I have recently become addicted to freezer meals. They save time, money, and headache! Plus they can be really fun!
When I was pregnant I thought it would be a good idea to stuff my freezer full of food so that I wouldn't have to cook very much while adjusting to my new roll as a mother. But, as I began looking for recipes, I got discouraged. Nothing looked good. It seemed like I'd either have to eat soup or boring old lady casseroles every night. Plus we had a tiny freezer. How was I going to fit tons of pans and casserole dishes in there?
I am happy to announce that my first perception of freezer meals was wrong and I eventually found things that worked. I finally decided I was just going to do my own thing and hope for the best. I found recipes we would actually eat and ways to freeze them using as little space as possible. My first round of meals was a huge success!! I cooked for three days and made enough food to last us two months. And I had a needy 5 month old demanding my attention. If you can rid yourself of distractions, you could easily do it in one day!
This week, I did round number two. Again, it was three days worth of cooking, but since I now have a more independent 7 month old and because I knew what I was doing, I was able to make more food. Here are the results! I don't know how I fit it all in there!
Ok, now on to the good stuff. The details. Here is what I have learned. I have no idea how to organize my thoughts, so I'll just start listing some things that I think would be helpful to know. This is going to be long, but I hope it helps!
You can freeze almost anything. If it fits in a bag, you can probably freeze it!
When I start cooking, I take all the chicken that needs to be precooked and throw it in a glass dish along with some broth. I bake it at 375 for about half an hour (or until it's all cooked). I usually cut the breasts into 2-3 pieces so that it cooks faster. Then I cut it up using a large knife because it's faster than shredding with a fork. Some recipes are better with grilled chicken, so I cook those in the George Forman.
Casseroles are great freezer meals. But that doesn't mean boring old lady food. I'll share some recipes later, but here is how I freeze them. Since there are only 2 of us who eat real food, we only need half of an 8"x8" pan for most meals. But most recipes fill a 9"x13" pan. That is 3-4 meals for us. So, I take an 8"x8" pan and line half of it with plastic wrap (be sure to leave extra to cover the top later). Then I put a piece of foil in the middle to keep it from sticking to the other half of the pan. Then I line the other half with a different piece of plastic wrap. Then I fill both sides, cover, and freeze. If I have more, I will either do the same thing in a different pan, or I will freeze one meals worth in a loaf pan. I let it freeze for at least an hour, until it can keep it's shape, then I pop it out, wrap another piece of plastic wrap around each meal portion and put them all in freezer bags. I can usually fit two meal portions in one gallon sized bag. I write what it is and any instructions I need on it. If you're worried you wont use it quickly enough, I'd put a date too, so you know if it's still good.
Things like enchiladas freeze well. I make them in groups of 4, wrap all 4 together in plastic wrap and put them in a gallon freezer bag. I don't put the sauce or cheese on top. Instead, I put extra sauce in a small freezer bag and lay it flat on top of the enchiladas inside the gallon bag. Then when I'm ready to cook, I pour on the sauce and top with cheese. If it's a kind of cheese I don't usually have lying around, I'll freeze enough of it in a small bag for the meal.
Pasta and pasta bakes are easy too! I make the bakes like I would casseroles- meal sized portions in a glass dish, then pop out and put in a bag. If there is anything that needs to go on top, I freeze it like I do with the enchiladas. One thing I might do differently in the future is freeze a little extra sauce to mix in because my one complaint about pasta bakes is that they are always too dry. But the hubs doesn't mind, so maybe I'm just picky. If it's just normal pasta, I cook everything and throw it in a bag as is. Then I freeze flat.
Soups are an obvious freezer meal, so I wont say much about them. But I measure out meal sized portions and freeze flat.
One of my favorite discoveries is food in hockey puck form, as the hubby would call it. I have made meatloaf and chicken pot pie in small servings by cooking them in muffin tins. I'm sure there are a lot more things I could do like that. It makes it really easy to take out, nuke, and eat. Good for dinner or lunch!
Speaking of lunch, there are lots of fun things you can make! I like to have bean and cheese burritos on hand. The hubs could eat them every single day! I just roll and wrap individual burritos, then throw them all into a freezer bag. If we ever have left over meat, I make burritos out of that too. Another favorite is puffs of some sort. Just flatten out buttermilk biscuits, top them with filling, and roll. We like pizza sauce, pepperoni, and cheese. I've also done buffalo chicken and cheese. I bet something like chicken, broccoli, and ranch would be good too. I planned on making empanadas, but haven't gotten around to it yet. You can fill those with all sorts of things. I also made BBQ chicken quesadillas with mozarella cheese. You can add stuff like green onions or peppers too. I wrap individual quesadillas in plastic wrap and put them in a bag.
Another thing I like to do is fill those little plastic serving sized cups and freeze them. I do taco meat, sloppy joe meat, and BBQ beef or pork. Sometimes I make it just for that purpose. But most of the time, I just freeze the left overs. This way you can have individual servings of things and don't have to make a huge meal. I also like to have some grilled chicken frozen in bags to use for things like quesadillas and salads. I cook the chicken (usually in the George Forman), cut it up, and flash freeze on a cookie sheet. Then I can put it in a bag without all the pieces getting stuck together. Sometimes I also freeze 1/2 pound of taco meat in small bags that we can pull out to have nachos or tacos if we want more than one serving.
Another easy thing to do is put uncooked chicken in a freezer bag with whatever marinade or sauce you want. I just put enough for the 2 of us in a quart sized bag and freeze. You can use marinades like teriyaki, BBQ, etc... or you can do something more complicated like garlic, honey dijon and maple syrup, lemon something or other, or whatever you want.
I have also found that it is nice to have some cooked breasts in the freezer too. I cut them into serving size pieces and cook either on the George Forman or in the oven. Instead of cutting it up like I would the rest of the chicken, I just throw enough for a meal into a bag and feeze. Then you can quickly make something like Monterey Chicken that doesn't need marinated because all the flavor comes from what you put on top.
I've also breaded raw chicken pieces and browned them. Then you can flash freeze them on a cookie sheet and toss them in a bag. Hubs likes breaded chicken better than "slimy" chicken, especially for Chinese dishes. You can make things like Orange Chicken quickly because the chicken is already preped and just needs cooked. You can also put the sauce/marinade in the bag too when you freeze it. To make your life even easier, you can throw it in the crock pot the day of instead of cooking in a pan like I would usually do. It's already browned anyway!
That's all I can think of for now, so let's move on to the recipe part. If I think the recipe is self explanatory, or the comments above explain what you need to know, then I'll just link the recipe. I'm sure you can figure it out!
Casseroles
Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole (This one is our absolute favorite!!)
Chicken and Sausage Jambalya (I left out the paprika and tobasco and added cajun seasoning to taste. It was really good!)
Broccoli and Cheese Casserole (Add chicken and it's a meal)
Quesadilla Casserole
Chicken and Wild Rice
Pastas
Cajun Chicken on the Lighter Side
Chicken Tetrazzini (I actually combined this recipe with another one I like. I liked that this one had cream cheese (which was on sale) instead of parmesan cheese. But I liked that the other one added 8 oz of spaghetti. I made it just like the recipe, except I left out the Italian dressing and added spaghetti. Also, I chopped the onion, instead of putting it in rings. You could also do 1/2 lb of mushrooms sauteed in butter and lemon juice instead of the onion.)
Italian Sausage Spaghetti (This could be done with ground beef or turkey also. Pretty simple. Pasta, sauce, meat, and, if you want, cheese. Toss in bag and freeze).
Alfredo Pasta Bake (Rotini pasta, chicken, Alfredo sauce, 1 can of Italian diced tomatoes, green onions, mozarella cheese on top.)
Other Good Stuff
Spicy Chicken Enchiladas (Hubs said he likes this better than our standard chicken enchiladas, so I've made it both times. I've never added the avocados, though, because they are expensive and I don't know how well they would freeze. I did see on Pinterest, though, that you CAN freeze avocados, so it might be fine)
Foil Pack Chicken and Broccoli Chicken
Mini Chicken Pot Pies (I also made ones with chicken, broccoli and cheese)
Lemon Chicken (I just made sure to line to pan with plastic wrap before assembling)
Freezer Ham Sammies (I just left it wrapped in foil and froze)
Man Pleasing Chicken (It's the last recipe.)
Cilantro Lime Shrimp
Monterey Chicken (Top chicken breasts (raw or cooked) with BBQ sauce, bacon, and cheese (in that order). Bake either until chicken is cooked, or (if that's already done) until cheese is melted. You can also add diced tomatoes and green onions to the top.)
Soups
Chili
Chicken and Dumplings
Taco Soup
Tortilla Soup
Potato Soup
Broccoli Cheese Soup
I guess that's all for now. I'll add more posts as I try more meals. I hope this has motivated you to try your hand at freezer meals. I promise it will save you so much time and money. I spent less than $150 this time around. The only thing I'll have to spend money on for the next month or two is fresh produce and things like milk and eggs! Remember it's a few days (or less!) of work for weeks or months of hassle-free dinners and lunches!!!
