When to freeze meals; any easy meal ideas?

[PartyOf5]

One of my New Year's resolutions is to try and cook/prep once a week to make things easier during the week and less tempting to eat out. I'll admit I'm not the best cook and I have a silly question I need to ask my fellow budget friends.

One of the things I'd like to make ahead is lasagna. However, I'm not sure when to freeze it. Do I prep as normal then freeze? If so, how much more time would I need to add to the cooking? Or, is it better to cook the lasagna, then freeze and reheat during the week?

Also, if you have any easy make ahead meals, that would be great. I would like 5 or 6 good ones (and they have to be easy!) to rotate, leaving one or two nights for leftovers and/or pizza night.

I find by being prepared, it saves a ton of money. My main goal this year is to cut back spending by at least $5,000. Eliminating eating out will make up a huge chunk of that! My oldest will start driving in 2007 and it won't belong before college starts so I need to really buckle down now.

Thank you!

 

[GlennandAnn]

You can prepare your lasagna as you normally do, let it cool completely and then freeze it. Some of the things I make ahead and freeze are lasagna , chicken pot pie, meatloaf.

Ann

 

[crl]

You can freeze that before you bake it. I think you add 30-40 minutes to the baking time. Great idea. I should try this too.

 

[katerkat]

I've frozen it both after baking - ate some that night and froze the rest - and froze it after prepping but before baking.

Ziti casserole also freezes well, and I make and freeze several batches of spaghetti sauce (red, red/meat, and pink) so I only have to unfreeze one container per meal.

You can cook ground beef ahead, then unfreeze and add seasoning for tacos, add to sauce, etc.

I pre-trim and -cut my chicken, so I only have to grab out two breasts, a bag of smaller cutlets, or a bag of chunks, depending on the recipe.

 

[Danemom]

Great post, PartyOf5!
I always feel so clueless about freezing things.
I hope you guys that do this will post some recipes that freeze well!

 

[pweyl36]

Just subing

 

[strasfamily]

I like to freeze chicken in a ziplock with bottled marinade. It is yummy on the grill.

 

[neatokimmo]

I put lasagna together and cook it then stick it in the fridge to cool down. The next day, it's so much easier to cut. I also wrap each piece in saran before I do foil. Sometimes I can taste the foil, probably because of the acid of the tomatoes.

Meatballs & meatloaf freeze really well too. I freeze the meatballs already cooked, I pop 5 into little snack bags then put them in the bigger freezer Ziploc. That keeps them from freezing into a big glob. I freeze the meatloaf raw already mixed up in the pan I'm going to cook it in. It takes a couple of days for it to defrost in the fridge. I just don't like mixing it up very often because it gets under my nails and I'm too disorganized to find the disposable gloves I bought just for that reason.

Do a Google search for once a month meals, you will find all kinds of recipes and it's so much easier having things already cooked or put together plus you save a ton by buying in bulk

Kim

One of my New Year's resolutions is to try and cook/prep once a week to make things easier during the week and less tempting to eat out. I'll admit I'm not the best cook and I have a silly question I need to ask my fellow budget friends.

One of the things I'd like to make ahead is lasagna. However, I'm not sure when to freeze it. Do I prep as normal then freeze? If so, how much more time would I need to add to the cooking? Or, is it better to cook the lasagna, then freeze and reheat during the week?

Also, if you have any easy make ahead meals, that would be great. I would like 5 or 6 good ones (and they have to be easy!) to rotate, leaving one or two nights for leftovers and/or pizza night.

I find by being prepared, it saves a ton of money. My main goal this year is to cut back spending by at least $5,000. Eliminating eating out will make up a huge chunk of that! My oldest will start driving in 2007 and it won't belong before college starts so I need to really buckle down now.

Thank you!

 

[bengalbelle]

I think I have some recipes somewhere that I'll look for (I hope to stock my freezer too because we're horrible about eating out) but a tip I recently read is to put whatever you're freezing in the refrigerator to get cold before you freeze it. That is supposed to reduce the amount of ice crystals since it's not taking as long to freeze.

 

[Coll0610]

I've found that with meatballs and meatloaf, it works much better if I start out with ground beef that hasn't been frozen, prepare the meatballs or meatloaf and then freeze them before cooking them. If I start with ground beef that have already been frozen and thawed, they don't come out as well.

I make a double batch of spaghetti sauce and freeze it in rubbermaid containers. After it's frozen, I take it out of the rubbermaid and wrap it in plastic wrap and then put it in a ziploc. That way I don't tie up my rubbermaid containers too long. When we want spaghetti, I thaw the sauce in a fry pan with a lid. It takes about as long to thaw the sauce as it does to cook the noodles, so we can be eating in less than a half hour.

Another thing I do sometimes when I have extra time one night is make one of those meals that always tastes better as left overs and save it for a busy night later that week. I have a chicken and rice casserole that we like better the second day, so sometimes I'll throw one in the oven while I'm fixing that night's dinner. Then we'll have the chicken and rice the next night. It is a wonderful feeling to know that dinner is taken care of!

Something else I've been experimenting with is freezing more leftovers. I don't like a lot of leftovers but there are a few things that I will eat left over, like spaghetti. If I have extra spaghetti that I know I won't eat in the next couple days, I'll freeze it and see how it is a couple weeks later. If it's no good, I haven't lost anything since I wasn't going to eat it anyway. But, I've been surprised that a couple of the things weren't bad. And it's cheaper than a store bought frozen meal.

 

[chop456]

I rec'd a seal-a-meal for my birthday (2 years ago) and still have not used it! My plan was to try and do the once a month cooking. Maybe we can motivate each other with great recipes and advice!

 

[mjantz]

I like some chicken recipes I've found on Recipezaar. There's 2 dump chicken recipes & one for Frugal Gourmets sweet sticky chicken. Both are really easy & if I buy one of those big bags of pre-frozen breasts at Costco, I can usually make 2 of each for 6 meals.
I have also used my crockpot to make a huge batch of chicken taco meat. Take a small bag (average size from the grocery store) of boneless, skinless breasts, thaw & put in a crockpot with about a cup of water & 1-2pkgs of taco seasoning. I usually put them in before I leave in the AM & once I get home from work I start shredding the chicken little by little in the crockpot as it continues to cook/marinate in the taco seasoning. I can usually get 4-5 containers of taco meat & since flour tortillas are a staple at our house, this is an incredibly easy meal.

 

[AngieWin]

I think I have some recipes somewhere that I'll look for (I hope to stock my freezer too because we're horrible about eating out) but a tip I recently read is to put whatever you're freezing in the refrigerator to get cold before you freeze it. That is supposed to reduce the amount of ice crystals since it's not taking as long to freeze.

Yes! To reduce the temperature safely of the meals you can use an ice-water bath (place the items in water safe containers and place in the sink with ice water) or put in the fridge until it is no longer warm.

By putting the items in the freezer while it is still hot causes 2 problems - it causes the ice crystals & it raises the temperature of the other items in the freezer, which could cause them to thaw.

 

[dcfromva]

I have had good sucess with freezing party meatballs--I use the recipe I found in the Betty Crocker cookbook. I make (and cook) the meatballs ahead of time and freeze them one layer deep in a gallon size freezer bag. The sauce consists of 1 bottle of chili sauce and 1 jar of grape jelly. We serve it with rice and a vegetable. If the meatballs are totally frozen, it takes about an hour to heat them up. If they have been thawed out in the fridge, it only takes about 45 mins.
Some folks get the prepared frozen meatballs from the store and keep them on hand so they can skip the step of making the meatballs. (My DH likes the Betty Crocker recipe for the meatballs, so I generally stick with making them myself).

-DC

 

[bevtoy]

Subscribing

 

[MiniGirl]

Take a look at this site www.savingdinner.com. If any of you are familiar with FlyLady, you already know about it. She has several different menus to choose from, and most of the meals we have enjoyed. Now, there is a cost to subscribe, but there are free menus for you to sample. Basically, she includes a shopping list and all the recipes for your main dishes. One menu is called MegaMenu (I think) and it is a once a month, prep, cook, freeze type of menu. I see that she has a Low Carb MegaMenu, too. Check it out.

 

[KirstenB]

Enchiladas served over rice seem to freeze well for me. Like lasagna, I just make a double batch. Then I don't do the "final" 20-30 minutes of cooking, which is really just to melt everything together since the meat, etc, I already cooked. With each, I find they do taste better if I add extra sauce after thawing/reheating.

 

[My2Cinderellas]

a while back, maybe over on the community board, someone posted a link to the Warehouse Gourmet cookbook - the concept is buying a big tray of meat at Sam's/Costco and prepping several meals at once, then freezing them.

http://www.warehousegourmet.com/

I can personally vouch for the Salisbury Meatballs, it's now a family favorite. The recipe is listed under sample recipes on the website. We've tried several, and figured out how to tweak a couple of them to suit our tastes.

I also saw several "freeze ahead" cookbooks at Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago, so this is a trend that is booming.

 

[LisaG]

One of the easiest meals to freeze is Baked Spaghetti. When I make spahghetti, I make a double batch of sauce and noodles. After we eat, I mix the leftover noodles into the leftover sauce. I then put this in a pyrex dish and top with whatever shredded cheese I have on hand...usually a mixture of mozzarella, cheddar, and parmesean. Cool in fridge, then Freeze.

When ready to eat...thaw in fridge overnight and bake for 40-45min. at 350.

 

[disneymom3]

For a couple of months I went to one of those make your meals and freeze them places. I got some great idea of stuff to make myself and it remotivated me to get back to freezer cooking. For meats, basically anything you are going to cook you can just make double and freeze half in two layers of heavy duty freezer bags. For instance, tonight we are having pork chops in plum sauce. It's somethihg I made about a month ago and put half away.

For pizzas I bake the crust, then add whatever toppings I want. Just tried a white chicken pizza that was awesome. Toppings were diced cooked chicken, some chopped up broccolli, parmesan, romano and mozzarella cheese and then drizzled with a simple alfredo sauce.

Spaghetti pie is one of our favorites. Combine spaghetti, sauce, cheese, egg and cottage cheese. Mix it up and pour in a pie pan then sprinkle with cheese and freeze it.

Most of the time I put my meals in the fridge a couple of days before I need them and then put them in the oven the night we are eating them.