Freezer Meal Prep Recipes?

Sunshinelinzee

Hello All!

I have a professional busy season that runs from October-March and it's a nightmare for regular meal prep and cooking. This past year we started freezer prepping and it really helped us and we want to do more next year. I'm starting to plan so that we can do a big prep before my fall insanity starts. Are there any freezer specific meal peppers out there that have good recipes to share? There are only 2 of us so ideally I'm looking for recipes that are smaller or can be easily broken up into single or 2 person portions before freezing. Looking more oven or microwave friendly for the heat up vs a crockpot for the majority since we eat smaller and these will be mostly on the go. Also the goal is to keep it healthy and have everything be made from fresh whole ingredients (so really avoiding things like canned soups in casseroles etc) and to have a decent mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals at hand. Hoping to have a lot of variety.

Any recipes that anyone has to share would be greatly appreciated!!!

acpgee

I do a lot of batch cooking for the freezer. Whenever I make a recipe that freezes well, will do a quadruple batch (which is not incrementally more work) and freeze 2 people portions for future meals. In general, braised dishes freeze well. Here are my go to freezer meals.

Minced meat
Meatballs. Freeze in a tray and then transfer into ziplock bags once frozen so they don't get stuck together. Also meatloaf if you have some small casserole dishes for 2 portions.
Bolognaise sauce for spaghetti.
https://leitesculinaria.com/84057/recipes-marcella-hazan-bolognese-sauce.html

Braised chicken. I use packs of thighs and drumsticks.
Coq au vin.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1913655/coq-au-vin
Dak dori tang.
https://mykoreankitchen.com/spicy-korean-chicken-stew/
Chicken cacciatore.
http://lisakocay.com/recipes/umbrian-style-chicken-alla-cacciatora/

Red meat
Braised lamb shanks.
https://nottoomuch.com/all-too-much/food/shinco-di-agnello-slow-cooked-lamb-shanks/
Irish stew or any beef or lamb stew.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/13349/beef-and-stout-stew-with-carrots
Beef rendang. Easiest if you buy packets of curry paste from the asian grocer, but here is a sample recipe from scratch.
https://rasamalaysia.com/beef-rendang-recipe-rendang-daging/

Starch
Gratin dauphinoise. Cook potatoes before freezing as otherwise potato starch turns to sugar after freezing. I use 2% milk and no cream.
https://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/gratin-dauphinois-recipe
Lasagna (classic)
https://www.bbc.com/food/recipes/mary_berrys_lasagne_al_16923
Veggie lasagna. I use any (leftover) veg I have lying around with cottage cheese because that is easier to source than ricotta.
https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/11/food-lab-creamy-cheesy-ultimate-spinach-lasagna-recipe.html

jgnatca

Boy, I can’t beat @acpgee suggestions. I cook for two as well but I buy a family pack of hamburger. I make meatballs and meatloaf. The meatballs can be made in to spaghetti or sweet and sour balls.

Similarly, it takes just as long to cook a tray of boneless meat thighs as it does to cook two. So prepare lots.

Sunshinelinzee

Thank you! I do make big batches and portion them out - what happened this past year though is that I didn't have enough variety so we ended up with like 4 meals in rotation and got sick of them pretty quickly. I work for a sports team so once our season starts I have to work every game in addition to regular hours and then my husband works a super early shift and has an hour commute - if I've got a triple over the weekend sandwiched between a couple of weekday games we are basically freezer eating all meals for the entire week - forget shopping or prepping anything new. I'm basically going to cook in September to get us through until the holidays and then do another batch to get us through until my season ends. Staff get's food provided on game days but it's pretty much the opposite of healthy so I try to avoid it along with the 'there is nothing to eat' take out trap!

@acpgee These recipes are great! Lots of new stuff for me!

This year I did vegetarian and chicken Mexican casseroles, a butternut squash mac and cheese, greek turkey burgers and lasagna - I need to dig out my recipes to share them!

acpgee

To increase the veg content of any frozen braised dish, you can consider adding carrots or mushrooms which can braise for an hour or green beans or peppers which can braise for the last 10-15 minutes. Also while warming up defrosted meals you can toss in a handful of frozen peas or frozen spinach pellets. Some other pulses based freezer standards I forgot are

Dutch split pea soup (serve with rye bread)
https://www.thespruceeats.com/traditional-dutch-split-pea-soup-1129011

Chilli con carne (google for recipes)
Cassoulet (google for recipes, this one is more elaborate)

Pesto sauce for pasta also freezes well. I ignore the tip to put in cheese and butter after defrosting and just freeze the whole lot.
https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/pesto-marcella-hazan-448339

Actually my standard gift for new parents is a few hours of batch cooking freezer meals. Friends who recently had a second child have a freezer full of chicken cacciatore.

mitchbrinton

No doubt meal prep is a challenge. Have you tried Elements Meals? They are freeze-dried and have a 3+ year shelf life. You simply add a cup of hot water, wait 12 minutes and BOOM! We LOVE them. You get get them at getyourelements.com