# make your own frozen meals??



## jayizzo (Dec 18, 2009)

The main thing that knocks me off my diet is not planning ahead, missing the weekly friday shop, or not having enough time to cook up the food. I was thinking about preparing my own frozen meals for when any of the above occurs. I some times buy dinner from this shop called cooks, its all frozen food but freaking amazing, restaurant quality! i thought maybe i could try doing my own. Anyone else ever do this? would be nice to have a stock of meals in the freezer for when your in a hurry. And i wonder how the store bought ones you dont have to defrost cos that is even better, just chuck it in the microwave for 6 mins! result.


----------



## Smitch (Dec 29, 2008)

If you're going to all that much trouble you might as well just sort yourself out and plan ahead?

It takes six minutes to cook a steak, less than that for scrambled eggs or an omelette, you don't get much faster food than that.


----------



## Bull Terrier (May 14, 2012)

I have several stand-bys which freeze really well which I keep in the freezer for these occasions. Here goes:

Chilli con carne (i.e. lean mince with kidney beans)

Stew (beef and various vegetables)

Chicken tagine (which I eat with cous cous)

I cook without using too much oil, and depending on the recipe I normally get (with my portions) around 40g of protein, 15-20g of fat and from 15-25g of carbs. And all three are extremely appetising.


----------



## jayizzo (Dec 18, 2009)

Sounds good! Caserole and chilli con crane was on the list! Do you microwave from frozen?



Bull Terrier said:


> I have several stand-bys which freeze really well which I keep in the freezer for these occasions. Here goes:
> 
> Chilli con carne (i.e. lean mince with kidney beans)
> 
> ...


----------



## Blinkey (May 14, 2012)

I bought a stack of tupperware type containers and for two hours once a week I make 7 days of food. It is then frozen.

For the rest of the week I do not have to think about cooking, saves a lot of time and keeps you on your diet.


----------



## jayizzo (Dec 18, 2009)

The Vegetarian said:


> I bought a stack of tupperware type containers and for two hours once a week I make 7 days of food. It is then frozen.
> 
> For the rest of the week I do not have to think about cooking, saves a lot of time and keeps you on your diet.


Yes that's exactly what I was thinking, it must be so much easier right?

What kinda things do you find do and don't do well in the freezer? Im guessing there is no meat in your dishes! Do u microwave from frozen?


----------



## Bull Terrier (May 14, 2012)

To be honest I normally take them out a few hours before.

But you can easily microwave them from frozen whilst still in the container. I'd do it on low power setting, whilst stirring every few minutes. It won't take long at all to defreeze them.

Let me know if you want the recipes. I'd be happy to post them.


----------



## Hendrix (Sep 16, 2009)

Another good tip is, when you have the oven going for something, put a few other things in there. I will put chicken breasts/thighs, salmon wrapped in foil, finish baked potato's, roasted veg. You can put your precooked stuff then in the fridge, and will be good for about 3 days and saves a lot of elecy.


----------



## secondhandsoul (Feb 6, 2012)

Same as another post. I make a lean chilli using four pounds of lean mince and portion or up and freeze (rice,sweetpotato, pita goes with everything) I also make stew. Either a plain veg stew that I can add any left over meat to (if I have to defrost a larger portion of meat than.im going to eat) or I'll make a stock boiling a whole chicken for two hours. Strip it. Return the meat with loads of veg and cook.for another few hours. Boom, done. Curry, enchilada mix (chicken or mince with spices and tomato sauce peppers etc) is good to defrost and.stick im a wrap or over a jacket. Honestly the best thing I did was sit down with a pen and paper and get some ideas. I know a full week in advance what im eating and themacros. Anal but handy. Lol


----------



## jayizzo (Dec 18, 2009)

Bull Terrier said:


> To be honest I normally take them out a few hours before.
> 
> But you can easily microwave them from frozen whilst still in the container. I'd do it on low power setting, whilst stirring every few minutes. It won't take long at all to defreeze them.
> 
> Let me know if you want the recipes. I'd be happy to post them.


Yes defo post em, that would be great! Thanks buddy


----------



## Bull Terrier (May 14, 2012)

jayizzo said:


> Yes defo post em, that would be great! Thanks buddy


OK, here goes the recipe for stew, together with a nutritional breakdown.

Fry a finely chopped medium size onion in olive oil (about 50g of oil - I weigh everything, don't go by volume) until soft.. Add about 700g of lean, trimmed beef cut into bite-sized pieces. Add 25g of Worcestershire sauce, add salt, and then partially cover and leave to cook for about 40 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated. At this point add 300g of chopped carrots, 200g of radishes. Leave to cook until softened and then 300g of chopped courgettes. Once these are softened then add an 800g tin of peeled chopped tomatoes and leave to cook another 30 minutes or so. Adjust for salt.

Leave at least 30 minutes before serving. It will be better the next day also.

If you count on getting 5 (generous) portions out of this, then each portion will have 43g of protein, 15g of carbs, and 17g of fat.


----------



## Bull Terrier (May 14, 2012)

Chilli con carne

Fry a finely chopped medium-sized onion and bulb of garlic in 50g of corn oil. Once softened add generous amounts of cumin powder and chilli powder. Cook a few more minutes and then add 400g of lean, minced beef. Cook covered for a few minutes, adding salt. After add 1 large tin (800g) and 1 medium tin (400g) of peeled chopped tomatoes. Cook until most of the liquid is gone, probably about an hour, adjusting for salt along the way. Five minutes from the end add a medium-sized tin of kidney beans.

4 servings, each serving provides 36g of protein, 26g of carbs, and 18g of fat.


----------



## Bull Terrier (May 14, 2012)

Chicken tagine

Fry a finely chopped medium-sized onion and bulb of garlic in 50g of olive oil. Once softened add 40g of harissa paste and fry for another few minutes. Add 550g of chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces. Add salt, cover and cook for 10 minutes or so. Now add 250g of chopped courgettes and 100g of diced dry apricots (I know it sounds strange, but in North Africa dried fruit is often cooked in meat stews). Cook until the courgettes and apricots are softened, then add a 400g tin of peeled chopped tomatoes and cook for about half an hour or so, obviously adjusting for salt along the way.

4 servings, each serving gives you 40g of protein, 41g of carbs and 18g g of fat.


----------



## stone14 (Mar 24, 2005)

Soon as i own a chesr freezer i plan on mass making and freezing meals


----------



## jayizzo (Dec 18, 2009)

Bull Terrier said:


> Chicken tagine
> 
> Fry a finely chopped medium-sized onion and bulb of garlic in 50g of olive oil. Once softened add 40g of harissa paste and fry for another few minutes. Add 550g of chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces. Add salt, cover and cook for 10 minutes or so. Now add 250g of chopped courgettes and 100g of diced dry apricots (I know it sounds strange, but in North Africa dried fruit is often cooked in meat stews). Cook until the courgettes and apricots are softened, then add a 400g tin of peeled chopped tomatoes and cook for about half an hour or so, obviously adjusting for salt along the way.
> 
> 4 servings, each serving gives you 40g of protein, 41g of carbs and 18g g of fat.


Chef terrier you the man! Didn't know I was gonna get a break down of macros as well. Nice one. Better send the mrs to Asda now.

Anyone else wanna share freezer meal recipes feel free!


----------



## a.notherguy (Nov 17, 2008)

i spend 1 day a month cooking a shed load of stuff.

i have a freezer full of

chilli made with mince and loads of beans so i dont need to heat any rice to go with it.

meat and potatoes stews of various types

chicken and rice cooked in spicy tomoatoe sauce

curry with potatoes cooked into it

all weighed out into microwavable takeaway style containers (6 for£1 from the pound shop).

with a little bit of planning and a calculator you can make meals to suit your macros very easily and just take em out of the freezer n re-heat em when ever you want them. its a piece of pi55 and dirt cheap compared to buying it ready made


----------



## Bull Terrier (May 14, 2012)

jayizzo said:


> Chef terrier you the man! Didn't know I was gonna get a break down of macros as well. Nice one. Better send the mrs to Asda now.
> 
> Anyone else wanna share freezer meal recipes feel free!


Apart from my regular job I've also got a restaurant which is open in summer season, thus I'm always around professional chefs. TBH before opening I always was pretty handy at cooking.

Considering the nutritional breakdown, I tend to weigh my ingredients out carefully and then using the website indicated below with all nutritional data, I can easily calculate reasonably precisely the exact nutritional content of my meals.

Check out this website:

http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/list

Hope it is of some help.


----------



## Bish83 (Nov 18, 2009)

Jayizzo you can do it. However stuff like eggs, steak or chicken breasts will probably take as long as you nuking the food however id batch freeze rice and pot they are usually the time thieves and pick another day to do the shopping Friday is too close to the weekend to want to bother shopping imo.

I don't go as far as freezing just stick in the fridge 1/3-5 days depending on type of food


----------



## George-Bean (Sep 8, 2010)

The Vegetarian said:


> I bought a stack of tupperware type containers and for two hours once a week I make 7 days of food. It is then frozen.
> 
> For the rest of the week I do not have to think about cooking, saves a lot of time and keeps you on your diet.


Listen to this man, he knows what he's talking about. Adding to that you can also do two days worth of your chopped salad box's at a time too.


----------



## Bull Terrier (May 14, 2012)

Bish83 said:


> Jayizzo you can do it. However stuff like eggs, steak or chicken breasts will probably take as long as you nuking the food however id batch freeze rice and pot they are usually the time thieves and pick another day to do the shopping Friday is too close to the weekend to want to bother shopping imo.
> 
> I don't go as far as freezing just stick in the fridge 1/3-5 days depending on type of food


Why do you bother freezing rice??

You only need about 15 minutes to cook a portion of basmati rice - let's say 3 minutes to boil the water + 12 minutes cooking time.

I don't think you can compare freshly cooked rice with defrozen rice...


----------



## aza (Feb 28, 2010)

The Vegetarian said:


> I bought a stack of tupperware type containers and for two hours once a week I make 7 days of food. It is then frozen.
> 
> For the rest of the week I do not have to think about cooking, saves a lot of time and keeps you on your diet.


What meals do u make for your week ahead?


----------

