Over the Xmas holidays, I intend to cook and freeze some main courses for dinner parties to be hosted by my elderly parents over the winter. My Mom (at 83) still does dinner parties for 6-12 people, but it exhausts her to cook everything. I have been thinking about doing a large batch of beef bourguignon and another of coq au vin -- the sort of main course to which you just you add rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes. I think that three dinners for 12 would do. Does anyone have a suggestion about the third one?

When I'm in my 80's, I hope I still have enough friends living nearby and healthy enough to come over for a good dinner and a few laughs. I salute my mother for her ambition to cook everything from scratch. I am flabbergasted at their social whirl which consists of rotating dinners between friends who do likewise. May we all be so lucky in our elderly years!

Hungarian Goulash freezes very well. Served with noodles and green veggies, or a green salad it is quite a simple attractive meal.

Lasagne alla bolognese (one layer of pasta, one layer of ragù alla bolognese, one layer of homemade béchamel, one layer of grated parmigiano, repeat three-four times) are great for freezing, and also in this case you can finish off a meal with some vegetables or a fruit-based dessert. Another excellent option is canelloni. In both cases gratin, than freeze. Just heat before serving.
A nice entrée to be made in advance is tortellini (ravioli, cappelletti, anolini etc.). Make some traditional meat ravioli (there were lots of recipes for the filling I posted some times ago, make a search for them [Update: here they are]), place them well-distanced on a cardboard tray and freeze them until solid, than move them to a plastic bag. On serving, heat up some meat stock, also made in advance, you may even freeze this too (concentrate it before freezing, than place the icy stock in a pan with the right amount of water and heat up until boiling), drop the frozen ravioli in in the desired amount and boil for a few minutes. Serve in bowls with the stock. For an entrée I would make ten or twelve very small ravioli per person (1/2 an inch or just slightly more), for a primo (to be followed by a secondo), I would make twice as many.

Thank you! These are excellent suggestions. Now all I need to do is set aside some time to do the actual cooking when I am in their home.