Freezer meals!

AsellusReborn

If you're doing or have done freezer meals, want to share favourite recipes? I realized I'm 32+3 and really, really need to get my butt in gear here.

So far I've got:

Beef stew - I plan to cut up and throw all the ingredients in a ziplock bag for - this one can't cook straight from frozen due to the meat, so will need to be thawed in the frig the day before:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/slow-cooker-beef-stew-i/detail.aspx



Baked Ziti - This one I plan to freeze in disposable tins: http://southernfood.about.com/od/pastabake/r/bl30326b.htm


Tuna Tetrazini (oops, no recipe online for this, sorry!) in a disposable tin

Lasagna - basic recipe on the noodle box, with no-cook noodles, in a disposable tin


Poppyseed chicken - This one is not super duper healthy haha, but looks like it might be good for a day where I just need creamy comfort food...and I know those will happen too! I'll do this in a tin, as it's pretty casserole-y, and probably do over enriched rotini from Barilla or mix in with cooked Barilla and just bake.

http://www.supperwithsouthernliving.blogspot.com/2013/05/poppyseed-chicken.html


Enchiladas - I'll be freezing this in tins, in both ground turkey and veggie crumble versions

http://www.supperwithsouthernliving.blogspot.com/2013/03/beef-enchiladas.html

queenmolly68

I would go ahead and cook up a bunch of ground turkey or lean ground beef and keep it portioned in the freezer so you can pull it out to make a quick meal, like spaghetti or chili.

AsellusReborn

We usually use the morningstar veggie crumbles for stuff like that, so that we're actually good to go on, but that's a great idea in general, Molly!

lisapr123

Several friends asked for freezer meals or casseroles from friends when they had their second child. Seemed to work out well, as they got lots of variety and the friends got to come visit mom and baby when it was their day or week.

Chili & lasagna always seem to get better with age for me....they're basically the only thing I'll reheat once it's been frozen.

dandelyon

One of the things I made for myself was a few dozen healthy muffins. They were smallish and fit about 3 to a Baggie, so I would thaw a few at a time. They were super healthy and worked great when I needed some quick nourishment.

For my friends 4th baby we had a freezer meal shower... We all got together and hammered out half a dozen freezer meals. One that got rave reviews was a breakfast muffin with eggs, cheese, bacon, and bis quick mixed together, cooked, and frozen. I found it on Pinterest.

AsellusReborn

Lisa, I wish that was a possibility - I think I'm on my own though! It sounds really really nice.

Chili is a good one I think. We cheat though lol - it's one of the few my husband will cook so we dumb it down. It's so simple with the recipe we use (it's sort of a cheat meal for us - veggie crumbles, canned chili beans, canned chili fixings (peppers/tomatoes), cheese, and tabasco thrown in a pot that I am not making it ahead of time though - I think it'd be more work with the simple version we do to freeze and then unfreeze, haha! If we made real chili I'd so do that though lol.


Muffins a re a good idea, I'll add those to my list. I love the freezer meal shower idea, but I feel funny asking for a shower. I wish my family had wanted to celebrate with a sprinkle or hand me down shower or food shower or something - not because I want presents, but because for my shower with my first I was on bed and couldn't have fun. I'm healthy with this pregnancy and want to celebrate, but ah well - second kiddo. Breakfast muffins sound yummy!

TinaBean007

Bump.... 34.5 weeks... and like the OP, need to get my butt in gear too!!

Muffins are a great idea. I wonder if pancakes can be frozen? I prefer mine over store bought

mrs_n0rris

Pancakes can definitely be frozen and then heated in the toaster (same with waffles--just like the store bought) or in the microwave. My husband is gluten-free so we do this a lot so he can have something fast to grab in the morning or for a snack.

samarieL

My mom and sister are going to come over in a couple of weeks and our goal is 20 - 24 meals in the freezer when they leave. We'll make multiples of the same recipes for some of them - taco meat, chili, meatloaf, lasagna etc.

Pancakes freeze nicely and I plan to do up a HUGE batch of them as my kids love them for breakfast. I lay them in a single layer on a cookie sheet, freeze for 30 min to an hour and the stick them in baggies.

I would also like to make some egg sandwiches and muffins.

I started collecting recipes on pinterest a month or two ago and will go through those and pick some to make too. I don't mind the recipes that need to be baked but want to do a dozen or so that can just be popped into the crock pot and served at the end of the day.

ajzmann

Love this topic! I'm making notes!

I've made these for new parents:
http://www.food.com/recipe/breakfast-burritos-once-a-month-cooking-30165
AND for myself..they are fantastic, and great for a quick, nutritious meal.

I am also a big fan of making and freezing pasta sauce so all you have to do is thaw and make noodles. I like to make my own homemade pasta sauce though.

I have also found that freezing the sauces/chilis/soups in sandwich bags is more space-efficient. We live in a small apartment with just the one freezer, so we have to maximize our freezer space. This has been a great way of doing that.

heathermora11

I just had my baby and I'm thankful I had these in my freezer: healthy muffins, dinner rolls, pasta (you can cook and freeze individual portions, great for feeding the toddler when I don't want to watch a pot boil), rice, pre-portioned smoothie ingredients, vegetarian Shepards pie, shredded chicken. Basically I wanted to eat healthy salads a lot and it was nice to have "fixings" to go along with them ready to go.

kristapennie

Here's what I made for my freezer and I'm super great full I did...

Peanut butter & jam roll ups with strawberries & bananas
Bean & cheese burritos
Southbeach diet quiches
Breakfast oatmeal cupcakes
Blueberry quinoa scones
Pancakes - basic blueberry wheat and banana chocolate chip
Veggie sheppards pie (with ground round.)

I was looking for the quick and easy Lunch or snack type items...i found a lot of my recipes on Pinterest

Andrea3030

My goal is 20 frozen meals. I'll be 31 weeks Monday so I'm waiting until September to start. I plan on just making these meals in double batches, one to eat that day and one to freeze. Most of these I've already made a few times.

Mulligatawny Soup (I use about 1/2 the butter called for and just a smidge of 2% milk instead of cream)
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mulligatawny-Soup-I/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=mulligatawny&e8=Quick Search&event10=1&e7=Home Page

The Best Chicken Enchiladas
http://www.budgetsavvydiva.com/2012/02/chicken-enchiladas/

Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili w/ Sweet Potatoes
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/slow-cooker-vegetarian-chili-with-sweet-potatoes-00000000049528/index.html

Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti (This one isn't healthy at all but it's yummy!)
http://www.plainchicken.com/2011/11/baked-cream-cheese-spaghetti-casserole.html

Low Fat Baked Ziti with Spinach
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/09/low-fat-baked-ziti-with-spinach.html

Chicken Enchilada Casserole
http://www.iwashyoudry.com/2012/08/01/chicken-enchilada-casserole-recipe/

Vegetarian Lentil Soup
(This recipe is from my Earth's Best cookbook

That is it for now plus I have a whoooole bunch of new recipes pinned that are for the freezer that I would like to try next month. I want to also try to make bread, waffles and muffins.

Andrea3030

Just found these, I'm excited to try!

http://onceamonthmom.com/101-fall-freezer-meals/

jenluvsushi

Thanks so much for sharing ladies!

AsellusReborn

Oooh sounds yummy! We'll be starting the freezer cooking once I hit 34 weeks.

cnlargent

Following this so I can do it when it's time!

her4g63

I pretty much cook nothing BUT freezer meals! I recently started a blog with all the menus/shopping lists/etc. on it

loveblended.wordpress.com

(:

AsellusReborn

Just bumping this up. My son is a month old and my freezer full of meals has been such a blessing. I used ziplock baggies to freeze stews and tin pans from the dollar store to store casseroles and lasagna. I may cook like this regularly in the future - it's so nice to have healthy wholesome meals that I don't have to work to prepare with a newborn!

her4g63

hbarnstein - I've been cooking like this for ages and it's ahhhhh-mazing! (:

rachael116

Excellent post! Thanks for the ideas everyone!!

Zuchinni bread freezes really well also.

Mindochka

Love this idea! I need to do this even without my third little one around!