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Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nRead more<\/span><\/svg><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nG<\/span>rowing up in rural Ireland in the Eighties, Lou Robbie remembers her granny\u2019s \u201cvery, very traditional Irish\u201d cooking \u2013 from beef stew to brown bread \u2013 and specifically just how much she used the freezer.<\/p>\n\u201cProcessed and pre-packaged didn\u2019t exist. It was all very wholesome, organic, natural food,\u201d says the Galway-based chef and content creator. \u201cThey had a farm and my granny would make all her own breads and cakes \u2013 everything was made from scratch.\u201d<\/p>\n
She grew up watching both her granny and mum batch-cook and freeze leftovers at home in Tipperary. \u201cEven after my grandad had passed away, she would still make her own beef stew, portion it for her own dinners and freeze the stew. She would never make one loaf of brown bread, ever. She\u2019d make four and freeze three.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mum does the exact same thing as my granny,\u201d says the mum-of-two, who found social media success with @LittleLouCooks, sharing homemade lunchbox snack recipes with other parents, often involving the freezer.<\/p>\n
Cooking and meal planning this way is \u201ca brilliant way to save money and waste less food\u2026 and it\u2019s not difficult, it\u2019s just a great habit.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy granny wasted nothing \u2013 we would joke about it!\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, Robbie, who spent many years working as a professional chef, has published her debut cookbook, Make & Freeze<\/em>, sharing freezeable, family-friendly recipes (think chicken and leek pie, pizza scones and no-bake caramel bars) and insists it\u2019s not as time-consuming to batch cook as you might think.<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m not baking every week, I\u2019m doing this every three weeks and I\u2019ll do a couple of things together at the same time,\u201d she says, \u201cand they have to be snacks that my children [Meabh, 10, and Hamish, seven] will eat because there\u2019s no point in making them if they don\u2019t like them.\u201d<\/p>\n
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open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>For Robbie, family cooking starts with simple, wholesome ingredients \u2013 and a plan to make them last (Ella Miller)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nSo what are Robbie\u2019s tips for using the freezer more effectively?<\/p>\n
Start afresh<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes the freezer gets a bit out of control, and then you actually don\u2019t want to go near it,\u201d says Robbie. \u201cSo I would get a big container, empty everything out and go through it. Discard anything that has no label on it. It might be bolognese, and God knows how long it’s been in there.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can defrost the freezer at the same time. That\u2019s brilliant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meal plan for the week<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\nWhile in the summer months her family are more relaxed, in term time Robbie writes a meal plan on Sundays for Monday to Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you write five days of meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner, roughly of what you\u2019re going to have, and knowing what\u2019s in the freezer already, then you can plan on what to cook on what days. The meal plan dictates the shopping list for the week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about habit forming. If you\u2019ve never made a meal plan before, sometimes it can be very daunting. But if you did it for four weeks, you can reuse the meal plans for the next month if you\u2019re happy with them. You\u2019ll most likely have 20 dinners that you know your family will eat and enjoy.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then you\u2019re in control of the spend too \u2013 because we\u2019re all watching our pennies with the cost-of-living crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Double or triple recipes<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\nRobbie encourages home cooks to double or triple a recipe that your family likes, to put the leftovers in the freezer.<\/p>\n