Cooking it large

Large batch cooking is very satisfying. Filling the freezer with ready - meals, individually portioned, allows a certain glow of domesticity to settle, especially when you know that the meals are made from scratch and may prevent yet another call to the Indian or Chinese takeaway.

It all started with Neil's shepherd pie. Whenever he is allocated to cooking duty, this is nearly always what he produces. It's a good pie and never gets tired, having just enough flavour to be interesting, but also not too much to be something you only fancy occasionally. I could easily eat this again and again without screaming for some variety. He's made enough pie to freeze before, but this time he made two pies, one specifically destined for the freezer, all snugly wrapped up individually in dinner size portions. 

The convenience of it was enlightening and inspired two more meals whose sole purpose was for future quick lunch or dinner options when cooking is simply too much of a bother or too time consuming. The three dishes below were prepared for approximately 8 - 12 servings each, but of course, you can simply half or quarter the recipe for whatever you want. Click on each image below to go to the recipe

Shepherd's pie

Hearty bacon & chorizo soup

'Moussaka'