What are the STW non meat batch cooked meals of choice. No Gordon Ramsay so nothing too complex. Only 3 of us but plenty of room in our garage freezer to go big! Pescatarian so fish and seafood fine.
Bean chilli, I usually use the slow cooker to make it even easier
i quite like this, quick and simple, not overly astisifying as a meal on its own but as part of a bigger meal...
Sweet Korean Lentils • It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken (itdoesnttastelikechicken.com)
If you like Chili, we like making this. Its easy to make, very tasty and you can add/remove items as you want.
https://cookieandkate.com/vegetarian-chili-recipe/
I find that the problem with batch freezing most home cooked vegetarian meals is that they lose flavour and texture in the freezer.
The main one that I do is to batch cook a simple tomato sauce - high quality tinned tomatoes, finely diced onion, lots of butter, some garlic and some oregano. Then when I want to eat it, I roast some vegetables quickly add it to the sauce and then eat it with pasta, bread etc.
Spicy dahl also keeps reasonably well.
Lasagna, Chili, Bolognese, Sweet Potato & Chickpea Curry - those are my go to ones. Really should do some batch cooking now we have a bigger freezer.
When it comes to no meat mince I think the best option for bulk is probably the Linda McCartney frozen stuff. Everything else is just that little bit too expensive, or tastes like crap.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/dal_with_quick_naan_81455
Dead easy, dead nice.
Don't know what veggie or pescy meals she does but my wife* finds this lady to be pretty good.
*The kitchen is her domain - I even get told off for throwing out of date mouldy stuff out of the fridge
Dahl is a good shout. For tomato sauces freeze in an ice cube tray. Once frozen they can be transferred to a plastic bag or tupperware. You can just grab the amount you needed.
Curry sauces are a good one but I tend to agree with the poster above, lots of veg just turns to mush when it's been cooked then frozen. I'm looking at you 🥦.
Baked tofu and mushroom ragu.
Grate firm tufu with the largest grater and chop up the mushrooms (to about the same size) put it on a baking tray in the oven at gm6 for 20 minutes.
Finely chop up a red onion and garlic (medium heat). Sweat down the onion first in a deep frying pan and then add the garlic sweat a little more, then add the tofu and mushroom mix and mix together
Add as many herbs as you like and if you like a bit of heat some chilli, season to taste.
Add a tin of chopped tomatoes, plus a half again of water.
I always add some nutritional yeast in these things.
Serve with pasta of choice.
Soup. But that's probably a thread in itself.
I like making soup, but it's often a lot of work for something which gets hoovered up in about two minutes. I started batch cooking back when I lived on my own; a portion for now, one for lunch tomorrow and a couple more portions zip-locked individually and in the freezer. I used to halve recipes, now I double them.
Not really a meal but kind of like the ice cube tray suggestion (which is great), I've about perfected pizza sauce but the yield is like a litre of the stuff. Once finished I spoon it out in dollops on a baking sheet (two good tablespoons is generous for a normal-sized pizza), freeze it, then peel off the pucks into a large zip-lock.
Curry sauces are a good one but I tend to agree with the poster above
A curry base would work. Essentially a buttery onion gravy, then you add whatever spices you want at cooking time.
I missed off a few things.
the grated tofu goes on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. It goes in the oven until it begins to brown, the idea is that it looks like pulled pork.
When it all goes into the frying pan, add some chopped walnuts to add a bit of crunch.
Hybridisation of several suggestions above-
I often freeze portions of a big veggie lasagne and it keeps just fine; perhaps deliberately frozen slightly undercooked. Ours is basically a giant veggie sandwich, pasta below, pasta and tomato sauce above and the middle a mass, selecting from the following: onion, garlic, peppers, courgettes, mushrooms, carrots, sweet potato, spinach, pumpkin, broccoli, ground almonds. Nutmeg and/or thyme is a good addition.
parmesan on top, I rarely bother with bechamel.
Needs some water added to help get the texture right if using the almonds.
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/jan/13/oven-baked-tofu-chilli-vegan-recipe-meera-sodha
Requires a foodprocessor but makes enough for 7 or 8 if they have small appetites. Ignore the chi-chi chilli paste, Waitrose do some more workaday Mexican chilli pastes that are more than adequate. Served with brown rice it's very like a meat one but completely vegan and very tasty.
The gaps between fiddling with it allow you to finish cooking with just a rice pan and casserole to wash up.
Vegi/bean/lentil curry of some kind or multiple kinds?
Freeze it in batches and then add what you want on a per portion basis once defrosted, kinda like a basic base sauce which you can change depending on mood.
IKEA Vege balls. Not worth messing about otherwise.
