Three freezable meals your kids will love

With school holidays in full swing, finding time to cook healthy, homemade meals every day can feel like an impossible task.

That’s where the magic of batch cooking comes in. By preparing and freezing meals ahead of time, you can save hours in the kitchen, reduce food waste, and always have something nutritious ready to go – no last-minute stress or takeout temptation required.

Here professional chef and busy mum of two, Lou Robbie, shares four family-friendly recipes that can be prepared in advance and frozen…

Quick turkey meatballs on a sub roll with tomato sauce  

Serves 4

• 400g turkey mince
• 25g panko breadcrumbs
• 1 clove of garlic, grated or finely chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp milk
• spray oil
• To serve:
• Sub rolls or bread rolls
• Tomato sauce (see recipe below)
• Grated cheese

To make the meatballs, put all the ingredients except the oil into a mixing bowl, mix well, then divide and roll into 12 even balls.

Preheat your air fryer to 170ºC. Lightly spray the basket with oil and add the meatballs, working in batches if the air fryer basket is small. Air-fry for 10-12 minutes, shaking the basket halfway through.

Heat the tomato sauce and add the cooked meatballs. Put three meatballs on each roll, coat in sauce, and top with grated cheese.

To freeze, place the raw balls on a tray, then transfer into resealable bags and freeze for three months. Defrost in the fridge overnight or cook from frozen, but add an extra three to five minutes’ cooking time.

‘Cowboy supper’ sausage and bean casserole

Cowboy supper sausage and bean casserole (Photo: Michael Joseph)

Serves 4

• 1-2 tbsp cooking oil
• 6 sausages (total of 450g), cut into quarters
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 4 carrots, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
• 1 medium-sized sweet potato, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 bay leaf
• 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 600ml hot beef stock
• 400g tin of cannellini beans, drained
• chopped fresh parsley, to serve

Heat the oil in a frying pan and brown the sausages all over, then place in a slow cooker – if you have time, brown the onions in the frying pan, too, as this will give a better flavour to the finished dish.

Add all the rest of the ingredients except the cannellini beans and parsley to the slow cooker, and cook either on high for three hours or on low for six hours.

Add the drained beans 20 minutes before the end of the cooking time. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed. Serve with crusty bread and a sprinkling of fresh parsley.

Once cooked and cooled, store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days, or portion and freeze in labelled resealable bags for up to three months.

If frozen, defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat in a pot or in the microwave until piping hot.

Sweet potato and goat’s cheese hand pies

Sweet potato and goat’s cheese hand pies (Photo: Michael Joseph)

Makes 6

• 1½ tbsp oil
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp paprika
• small pinch of salt and pepper
• 100g sweet potato cubes, cooked
• 100g goat’s cheese
• 375g pack of ready-rolled puff pastry
• 1 egg, beaten with a dash of milk to make egg wash

Warm a frying pan over a medium heat, then add the oil and onion and cook for five to 10 minutes, until soft.

Add the garlic, cumin, paprika and salt and pepper, and cook for a further few minutes. Transfer to a plate to cool.

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan/gas mark 6. Line a large tray with baking parchment.

Put the sweet potatoes into a bowl with the goat’s cheese and onions and mix, but leave small lumps of cheese and sweet potato – it’s better if it’s not a smooth paste.

Unroll the pastry and cut into six equal squares. Brush the edge of each square with the egg wash. Add a generous tablespoon of the filling to each square, then fold the pastry over to make a triangle, sealing the edge with a fork. Brush the pies with the egg wash.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, until golden and cooked through.

The pies can be kept in the fridge for up to three days and in the freezer stored in resealable bags for up to three months.

Quick tomato sauce

Lou Robbie’s new book focusses on freezing (Photo: Michael Joseph)

“For a quick and healthy tomato sauce, put two 400g tins of chopped tomatoes, two teaspoons of tomato purée, two crushed cloves of garlic, two teaspoons of honey, two teaspoons of dried oregano and one teaspoon of salt in a large pan.

“Next, pour a bit of water into the tomato tins to rinse them out and add this to the pan. Stir to combine, bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer for 20 minutes. This sauce can also be frozen for use in lasagne, pasta dishes and casseroles.”