Freezer Friendly Meal Ideas!?!

JS268

Hello all! I have an extremely busy life with a full course load and then two jobs (three in the summer months). On top of that I try to maintain some sort of a social life (lol) and a healthy relationship with my bf; also I go to hot yoga and/or the gym 3-4 x a week if possible, so I really have no time left to make meals!

I was thinking that low calorie freezer meals would be helpful?


Please share your recipes :flowerforyou:

sistrsprkl

Soup, chili, etc...

shazbox1

Chili is a good one
I make add a crapload of veggies to spaghetti sauce and freeze it in serving size containers after it cooks. Eat it with penne pasta and goat cheese.
I cook 4-6 chicken breasts and keep them in the fridge, easy to make a wrap/sandwich with it real quick.
Sheppards pie is pretty good reheated from frozen.

Those are some I can think of off the top of my head.

booboo68

Every year in the Fall, I make the following and place it in individual serving size containers and we use it for the winter since my husbands has an odd schedule with all of the overtime he gets in the winter.

Chili
Vegetable Soup
Sloppy Joes
2 huge lasagnas
Navy beans and ham
Pulled pork

JS268

I appreciate the responses!

I have made chilli before, but I like to keep my meals at 300 calories for a pretty large meal and I find chilli to be too calorie dense.\

Anyone have chicken recipes? Maybe casseroles or something?

Thanks again

daffodilsoup

We make a variation on 1-point veggie chili from Weight Watchers! I use TVP for protein, but you could use whatever you wanted - it comes out to about 160 calories for two cups.

The chili includes zucchini, celery, canned tomatoes, green and red peppers, veggie broth, TVP, and a can of beans. Add whatever veggies you have on hand! The full recipe is here: http://lovewwrecipes.blogspot.com/2007/10/one-point-chili.html

JS268

Sounds great, thanks!

kjloiselle

I just freeze them all in individual containers and microwave.
Too many to type out all recipes so let me know which ones you are interested in and I send them.
They are all a good helping that I pair with a big salad and other veg. my whole dinner usually comes in at 400 cals for a dinner plate full plus a big salad on side
Soups are all 2-3 cups per serving

Vegetable Dumpling Soup - 222 cals per serving
Meat patties with potatoes- <200cals
Minestrone Soup-179cals
Barley Soup - 116cals
Alfredo- 358
Spinach Lasagna Rolls - 300cals
Meatload & potatoes- 260cals
Chicken Parmasan & Noodles-295
Broccoli Soup- 176 cals
Broccoli Quinoa Burgers -262
Oringinal Quinoa Burgers - 244cals
Buffalo Wing Quinoa Burgers - 267
Chicken Pot Pie Soup - 192 cals
Pot Stickers -167cals
Fried Rice- 253 cals
Asian Meatballs & Rice -292cals
Sheppards Pie - 350cals

All freeze and reheat really well (trust me,i'm super picky about how something tastes once frozen)

JS268

Wow, they all sound so delicious!

Could I bother you for the recipes for these ones?

Meat patties with potatoes- <200cals
Chicken Parmasan & Noodles-295
Pot Stickers -167cals
Asian Meatballs & Rice -292cals

Thank you for your time!!

shazbox1

You can get chili down in calories pretty easy. Use extra lean beef, or ground chicken. Cut the amount of beef and add in a lot more vegetables (onions, mushrooms, carrots, corn). Doesn't work so well if you don't like chili by itself and have to eat it with tortilla chips, cheese and sour cream. I also make mine spicy which makes me drink a bunch of water and a small bowl ends up filling me up just fine.

writergeek313

You can't get chili down in calories pretty easy. Use extra lean beef, or ground chicken. Cut the amount of beef and add in a lot more vegetables (onions, mushrooms, carrots, corn). Doesn't work so well if you don't like chili by itself and have to eat it with tortilla chips, cheese and sour cream. I also make mine spicy which makes me drink a bunch of water and a small bowl ends up filling me up just fine.

I agree with this. Here's my chili recipe I made a few weeks ago. It made a giant pot which was 12 servings at 223 calories apiece. Sorry for the weird formatting, but I copied it from my recipes

Fresh Veggies~Jen's - Yellow Onion, Chopped, 1 Cup
Perdue Fit & Easy - Fresh Ground Chicken Breast, 1 container
Mccormick's Gourmet Collection - Ancho Chili Powder, 4 tbsp
Mccormick - Garlic Powder, 1 tsp
Mccormick - Ground Cumin, 1 tsp
Mccormick - Coriander, Ground, 1 tsp
Spices - Oregano, dried, 1 tsp, leaves
Giant - Tomato Sauce, 2 container (3 3/10 cups ea.)
Giant - Diced Tomatoes , 2 container (1 4/5 cups ea.)
Orange Bell Pepper Chopped (Large) (249g) - 1 Cup Chopped, 1 cup
Bell Pepper - Green Chopped, 1.5 cup chopped (74.5g)
Goya - Red Kidney Beans - Low Sodium, 1 container (427 grams ea.)
Goya - Black Beans Low Sodium, 1 container (1 4/5 cups ea.)
Bush's Great Northern Beans - Canned Beans, 1 container (1 4/5 cups ea.)
Giant - Frozen Super Sweet Yellow Corn, 0.5 container (3 3/10 cups ea.)
Beer - Yuengling Lager, 12 oz

writergeek313

Other things I currently have in my freezer: spaghetti sauce, a few kinds of soup, two different kinds of burritos (chicken and quinoa/veggie--I individually wrap them), taco meat, flank steak + peppers and onions, and chicken and rice in individual portions.

I like to make my own frozen dinners of a protein, a starch, and some veggies so that in the time it would take me to heat up a packaged meal I can have something homemade. I'm a college professor, and some weeks I work 50 or 60 hours and don't have time to cook, so I'm trying to be good about stocking the freezer during less busy weeks so I don't fall prey to temptations when I'm busy.

jazzcatastrophe

Vegetarian chili's are both freezer and low-cal friendly, I like to add quinoa to mine which adds protein and beefs it up without adding too many calories. I like this one: http://potluck.ohmyveggies.com/slow-cooker-quinoa-white-chili-roasted-poblanos/ especially if you throw in some chipotles in adobo for extra flavor

Most curries are also good in the freezer. I make a huge batch and then freeze individual portions. I don't follow specific recipes but I usually do something along the lines of garbanzo/cannellini beans, onions, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, etc, with diced tomatoes and curry spices (tumeric, garam masala, curry powder, cumin) and just let it simmer for an hour.

I also like to make plain seasoned fish and freeze it so I can defrost and add whatever sauces I want.

Budgetbytes.com also has a lot of ideas for freezer meals. She doesn't post the calorie info, but they generally look pretty healthy and tasty.

hannah1011z

I eat morning star stuff when I dont have time to cook. You can buy it and its premade so thats a huge plus and you just heat em up in the microwave. if you have a single black bean burger and bread ect its only like 250-300 calories and is very filling

JS268

Lots of great suggestions! I will check it out.

kjloiselle

I have included the potato recipe at the end. I put 2 scoops (6Tbsp worth) with each meat patty
Meat Patties (makes 5)
1 lb ground beef or turkey
1 egg
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 clove garlic, minced
4 tbsp. onion, minced ( I used 2 Tbsp dried onion)
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp paprika

Combine all ingredients in a bowl until well combined.
Divide into 5 even patties
cook over medium high heat until cooked through.
let cool then freeze

Gravy - for meat patties (included in cals I gave you)
1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. flour
1 cup beef broth
pinch ofpepper

melt butter in small saucepan
add in flour and whisk continuously until well cobined with the butter and begins to slightly change to a toasted colour
Whisk in stock and allow to boil until reaches desired consistency.

Chicken Parmesan - makes 4
1 egg, beaten
panko bread crumbs - about 1 cup but only use some of it
flour - about 1/2 cup but only use some of it
1 tbsp. dried oregano
1 tbsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 lb boneless chicken breasts - I cut and pound mine into 4 oz thin pieces
2 cups pasta sauce
4 oz pasta - I use angel hair pasta
1/2 cup parmesan cheese

preheat oven to 375 degrees
lightly spray a baking sheet with cooking oil(oruse parchment paper)
cut and pound chicken until about 1/4 inch thick
in a bowl, beat egg, set aside
on a plate combne flour, salt and pepper
on a different plate combine bread crumbs and remaining spices
dry chicken off and place in flour, then , egg, then bread crumbs.
pplace on baking sheet and repeat with rest of chicken.
Lightly spray the top of the chicken with cooking spray
bake for 10 minutes
flip chicken and lightly spray other sde with oil
bake additional 10 minutes until done

cook pasta as direction.
cool completely by running under cold water and draining completely
divide noodles between 4 containers
top with 1/2 cup pasta sauce and 1/4 of the chicken
top with 2 tbsp. parmesan cheese on each

Potstickers

http://www.food.com/recipe/best-vegetarian-pot-stickers-32783 ( I used 6 per meal)

Asian Meatballs

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/01/asian-turkey-meatballs-with-lime-sesame.html
For this one I did not use the lime sauce and added 1 serving (1/4 cup uncooked) rice that I cooked to each one.I enjoy mine with plum sauce, but whatever you fancy will work.

Mashed Potatoes
http://www.theyummylife.com/slow_cooker_mashed_potatoes

These froze really well. I used 2 scoops(6 tbsp. per serving) and got 31 servings on it for 49cals each

RhysWill_I_Ams

I appreciate the responses!

I have made chilli before, but I like to keep my meals at 300 calories for a pretty large meal and I find chilli to be too calorie dense.\

Anyone have chicken recipes? Maybe casseroles or something?

Thanks again

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, sliced
2 red peppers, deseeded and chopped into largish chunks
3 tbsp chipotle paste
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
4 skinless chicken breasts
140g quinoa
2 chicken stock cubes
1 x 400g can pinto beans, drained
small bunch coriander, most chopped, a few leaves left whole
juice 1 lime
1 tbsp sugar
natural yoghurt, to serve

Method

Heat the oil in a deep frying pan and fry the onions and peppers for a few mins until softened. Stir in the chipotle paste for a minute, followed by the tomatoes. Add up to a tomato can-full of water to cover the chicken and bring to a gentle simmer. Add the chicken breasts and gently simmer, turning the chicken occasionally, for 20 mins until the chicken is cooked through.
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil with the stock cubes. Add the quinoa and cook for 15 mins until tender, adding the beans for the final min. Drain well and stir in the coriander and lime juice, then check for seasoning before covering to keep warm.
Lift the chicken out onto a board and shred each breast using two forks. Stir back into the tomato sauce with the sugar and season. Serve with the quinoa, scattering the stew with some coriander leaves just before dishing up and eating with a dollop of yogurt on the side.