4 Great Bulk Recipes For Freezing

Anything that makes my life easier is a winner and these great bulk recipes for freezing make my life so much easier! If I spend a few hours each month making these recipes it gives me lots of frozen meals that I can pull out of the freezer on one of those days when everything goes wrong and time is short.

I’m loving these recipes and if I make one of each in a month it equates to sixteen meals in a month for my family of four! I try to make one bulk recipe each week which we can eat that night and then I can freeze three more meals to use later.

When I work this right I only cook a proper meal once or twice a week since I prepare meals Mondays to Thursdays – on Fridays we have take out or I make a quick meal like hot dogs or hamburgers. Saturdays and Sundays my hubby braais for us.

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The Benefits Of Bulk Recipes For Freezing

• Less waste – when you buy the ingredients to make a bulk recipe you have no waste when it comes to the ingredeients. It is so easy for forget about something in the fridge that you forgot to cook. You also have less waste when it comes to packaging too.
• You save money on electricity – cooking once and eating four times makes a huge saving on electricity costs.
• You save on time. – imagine only cooking once for every four meals – bonus!
• You don’t have to think or plan so much – if you make use of all of these recipes you will have plenty of meals to choose from when you open your freezer. Shopping is easier too when you only have to think about one recipe.
• If you get sick or just feel tired you don’t have to worry about meal preparation.

Tips To Make The Most Of Your Freezer Meals

Having freezer meals on hand is fantastic but you really want to get the most out of this convenience. Here are some ways to ensure that things go smoothly:

• Take your meal out of the freezer first thing in the morning so that you don’t have to worry about defrosting it when it is dinner time, all you have to do is warm it up.
• Cook lots of vegetables one night so that you can put them in the fridge and heat some up each evening to go with your meals – I like to do this on a Monday so that I have enough veggies until Thursday night.
• Cook a big pot of rice every now and then and freeze it in portions to go with your meals. Rice freezes beautifully and this will help to make your life so much easier.

Bulk Recipes For Freezing

Make sure that you have lots of freezer bags or containers to freeze your meals. You will also need some really big pots and pans to make these meals otherwise you are going to find yourself with overflowing pots which is messy and no fun. I bought myself a large potjie pot which is fantastic and I make the beef stew in it once a month, it makes the stew perfectly and it is also more fun cooking it.

Chicken A La King Bulk Recipe

This is a big time family favourite and one of my favourite meals. It is always a pleasure taking this out of the freezer when I’m feeling tired and worn out.

Make sure to plan to make some meringues, or even better a lemon meringue pie, since you will have left over egg whites and it would be a shame to put that to waste.

Ingredients:

• 2kg chicken fillets
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 60g butter
• 1 yellow pepper
• 1  red pepper
• 1 green pepper
• 3 x 250g packs mushrooms (I use button mushrooms)
• 2 onions
• 100g flour
• 1lt cream
• 6 egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 teaspoons paprika
• salt and pepper to taste
• optional – chopped parsley for sprinkling on top

Method:

• Add chicken fillets to a large pan with the chicken stock. Bring to the boil then simmer uncovered over low heat. Turn chicken over and cook until just cooked through.
• Remove the chicken fillets and chop into small pieces and keep aside. Make sure to keep the stock aside for the sauce.
• Make sure to chop all the onions, peppers and mushrooms before you get started with the sauce.
• Melt half the butter in a large pot and add the onions – cook on moderate heat until the onions are soft, then add the peppers until they are just soft and finally add the mushrooms until they are just cooked through.
• Add salt and pepper to taste then add the remainder of the butter.
• When the butter has melted stir in the flour and reduce the heat to low.
• Add the chicken stock and cream to the vegetables and simmer for a few minutes.
• In a small bowl whisk the egg yolks, lemon juice and paprika. Then add a cup of the sauce and mix it before pouring it into the pot with the other vegetables.
• Simmer over low heat for a few minutes until the sauce thickens before adding the chicken.
• Simmer for another few minutes before serving.

Make sure to let the meal cool completely before portioning it and freezing it.

Mince Bulk Recipe

This recipe is super tasty and mince is so versatile. I love mixing it up by sometimes serving it on rice with some veggies, other nights with spaghetti or adding some mashed potato on top and grilling it to make cottage pie. It is also fantastic on toast or baked potatoes.

Having mince on hand at all times makes dinner times so easy. This recipe makes four full  meals plus I always have some left over for lunch the next day which makes my life even easier.

Please make sure to leave plenty of time to make this recipe if you plan to eat on the same day you make it – it takes 2 hours simmering on the stove so make sure to accommodate for this. We usually eat around 18h30 so I start preparing this meal at 16h00 so I have plenty of time for the chopping and grating.

Please note that the original recipe that I used had 1 cup of red wine but I replaced that with ¼ cup of balsamic vinegar as I am an alcoholic in recovery so feel free to use wine instead of balsamic vinegar.

Ingredients:

• 2kg mince
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 250g diced bacon
• 6 onions finely chopped
• 8 garlic cloves crushed
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 4 cups grated carrot
• 1 cup finely chopped celery
• 2 tins tomato
• ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• 2 tablespoons dried or fresh basil
• 3 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper

Method:

• In a large pot fry the bacon in the oil until it is crisp. Then add the onion and garlic and fry until it is browned.
• Turn the stove on high and add the mince and stir.
• Add the flour, carrots and celery and mix well.
• Add the remainder of the ingredients and turn the stove on low to simmer for two hours, Make sure to stir it occasionally.

Make sure to cool the meal down completely before portioning it and freezing it.

Beef Stew Bulk Recipe

This recipe is so super tasty and such a hearty meal. We love eating this on cold winter days, plus when I make this I don’t use the stove, I cook it in the potjie using our indoor draai so it warms the house up and make such a wonderful ambience.

This recipe also has a long cook time – I leave it in the potjie for 1 ½ hours and don’t forget to accommodate for making the fire and preparing the ingredients too. We eat at around 18h30 every evening so I start the fire at about 16h00 so we can eat on time.

A reminder that since I am an alcoholic I cannot have wine in this recipe, but if you love red wine in your food swap the balsamic vinegar for a cup of wine.

I’m also going to start playing around with this recipe and start adding waterblommetjies and potatoes.

Ingredients:

• 2kg beef – I like to use beef shanks for this
• salt, pepper and ginger
• 8 onions chopped
• 10 medium to large carrots
• 6 cloves garlic crushed
• ½ cup flour
• 4 cups stock
• ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
• 6 bay leaves

Method:

• Coat each piece of meat liberally with salt, pepper and ginger before browning it in batches in oil in a large pot. Keep the meat aside or if you are going to do it in a potjie like me you can put it straight into the potjie pot
• Add the onions to the same pan and fry until they are browned.
• Add the carrots and garlic to the pan and fry for another few minutes.
• Stir in the flour then add in the stock, balsamic vinegar (or wine) and bay leaves.
• Add all the ingredients into your potjie pot and cook over hot coals for 1 ½ hours. If you are cooking it on the stove add your meat to the pot and simmer on low heat for 1 ½ hours. I’ve tried this both ways and it comes out so much better in the potjie.

Chicken Curry Bulk Recipe

I’m a huge fan of curry when it is mild and spicy, rather than very hot so this recipe is perfect for me. I used Roberston’s Rajah Flavourful and Mild curry powder and it came out beautifully. If you like your curry hotter use a different curry powder and you can always increase the amount that you use to make it stronger.

This recipe makes enough for four meals for two adults and two children.

Ingredients:

• 100g butter
• 2 small onions chopped
• 3 tablespoons curry powder
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 lt chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons soft brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons chutney
• 1 teaspoon salt
• juice from ½ a lemon

Method:

• Add the chicken stock to a large pan and add the chicken fillets – cook on medium heat for 10 minutes then turn the fillets and cook until just cooked through.
• Remove the chicken fillets and cut into small pieces. Keep the stock aside for the sauce.
• Melt the butter in a large pan and fry the onions until soft.
• Stir in the curry powder and fry for another few minutes.
• Stir in the flour then gradually add the chicken stock while stirring to form a sauce.
• Bring to the boil then add the chutney, brown sugar, salt and lemon juice.
• Turn down the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.
• Then add the chicken and simmer for another 5 minutes to warm the chicken through.

At some stage I am also going to try this recipe with vegetable stock and vegetables instead of chicken because my daughter prefers eating vegetarian meals than meals with meat in them. I will share with you all how that goes once I’ve played around with the recipe.

I hope you have all enjoyed these bulk recipes for freezing and that they make your life easier. If you have any good bulk recipes for freezing please send them my way in the comments!