Hi all

I want to start making batches of things, lasagne, chilli, spag Bol etc and freezing them into portions to eat throughout the week.
I'm a bit of a novice to freezing and reheating so thought I'd ask, when I go to have a portion for my dinner do I need to take it out and defrost it before cooking or do I cook it from frozen? And is microwave or oven best for reheating things like lasagne etc?

First of all buy a pack of the plastic cartons that takeaways use or similar suitable containers. Freezer bags are useful for liquids such as soup.
Get some freezer sticky labels - there's nothing more frustrating than not knowing what's in a carton. I've baffled myself a few times.
As for the defrosting/ cooking, I prefer to defrost because if you microwave you'll have to nuke the food to make sure it gets heated all the way through.
Depending on the food I defrost and oven heat as I find microwaving makes a lot of food floppy.
I'll microwave certain foods though.

I make batches of curries etc all the time. Buy No. 2 size takeaway foil containers and lids off ebay. Buying 100 at a time works out at about 11p each. I let them defrost in the fridge overnight rather than leave them out. A no. 2 size filled to the top is a good sized portion for me but I always have chips and a naan with it.

I freeze all sorts including, curries, soups, chilli, ragu etc. Anything that takes a while to cook really. I use freezer bags for all. I place an empty bag in an appropriate container then fill with the food, click shut the bag removing all air then fold over and seal with tape. I then stack all the bags in a tupperware box and place in the freezer. Once frozen I remove from the tupperware box and keep in the freezer.

We tend to take out stuff for supper in the morning so usually I just take out the bag we need and leave it out to deforst through the day. When it has defrosted I just move to the fridge and nuke when needed. When I forget to take stuff out I usually use the defrost function on my microwave to soften then full power to heat. usualy done in 20 mins at most this way.

Have a go Fizzle, batch cooking and freezing is really convenient and you feel a great sense of fulfilment when you have a freezer full of good home made food at your fingertips (at least I do!).

As long as it is hot throughout you will minimise any risk of food poisoning, however as has already been said it might be best to defrost food from a quality point of view.

Why do you seal with tape if they're click shut?
A neat trick I learned recently with freezer bags is to seal the bag up to the end with just enough unsealed to insert a straw.
Insert the straw just below the seal and suck!
It's close enough to a vacuum pack!

Funnily enough, I have been doing a load of cooking for the freezer today. I have the tupperware type things from Sainsbury's and when I make a chilli, I portion it up into the tupperwares and when completely cool, pop them in the freezer.

I then defrost in the microwave when I want to eat them.

One thing I have noticed when doing this is that meat ends up far more tender after the freeze/defrost/reheat route, than if I was to cook it from scratch and eat it the same evening.

Today I made chilli, turkey burgers and meatball stroganoff, as well as some chicken soup with yesterday's leftover carcass. Tomorrow I'll make some soups and something for dinner with the leftover chicken from yesterday, then a curry and some french chicken later in the week. So much for a relaxing week off!

Aren't chickens handy
Yesterday we had a roast chicken dinner, tonight we had chicken and mushroom tagliatelli, I have a litre of stock for the freezer and still have a whole breast left.

Yes, they're wonderful!

4:30 onwards is a good tip for storing things in freezer bags so they don't take up unnecessary space: http://www.itv.com/thismorning/food/...stine-pattison

To stop the remainder of the bag from flapping loose. If you fold over the bag properly all the air is naturally squeezed out I have found

I use freezer bags.
If i'm cooking in batches then I would probably have 6-8 portions. I'd never have space in the freezer for 8 cartons of food.
The bags you can roll into a sausage shape or press out flat depending on the space in your freezer where it needs to fit.

The batch cooking I do would be bolognaise, chilli, curry etc which are all slow cooked dishes.
I put the bag in a bowl and defrost the portion for 5 minutes. I then remove the contents from the bag into the bowl and reheat fully for another 5 minutes or so.
You can also add some liquid and cover in clingfilm before the second part to prevent scolding or evapourating too quickly.