Meals that will freeze well

I'm looking to spend a weekend cooking lots of dishes that I can then freeze into individual portions for eating later. I'll make a huge batch of chicken curry but what else do you suggest?

Irish stew saves quite well.

I tried to be sensible and do what you're doing but I ended up feeling depressed, heating up food for dinner every night.

pretty much everything stew related and thicc soups works perfectly for freezing as most of them taste best after a second heating. Just think about dishes where extra water from the freezing process dosen't fuck with the consistent/taste.

Great, thanks.

Depression is part of the reason I want to do this. I'm often feeling quite low and have no energy or inclination to do anything, especially cook. When I'm like this I'll either not eat, or order a take-away, or get fast food, none of which is ideal on an extremely regular basis.

Conversely, I'm sometimes highly motivated/slightly manic. It's this burst of energy I'd love to channel into spending all day cooking.

Pasta bakes have worked well for me in the past.

Ragu - freezes well, and can be defrosted quickly for use in pasta. You can also use it to make lasagna, which freezes well.

Gumbo - One of my favorites to make for storage is chicken and andoille gumbo.

Pulled pork - whether you smoke it, or do a slow roast in the oven, it keeps well in the freezer and can be de-frosted for use in a variety of meals.

ok Amanda

I don't get this? I'm from the UK btw. I only know Amanda Bynes and Amanda hugankiss

Are you sure you're not bipolar? If you are it may be worth investing into the medicine for it because it can get worse.

Frozen Burrito

Just don't put in potatoes

Potatoes freeze like shit. And become mush on defrost.

French toast
Pancakes
Waffles

I'm seeing a doctor and on medication for depression and anxiety. Also awaiting an referral for counseling. I don't think I'm a manic depressive although I do think I have some manic depressive tendancies.

How about mash and sweet potato mash? I don't mean American sweet potato mash with syrup etc added. I mean mashed up sweet potatoes. Is there any way to prepare that'd mean they freeze better?

Why is there rae chicken tenders stored over other cooked meals And pound cake ? I don't care if it's frozen, that's still a food safe no no. Get that OCD motherfucker to reorganize the freezer, raw never goes ontop of cooked.

Meatballs freeze great, though whatever side dish you decide to have with them you have to actually prep when you eat.
But for example, dumping the frozen balls to some tomato sauce and cooking pasta while the sauce warms up is pretty fast process.
Lasagna freezes pretty well, if you want 'fresher' lasagna, get bunch of portion sized tin dishes, make lasagna in them, but don't bake them, instead freeze them and when you are hungry just bake for 'fresh' lasagna. Also good tip on that is to throw it in the cold oven so it has some time to warm up as the oven does.
Pizza also works reasonably well, the sauce freezes great and you can make the dough before hand and freeze the individual dough balls. Toppings and cheese is best bought fresh though.

Can confirm burritos, they've been my standard meal prep item for years. Even if you're only willing to put in the absolute bare minimum effort and just make a huge batch of identical burritos, you can still give yourself the illusion of variety by having a bunch of different hot sauces to put on them.

My main problem was always getting sick of eating whatever I had made but I haven't had that problem since I started making burritos.

Cooking to increase your own autonomy is a great step towards feeling better. Remember that a healthy body helps facilitate a healthy mind. Keep it up user.

Thanks man

This. Glad to see it bothered someone else as well.

I just keep individual servings of sliced chicken thigh in zip lock bags in the freezer so prep consists of thawing, pouring marinade ingredients into the bag, then dumping it all into a pan and turning it into a sauce with some broth or something. Rice cooker makes rice and steams veggies

the trick is to use hard boiling potatoes and never ever floury potatoes. You cook them only half way before freezing. When you reheat them in a pan instead of microwaving it you will have perfect potatoes.

Why would you freeze mashed potatoes? It's a 5min dish minus the 20-30min where you boil potato's with zero involvement, just go for a quick fap and finish the stuff.
It takes longer to defrost and reheat the frozen stuff then making it fresh.