Freezer meals

MamaBelle4

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 29, 2016
I've done freezer meals a couple of times in the past and love it. I plan on doing the prep work this Sunday.

Does anyone have any tried and true freezer meals they make? Or just one pot meals or casseroles? I'd be grateful for any suggestions.

:thanks:
 
I've done freezer meals a couple of times in the past and love it. I plan on doing the prep work this Sunday.

Does anyone have any tried and true freezer meals they make? Or just one pot meals or casseroles? I'd be grateful for any suggestions.

:thanks:
I like googling different freezer recipes and using those. I have found some good recipes that way, and for the crockpot, too.
 
This past weekend I made Monte Cristo sandwiches (baked ham sandwich recipe tweaked to add turkey and raspberry jelly), King Ranch Chicken for one meal and bowtie pasta with chicken, pesto and cream that we are eating tonight. I bought disposable foil baking dishes, stacked them up in my fridge and we've been eating from that all week. I also made spaghetti sauce and packed it in mason jars so it can be pulled out and heated up while the pasta cooks. It's made this week so much easier, I don't know why I don't do it more often!
 
I love the idea of it, but I have this weird aversion about eating frozen previously-cooked warmed up food (frozen food and leftovers are also on the list). I blame DD12...when I was pregnant with her, for some reason the smell of the refrigerator and especially the freezer made me insanely sick. Ever since, frozen foods and leftovers are on my no-go lists. It's too bad, though, because the thought of being able to prep things on the weekend and freeze until ready to eat sounds wonderful!

I will eat 2-3 day old hardboiled eggs, and I will bake meatballs ahead of time and freeze them to put in either a Swedish meatball or marinara sauce later in the week. For some reason, these two things don't bother me like everything else does.

The internet always seems to have amazing-sounding freezer meal recipes!
 


I love the idea of it, but I have this weird aversion about eating frozen previously-cooked warmed up food (frozen food and leftovers are also on the list). I blame DD12...when I was pregnant with her, for some reason the smell of the refrigerator and especially the freezer made me insanely sick. Ever since, frozen foods and leftovers are on my no-go lists. It's too bad, though, because the thought of being able to prep things on the weekend and freeze until ready to eat sounds wonderful!

I will eat 2-3 day old hardboiled eggs, and I will bake meatballs ahead of time and freeze them to put in either a Swedish meatball or marinara sauce later in the week. For some reason, these two things don't bother me like everything else does.

The internet always seems to have amazing-sounding freezer meal recipes!
If I am prepping a dish to freeze, I make it up to the bake step and then freeze, unless it is soup.
 
We just made a large batch of homemade turkey meatballs. After they were cooled, we lined a cookie sheet with parchment paper, put the meatballs on it, & put it in the freezer. Once frozen, we were able to transfer the meatballs to large freezer bags without them sticking together. They are delicious & way cheaper than buying frozen meatballs from the store. Since pasta is so easy and quick to make, it makes for a quick & easy dinner to make in a pinch!
 
I made two weeks of meals and froze them when I thought I would be too ill to cook. I did a chicken casserole, lasagna, pork chops and oven potatoes, lemon chicken and mashed potatoes, chicken parm. I cooked them all and froze them as individual portions do if one person felt like lemon chicken they could have it while someone else chose to have pork chops.

Some worked better than others (pork chops dry out so bad when reheated).
 


I'm not a huge fan of most frozen meals except for mince (ground beef/chicken etc) based dishes. I find prepping and freezing works better for me. When i do the meat shop I'll chop everything up, add the seasonings or sauces, then freeze it. A shame really as I really like the idea of OAMC but useless if I'm not going to eat it.
 
We do a lot of cooking our meats for the week on Sunday. And I often make chicken bone broth soups. This way we have meals ready to go for lunches and dinners- just add a salad or vegetables.

I am eating no pastas or grains. After years of stretching a meal dollar with pastas and grains to feed 4 kids, I've realized I feel so much better without pasta and grains. Ds 18 loves his macaroni though and often makes some for himself and his sister.
 
One of my go-to freezer crockpot meals is pepperoncini beef:

1 beef roast, 2-3 pounds
1 jar pepperoncinis (I use whole, but slices would work fine)
6 cloves of garlic
Any additional spices you feel like adding

Add all ingredients, including pepperoncini juice, to bag. Freeze. Night before cooking, put bag in the fridge. Pour into crock pot and cook on low 8-10 hours.

I generally serve it with mashed potatoes, but I've also put it on hoagie rolls with a slice of provolone cheese. The pepperoncinis definitely give it a kick.
 
I am super picky about freezer meals and their texture and taste when they are reheated. I have tried a number of recipes from freezer cookbooks and online sites with varying degrees of success. I seem to come back to the same kinds of dishes that work versus those that don't. The ones that reheat/cook well are things like lasagna, homemade macaroni and cheese, and baked ziti...casseroles in general, I guess. I generally under-cook the pasta by about half the time when I know I will be freezing a dish. I also make barbecue beef or pulled pork where I shred the meat, stir it back into the sauce, and then portion it out into freezer bags. The meat is easy to reheat and only requires buns and a salad to finish off the meal. This recipe for Beef Burgundy Simplified is awesome and freezes well.

Rather than making a lot of bulky meals ahead, I find that I can shave tons of time off of my meal prep by preparing portions of the meals ahead and then assembling them prior to cooking or baking. For example, I grill chicken ahead, which is then easy to toss into fettuccine broccoli Alfredo. I poach chicken breasts in bulk, shred the meat, and then freeze it for use in meals like Baked Spicy Chicken Tacos (delicious and super quick to make with the chicken pre-cooked and the rest of the items are all shelf stable. You can grate and freeze the cheese ahead as well, if you like). The same can also be done with hamburger or hamburger/onions, depending on how you use them most or even meatballs. For an easy meal, I like to use my pre-cooked hamburger in this Unprocessed Hamburger Helper meal. It is a one-pot deal, so very little clean-up afterwards.

I got the following recipe a friend of mine and it doubles and freezes easily. The best thing about it is that it doesn't contain any canned soups, which so many of these kinds of recipes use.

Wild Rice Chicken Supreme

1 6-oz pkg. Uncle Ben’s Long Grain and Wild Rice (Note: In place of the rice mix, you can use 1 cup of Trader Joe's Basmati Rice Medley prepared with a chicken bouillon cube or chicken broth)
¼ cup butter or margarine (I use butter)
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
Dash black pepper
1 cup half & half
1 cup chicken broth
2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1/3 cup chopped parsley (I used 1 Tbsp. dried parsley)
¼ cup slivered almonds

Prepare contents of rice and seasoning packets according to package directions. Meanwhile, melt butter in large saucepan. Add onion and celery and cook over low heat until tender. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Gradually stir in half & half and chicken broth. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Stir in chicken, parsley, almonds and cooked rice. Place in 2-quart casserole. Bake, uncovered, in 425 degree oven for 30 minutes. Makes 6-8 servings.


The one freezer cooking challenge that I have always wanted to try was to make my own All-in-One pasta entrees like Bertoli does, where you freeze the slightly under-cooked pasta, blobs of sauce, and other ingredients individually and then bag them when they are frozen. When you are ready to cook, you just toss everything into a pan and then heat through. Anyone out there have any great recipes for doing this? It seems like it should be so simple, but something tells me there have got to be "tricks" to making it work well, like blanching vegetables, etc.
 
One of my go-to freezer crockpot meals is pepperoncini beef:

1 beef roast, 2-3 pounds
1 jar pepperoncinis (I use whole, but slices would work fine)
6 cloves of garlic
Any additional spices you feel like adding

Add all ingredients, including pepperoncini juice, to bag. Freeze. Night before cooking, put bag in the fridge. Pour into crock pot and cook on low 8-10 hours.

I generally serve it with mashed potatoes, but I've also put it on hoagie rolls with a slice of provolone cheese. The pepperoncinis definitely give it a kick.
My DD made this (though I think there was butter and a Ranch packet involved) and we had it on hoagie rolls. SO good!
 

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