Freezing a Cheesy Turkey Cobbler

Disclosure.  This post is a review of products I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

When I’m cooking a meal, I like to cook additional portions to freeze to use later. Not only is this more energy efficient by filling the oven, it also means we have a supply of home-cooked food in the freezer. This is great for days when I’m working as I can get something out of the freezer ahead and it is ready to heat when we arrive home. So much more tasty than relying on shop-bought ready meals and as I’ve mentioned previously, it is vital in our household that we always have an early evening meal, since son1 has to have a food-free hour either side of his daily chemotherapy every night.

So I was very pleased when Just Catering Supplies offered to send me a selection of my choice of their products free to review.

I received the following items.
A pack of 9 Kingfisher medium foil food containers & lids
A double portion size foil container and matching lid
A mini portion size foil container and matching lid
A circular foil container and matching lid
Roasting bags
Non stick baking paper
Cling film

I was very pleased to see that they offer a wide range of foil containers from mini to bulk catering. Prices are very good, starting at 5p for some sizes and even lower per unit when you purchase in bulk.

First I chose to cook a Cheesy Turkey Cobbler. With the different size foil containers, I was able to vary the ingredients slightly according to everyone’s taste. Son1 prefers raw vegetables on the side rather than cooked whilst son2 is happy with broccoli only. So two individual portions for the boys, a double portion for me and my other half plus an extra single portion ready for freezing.

Ingredients (serves 5)

300g turkey mince
1 medium onion
100g broccoli
40g frozen sweetcorn
40g frozen peas
1 tbsp olive oil

For the cheese sauce:-
50g plain flour
50g margarine
500g milk
100g cheddar cheese
salt and pepper

For the cobbler topping:-
200g self raising flour
50g margarine
150ml milk
50g cheese
salt and pepper

Method

Chop the broccoli into florets and then cut further into small pieces.
Chop the onion.
Grate the cheese.
Preheat fan oven to 200 deg C.
Add olive oil to a wok and heat gently.
Add the turkey mince and cook for about 10 minutes until browned.
Remove 2 portions of turkey and place in individual foil containers.
Add onion to the wok and continue to cook until soft.
Place in 1 double and 1 individual foil containers.
Add broccoli to all bar 1 of the individual foil containers.
Meanwhile cook cheese sauce as follows.
Melt margarine in jug in microwave.
Mix in plain flour.
Gradually stir in milk until smooth.
Heat in microwave until thickened stirring at 1 minute intervals.
Season with salt and pepper.
Mix in grated cheese.
Pour cheese sauce over turkey.
Meanwhile make cobbler topping as follows.
Sieve self raising flour into a bowl.
Add salt and pepper.
Rub in margarine.
Add grated cheese.
Mix in sufficient milk to draw mixture into a ball.
Divide ball into small balls and flatten into rounds.
Place 2 or 3 rounds onto each dish.
Place foil containers onto a baking sheet.
Cook in preheated oven for approx 20 minutes.
Serve hot and enjoy.

I froze the extra portion after the sauce had cooled prior to baking in the oven, but alternatively you could bake it before freezing. Just remember to let it cool first.

Secondly I find the most economic way to purchase chicken is to buy a whole chicken. Cook it, use what we require for that day’s main meal, remove the rest from the bones and split between fridge and freezer according to meal planning. The carcass can then be made into stock and frozen too.

So I placed the raw chicken into one of the roasting bags and cooked in the oven. Once it was cooked I cut a corner off the bag in order to tip out the juices. I used some of the juice in gravy whilst the rest was put aside for making the stock. I then removed the chicken from the bag, served what we needed for our meal, whilst leaving the rest to cool. I later shredded the rest of the meat. A little went in the fridge but most was frozen as follows. I laid baking parchment over a chopping board, folding it over the ends of the board. I then spread the chicken out in a single layer over the baking parchment and wrapped cling film right round the board and popped it in the freezer overnight. The next day I took it out of the freezer. It was nicely frozen in individual pieces. The mini foil container was a good size to hold a portion ready to go back in the freezer for later use.

And watch out for another post soon when I share my salmon and pesto pie recipe. The circular foil container was ideal for this.

In summary, I was very pleased with these products, both for quality and price. Do take a look at the Just Catering Supplies website. They have lots of other products in their range like plastic containers, cake cases, paper plates, napkins and tablecloths. There are some nice Christmas and New Year party themes.

So do tell me what meals you cook extra and then freeze?

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