tomatoes/chickpeas/etc, take out a tub or two for the freezer, then just chuck in a tin of chopped tomatoes and fresh veg

make a big pan of lasagne. slice into portion sized pieces and freeze. i always let these defrost fully before reheating rather than microwaving from frozen.

soups... i have tubs of french onion and cauliflower soup in the freezer, plus a couple of tubs of caramelised onions to quickly make more. its good for starting curries too. oh, and chicken/pork/beef stock and also leftover gravy! - if i put some particular effort into making a gravy, i may as well make a bit too much and stick a portion in a ziploc bag for the freezer.

bread stuff too... pizza dough balls, onion bagels and knedliky (czech dumplings) all get frozen dough balls frozen, then you just need to defrost manually and cook

to decide most days, i just get up in the morning and get a tub of something out the freezer to defrost so its ready to use when i'm finished work. some things (curry/soup doesnt need this doing, just shove in a microwave on full for 8 mins or so, then decant into a pan to finish warming through

oh yeah... chipshop chips and kebab meat! we get a large portion of chips between us, and the leftovers get bagged and frozen - just chuck them on a baking tray with some cooking oil in a hot oven for ~10 mins to reheat good as new! also, leftover chicken kebab meat gets bagged up to throw on as pizza toppings! i have a whole drawer full of frozen pizza toppings and bits... posh olives, meatballs, sliced salami, etc... a £1 pack of sliced pepperoni from asda is far too much for one or two pizzas, so just take whats left and stick them in a ziploc bag. when you need more, they only need a few minutes out the freezer to defrost and pull them apart

takeaway food tubs and good quality ziploc bags are essentials. also a pack of sharpies so you can label stuff - write what it is and the date you made it so you know its not been sat in there for 5 years or something.

hth

Wow. You are super organized. Wish I could say the same.

Wow, can you come to my house pls 😊

Thank you so much.

i am now in the routine of having a rough idea of what we're eating for the next few days using whats in the fridge/freezer... ill decide im having a curry tomorrow, so check i have all the rice/veg/etc i need for the rest of the meal (and some frozen parathas - they are so much nicer than naan bread) so i can nip to the veg shop or wherever i need.

having stackable tubs is a big part of this - and if its not in a tub, it goes in a ziploc bag if its something ill be accessing regularly, or vacuum sealed bags if not - see my sous vide cooking thread for more info, but i throw meat into a bag with some seasonings/marinades, seal them, then when i want to cook, i just chuck the pre-marinaded bag into the water bath to cook a few hours before i need it

and to reiterate, get a pack of sharpies and keep at least two in your kitchen drawer so you always have one to hand to label your food before it goes in the freezer - you WILL forget what it is otherwise... is it a chilli? or a curry? is it beef or chicken? is it extra spicy? all these things need to go on the tub. and you just use a scrubbing pad when washing to get the writing off for the next time you use the tub...

Also I forgot to say if we have an Indian takeaway for a treat I always freeze the leftover sauce ( ours comes in plastic boxes with lids ). And chuck it frozen into the slow cooker with chicken chunks and veg the night before , stays cool overnight , switch on in the morning and a curry ready at teatime with much nicer sauce than a jar