Batch cooking - freezer to oven meal ideas
Discussion
My wife is suffering from morning sickness (all day) at the moment, she never knows what she's going to be able to stomach until right there and then. Last night I was dispatched to get a 'Lasagne' to pop in the oven, but the nutritional content doesn't bear thinking about. Obviously this is temporary, it should wear off as she moves into the second trimester, but it doesn't for everyone, so we've potentially got a few months where getting the right nutrients are vitally important, but difficult. Ready meals just aren't going to cut it.
As such I'd like to try and fill my freezer with meals I've cooked, packed with the right stuff. Nothing unusual there, however, given the short notice nature of how these meals are chosen, they need to go straight from freezer to oven/pan. I don't have time to defrost them (unless it can be done in ~30mins). It's going to be a bit of trial and error, so I'm hoping someone on here has done similar to save me some of the error part!
Ideas I'm going to try so far:
Lasagne (obviously!) - I think I'll use fresh pasta sheets rather than dried as they'll work better
Chilli con Carne (made from the ragu to save on time)
Potato wedges
Chicken Tikka Massala from 'Indian Superfoods' by Gujareet Bains - no idea how this'll freeze but it's one of her favourites.
Chicken Nuggets from 'Superfood Family Classics' by Jamie Oliver
Ideas but I can't decide if it'll work:
Chicken Kiev - cooking a whole chicken breast from frozen seems like it's asking for trouble to me, but I know she'd love this
Fish fingers/goujons - need to use fresh fish that's only been frozen once I guess
As a bit of background, until she fell pregnant we would do a meal plan on a Sunday, I'd go shopping and buy just what we needed and we'd cook from fresh every night. We're both very confident and skillful cooks (even if I do say so myself) but haven't really had cause to use the freezer much. Food would typically be relatively low carb and high protein, plenty of fresh veg.
As such I'd like to try and fill my freezer with meals I've cooked, packed with the right stuff. Nothing unusual there, however, given the short notice nature of how these meals are chosen, they need to go straight from freezer to oven/pan. I don't have time to defrost them (unless it can be done in ~30mins). It's going to be a bit of trial and error, so I'm hoping someone on here has done similar to save me some of the error part!
Ideas I'm going to try so far:
Lasagne (obviously!) - I think I'll use fresh pasta sheets rather than dried as they'll work better
Chilli con Carne (made from the ragu to save on time)
Potato wedges
Chicken Tikka Massala from 'Indian Superfoods' by Gujareet Bains - no idea how this'll freeze but it's one of her favourites.
Chicken Nuggets from 'Superfood Family Classics' by Jamie Oliver
Ideas but I can't decide if it'll work:
Chicken Kiev - cooking a whole chicken breast from frozen seems like it's asking for trouble to me, but I know she'd love this
Fish fingers/goujons - need to use fresh fish that's only been frozen once I guess
As a bit of background, until she fell pregnant we would do a meal plan on a Sunday, I'd go shopping and buy just what we needed and we'd cook from fresh every night. We're both very confident and skillful cooks (even if I do say so myself) but haven't really had cause to use the freezer much. Food would typically be relatively low carb and high protein, plenty of fresh veg.
We tried to do this - but if she is anything like my missus, I would use caution. She may not be able to even look at some of those foods without wanting to puke depending on which week/month it is. I wouldnt be going too mad freezing loads of stuff.
Edited by p1stonhead on Thursday 25th January 08:13
Having now got a 6 day old son - see obligatory picture below. I am doing a similar thing of batch cooking / meal planning.
What I’ve done so far is hearty, so high energy foods but crammed full of vegetables and the right foods. This week I have batch cooked;
- Chilli Con Carne.
- Spaghetti bog.
- Lamb hot pot.
- Anything you can shove in a slow cooker!
- Lasagna.
- Badically anything Italian.
- Fresh Tortellini with a generic pasta sauce with loads of peas and sweet corn - take 4-6mins from scratch.
- Fruit Salad in the fridge. Just your generic chopped fruit in a large bowl in orange juice. Covered over, lasts 5 days.
- Chopped fruit in Tupperware, with yoghurt on hand.
The above gives a solid weeks food and this doesn’t take into account the healthy pizzas and similar in a normal freezer
What I’ve done so far is hearty, so high energy foods but crammed full of vegetables and the right foods. This week I have batch cooked;
- Chilli Con Carne.
- Spaghetti bog.
- Lamb hot pot.
- Anything you can shove in a slow cooker!
- Lasagna.
- Badically anything Italian.
- Fresh Tortellini with a generic pasta sauce with loads of peas and sweet corn - take 4-6mins from scratch.
- Fruit Salad in the fridge. Just your generic chopped fruit in a large bowl in orange juice. Covered over, lasts 5 days.
- Chopped fruit in Tupperware, with yoghurt on hand.
The above gives a solid weeks food and this doesn’t take into account the healthy pizzas and similar in a normal freezer
Belly pork works well, slow cook the biggest piece of belly you can find, 10 hours at 130 in the oven on a bed of veg. Once finished cut into portions and freeze. When ready to eat thaw a piece (just leave it on the side when you get up in the morning) and warm it in the oven / grill to get the skin crackly.
At the same time as you are doing the pork you can batch cook and freeze mash potato and onion gravy. Combined with above and some peas you have a dinner you'd pay £15 in the pub ready in about 15 minutes.
Obviously not as easy as a spag bol but would replace a sunday lunch with a fraction of the effort!
If you like pork, pulled pork freezes very well and can be warmed in the microwave and then finished in a pan to get some crispy bits.
At the same time as you are doing the pork you can batch cook and freeze mash potato and onion gravy. Combined with above and some peas you have a dinner you'd pay £15 in the pub ready in about 15 minutes.
Obviously not as easy as a spag bol but would replace a sunday lunch with a fraction of the effort!
If you like pork, pulled pork freezes very well and can be warmed in the microwave and then finished in a pan to get some crispy bits.
Edited by Type R Tom on Thursday 25th January 08:43
Benrad said:
My wife is suffering from morning sickness (all day) at the moment, she never knows what she's going to be able to stomach until right there and then. Last night I was dispatched to get a 'Lasagne' to pop in the oven, but the nutritional content doesn't bear thinking about. Obviously this is temporary, it should wear off as she moves into the second trimester, but it doesn't for everyone, so we've potentially got a few months where getting the right nutrients are vitally important, but difficult. Ready meals just aren't going to cut it.
As such I'd like to try and fill my freezer with meals I've cooked, packed with the right stuff. Nothing unusual there, however, given the short notice nature of how these meals are chosen, they need to go straight from freezer to oven/pan. I don't have time to defrost them (unless it can be done in ~30mins). It's going to be a bit of trial and error, so I'm hoping someone on here has done similar to save me some of the error part!
Ideas I'm going to try so far:
Lasagne (obviously!) - I think I'll use fresh pasta sheets rather than dried as they'll work better
Chilli con Carne (made from the ragu to save on time)
Potato wedges
Chicken Tikka Massala from 'Indian Superfoods' by Gujareet Bains - no idea how this'll freeze but it's one of her favourites.
Chicken Nuggets from 'Superfood Family Classics' by Jamie Oliver
Ideas but I can't decide if it'll work:
Chicken Kiev - cooking a whole chicken breast from frozen seems like it's asking for trouble to me, but I know she'd love this
Fish fingers/goujons - need to use fresh fish that's only been frozen once I guess
As a bit of background, until she fell pregnant we would do a meal plan on a Sunday, I'd go shopping and buy just what we needed and we'd cook from fresh every night. We're both very confident and skillful cooks (even if I do say so myself) but haven't really had cause to use the freezer much. Food would typically be relatively low carb and high protein, plenty of fresh veg.
I have a lot of questions from this post.As such I'd like to try and fill my freezer with meals I've cooked, packed with the right stuff. Nothing unusual there, however, given the short notice nature of how these meals are chosen, they need to go straight from freezer to oven/pan. I don't have time to defrost them (unless it can be done in ~30mins). It's going to be a bit of trial and error, so I'm hoping someone on here has done similar to save me some of the error part!
Ideas I'm going to try so far:
Lasagne (obviously!) - I think I'll use fresh pasta sheets rather than dried as they'll work better
Chilli con Carne (made from the ragu to save on time)
Potato wedges
Chicken Tikka Massala from 'Indian Superfoods' by Gujareet Bains - no idea how this'll freeze but it's one of her favourites.
Chicken Nuggets from 'Superfood Family Classics' by Jamie Oliver
Ideas but I can't decide if it'll work:
Chicken Kiev - cooking a whole chicken breast from frozen seems like it's asking for trouble to me, but I know she'd love this
Fish fingers/goujons - need to use fresh fish that's only been frozen once I guess
As a bit of background, until she fell pregnant we would do a meal plan on a Sunday, I'd go shopping and buy just what we needed and we'd cook from fresh every night. We're both very confident and skillful cooks (even if I do say so myself) but haven't really had cause to use the freezer much. Food would typically be relatively low carb and high protein, plenty of fresh veg.
First one is why the below -
"Food would typically be relatively low carb and high protein, plenty of fresh veg."
why low carb? Surely balanced is better? Hey, we got to 6 billion people on the planet with main source of food being rice, wheat, potatoes, corn .... all carbs, and people were thin until we got to fat and takeaways! So I'm wondering why you have a downer on carbs? Carbs are good.
"Last night I was dispatched to get a 'Lasagne' to pop in the oven, but the nutritional content doesn't bear thinking about."
What is nutritional content in this regard? You can buy a lasagne from the super market and then serve half of it with greens etc to balance it out. Would that be less nutritional than you spending hours making it yourself then sticking it in the freezer only to reheat?
"it should wear off as she moves into the second trimester"
How do you know it will? Why are you even thinking about this? Been reading all the literature? Stop reading, start cooking. Simply.
"As such I'd like to try and fill my freezer with meals I've cooked, packed with the right stuff. Nothing unusual there, however, given the short notice nature of how these meals are chosen, they need to go straight from freezer to oven/pan."
I can't think of anything worse going straight from freezer to oven pan even if you have packed it with the "right stuff". No. I'll say that again. NO
To be be blunt you seem to want to do the right thing, are out of your depth, when you don't need to be, and over egging the pudding you would not serve as a potential salmonella risk
Total rethink needed!
Is this your first child?
Joe5y said:
Having now got a 6 day old son - see obligatory picture below. I am doing a similar thing of batch cooking / meal planning.
What I’ve done so far is hearty, so high energy foods but crammed full of vegetables and the right foods. This week I have batch cooked;
- Chilli Con Carne.
- Spaghetti bog.
- Lamb hot pot.
- Anything you can shove in a slow cooker!
- Lasagna.
- Badically anything Italian.
- Fresh Tortellini with a generic pasta sauce with loads of peas and sweet corn - take 4-6mins from scratch.
- Fruit Salad in the fridge. Just your generic chopped fruit in a large bowl in orange juice. Covered over, lasts 5 days.
- Chopped fruit in Tupperware, with yoghurt on hand.
The above gives a solid weeks food and this doesn’t take into account the healthy pizzas and similar in a normal freezer
Great photo!What I’ve done so far is hearty, so high energy foods but crammed full of vegetables and the right foods. This week I have batch cooked;
- Chilli Con Carne.
- Spaghetti bog.
- Lamb hot pot.
- Anything you can shove in a slow cooker!
- Lasagna.
- Badically anything Italian.
- Fresh Tortellini with a generic pasta sauce with loads of peas and sweet corn - take 4-6mins from scratch.
- Fruit Salad in the fridge. Just your generic chopped fruit in a large bowl in orange juice. Covered over, lasts 5 days.
- Chopped fruit in Tupperware, with yoghurt on hand.
The above gives a solid weeks food and this doesn’t take into account the healthy pizzas and similar in a normal freezer
"What I’ve done so far is hearty, so high energy foods but crammed full of vegetables and the right foods"
No, what you have done is based on Italian and Jamie Oliver.
I want an eskimo, sorry, Inuit, to gate crash this thread right now
Seal, whale, fish ......
"And of course when I do not feed my child seal, whale or fish, we pop down to the local Mcdonalds on our skiddoos"
Benrad said:
As such I'd like to try and fill my freezer with meals I've cooked, packed with the right stuff. Nothing unusual there, however, given the short notice nature of how these meals are chosen, they need to go straight from freezer to oven/pan. I don't have time to defrost them (unless it can be done in ~30mins). It's going to be a bit of trial and error, so I'm hoping someone on here has done similar to save me some of the error part!
You could always get a modern electric pressure cooker and cook as needed too. I cooked some lamb shoulder yesterday from Frozen in my Fast Slow Pro, 30 mins.They also function as a steamer/slow cooker etc
With pre-cooked frozen, I would perhaps look at using the microwave defrost option.
Edited by hyphen on Thursday 25th January 12:20
Thanks for the input everyone.
Yes it's our first child... is it that obvious!?
Two really good things I've taken from the above - pressure cooker (never used one, will look into it) and using the microwave defrost option, could defrost whilst the oven warms up. The thing I don't like about microwave defrost is things like frozen raw meat, it'll tend to cook in patches when you do that, which worries me.
Carbs - we found we had more energy that way and we were doing 'Joe WIcks'. We are stopping that now she's pregnant of course, in favour of balance. However I'd suggest the vast majority of people in the UK eat far too many carbs, so our idea of balanced almost certainly still looks low carb compared to most. It's also important to bear in mind that our midwife specifically warned us against 'eating for two'. They said that can lead to excessive weight gain which isn't good for mother or baby during pregnancy. We'd prefer to avoid a plate of pasta for dinner every day if possible (but will of course eat it if that's all we find she can stomach).
Nutritional benefit of the Lasagne I bought last night - I don't remember the numbers but in particular the saturated fat was very high as a proportion of what was being provided. As she's feeling nauseous salad/greens aren't popular. Getting those vitamins/fibre etc into the sauce is preferable. I can do that when a supermarket wouldn't bother (no profit in what you can't see), with lower saturated fat.
The reason for asking about freezer to oven here is that I can't find anything about it online. You're right it's probably because it's a bad idea. I have a food thermometer, which might help me. I have one Jamie Oliver recipe for Chicken Nuggets which cooks from frozen, so it must be doable.
At the end of the day, I've gone from being able to plan a weeks food in advance, to needing to be able to put good food on the table within an hour of deciding what that is. I either have a fridge full of ingredients which then go off before I can use all of them, or I try something a little different. With how changeable her appetite is I can't freeze stuff and get it out to defrost in the morning like I used to.
Oh, the "stop reading, start cooking"... Reading, a bit yes, as most new dads to be probably do, as well as speaking to friends and family who've been through it. I'd love to cook, I normally do, lots!
Yes it's our first child... is it that obvious!?
Two really good things I've taken from the above - pressure cooker (never used one, will look into it) and using the microwave defrost option, could defrost whilst the oven warms up. The thing I don't like about microwave defrost is things like frozen raw meat, it'll tend to cook in patches when you do that, which worries me.
Carbs - we found we had more energy that way and we were doing 'Joe WIcks'. We are stopping that now she's pregnant of course, in favour of balance. However I'd suggest the vast majority of people in the UK eat far too many carbs, so our idea of balanced almost certainly still looks low carb compared to most. It's also important to bear in mind that our midwife specifically warned us against 'eating for two'. They said that can lead to excessive weight gain which isn't good for mother or baby during pregnancy. We'd prefer to avoid a plate of pasta for dinner every day if possible (but will of course eat it if that's all we find she can stomach).
Nutritional benefit of the Lasagne I bought last night - I don't remember the numbers but in particular the saturated fat was very high as a proportion of what was being provided. As she's feeling nauseous salad/greens aren't popular. Getting those vitamins/fibre etc into the sauce is preferable. I can do that when a supermarket wouldn't bother (no profit in what you can't see), with lower saturated fat.
The reason for asking about freezer to oven here is that I can't find anything about it online. You're right it's probably because it's a bad idea. I have a food thermometer, which might help me. I have one Jamie Oliver recipe for Chicken Nuggets which cooks from frozen, so it must be doable.
At the end of the day, I've gone from being able to plan a weeks food in advance, to needing to be able to put good food on the table within an hour of deciding what that is. I either have a fridge full of ingredients which then go off before I can use all of them, or I try something a little different. With how changeable her appetite is I can't freeze stuff and get it out to defrost in the morning like I used to.
Oh, the "stop reading, start cooking"... Reading, a bit yes, as most new dads to be probably do, as well as speaking to friends and family who've been through it. I'd love to cook, I normally do, lots!
Low carb / Joe Wicks / $%£$$% is all just so much faddism it does my head in.
The key is to eat a balanced diet.
Instead of Lasagne, try some ready made ravioli - something like spinach and ricotta, or butternut squash - this takes between 1 and 4 minutes to cook - once you've boiled the kettle. For a sauce, just use a tin of pizza express passata that you've warmed through. Add a bit of fried garlic and / or chilli if you like - but it's not vital. A bit of grated parmesan and you're done.
It takes 5 minutes to cook, and the ravioli generally has a fridge life of about 6 weeks. Oh - and it tastes pretty good too
The key is to eat a balanced diet.
Instead of Lasagne, try some ready made ravioli - something like spinach and ricotta, or butternut squash - this takes between 1 and 4 minutes to cook - once you've boiled the kettle. For a sauce, just use a tin of pizza express passata that you've warmed through. Add a bit of fried garlic and / or chilli if you like - but it's not vital. A bit of grated parmesan and you're done.
It takes 5 minutes to cook, and the ravioli generally has a fridge life of about 6 weeks. Oh - and it tastes pretty good too
dazwalsh said:
Slow cooker beef stew, probably my favourite food, with green beans and a mountain of mash, the beans can be cooked in mins and the rest pulled from the freezer and straight into pan or microwave until it's defrosted and warmed through
Oh and waffles can be put straight into a toaster for a few cycles, warm up some baked beans and lob a fried egg on top. Food of kingsomniflow said:
Low carb / Joe Wicks / $%£$$% is all just so much faddism it does my head in.
The key is to eat a balanced diet.
Instead of Lasagne, try some ready made ravioli - something like spinach and ricotta, or butternut squash - this takes between 1 and 4 minutes to cook - once you've boiled the kettle. For a sauce, just use a tin of pizza express passata that you've warmed through. Add a bit of fried garlic and / or chilli if you like - but it's not vital. A bit of grated parmesan and you're done.
It takes 5 minutes to cook, and the ravioli generally has a fridge life of about 6 weeks. Oh - and it tastes pretty good too
We'll agree to disagree on diets...The key is to eat a balanced diet.
Instead of Lasagne, try some ready made ravioli - something like spinach and ricotta, or butternut squash - this takes between 1 and 4 minutes to cook - once you've boiled the kettle. For a sauce, just use a tin of pizza express passata that you've warmed through. Add a bit of fried garlic and / or chilli if you like - but it's not vital. A bit of grated parmesan and you're done.
It takes 5 minutes to cook, and the ravioli generally has a fridge life of about 6 weeks. Oh - and it tastes pretty good too
I've never been a fan of the readymade ravioli so it can't occurred to me. No idea it has such a long fridge life, they're an excellent shout in that case, thanks!
omniflow said:
It takes 5 minutes to cook, and the ravioli generally has a fridge life of about 6 weeks. Oh - and it tastes pretty good too
Fresh pasta also freezes really well. When I can actually be bothered I make big batches of ravioli with different fillings, freeze flat on trays then fill a few ice cream tubs.Massive overthinking going on, but I can see where you are coming from and it is obviously nice to see you are thinking of your wife's wellbeing
Wet dishes freeze and heat up better so that's what I'd be concentrating on. Also don't go mental on being super healthy to the point that too much focus goes on that. If she craves a burger or pizza, give her that. Don't start obsessing as it makes f all difference anyway.
Good advice from midwife to not eat for two, shes only producing a ~3.5 kg baby people seem to forget that and start eating like mad, gorging in chocolate and end up like fat pigs just because they are having a baby. Makes no sense.
Enjoy your last few months of quiet time with your wife, and try not to unnecessarily complicate things. It's only a baby!
Wet dishes freeze and heat up better so that's what I'd be concentrating on. Also don't go mental on being super healthy to the point that too much focus goes on that. If she craves a burger or pizza, give her that. Don't start obsessing as it makes f all difference anyway.
Good advice from midwife to not eat for two, shes only producing a ~3.5 kg baby people seem to forget that and start eating like mad, gorging in chocolate and end up like fat pigs just because they are having a baby. Makes no sense.
Enjoy your last few months of quiet time with your wife, and try not to unnecessarily complicate things. It's only a baby!
fredt said:
Good advice from midwife to not eat for two, shes only producing a ~3.5 kg baby people seem to forget that and start eating like mad, gorging in chocolate and end up like fat pigs just because they are having a baby. Makes no sense.
Huge myth many fall for, a pregnant woman only needs to add the equivalent of an extra banana to her diet iircI've recently been through this and I can't cook for s
t.
So I used recipes from tasty.co and for the first couple of weeks after the baby came along when we were both knackered I used http://www.cookfood.net - Life saver.
t.So I used recipes from tasty.co and for the first couple of weeks after the baby came along when we were both knackered I used http://www.cookfood.net - Life saver.
Gassing Station | Food, Drink & Restaurants | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff