Homemade Frozen Dinners

Stacy_L_Meyer
Stacy_L_Meyer Posts: 36 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I want to make some homemade frozen dinners for myself so I know what is all in them instead of those high sodium ones. I am afraid that once I freeze anything it would not taste good like the stores frozen dinners. I am always on the go so this would be perfect for myself.... any ideas of food or have any of you froze your own dinners??

Replies

  • MzBug
    MzBug Posts: 2,173 Member
    I made my own when I was working. I would make 3-4 different 3-4 serving meals on the weekend and portion them out into freezable containers. You can also use the heavy paper plates and slide the entire meal into a gallon size ziplock bag to freeze. As long as you use them up within 2-3 weeks you are fine. You can pretty much freeze anything. One thing to keep in mind, you will be heating these in the microwave....well done meats/fish can get pretty rubbery when re-heated, might want to slightly undercook them before freezing.

    I still do this with soup and stew. My guy doesn't like vegies and won't eat them.
  • Topher1978
    Topher1978 Posts: 975 Member
    No, it is great! Use high quality ingredients and make a very large amount. Do it once a week, and in a few weeks, you will have a good selection of different, homemade, potentially healthy meals to choose from. I do it. Just started again. I have a bunch of frozen burritos that are approximately 300 calories per burrito. I made my own beans, and the rice is a blended wild rice mix with corn and tomato sauce and some seasoning. I put just a tiny bit of cheese on them. One thing, make the portions as small as microwave commercial dinners, they make them that size for a reason. I first made burritos Christopher sized, and I would get a portion super hot and a portion still frozen… now I do them a smaller size (as I should have anyway back then) and they cook fine.
  • Muffiewilmes
    Muffiewilmes Posts: 36 Member
    No, it is great! Use high quality ingredients and make a very large amount. Do it once a week, and in a few weeks, you will have a good selection of different, homemade, potentially healthy meals to choose from. I do it. Just started again. I have a bunch of frozen burritos that are approximately 300 calories per burrito. I made my own beans, and the rice is a blended wild rice mix with corn and tomato sauce and some seasoning. I put just a tiny bit of cheese on them. One thing, make the portions as small as microwave commercial dinners, they make them that size for a reason. I first made burritos Christopher sized, and I would get a portion super hot and a portion still frozen… now I do them a smaller size (as I should have anyway back then) and they cook fine.
  • Dani_Davies23
    Dani_Davies23 Posts: 86
    Trader Joe's!!
    You can't go wrong.
  • Muffiewilmes
    Muffiewilmes Posts: 36 Member
    Not sure what I just did but anyway.....
    That's great advice about the portion size. Thanks
  • a778c466
    a778c466 Posts: 141 Member
    I make about 40-50 vegetarian burritos on saturdays so that during the week, I can grab them and go. I put a few in the fridge so they will be thawed out when I need them. It worked great for me this past semester during college, and the veggies still taste great after being frozen and thawed.
  • Itzzie
    Itzzie Posts: 14
    I just made 12 lunches to bring to work and froze them last night. I call them love lunches (love to be skinny)! I boil chicken breast in water w/a can of rotella tomatoes with chilis. I then portion in my frozen veggies into a zip lock (1 cup). I season the chicken to taste chop up and put in 3 oz of chicken breast, a tablespoon of the juice and 1 tablespoon shredded cheese. Freeze.... reheat for 2 minutes! Yum and under 300 cal!!!!!
  • SweetSailor
    SweetSailor Posts: 81 Member
    Recently I found a great set of 1 and 2 cup glass micro/oven/freezer safe pyrex with lids at Grocery Outlet (discount chain) for super cheap. I bought several sets. I use them like crazy and love that they are small for portion control. Admittedly, I don't own a microwave, so I'm not sure how they heat that way, but they're are a snap in the oven for reheating while I go about my nightly chores.
  • Stacy_L_Meyer
    Stacy_L_Meyer Posts: 36 Member
    Thank you for all of your great advice!! So you are saying anything will be ok if it made in meal form and portion sized... YIPPIE!!! This makes me SOOO happy! thanks!
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    I've found lots of stuff freezes well. I've frozen hummus, chili, spaghetti/pasta (mixed with sauce), bean salad, roasted veggies, cooked meats, breakfast burritos, enchiladas, guacamole, feta cheese, etc.

    I did find that some things lose liquid and so things can get a little soupier than normal (usually not so bad, but the roasted veggies aren't quite as crispy which is a little disappointing).
  • Stacy_L_Meyer
    Stacy_L_Meyer Posts: 36 Member
    I've found lots of stuff freezes well. I've frozen hummus, chili, spaghetti/pasta (mixed with sauce), bean salad, roasted veggies, cooked meats, breakfast burritos, enchiladas, guacamole, feta cheese, etc.

    I did find that some things lose liquid and so things can get a little soupier than normal (usually not so bad, but the roasted veggies aren't quite as crispy which is a little disappointing).

    Thank you sooo much for this info! So no froen roasted viggies got it!
  • swingsintherain
    swingsintherain Posts: 121 Member
    Yeah, I've heard that certain things, like beans, freeze well, while certain other things, like pasta, don't freeze quite as well. You might look into blogs, websites, etc about cooking and freezing food - especially the ones who cook a whole month's worth of meals once (over the course of a weekend, usually).
  • Topher1978
    Topher1978 Posts: 975 Member
    Yeah, I've heard that certain things, like beans, freeze well, while certain other things, like pasta, don't freeze quite as well. You might look into blogs, websites, etc about cooking and freezing food - especially the ones who cook a whole month's worth of meals once (over the course of a weekend, usually).
    Not so. I make this great shrimp alfredo (pure fat. hehehe) and it freezes fantastically.
  • MzBug
    MzBug Posts: 2,173 Member
    A trick for freezing plain wheat pasta..... toss it in a very little olive oil before you bag and freeze.

    When I make spaghetti there are always more noodles than sauce left. I toss the extra noodles with a little olive oil, put them in a zipper bag and into the freezer. When I need them I dip the bag in hot water (not boiling) and the noodles slide right out to thaw. Chop up a few pickled vegies, an olive or two, some crumbled cheese and a dab of italian dressing and you have a filling pasta salad.
  • Stacy_L_Meyer
    Stacy_L_Meyer Posts: 36 Member
    A trick for freezing plain wheat pasta..... toss it in a very little olive oil before you bag and freeze.

    When I make spaghetti there are always more noodles than sauce left. I toss the extra noodles with a little olive oil, put them in a zipper bag and into the freezer. When I need them I dip the bag in hot water (not boiling) and the noodles slide right out to thaw. Chop up a few pickled vegies, an olive or two, some crumbled cheese and a dab of italian dressing and you have a filling pasta salad.

    that sounds sooo Yummy!!!! Thanks for the tip!
  • _SusieQ_
    _SusieQ_ Posts: 2,964 Member
    www.skinnytaste.com

    Great recipes and even a section for freezing. But really, I have made so many of her recipes and frozen them. Most things freeze better than you think. They key is to let them cool before putting in freezer, helps cut down on ice crystals forming due to condensation. Also, label the outside! I know that sounds silly, but so many times I've gone to the freezer and looked at something and couldn't figure out if it was the soup or the chili, and when did I put that in there??
  • quill16
    quill16 Posts: 373 Member
    Make your own soups, stews, veggie mixes like ratatouille in large batches and freeze. Serve along side a lean meat made fesh. I freeze just about everything in one serving size pieces and thaw the night before. Fresh always tastes best, so always have something fresh with the frozen meal.
  • chellstarnes
    chellstarnes Posts: 6
    bump

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