source: armigress
Every week I’ll pose a question for you to share your experiences and tips. If you have a question that you’d like me to post, I’d love to hear from you!
Some days are just so busy that suddenly I turn around and it’s dinner time. On those days when I haven’t planned something in advance, I inevitably end up turning to frozen pizza, and I’d love to have healthier options for times like this. I’ve never prepared freezer meals ahead of time, though, so I have a few questions:
What tips would you give someone that is trying freezer cooking for the first time? What’s the best way to store freezer meals? What things can’t you freeze? What’s your favorite freezer meal recipe?
Join the discussion — add your two cents to previous Ask DSM Readers questions too!
T @ The Happy Clipper
I love freezing corn. It’s not exactly a full meal, but I think it tastes soooo much better than store bought corn.
https://thehappyclipper.blogspot.com/2010/09/tip-of-day-9810-freezing-corn.html
Brooke
Veggie pasta sauce! I make a huge batch and to separate for meals into freezer bags. Then, I freeze them laying flat on a sheet pan so they take up less space.
Recipe:
2 jars Mushroom spag sauce
1 sweet potato (grated)
1 zucchini (grated)
2 carrots, peeled (grated)
1 small onion, fine diced
3 cloves minced garlic
dried Itailan seasoning
sugar
Parmesan cheese
– Saute the garlic and onion with spray olive oil until onion is soft.
– Add other veggies. Season with Italian spice as you’d like. Cook until just about done.
– Add jarred sauce.
– Add approx. 6 Tbsp sugar… just enough to take the bite out of the tomatoes. It’s a personal preference thing.
– Add some cheese at this point to the sauce if you’d like or at the table… your choice!
Simmer on med-low for at least 20 mins. Eat then or let cool and divide out into freezer bags for meals. We serve over angel hair pasta. My daughter LOVES this and has eaten it since she was 1. A favorite in our house!
Net
Tips for first time freezer cooking? Find a friend who has done it before and join her one day while she does it. She’ll give you lots of tips then. If you don’t know anyone that does, then just choose a few recipes and make sure you have all the supplies/ingredients.
I prefer storing meals in plastic freezer bags – frozen flat.
Favorite freezer meal: https://dunlapcookbook.blogspot.com/2010/09/cheesy-chicken-bundles.html
Melissa
I have been freezer cooking regularly now, and it is such a life saver! I would say start small. Pick a meal to cook on a day you are not busy and just double the recipe. Serve one to your family and freeze the other. Do this for 5 days, and you have 5 meals in the freezer waiting for those crazy nights.
I have a ton of freezer recipes and freezer cooking plans on my site if you would like to take a look:
https://www.momsplans.com/search/label/freezer%20meals
Good luck!
Carol Petropulos
I am really interested in doing this type of stuff too. Usually I just freeze stuff that I make extra. The biggest undertaking I have taken was to make 3 batches (180) peirogies. Since I have an allergy to dairy I have to make things special for me and like you said above it’s nice to have something “available” when you don’t feel like cooking a whole meal. For my first attempts I used the OAMC (Once A Month Cooking) meals from http://www.food.com.
Melissa
I just found out I have a dairy allergy too. I am trying to make freezer meals we all can eat without dairy. We like pork steamed dumplings. https://www.momsplans.com/2010/08/pork-steamed-dumplings.html
Do you have any other good dairy free recipes?
Net
I’ve been dairy free for the last 6mths b/c I’m bf my baby who seems to have an allergy to it….Some of my favorites: italian beef, bourbon chicken (although no bourbon) , and hawiian chicken (all freezer meals too) https://dunlapcookbook.blogspot.com/search/label/dairy-free.
Have you heard of https://www.foodallergymama.com/? It has some good recipes too.
I’m going to have to try your steamed dmplings!
Heather
Lasagna. It’s such a mess to make why not assemble 2 or 3 at a time and only clean the kitchen once? I follow the directions on the Barilla no bake noodle box EXCEPT that I use Newman’s Own marinara sauce. My family doesn’t like tomato chunks so I blend it smooth with 1/4 C. of water that I use to clean the jar with. (Put 1/4 C. water into empty jar, screw on lid, shake, and dump into blender.) No matter who I serve this to, I never get a complaint! The downside is you have to remember to defrost it the day before and it does not bake quickly so it’s not great as a last minute option.
Jeanne
I also mostly use the make extra method. When I make meat sauce, it makes enough for about 7 meals for my small family. Also, I cook extra brown rice or Three grain pilaf and freeze some portions (add a little water when reheating); add a piece of grilled fish and a steamed veg. for a quick meal. Most soups also freeze well (turkey barley, for example) and I love to have jambalaya in the freezer.
Lauralee Hensley
It would be Stuffed Bell Peppers, and I have five meals of Stuffed Bell Peppers in my freezer right now. Takes time on the day you make them if you make them for that many days, but so yummy. Then all you have to do is add an easy side and dinner is done.
P.S. I don’t top mine with tomato sauce when I freeze them, I add the tomato sauce when they are heating up in the oven.
Kara Mayfield
I began freezer cooking earlier this year and LOVE it! I have a daughter that we discovered is highly sensitive to dairy, so it’s made life easier. I do lots of muffins, waffles, etc for breakfast. I have 2 favorite freezer meals–
Weeknight Enchiladas
1 lb ground beef or turkey, browned and drained
1 can enchilada sauce (I use mild)
1 can tomato soup
1 pkg flour tortillas
1 pkg Mexican or Chedder Cheese, if desired
After meat is browned and drained,
add contents of tomato soup and enchilada sauce and stir throughly. (You do not have to heat thru.) Take 1 tortilla and add 1/4-1/3 cup of sauce, sprinkle some cheese on if desired and roll up. Place seam side down in Pam sprayed dish. Continue until you’ve made 8-10 tortillas. You should have approximately 1/2 the sauce left. Proceed to pour remaining sauce over tortillas and top with cheese if desired. Freeze now or bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
Chicken/Bean Burritos
1 can refried beans
1 1/2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
Taco seasoning
1 pkg flour tortillas
Take the shredded chicken and place in sealed container with taco seasoning and throughly shake until chicken is coated.
Take tortilla and spread on amount of refried beans you desire and then sprinkle on amount of chicken you desire–don’t make it too fat so you can’t roll it up!
Roll and wrap individually in foil. I keep these in the freezer and pull them out to thaw several hours before cooking at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. (These have been a lifesaver for me to pack in my dairy-free daughter’s lunchbox.)
Robin
I find the most time consuming part of the meal is usually the meat. The cooking extra method works great. It takes the same amount of time to cook 8 chicken breast or pork chops as it takes to cook 4, right? Easy. This is especially great for goodies. It keeps the family from eating the ENTIRE batch of cookies or muffins or whatever in one sitting. Once or twice a month, I might take an evening and do a huge batch of marinara sauce, dinner rolls or bread sticks.
*note: most dairy products don’t do well in the freezer unless they’ve been processed properly- find a *freezer recipe* if you’re using dairy.
Nilufer
Whatever it is that I am freezing, I use Glad Press and Seal. I love (LOVE) that stuff.
Michelle O.
I’ve been trying for a couple years now to refine what works for me as far as freezer cooking. I think it comes down to 3 basics: #1 if you are cooking something you know every one loves, just make extra & freeze it right away. The last 2 you can go with either, just have to find in what situations they work best for you. You can either A- freeze individual ingredients (which is nice, i do this w/ onions,bellpepper,sliced grilled chicken or shredded, parsley, strawberries. basically items i use in things i cook alot) -or- B make a whole meal & freeze for later. (best for like soups, casseroles ect). I have bounced back & forth alot between making meals & freezing or just freezing ingredients, but in the end, i think i mainly freeze ingredients so i don’t have as much prep & then i freeze the extra from what i make. As Far storage, that depends on what you can do really. What i have done is invest in one set of quality plastic dishes that says they can be used in the freezer & 2 sizes of ziplock freezer bags (gal & quart). I will say since this initial investment i have acquired an upright freezer & had to expand the amount of dishes i use. Not by alot, just a lil here & there, when i slowly realized all my dishes were being used in the freezer lol. Currently, i probably have double the amount of dishes when i started 2 years ago. But i have a good rotation down now & dont think i will be needing anymore :) No as far as what not to freeze…I have a book i use for refeance whenever i;m not sure & a very reliable site: pickyourown.org . Couple tips for quality: when doing pasta for the freezer, dont cook it all the way. Blanch anything that says it needs it & the food processor is your friend :) That’s bout it :) Hope this helps some :)
Sherryl
Two things I like to freeze. Red and green pepper slices which I pull out as needed for fajitas or frittatas..
For a full freezer meal, I freeze a homemade chicken pot pie. I take left over chicken or turkey, a can of carrots, a can of potatoes, frozen peas, 2 cans of low fat cream of chicken soup and mix it all together. I put it in a double pie crust. The bottom crust is cooked, then filled with the chicken and veggie mix. Then I top it with another pie crust. I freeze the whole thing. It takes about an hour to cook and dinner is served!
Heather
I make a homemade pot pie too, but thought I couldn’t freeze it b/c of the potatoes. I’m so excited to see this post. This is one of my famiy’s favs, but my recipe seems to be a bit more time consuming to make. If I’m going to make a big mess in my kitchen I’d rather do it once and get some extras in the freezer!
Amy
I am still new to Freezer Cooking, but I like it so far. It’s nice just to be able to pull something out of the freezer when you know it’s going to be a busy week!
Check your local library for books on the subject. I’ve tried “Fix, Freeze, Feast” and “Frozen Assets” and they’ve both had some good recipes.
Here’s a couple other recipes: Alpine Meatballs https://busycooks.about.com/od/groundbeefrecipes/r/alpinemeatballs.htm, Ham Stuffed Manicotti https://busycooks.about.com/od/pastacasserolerecipes/r/hammanicotti.htm, and Bleu Chicken https://www.momsbudget.com/freezerrecipes/bleuchicken.html.
Good luck!
MusicMaven
I love to make a huge batch of “brown bag burritos” from https://amysfinerthings.com/brown-bag-burritos. Since they are wrapped individually, they can thaw quickly, so you don’t have to wait for a whole casserole (or a bunch of other people) to enjoy some tasty tex-mex. I even go “sneaky chef” on it and add a bottle or two of whatever jar of baby food we have sitting around from WIC. Sometimes my husband enjoys the ground meat/refried bean/enchilada sauce mixture with chips before I can even get it all rolled into burritos. :) I think it’s time for another batch around here. Thanks for the reminder!
Shaunta
Jessica at lifeasmom.com has a wonderful tutorial for freezer cooking. This is how I got started.
https://lifeasmom.com/2010/09/how-to-do-freezer-cooking.html
Kris
Right now there are really only 4 things we regularly make and freeze. It’s just my husband and I, so we make a normal batch (don’t double) and freeze what we don’t eat.
1) chili – suppose this would work for soups too. We cook it on the weekend, eat a bowl that night, store the rest in containers that hold enough for one 1 meal.
2) spaghetti sauce – same as above
3) fettuccine or other white sauce – same as above
4) Rolls – instead of buying crescent rolls or dinner rolls, I make them myself. This is the only one I make a double batch of. I make them on the weekend, cook all the way, then freeze them all. My husband will then pull out only the amount we will eat for dinner that night and put in the oven to heat up. These taste fresh and is cheaper than buying at the store.
Jessica-MomForHim
I don’t do Once a Month Cooking, but I DO do freezer cooking! I find it too hard to do a full day of cooking, so I just make extra of some recipes and put some in the freezer for those crazy days. It’s so helpful!
I have several recipes here:
https://momforhim.blogspot.com/search/label/Freezer%20Cooking