Forum Thermomix
Welcoming Center, Management and General Chat => Chit Chat => Topic started by: I Love Bimby! on September 29, 2009, 02:28:57 pm
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Tonight as I packed off heaps of left overs for the freezer I wondered if anyone out there had any "freezer favourites" that you either like to pre-prepare to have ready in the freezer or it's a large amount great for freezng left overs (this might proove a bit more difficult for the larger families ???). And also - are there any meals you have tried which are not freezer friendly?
Here's my list:
Freezer Friendly
Honey Soy Chicken Mini Drumsticks (I coat the chicken with marinade and then freeze ready to cook)
Beef Strog
Spag Bol sauce
Spicy Chicken and Sweet Potato
Soups
Turkish Breads (ready to fill for lunch and then toast in the sandwhich press)
Think my two new lamb recipes - the Afghani Lamb and Spinach and the Nepalese Meatballs will be great freezer meals
Thermomixers Chicken Nuggets
Biscuit mix (roll into balls and layer between bakng paper to grab what you need and bake).
Slices
Cakes (especially the large ones that can easily be divided into two smaller tins
Freezer Foe:
Chicken & Cashews
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I have Pizza and Pastasauce in the freezer.
When I prepare lasagne, I always fill two ovenproof dishes, they are metal ones. One is cooked instantly, the other on frozen without being cooked. That works great!
Cooked potatos are a no go for us, only as a supplement in soup, but still not really yummy.
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Good one ILB and one that I will take more notice of in the future. Apart from those you listed, I have successfully frozen and reheated or cooked, salmon patties, rice and spinach pie, enchiladas, quiche, pizzas, moussaka, cottage pie & virtually any casserole. Mostly though we just eat them on consecutive days to get rid of them but I like to have a full meal in the freezer for unexpected visitors so I will do a batch of something specifically for this purpose.
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Trying to think of what hasn't been mentioned
Freezer Do's
Zucchini Slice - I always make 2 & freeze 1 in smaller containers just right for lunch boxes
Muffins - sweet, savoury, lunch style - anything.
Individual Pies & quiches
Freezer Don'ts
Rissotto - it's passable, but never the quite the same
This reminds me - need to get something out of the freezer for dinner as won't be home from Brisvegas till about 6pm.
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Thanks folks. Those sort of lists are very helpful. If we're unsure it's an easy check.
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i don't keep a lot in our freezer as i tend not to label it and then forget what it is and then throw it out uneaten 12 months later :-))
spag bol sauce and the leftovers are fab though
gluten free baking - breads, cakes, biccies etc
and soups for winter lunches
I also found this link for GF freezing you might like ILB :) http://glutenfreeda.blogspot.com/2009/09/freezing-gluten-free-food.html
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Freezer Don'ts
Rissotto - it's passable, but never the quite the same
The secret for risotto - if you want to freeze - only 2/3 cook it then spread onto baking trays to cool very quickly. Then when it thaws you can add some stock/water and finish off the cooking.
Many restaurants part cook their risotto and cool, then finish for service.
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Freezer Foe:
Chicken & Cashews
Is that because of the cashews ? If so - probably OK to make WITHOUT adding the cashews to the chicken and veg section but place some in with the rice and cook them as a pilaf.
Then take what chicken and veg you don't need and cool (maybe even before it is fully cooked(?) and freeze that for another meal, at which time you can cook rice and cashews in the basket while warming the chicken on top.
Just a thought - was it the veg that doesn't freeze well?
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The moroccan lamb freezes well as do most casseroles without rice, pasta or potato.
There is a banana, honey and macadamia cheesecake recipe on my website which is a great desert. Almost like icecream cake.
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There is a banana, honey and macadamia cheesecake recipe on my website which is a great desert. Almost like icecream cake.
...which freezes well ? I assume?
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Does icecream count as a meal? ;D
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Narelle:
Why not ;D?
Oh, I like the hint about the risotto! Thanks for that Thermomixer!
Pasta is mushy after thawing, but when if freeze my uncooked lasagne, that works!
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Yes thermomixer, it freezes well. Part of the setting process is to actually freeze it rather than putting it in the fridge.
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i don't keep a lot in our freezer as i tend not to label it and then forget what it is and then throw it out uneaten 12 months later :-))
Me too :-))
I have frozen spinat & basil pesto with no cheese, raw pies, frozen herbs & fruit, pretzels & rolls
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I ALWAYS have biscuit dough in the freezer (I generally spend one day batching out lot after lot ;)) though I don't have the time to roll into balls so make them into a log on the Thermomat, wrap and place in the freezer. When ready to use I slice off the rounds and bake away. If I am short for school I can have a batch cooked and cooled in the morning ready to pack in the lunch box. ;D
The Pork and Tofu meatballs are another staple in my freezer. They freeze really well and I make trays of them at a time. So easy to pull out what you need, sit in the varoma to defrost and then make a sauce in the jug etc and cook the lot ;)
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Kathryn,
I did that for years! Then somehow forgot about that :o. Wonder why.
Thanks for gently knocking my memory! I will start doing that again now!
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I haven't been checking the site recently, and was absolutely thrilled when I saw this thread! This is precisely what I'm working on at the moment (stocking the freezer). Thanks so much for starting it, ILB.
I've got the usual suspects in mine. But I think as I do ones in the TMX I'll list them from now on - then if anyone's looking to plan a cook-up for the freezer, but their brain isn't clicking into gear (like mine frequently doesn't ;D) they can read 'beef casserole from Fast & Easy book' rather than a generic 'casserole'
Over the last few days I've made a beetroot cake (basically took the carrot cake recipe but used beetroot, and added half tsp of ginger in place of some of the cinnamon. Icing, made butter icing then mixed in the cream cheese. When I grated the beetroot I took out 1 tsp and put it with 2 tsp cold water. I then used this water in the icing mix to make it pink. Otherwise, it's the same.) Ate half and froze half.
Made blueberry waffles that can be grabbed, stuck in the toaster, and eaten as a quick breakfast or snack. I'll get around to posting the recipe.
Also cucumber soup, using up cucumbers from the allotment (again, I'm getting around to posting the recipe).
I've made some portions of rice for the freezer. I crumble it up in the bag when it's frozen, so that I can take handfuls for soup or whatever. Also portions of cheese sauce.
I'm getting around to making some shepherd's pies for the freezer, and some yorkshire puddings. Perhaps I'll get to that today.
I've been inspired by quite a few of the postings here, so I'll be expanding my repertoire.
All the other meals I've done were in the slow cooker - sorry.
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CarolineW - I had actually thought of you and exciting arrival when I posted this :-* remembering the hours I spent on getting meals in the freezer before DD arrived and how handy they were.
Thermomixer - re the Chicken and Cashews I think it was actually the sauce that ruined it. It was really thick and revolting. To be honest I don't think I've made it since.
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I checked my freezer again this morning to see how I was going in my clean up efforts. Only 3 lots of meat left in there but 6 ready to go meals still. How handy are they going to be when I have baby GS here for a week from next Thursday. Oh, happy days, no cooking which means I may just manage to cope for the week. The meals I have in the freezer are -
Chicken cacciatore casserole - will serve with some frozen rice
Beef enchiladas/salad
Pork ragu/pasta
Meat lovers pizza
Thai Pork, veal and corn cakes - ready to cook in the oven with some oven fries/salad
Cottage pie base/need to do the mashed potato
Thank goodness I concentrated on the meat and not the ready cooked meals.
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Kathryn,
I did that for years! Then somehow forgot about that :o. Wonder why.
Thanks for gently knocking my memory! I will start doing that again now!
You are welcome, with the Thermomix it is just sooo easy ;)
Caroline...how are you feeling and how long until you have a bundle of joy in your arms?? We have missed you :-* :-*
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CarolineW - I had actually thought of you and exciting arrival when I posted this :-* remembering the hours I spent on getting meals in the freezer before DD arrived and how handy they were.
:-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
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Judy - thanks so much for the list. I'm now making a note of the ingredients I need to be able to get them in my freezer too ;D And yes - thank goodness you hadn't already used them up!!!! :o
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Caroline...how are you feeling and how long until you have a bundle of joy in your arms?? We have missed you :-* :-*
Hi Faffa, I'm feeling well (except for a torn ligament in my foot!) thanks. The baby is doing very well - s/he's very active and wriggly ;D It's possible for others to feel her/him kicking too, now. I've still got 4 months to go, but I'm BIG :D
It looks like this pregnancy is roughly following the route of my first pregnancy, so the rest of it should be plain sailing now. All the contractions, etc, have stopped now, and I can do pretty much anything I like within reason without any side effects. So I'm very, very happy.
Having to have my foot up lots means that I've got 2 pairs of booties and a hat ready and waiting for him/her when s/he arrives! And thanks to Thermie I can still cook OK, I just have a stool pulled up to the work bench to help out. So the only thing that's a real nuisance is being unable to drive to do the school run. Never mind, hopefully I'll be back on it next week.
Did I just read somewhere that you weren't doing so well? Hope you're feeling better now.
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Good to see you back - sorry about the ligament. Take care :-* :-* :-*
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When I read all the things you were doing for the freezer Caroline, I knew you must be going along OK now. So nice to hear you can now enjoy the pregnancy AND your cooking. Glad my list helped. That's what this forum is all about and anyone who tells us to 'get a life' doesn't know how good this one is.
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When I read all the things you were doing for the freezer Caroline, I knew you must be going along OK now. So nice to hear you can now enjoy the pregnancy AND your cooking. Glad my list helped. That's what this forum is all about and anyone who tells us to 'get a life' doesn't know how good this one is.
Ain't that the truth! ;D
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I think this thread is a brilliant idea. When I ate more meat I bought a few "once a month" cookery books and the standard one on amazon seems to contain nothing but meat, meat, meat, large amounts of sugar, fat and yes, more meat. Call me an old griper but some of the authors of these oamc books seem to think that the most important thing with this approach is to set (yet another) meat-based meal on the table. I preferred "Fix, Freeze, Feast", but now I can see that the majority of the recipes are not compatible with what I want to cook over the next few weeks.
Does anyone out there (experienced vegetarians/vegans perhaps?) know if there is a cookery book on the market which has vegetarian recipes that can be prepared in advance and then frozen? I don't aim to whisk out a frozen veggie meal every evening for supper, but it would be nice if I knew that I could rely on something meatless from my freezer reserves. I don't think I have ever eaten so much meat than when I did OAMC. I didn't feel too good either and my bottom started to have two time zones :-))
I've scoured amazon in Germany, the UK and the US but there doesn't seem to be anything suitable. I'd be grateful for any tips from the forum ;)
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Isn't it funny how you want to hold "your baby" in your arms....
Lots if ways:
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Hi Vivacity,
I have a few vegetarian recipes that freeze really well. Some lentil patties that not only are really moorish, a sweet potato curry and a few others that I'll dig up for you. They're on my conversion list, however if you'd like them sooner I can scan them and email them through if that would help??
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I've scoured amazon in Germany, the UK and the US but there doesn't seem to be anything suitable. I'd be grateful for any tips from the forum ;)
See what I can find Viv - nothing springs to mind - but sure there would be something.
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Thanks, ILB! Those recipes sound great. Lentil patties are something I can take to work with me for a quick lunch. I look forward to the conversions.
Thermomixer: If you find anything remotely interesting, I'd be grateful for recipes. Thanks!
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i would also love a great recipe for lentil patties, - i've never made myself a good vegie patty!
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Tell you what, I'll post it as per how I think it should go, then between us, whoever actually makes it first can provide the feedback for the recipe tweaking and I'll adjust accordingly? How does that sound? ;)
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Lentil patties and Nan's Corn Patties have been posted and here are the links:
Corn
http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=1988.0 (http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=1988.0)
Lentil
http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=1986.0 (http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=1986.0)
Both of these freeze really well. Hope you enjoy them. :-*
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Guess I should say chicken croquettes cut into slices ?? ready to crumb and fry
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I think this thread is a brilliant idea. When I ate more meat I bought a few "once a month" cookery books and the standard one on amazon seems to contain nothing but meat, meat, meat, large amounts of sugar, fat and yes, more meat. Call me an old griper but some of the authors of these oamc books seem to think that the most important thing with this approach is to set (yet another) meat-based meal on the table. I preferred "Fix, Freeze, Feast", but now I can see that the majority of the recipes are not compatible with what I want to cook over the next few weeks.
Does anyone out there (experienced vegetarians/vegans perhaps?) know if there is a cookery book on the market which has vegetarian recipes that can be prepared in advance and then frozen? I don't aim to whisk out a frozen veggie meal every evening for supper, but it would be nice if I knew that I could rely on something meatless from my freezer reserves. I don't think I have ever eaten so much meat than when I did OAMC. I didn't feel too good either and my bottom started to have two time zones :-))
I've scoured amazon in Germany, the UK and the US but there doesn't seem to be anything suitable. I'd be grateful for any tips from the forum ;)
I found the same thing, Vivacity. And then they hung around in the freezer for ages because I couldn't face yet ANOTHER red meat, heavy and sweet meal. Every now and again, OK. But regularly? No, no, no. Give me light, healthy, and plenty of veggies, and I'm a happy girl. Would you recommend Fix, Freeze and Feast? Or is it just a bit better than the classics?
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Good to know I'm not the only person who found the OAMC cooking a bit too meat-loaded. How many variations on sloppy joes does a girl need ???
Anyway, I quite liked the book "Fix, Freeze, Feast." If you want to see a few recipes, here's a link: http://www.fixfreezefeast.com/index.php?pg=sr . The nifty thing about the book is that you can download freezer labels here http://www.storey.com/files/download/labels.pdf and then print them onto sticky labels for your frozen goods. That's quite useful for others using the freezer so they know how to prepare the food. If you look at the labels you'll also see what kind of recipes you get in the book.
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thanks ILB!
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Whoops, completely forgot ILB's posting while replying to CarolineW :o
Thanks for posting the recipes, ILB! They sound really easy and will be tried out soon :)
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My pleasure. Actually made a batch of the lentil patties today. Miss 3 has been grazing on them all afternoon - so they must be OK ;D
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Haven't found any vegetarian books in my collection with freezer recommendations - but Cranks book says most could be frozen. Guess we need to check the internet?
Sorry Viv :(
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Thanks, Thermomixer! Of course, I'd completely forgotten my Cranks cookery book. I'll leaf through and see what recipes are freezable.
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How could you forget the Cranks ??? ;D - they really have some interesting combos.
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Yes, I know. The Cranks cookbook sounds really interesting, but I haven't really got round to using it yet. My brother bought me "Leith's Vegetarian Cookery Book" and it seems to have become my favourite when cooking meat-free meals.. Really good recipes which always turn out delicious.
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Over the last few days I've made a beetroot cake (basically took the carrot cake recipe but used beetroot, and added half tsp of ginger in place of some of the cinnamon. Icing, made butter icing then mixed in the cream cheese. When I grated the beetroot I took out 1 tsp and put it with 2 tsp cold water. I then used this water in the icing mix to make it pink. Otherwise, it's the same.) Ate half and froze half.
Just thought I'd give feedback on this, as I wasn't at all sure how the icing would fare being frozen. I've always frozen cakes un-iced before. It came out just as good as it went in. The only difference was that the ginger flavour had come out more, which was an advantage in my eyes :D
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I know this is a very old thread but I'm hoping for some advice on some good freezer meals - especially for a meat-loving man. I am trying to stock the freezer of a friend who has recently lost his wife. He can't really cook so I'm really wanting things that he can pretty much just heat and eat.
He loves a good curry. I have the Indian cookbook but I'm not sure which if any would freeze successfully.
So far I've made lasagne and bolognese and I was thinking of the beef strog.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
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Bella, I don't know if I am much help but I put just about all meat type dishes into the freezer. As long as they are eaten with 3 months or so I don't have any trouble. Sometimes potato goes mushy but I just stir it in. It's usually leftovers from our meals.
Judy may be able to help you more.
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BB, this week I have lived completely out of the freezer using leftovers. We have had Thai Fusion Chicken Pataya - Indian cookbook, curried mince from the forum and also in the meat cook book, meat pies from the meat cookbook, spaghetti bolognaise. I also found a red wine sauce from a lamb dish so added some steamed vegies to it and served it over pasta.
Tonight is DH's birthday tea so I have thawed some chicken, spinach & feta filo parcels to cook (I will wait to see what they are like before posting that recipe. I prepared and froze them uncooked a while back). I also had some creamy chicken cacciatore sauce from the forum in the freezer so have just cooked up some chicken tenderloins to add to that along with 1/2 can diced tomatoes also from the freezer with some rice (also from the freezer). This has given me a head start for tonight's party food menu and apart from cooking some more rice to go with another dish, I am all done and dusted. Will post my menu in what are you cooking today.
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Made blueberry waffles that can be grabbed, stuck in the toaster, and eaten as a quick breakfast or snack. I'll get around to posting the recipe.
Hi Caroline, I know this is an old post but I wondering if you posted this recipe? I did a search but no luck. It sounds perfect for winter mornings, my 3yo will love them.
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Unfortunately, I can't remember what the recipe was :( However, I have the following recipe which Janie Turner of UK Thermomix very kindly sent to me:
200g plain wholegrain brown flour
200g plain white flour
1 tbsp baking powder (which seems an awful lot - could that be a typo for tsp?)
half tsp salt
20g raw cane sugar (optional)
2 eggs
600g milk
70g butter or vegetable oil
Mix 40 seconds / speed 8
Serve plain or with butter, lemon juice and sugar, jam, golden syrup, maple syrup, blueberry sauce, fresh fruit, whipped cream, chopped ham & grated cheese, etc.
I know I just used a standard recipe and threw some blueberries in - they turned out very well.
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Thanks Caroline, will try it out. :)
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I am so happy to find this old thread! I'm going through a bit of a phase where I'd love to have meals already made for quick dinners, but am always so unsure of what will freeze & what won't.
Currently, I have meatballs, bolognaise sauce, tartlet casings, chicken nuggets, pizza dough, cookie dough, chicken & vege soup, croissant dough & chicken schnitzels, but want more "whole meals", so this thread is going to help a lot.
Thanks as always everyone for making my life so much easier,
Karen
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Bumping :)