Freezer Meal Make Ahead Recipes

debrakgoogins

What healthy recipes do you have that are make ahead freezer meals? They need to be easily divided into single servings, freezable and heat in the microwave.

I am pretty good about making meals ahead of time, freezing them and having them available in the freezer at my office. It prevents me from running out to buy take out when I forget to pack my lunch bag. I am looking for some new recipe ideas. For easy reference, this is what I make now:

Homemade turkey sausage and vegetable egg patties
Steel cut oatmeal with cranberries and apples
Green chili chicken enchiladas with spicy quinoa
Chicken, black bean and corn burritos with brown Spanish rice
Curried butternut squash soup
Vegetarian Spinach Curry with brown rice
Turkey meatloaf (made in mini muffin trays) with cauliflower mash
Homemade Salisbury steak with sweet potato

debrakgoogins

***Crickets***

Cheri1218

I like turkey taco meat with extra black beans, freezes well and reheats easily.
I also make chili and freeze it.
I wish I had more recipes. I love pulling something out of the freezer the night before and dinner is ready when I come home from work.

debrakgoogins

I may make some chili to freeze. That's a good idea. I already do a chicken black bean burrito but I may try your suggestion for something different. Thanks for the ideas!

nikkit321

You can freeze most anything. I like to freeze leftovers from dinner for an easy lunch later. You could look at the crockpot recipe threads, those would make a lot for you to pack up individually.

I made up some freezer containers this week. In the bottom I put either brown rice or quinoa, then a cooked chicken breast. Then I threw on some black beans and salsa. You can top it with cheese if you want.

paulaspoole

Would ❤️the following recipes please

Green chili chicken enchiladas with spicy quinoa
Chicken, black bean and corn burritos with brown Spanish rice

Queenmunchy

I freeze EVERYTHING. I don't like to cook during the week, so I started to batch cook freezer meals when my daughter started solids. I figured if I was making and freezing baby food, I might as well do the same for myself.

I love all kinds of curries, beans, chilis, stews, soups frozen in individual containers. I make meatballs, nuggets, mini meatloaves, and burgers that are all at least 50% non-starchy vegetable, and I flash freeze them. I also like to make mini pot pies, mini quiches, freezer burritos, and stuffed peppers. On the side, I freeze cooked and chopped chicken in portioned bags, portioned rice, cauliflower rice, taquitos, wontons, etc.

debrakgoogins

paulaspoole wrote: »

Would ❤️the following recipes please

Green chili chicken enchiladas with spicy quinoa
Chicken, black bean and corn burritos with brown Spanish rice

I start with basic shredded chicken. To make Mexican chicken, I just toss boneless, skinless chicken breast into the crock pot with a small amount of reduced sodium chicken stock and homemade taco seasoning (if you want that recipe, just let me know). I cook it on high - 4 hours on mine. Remove the chicken and shred it, add a little of the stock back to the shredded chicken.

Green chili enchiladas-
I make six at a time. Place 2 oz shredded chicken, 1/2 oz Mexican shredded cheese and 1/6 of a can of chopped green chilis into a whole wheat tortilla. Make the stuffing into a line down the center so you can roll it up. Line them up in a baking dish. Top the enchiladas with green chili sauce (I use Mrs. Renfros Jalepeno salsa because I like spicy!). Top with a 1/4 cup of shredded cheese. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10 more. Freeze in individual containers. Heat for 3 minutes in the microwave to eat.

Chicken, Black Bean and corn burritos-
Combine shredded chicken, one can drained black beans, one bag of frozen fiesta style corn, 1/2 cup shredded cheddar and seasoning (I use my homemade). Divide the filling evenly into 10 flour tortillas. Fold the sides in and roll them into burritos. Place them on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Flash freeze them. Separate them into individual freezer baggies. To reheat, wrap one in a paper towel and microwave for 2 minutes. Turn it over and heat for one more minute.

debrakgoogins

I forgot the recipes for spicy quinoa and brown Spanish rice!

Spicy Quinoa-
1 cup rinsed quinoa
2 cups reduced sodium broth
1 tsp chil powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp course black pepper
1 tsp sriracha sauce
1 tsp grape seed oil (any kind will do)
1/2 tsp cayenne

You can cook it on the stove as directed on the quinoa but I just throw it all in my rice cooker and choose the white rice setting. If you use the rice cooker DO NOT skip the oil. It prevents the quinoa from clogging your vent.

Brown Spanish Rice
1 cup brown rice
1 can diced tomato with green chili
2 cups reduced sodium broth
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cilantro
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp curry powder

Again, this can be cooked on the stove but I cook it in my rice cooker on the brown rice setting.