Freezer Meals

[Laney]

Okay! I'm seriously considering starting to do monthly or bi-monthly freezer cooking. Right now, we eat a lot of junk food at home and never have real meals - mostly because my husband and I work opposite shifts to avoid having to pay child care for our little girl. It always seems so pointless to make a big mess and cook a big meal for just me.

But, my husband has liver disease and really shouldn't be eating all of these instant meals that are full of sodium and other junk thats hard on his body. Our baby is getting bigger and in the next 3 months or so will start on table food. I just need to start eating healthier, period! So, I figured if I did freezer meals, I could get all of the cooking out of the way and we could each have good tasting, healthy meals with out the hassle.

So what I need is your best freezer meal recipes! I'd like to hear some tried and true recipes. It will be a bonus if they can easily be packaged in single serving portions and if they are something a 1 year old would enjoy! I'd also like to hear how you go about doing your cooking sessions, about how long it takes to cook for 1 months or 2 weeks worth. Also, about how much do you spend on a grocery shopping trip before a cooking session and do you think you are able to save $$ by cooking this way.

Is that too much? LOL! I appreciate it anything!! Thanks so much!!

~Laney

 

[happy2bme]

Laney,

I am just starting to think about doing this as well. I have a book called "Frozen Assets - how to cook for a day and eat for a month" written by Deborah Taylor Hough. It has a whole bunch of great recipes (the baked ziti is the best I have ever eaten), complete grocery lists and a detailed prep list of what to get done before the big cooking day. If you are like me and not sure if you can or want to do an entire month of meals she has a two week meal plan as well.

Hope this helps, let us know how it goes.

"heartstrings: Melanie

 

[jackfrosty]

I'd love to do this as well! I've tried with 'frozen assets' and another book-I can't think of right now, but my kids are exremely fussy right now, as is my DH! I need recipes they will eat if I'm going to cook alot of something. This site looks promising-
http://chefmom.com/articles/oamcintro.htm
Don't forget about OC's freezer inventory printable page as well-so you know what is in there!
http://organizedchristmas.com/printable ... -inventory

 

[momof4]

I do a lot of freezer meals, but not the once-a-month deal. I've done that in the past, but I can't find the time to devote a day to it anymore.

I will double or triple any meal I make that freezes well - chili, soup, meatloaf, lasagna, enchiladas, pot pie filling, etc. - when I make it for dinner, package the extra and freeze it.

We grill a lot, so I will package boneless chicken, pork chops, or steak when they go on sale into meal sized portions in a ziplock with a marinade and stick in the freezer. I take it out the night before we'll use it and it marinates as it thaws in the fridge. At dinner I just throw it on the grill.

I also have a book called Don't Panic, It's in the Freezer. It has great freezer recipes with amounts listed to double or triple (or more) the recipe. It also goes into detail about packaging.

 

[christmascreations]

Until my dad finally breaks and gets the other refrigerator out of storage or buys a full freezer, my freezer space is limited so it is hard for me to freezer cooking although I have wanted to do this BADLY!!!!

Anyway a real time saver I learned from over at OC is to by ground beef on sale and precook as much as you would use for meatsauce, casseroles, hamburger helper (I have the beef stroganoff once in awhile as a simple treat...lol), etc... I bag the cooked ground beef in one pound amounts plus they shrink when cooked so again more freezer room for me. Two weeks ago I bought three whole chickens on sale for 69 cents a pound and cooked them all up. Then I took the meat off the bones and placed them in quart size freezer bags (yes one whole chicken fits in the quart size bags) again cooked, quick, convenient, and saves on space. If you were doing single servings you can of course break it down in smaller bags but I have 3 boys and me so I do the whole chicken in a bag. Either tonight or tomorrow I will cook up the 2 new chickens I bought and separate as usual. Most any meal is freezable that you would normally make just freeze them in single portions!!

I also do the marinate the meat in the bag before freezing...another great timesaver and reduces freezer burn when in the marinade!!! When bag is taken out to defrost it is already marinating at the same time...great tip for summertime when most meal are grilled!!!

 

[jmgconner]

I don't do once a month cooking, but I will double a recipe and put half in the freezer. For the most part, I put the meat in a marinade (like others have mentioned), and have all my veggies chopped and ready to go in the freezer.

Right now, I have a chicken kabobs in the freezer - just need to be brought out, thawed, and grilled. I also have some chicken, onions, and peppers ready to go for fajitas. I just bought a bunch of hamburger meat for DH to make into our favorite hamburgers (we add lots of spices and seasonings). I'll wrap them individually and put them in the freezer. Then, they'll just need to be thawed and grilled.

I'm making chili this week. I'll cook it completely, and put half in the freezer. I also make large batches of pancakes and waffles. They keep excellently in the freezer - just let them cool completely before freezing.

I also second the idea of cooking up taco meat and spaghetti meat (or meatballs) and freezing. It makes dinner so easy - and I always wonder why I don't do more of it.

 

[johnasmom]

I did the freezer cooking for the first time through last Christmas and loved it. I had read a lot about it and thought it sounded great but like others I didn't have a day nor the imagination to plan for 2-4 weeks so I cooked extra at one meal to freeze a duplicate meal or two. That really worked for me and it didn't really seam to take that much more time. I made extra soups or chili and when I cleaned up I would put it in a freezer container instead of a leftover container and just freeze. When I made an extra casserole-I would make the first one (for dinner) and then while it was cooking I put the other together and into the freezer. I always keep busy while the casserole is in the oven anyway and a lot of times I wouldn't hear the timer go off so sometimes the casserole was overdone-since I'm in the kitchen getting the freezer meal ready I haven't overcooked. Hubby and the kids love that!!

 

[thood]

Another thing that freezes well is pizza, although I don't know how good that would be for the baby. I buy one of those ready to bake and eat pizzas from wal-mart, cut it into slices and freeze. Take out as many slices as you want, bake and eat.

 

[jampss]

Snacks:

In the summer, sometimes I just want a smoothie ... so now when the strawberries go on sale because it's their season, I buy and freeze all ready to take out of container and throw into blender. I do that with blueberries, peaches, and pitted cherries as well. I also freeze cranberries and so when I make whole wheat/corn bread I throw in some thawed cranberries. Also, I pour some of the smoothies I make into the pop cycles and have 'healthy' ones for us to snack on. Freezers are nice.
:rnament:

 

[momof2boys]

Just wanted to pass on this website that is really helpful when it comes to freezing foods:

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/freeze.html

I try to at least pick one meal a week that I will make a double batch of and freeze- comes in handy when we are on the run...

 

[pixiestick]

I joined a yahoo group a couple of months ago about freezer cooking. Here is the link --- I would recommend doing the daily digest as there is a lot of traffic on the list.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Friendly-Freezer/

pixiestick

 

[Laney]

Wow! Thanks for all the great tips and I'm excited to see that other people are starting out in this venture too!

I make my own spaghetti sauce and I guess I never thought about making a double batch to freeze ahead. That makes so much sense! Same thing with lasagna. I could make the regular batch and cook them in two smaller containers so that there is a second one to put in the freezer! We never eat the full thing anyways.

And thanks for the link - there were a lot of useful ideas there too!

Some things I think I would like to try:

-Freezer marinading (that is an awesome idea!)
-Lasagna and other pasta sauces
-Chicken Burritos (found this recipe back on OC)
-Pizza
-Taco Soup
-Chili

I'm sure more would come to mind, I just have to think some more. Some things I guess would be better to make full size meals and some to make in single size versions.

Any other tips or recipes would be greatly appreciated!!

~Laney

 

[jampss]

Wow, awesome site! Thanks!

 

[MrsSoup]

I would love to start doing this! I'll have to wait until hubby gets home from Korea though so the meals will actually get eaten. lol

 

[jodilee10128]

There is a book called Once and Month Cooking. My Mom used it while we were kids and she had no time to cook meals every night. You take one day and cook all your meals for the whole month. Usually it was a Saturday or Sunday after church she would do all the cooking. We would help her and that is how we learned to cook. You can buy the book online at the Amazon.com website.
Good luck!!!!

"heartstrings:

 

[christmas3]

Thanks for the ideas. I have been wanting to do this and have not seemed to have time. I am going to start trying to double batch my cooking. Kroger here had whole chickens on sale this week and I got 3 of them. I am going to cook all of them and put together some casseroles for the freezer. I also have extra ground beef and will cook it before I put it in the freezer.

Thanks for getting me motived!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:grouphug:
Christmas3
:haha: :haha: :haha: