Sam Wood shares his three favourite family meals you can cook now and freeze for later.

With supermarket shelves emptier than ever and recommendations to practice social distancing, Snez and I are not planning on making multiple trips to the shops to buy ingredients for dinner if we can help it.

In fact, Willow and I took on an eerie supermarket trip on Saturday and it looks like the entire nation is eating pasta bolognese for the next 90 days.

Think you know everything about ex-Bachelor Sam Wood? Think again. Post continues below.

When it comes to being resourceful with ingredients and saving time and money you can’t beat a batch cook-up. Since Charlie was born, Snez and I do this at least once a week so we don’t have to make multiple trips to the supermarket which is hard enough with babies, let alone with people fighting over toilet paper.

 

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A post shared by Sam Wood (@samjameswood) on Nov 18, 2019 at 3:14am PST

These are some of our family’s favourite recipes that can be cooked in bulk, eaten throughout the week or frozen for later.

Zucchini Slice

Zucchini slice is a good one because it’s simple, you can throw in whatever veggies are in the fridge and it freezes really well. This is a delicious vegetarian version but our girls love it with ham or bacon.

Willow especially enjoys getting to whisk the eggs so it’s a good one to get the kids involved in. It’s always easier to get kids to eat their greens when they have been involved in the cooking process.

Serves: 6.

Time: 40 minutes.

Ingredients

• butter, for greasing.
• 8 eggs.
• 2 cloves garlic, minced.
• 1/2 bunch kale, destemmed and leaves finely sliced.
• 150 g mature cheddar cheese (or Parmesan).
• 8 thyme sprigs.
• 500 g zucchini, grated with extra moisture squeezed out.
• 1 1/2 cup wholemeal flour (you can use gluten-free plain flour if you prefer).
• 1 pinch sea salt.
• 1 pinch freshly cracked black pepper.
• 75 g feta, crumbled.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6 and grease a baking dish with butter.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs until light and slightly foamy. Add the garlic, kale, cheese, half the thyme leaves, grated zucchini and whisk again until combined. Stir through the flour until smooth and season generously with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper.

3. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish, arrange the four remaining thyme sprigs and the crumbled feta on top.

4. Place into the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until the filling is cooked through and the top is golden brown.

5. Once cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Slice into six chunks. Serve with a green leafy salad.

Note

• Store slice in the fridge for up to 4 days. Alternatively, place into a container with baking paper pieces between each slice. Freeze for up to 1 month.

Healthy Spag Bol

Being European, Snez loves pasta. Lucky for us, so do all the kids. Zoodles weren’t a huge hit at our place so we keep it traditional with spaghetti. If you manage to get your hands on some spaghetti, or any kind of pasta for that matter, bolognese is a crowd pleaser and the sauce freezes beautifully.

It’s another one of those recipes where you can chuck vegetables in and if you dice them up finely- the kids won’t notice!

Serves: 4.

Time: 30 minutes.

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• 4 clove garlic finely chopped
• 500 grams beef mince
• 400 grams diced tomatoes canned
• 4 teaspoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon chilli flakes to taste
• 1 zucchini grated
• 1 grated carrot
• 4 tablespoon fresh parsley roughly chopped
• 200 grams wholemeal or gluten free spaghetti
• 2 tablespoon parmesan cheese grated or shaved
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large pan and lightly brown garlic.

2. Add mince and brown lightly, stirring throughout.

3. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, chilli, salt and pepper. Simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated and add grated vegetables and parsley. Set aside.

4. To cook pasta: bring a pot of water to the boil. Add a pinch of salt and cook the pasta for 15-20 minutes until al dente.

5. Serve spaghetti in a bowl, top with mince mixture and cheese and season further if required.

Sausage Rolls

These are a really good lunch option for the kids (or their dads who just bloody love a sausage roll) and another recipe that’s fun to make with them.

Serves: 8.

Time: 45 minutes.

Ingredients

• 300 g beef mince
• 1/4 cup basil leaves, finely chopped
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup wholemeal breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/2 carrot finely grated
• 1/2 brown onion finely chopped
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• 2 puff pastry defrosted ready rolled sheets
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together mince, basil, 1 egg, Worcestershire, breadcrumbs, tomato paste, carrot and finely chopped onion.

3. Season to taste.

4. Refrigerate mixture.

5. Cut pastry sheets in half (about 10-12 cm wide).

6. Lightly beat the other egg.

7. Divide the sausage mixture into 4 even portions. Place the pastry on the baking sheet. Place each quarter of sausage mixture along one edge of the pastry on the baking paper.

8. Brush the open strip of pastry at the opposite side of the mixture with egg and roll pastry over mixture into a long even log.

9. Brush the tops with egg and sprinkle with poppy seeds and cut into rolls.

10. Place roll seam side down on a lined oven tray with baking paper.

11. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes until golden.

Note:

HOW TO MAKE YOUR SAUSAGE ROLLS GLUTEN-FREE

1. Replace the puff-pastry with a gluten-free pre-rolled puff-pastry option.

2. Replace the 1/4 cup wholemeal breadcrumbs with gluten-free breadcrumbs or you can substitute quinoa flakes.

Which one will you be making? Let us know in the comments.

Feature image: Instagram/@snezanawood and supplied.