Freezer meal time again!

I've been doing a lot of research into this preparing freezer meals and decided to give it a go. Firstly I sat at the laptop and downloaded loads of recipes from various websites that I fancied. I printed them all off then wrote a shopping list of all the ingredients required. Quick trip to the supermarket and £46 later I'm all prepared and ready to go!

I allowed myself the whole day and to be fair it took most of the day including the shopping.

Lots of chopping, seasoning and bagging later and all those ingredients turned into 16 dinners 

I even got my son helping although he thought it was more fun to peel the carrots & eat them!

Each freezer meal I prepared is for 2 adults and 1 small child. 

I prepared:

4 x Chicken cacciatore

2 x Thai chicken curry

2 x Delicious Chicken

1 x Pesto Chicken

3 x Chinese Beef & broccolli

3 x Ham & pineapple

1 x Chicken soup

Total of 16 meals to feed my small family at the cost of £46

Slow Cooked Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 Chicken Breasts
• 1 Can of sweetcorn
• 1 Can of chopped tomatoes
• 1 Onion diced
• 1 Pepper diced
• Tsp garlic
• Tsp chilli powder
• Seasoning to taste

Chicken stock to cover

Add all ingredients to freezer bag except chicken stock.
When ready to cook, defrost the night before, add chicken stock and cook in slow cooker 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low. Before serving shred chicken and add extra seasoning if required.

Coconut Chicken Thai Curry

Ingredients:

• 2 Chicken Breasts
• 3 Carrots diced
• 2 Celery sticks diced
• 1 Red pepper diced
• 2 tsp garlic
• 2 tbs green thai curry paste (syns)
• 1 tsp corriander
• 1 tsp cummin
• 1 Can of coconut milk (syns)

Add all ingredients to freezer bag.
When ready to cook, defrost the night before and cook in slow cooker 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.

Chinese Beef & Brocolli

Ingredients

• 2lbs of lean beef (all fat removed) thinly shredded
• 5 tbs soy sauce
• 2 tbs sweetner
• 1 tbs garlic
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 2 tbs cornflour (syns)
• 1 Beef stock melt/cube/pot etc

1 whole broccoli chopped into bite sized florets & cooked Rice to serve

Add all ingredients (except broccoli and rice) into freezer bag and mix well. Freeze
When ready to cook, defrost the night before, add aprox half pint water and cook for 5-6 hours.

Delicious Chicken

Ingredients

• 2 Chicken breasts
• 4 Carrots diced
• 1 whole broccoli chopped
• 1 onion diced
• Seasoning to taste
• 1 Tin of chicken soup (syns)
• Chicken stock

Add all ingredients to freezer bag except soup and stock.
When ready to cook, defrost the night before. Add soup and stock and cook for aprox 8 hours. Shred chicken before serving.

Pesto Pasta Chicken & Green Beans

Ingredients

• 2 Chicken Breasts
• Lots of Green beans chopped
• Half a jar of pesto sauce (syns)
• Approx 200g of dried pasta or noodles
• Grated cheese to serve (syns)

Add chicken, beans and pesto to freezer bag
When ready to cook, defrost over night. Add contents of bag to slow cooker and cook for 6 hours on low. Add pasta & extra water and cook for further hour. Add grated cheese to serve.

Chicken Pasta Cacciatore

Ingredients

• 2 Chicken Breasts
• 1 Jar of Passata
• 2 Courgettes diced
• 2 Peppers diced
• 1 Chicken stock cube/melt/cube etc
• Seasoning
• 2 Handfuls of dried pasta
• Grated cheese to serve (syns)

Add ingredients except pasta and cheese to freezer bag
When ready to cook, defrost over night. Add contents of bag to slow cooker and cook for 6 hours on low. Add pasta and cook for further hour. Add grated cheese to serve.

Ham & Pineapple

Ingredients

• 2lb joint of ham/gammon sliced
• 1 Can of pineapple chunks (syns)
• Rice to serve

Add ham and pineapple to freezer bag
When ready to cook, defrost over night and add contents to slow cooker. Cook for aprox 8 hours. Serve with rice

Chicken & Sweet Potato Stew

• Ingredients
• 2 Chicken breasts
• 2 sweet potatoes peeled and cubed
• 2 medium potatoes peeled and cubed
• 2 carrots peeled and diced
• 1 Can chopped tomatoes
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• Seasoning
• 1 Chicken cube/melt/pot etc

Add all ingredients to freezer bag.
When ready to cook, defrost the night before, add aprox pint water and cook for 4 hours on high, 8 hours on low.

Don't forget to write on the freezer bag BEFORE you add the ingredients what's in the bag and how to cook it. I defrost my meals overnight then either empty into the slow cooker in the morning and cook on low for several hours or alternatively you could cook them in a regular oven.  What I would recommend is when writing your list of meals to prepare think what you will serve them with? Do you need rice, pasta, potatoes, veg, salad etc? 

I have to say it was well worth a day of preparing and organising as for the past 4 days I've not cooked a thing and my house smells divine. Today the smell of slow cooked ham & pineapple is tantalising my senses! 

For more batch cooking ideas please click the links below:

Freezer cooking - make ahead

More Batch Cooking