Batch Cooking - Week 2

Our 2nd week of batch cooking was going to be the real test as that was when I returned to work. This week wasn't as successful as the first, mainly because we forgot to take things out of the freezer the night before. But I will share with you what I found to work and not work as far as I remember.

Here are my results of the 2nd week. Again there are a few tweaks needed, but we did have success in general. Mainly we need to remember in the evening to look to see what is for dinner the next day. It may be as simple as taking something out of the freezer and nothing more. I don't have a full week of meals as we were away for the weekend. But here are the results I have.



Monday dinner - Pesto Chicken
I don't have a photo of Monday's dinner as it didn't turn out as well as I wanted. Although it didn't turn out great, it actually tasted OK. This was a home made pesto from a Slimming World recipe that we'd made with home grown basil. We had put the pesto in with the chicken before it went into the freezer. I think in future I will add the pesto as it's being cooked. So I'm not discarding the meal, but I will try making it different next time.

Tuesday dinner - Mushroom Risotto
For this meal we had the mushrooms and onions pre-cut and in the freezer ready. I did need to stay close by as the risotto cooked, but there was no preparation needed. So it was a nice quick meal and we always enjoy it.

This is 0 syns on Slimming World.

I'll definitely make this again.

Wednesday dinner - Sausage Casserole
This meal was all prepared and cooked beforehand. It was then portioned up into freezer bags and placed in the freezer. It's a Hairy Bikers recipe and is so yummy. Great for this time of year when you want warm hearty meals.

All that was needed was to remove from the freezer to defrost, then heated in the microwave or on the hob, then it was ready to eat.

I'll definitely make this again.

Thursday dinner - Chippy Tea
This was one of the days that we'd forgotten to take anything out of the freezer, so we cheated and had a chippy tea. It was quick and easy, although I wouldn't want to do that too often.

Friday dinner - Toad In The Hole
Again I had forgotten to take something out of the freezer for dinner. Toad in the hole was planned in the week, but I needed to buy fresh sausages as I hadn't left enough time to defrost the ones I had. Even though this was made from scratch it didn't take too long to prepare. I had made the batter mixture early in the day and placed in the fridge. It's good to let your batter sit and chill for a while anyway. I then needed to cook the sausages and then put the sausages and batter into a heated dish into the oven to cook. I cooked all 8 sausages and made extra batter than was needed. I was able to make up 2 more toad in the holes in foil trays to place in the freezer for the next time we want this for dinner. I have done this before and it works out OK. You just need to cook it from frozen in a hot oven. I served with new potatoes and corn on the cob.

I will definitely make this again.

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