bulk preparing and saving food

rampant

so i made a lasagne over the weekend, very simple recipe:

Bolognese mix:
500g mince (1.25 in Tesco 'mark down')
680ml jar of Passata (i get these from Costco @50p per jar (6 for £3.00)
tomato puree (39p)
Fresh tomato sliced
large onion
garlic
italian herbs

500ml jar of tesco's carbonara sauce (i prefer this as it has some smokey bacon in it ) 89p
grated cheese - around £2.00
i used a pack of lasagne which cost 45p

total cost of around £6.00 excluding gas to cook etc.

i made 8 decent portions out of it - and have frozen 6 portions for use later on.

Does anyone else bulk make food and have any recipes to share?

regards

weaponx031277

My missus does a fair few soups in the winter months. Not got the recipes but the nice ones are

Butternut Squash,Peanut Butter & Chilli
Leak & Potato
Pea & Spinach

Also does some nice stews which frreze up well for later use.

Sloppy Bob

I do it all the time with curries, stews, chilli, meatballs, etc.

Cooking for one or two people daily is just a PITA at times so I'd rather cook for 4-8 and freeze it then just defrost, cook some veg, rice or pasta and you have a nice dinner in 10-20 mins.

mjn

Yup, always do it with curries, meatballs in sauces, etc.  Make everything from scratch and place in tubs for the freezer.  Recipes?......hmmmm, don't know, they're top secret

MrSossidge

What other ingredients are in these sauces. Often they have a lot of sugar in them.

When I make a pasta sauce I usually use a tin of tomatoes, garlic and onion and some mixed herbs. No sugar added.

blue max

Chilli is such an easy one. Loads of recipes online, but it isn't hard. And you can make it just as you like.

I tend to microwave it hot with one of those microwave rice. They are done in 2 mins.

kBm

Pinterest is a good place for recipies.

rampant

passata is sieved tomato's - so the same as a canned tin - around 4%

the Tesco's carbonara sauce is very good @ only 1% of sugars

bobflunkit

Yeah, do loads of stuff.

Bolognese (ragu) with tinned toms, no jars

Vegetable curry

Chilli

Sloppy joe

Beef shin stew

Turkey massaman curry. Christmas lunch leftovers

Most of these i will cook about 20 portions, but freeze them in three portion freezer bags. All cooked from scratch. It's a great meal for the day you made the bulk meal and normally better when you whip one out of the freezer in the morning and have a cracking meal for the family with minimum effort.

Sorry but I couldn't give you recipes as there're all an instinct kinda thing.

Flashy

Despite trying numerous different recipes, I have never once made a satisfactory chilli at home. True story.

But the microwave rice pouches are fantastic. Yes, I know they cost a bit more, but I stock up when on offer. Cooking rice, even boil in the bag, is such a time-consuming faff and the mess it can leave in the pan adds to that. Same reason I buy pre-cooked microwavable mash – laziness.