Cooking for a siege!

[Osc]

Those of you who really enjoy cooking should be spending time in Miss Osc's house! She and SIL are cooking up a storm this week, filling the freezer with as much as they can to ease the burden when baby arrives. SIL cooks as much as she does, and at the moment a big pot of ragu is simmering on the cooker, the homemade pasta has dried and been cut into lasagne and before they go to bed, he will put it all into containers and into the freezer. She's made lots of different meals this week too, bakes, fish pies, stews etc. etc. the freezer is filled to bursting. They are great at trying all sorts of different recipes, he makes most of their bread - I don't know where they find the time, but they enjoy doing it. The best part is that Michael will grow up seeing that food doesn't come from tins and packets. Mind you I used to do lots of cooking and baking when Miss Osc was small, but I'm afraid we are a bit lazy these days, and do quite a bit of simple batch cooking in the slow cooker, spag bol, chilli and so on, for the freezer.

[Ally]

That sounds great Osc.

I've always enjoyed, and luckily had the time, to cook from scratch so have managed to show my lot how to cook.

[Diflower]

It's brilliant Osc and so sensible that they know there will be decent food to eat when neither of them is up to it

I would however draw the line at h/m pasta, there are no dodgy ingredients in bought dried or fresh, it takes ages to make, and it's taking up freezer space

[Kaz]

That's a great idea Osc - lord knows you don't have the time after having a new baby, but it's a time when good nutrition is really key, both for recovery and for breast feeding (if decided upon)

My garage freezer is a mix of home made sauces and soups with all the veg from the greenhouse - like you Osc I like to use the slow cooker for those - and pre bought veggies, chips and stuff xxxxx

[debih]

Its a really good idea Osc.

I do lots of batch cooking and am currently running down one of my freezers to get restocked again for the winter! I will make huge pans of stew and ragu and freeze them in portions to make quick meals for evenings when I am busy.

You do need lots of space to do it though and I am lucky in that we have three freezers. A big chest freezer in the shed that is full of meat (we always buy in bulk - half a pig, a whole lamb, a big batch of beef, etc - and also have plenty of game from different sources!) and fruit and veg from the allotment

I have a big American fridge freezer in the kitchen and that tends to have ice cream, bread frozen veg, fish fingers, etc in. And then a small under counter freezer in the pantry which is where all my batch cooked stuff goes.

I also draw the line at making my own pasta - its far too much of a faff and never really tastes any different! My sister makes all her own though.