In preparation for baby being born I wanted to prepare some meals to put in freezer to make the coming few weeks a lot easier. My amazing mum came round today to help me prepare several meals and pre-cook some of the meals. Having a second pair of hands was so helpful! We got the meals cooked and packed away in less than 3 hours with me being 38 weeks pregnant, having several "breathers" throughout the process too.
The meals we prepared are meals I have made before, and we didn't follow recipes as such. Rather, just added ingredients based on what I have made before or what we had.
1. Slow cooked Beef
I love my slow cooker! It has been a great appliance the past year or so that we have had it. I have regularly made slow cook meals and love how I can just chuck everything in and let it cook away.
Ingredients added:
- Diced beef 1kg
- 1L of beef stock (Campbells brand)
- Diced mushrooms (handful)
- 5 x Carrots, peeled and chopped
- Masterfoods slow cook meal sachet (lamb casserole)
- Handful of lentils. (Not sure brand as it was just what I had in cupboard.)
I also added a small amount of oregano and thyme for extra flavour.
I usually add extra vegetables such as zucchini or sometimes small potatoes but our supermarket didn't have any this shop.
We cooked the meal on low setting (90 degrees) for 2 hours. As it is being frozen, it will need to be cooked further (probably in oven) for roughly 1 hour. This slow cooked meal made 2 large meals worth, and had quite of bit of liquid in it. When we go to cook it, I will probably add rice or pasta to thicken it up.
2. Lasagna
One of my favourite pre-make meals is a lasagna. Super easy to create, and I never make the same one twice.
Ingredients used:
San Remo Wholemeal Lasagna sheets
Raguletto Bolognese sauce (as pictured at top of post)
Ricotta cheese smooth 500g
Grated cheese (as required)
500g Beef mince (I cooked over 1kg for all meals, so this is just a rough estimate of what to use)
Tin crushed tomatoes 400g
Diced mushrooms (handful)
I sometimes add extra herbs,such as oregano or garlic, but left them out this time.
Method:
In a fry pan I cooked the mince, mushrooms and crushed tomatoes. Putting aside to cool after browned.
In the glass containers as pictured we created the layers.
The layers are bolognese sauce, ricotta cheese, mince, grated cheese, repeat until all container is full. I always try to finish with the sauce or mince. If finish with any cheese or lasagna sheets it doesn't cook very well.
Cook in pre heat oven 200 degrees Celsius - fan forced- for 20 minutes. This is the pre-cook stage.
When we go to have this as a meal, I usually place back in oven for another 20 minutes, with an extra layer of grated cheese sprinkled on top.
*Times are based on my oven. May differ.
3. Cannelloni
We made two versions of cannelloni- One spinach and ricotta, the other mince cannelloni.
Ingredients used:
Cannelloni shells Barilla brand
Raguletto Bolognese sauce and Dolmio pasta sauce (I think we used the red wine and garlic one.
For spinach and ricotta cannelloni:
Ricotta cheese smooth 500g
Frozen spinach 250g (I used Birds eye brand)
For Mince cannelloni:
500g Beef mince
Diced mushrooms
Tin crushed tomatoes
For both versions of the cannelloni the method was the same:
Place a layer of pasta sauce on the bottom of the container
Cook mince, mushrooms and crushed tomatoes as per lasagna
Steam the spinach in the microwave. I put it in for 1 minute intervals and stir until all soft
Mix the ricotta and spinach together- the more ricotta the easier it is to place into shells
In the cannelloni shells add mixture wanted. In the spinach and ricotta shells add mixture slowly and push down. In the mince shells add in small spoonfuls.
When all shells are full, add rest of pasta sauce over the shells. (this is why we had two different pasta sauces- as it went across the lasagna and cannelloni.)
We pre cooked the cannelloni for 20 minutes in pre heated oven fan forced 200 degrees.
When I go to cook these I will, just like the lasagna, a layer of grated cheese and cook for another 15-20 minutes. I find the spinach and ricotta lasagnas need less cooking time as there is no meat to cook through.
3. Quiche
*Not the best photo sorry
I love cooking quiches, and love the versatility of them. Previous quiche I have made I have added all kinds of vegetables, (tomatoes and even chopped broccoli) which is great for trying to get kiddies to eat the healthy things.
Ingredients used:
Shortcrust pastry ready rolled sheets- I use the coles brand
4x eggs
Diced bacon
Diced mushrooms
grated cheese
500g Smooth ricotta cheese
Method
Brown diced bacon and mushrooms in fry pan
Place the pastry in a quiche pan (We also used small quiche pans as pictured) We only used 2 sheets at most. Place small rivets into pastry with fork or knife- I find this helps to keep the pastry bubble
Pre cook pastry in fan forced oven 200 degrees for 10 minutes. If it begins to bubble, take out. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
Mix ricotta cheese, eggs and grated cheese together until a sticky consistency. If need be, add more eggs or cheese depending on the mixture.
Add the bacon and mushrooms to mixture when cooled and stir.
Place mixture onto pastry, being careful not to overfill the pastry.
Place quiche in oven and cook for 15 minutes or until mixture is thickened and no liquid.
4. Pastry and mince ready for pies
As we had left over mince mixture from the lasagna and cannelloni, and left over pastry sheets my mum came up with the idea of preparing the pastry to make pies using a pie maker she got me as a gift.
Using the pie maker cutter, mum cut the pastry to size needed for both pie and top putting plastic wrap between each layer of pastry. When pastry was cut, she put plastic wrap over the whole pile tightly (pictured above.) This allows the pastry to be stored in freezer without getting ruined.
The mince mixture has been placed into a tub and labelled for making the pies later.
When I go to make the pies, I will place the pastry into the pie maker, and add the mixture inside before cooking.
With all meals prepared- we have 3 cannelloni meals, 2 lasagnas, 2 slow cooked meals, A quiche with 3 mini quiches can use for lunches or for OJ, and prepared pie meal. All placed in freezer, labelled and dated.
I also bought at shopping meatballs, Schnitzels, chicken burger patties, pre made beef ravioli (coles brand), and we have some steaks in the freezer too. Mum and I may be making another slow cook chicken meal tomorrow, too.
Altogether, we should have enough easy to cook meals for roughly 3 weeks to a month. All meals I have prepared and organised are reasonably healthy and can be added to with mixed frozen vegetables or salads.
I am the type of person who doesn't measure out ingredients, or use timed cooking. So all ingredients and times used in these meals can be adjusted to suit your needs or appliances being used. I wanted to create this post to show some meals that can be easily prepared and placed in freezer for later cooking.
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