Favorite Frozen Meals?
LovelyTasha
Posts: 51
I am a very busy mother and wife whose family is not very diet friendly. Most evenings I make dinner for them and have started to reach for the Lean Cuisines and Amy's meals! Makes it simple and it doesn't sabotage all the hard work I did all day! Which lead me to wonder what are some other people's favorites? I've definitely come across a few good ones!!
My two favorites are Amy's Organic Spinach Lasagna and Lean Cuisine's Chicken Enchilada Suiza! What's yours?
My two favorites are Amy's Organic Spinach Lasagna and Lean Cuisine's Chicken Enchilada Suiza! What's yours?
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Replies
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I like to make my own frozen meals. I made a big pot of chili the other day and put about half in the freezer for later. Amazing! Another favorite is making my own lasagna, or freezing portions of beans and rice.0
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Awesome tip! Do you need to do anything special to freeze foods properly?0
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I'm loving Evol's Fire Roasted Steak and Lyfe's Mango Chicken. Oh and Kashi has a Lemongrass chicken!0
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I like Amy's and Kashi meals occassionally, but usually I make something on my weekend that is around for leftovers throughout the week. Not frozen, but definitely cost effective!0
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Awesome tip! Do you need to do anything special to freeze foods properly?
I suggest going on line and searching for a website that talks about freezing meals. Some foods don't freeze well, and some foods that do freeze well just don't last as long as others in the freezer. You definitely want to invest in good freezer containers or bags, maybe even a vacuum sealing system for best results. You always want to freeze food at it's freshest, not after it's already been in the refrigerator several days.0 -
Awesome tip! Do you need to do anything special to freeze foods properly?
I suggest going on line and searching for a website that talks about freezing meals. Some foods don't freeze well, and some foods that do freeze well just don't last as long as others in the freezer. You definitely want to invest in good freezer containers or bags, maybe even a vacuum sealing system for best results. You always want to freeze food at it's freshest, not after it's already been in the refrigerator several days.
Thanks!0 -
I don't use anything special, but as a previous poster said, you do need to research what can and cannot be frozen, or what vegetables need to be blanched before being frozen (if freezing from raw). For a lot of meals, I use my pyrex storage bowls, but my freezer meals don't last that long, maybe a week or two at most. I read somewhere that glad makes freezer-safe containers, but a lot of websites address that question.
For beans/rice, I freeze in sandwich bags (flattened on a cookie sheet in the freezer to make it easier to store) then put those bags in a freezer-safe bag. I suppose you could also just use the freezer bag to begin with, but I freeze in small portions since there is only two of us (one at the moment).
At first glance, here is a good link to freezer meals. She seems to cover a lot of important topics!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/07/freezer-cooking/0 -
I like Marie Callender's spaghetti with garlic bread (530 calories) and herb roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and corn (430 calories). I now they're more calories than the Lean Cuisine/Healthy Choice/Etc. meals, but they're so much more tasty and satisfying. With the diet meals I'm hungry again pretty quickly so I end up eating more calories in the long run.0
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My favorites are the Healthy Choice steamers, particularly ravioli with chicken and a marinara sauce for 260 cal. The red pepper alfredo and chicken margarita ones are good, too... and I liked the "baked taste" ziti. I also like Smart Ones veggie lasagna quite a bit! It's dense and very satisfying. Smart Ones pasta with ricotta and spinach is tasty, too. My all-time favorite is Trader Joe's reduced guilt mac and cheese. 270 calories and soooo cheesy. I don't eat much pasta, but I allow myself to have it in the frozen meals, since it's so portion controlled!0
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Honestly, the ones that are on sale 10 for 10.00 haha.
Of those, I just avoid anything that is chinese themed because somehow that means they dropped a lb of sugar into my little microwave meal and it tastes foul.
My favorite frozen meal of all time would have to be one made by Amy's Mexican Casserole Bowl, I don't know why but I could eat like 1500000 of those.0 -
I'm in the UK so wouldn't have access to vacuum thingies. I just batch cook whenever possible. It means we eat better when watching the kcals. We choose nice recipes we may have avoided as there are only 2 of us. We then freeze back 2 - 4 meals of the 'leftovers'. So lasgane, curry, chilli, stews, leftover roast meat and gravy - ready for making into a pie or topped with mash, and loads of other wet dishes are always sat waiting for us to defrost on nights we just can't be bothered to cook.
For lunch I tend to go veggy so I make a big batch of roast veggies, another thing it is hard to make a small amount of... 1 squash goes a very long way. I usually add couscous and freeze back in sandwhich bags ready to take to work. I never freeze rice, as I am very aware of the problems it can cause if not cooled/reheated properly. The only food poisoning I have ever experienced was due to poorly kept rice (thanks to my stupid and stubborn SIL who always knows better).
I also make soups out of leftovers, the slightly rubber veg that hide until they look a bit too sad to use, the bits of chicken that don't easily carve off the carcasse - often after I have used it to make stock, anything at all really. They too freeze quite well, ordinary freezer bags hold just about anything.
Once you start thinking about it you can get a bit carried away... you have been warned, measure your freezer space carefully :-)0 -
I love frozen meals too, but what do you do about all the sodium?
I was thinking to myself just drink alot of water and workitout, is that a good view about it, or does it even really matter?0 -
Such great ideas, I'll have to try those Amy's Casserole bowls for sure!! I'm also no stranger to the 10 for $10!!!!
As far as the sodium goes, I don't beat myself up over it. I try to make good choices for the rest of the day and I don't add salt to anything. I also make double sure I drink plenty of water!! Has been working for me so far!!
Starting my freezing adventure tomorrow! Going to make a batch of pintos! Thanks for all the AWESOME inspiration ladies!!0 -
I live on my own, so I tend to batch cook a lot as well and then freeze them.
The only things that don't freeze well are stir fried or steamed dishes. The freshness kind of goes and it gets quite soggy.
Also you should never reheat leafy greens, they go toxic when reheated.
Everything else is fine, as long as you freeze it as soon as it has cooled off and don't leave it in the freezer for more than about 6 weeks.
Ikea has got some really good food containers that fit exactly one portion of food and stack in the freezer. Bit less wasteful than using bags.0
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