Homemade Frozen Dinners

zonah
zonah Posts: 216 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I would like to pre cook and freeze a bunch of dinners. To help with my portion control. Has anyone else done this? I'm think it would be healthier then buying LeanCusine because they are so high in sodium. Ideas anyone :)

Replies

  • pittsblue99
    pittsblue99 Posts: 277 Member
    I'm sure it would probably be better than store bought frozen dinners - they are really high in sodium. In the fall and winter, we make soup and freeze it in individual portions. They thaw quickly in the refrigerator and taste really good too. My mother-in-law makes huge pans of lasagna and portions it out to freeze.
  • janemem
    janemem Posts: 575 Member
    I always make batches of food for the freezer. If I make a pot of soup/casserole/chilli/bolognaise etc I use the recipe function to calculate the total calories and then just simply divide that amount by how many portions I get out of it.
    I make sure that each portion weighs exactly the same though, that way I know precisely what each 'brick' in the freezer contains calorie/nutrition wise, lol!
  • Lissette_Brooks
    Lissette_Brooks Posts: 173 Member
    I always make batches of food for the freezer. If I make a pot of soup/casserole/chilli/bolognaise etc I use the recipe function to calculate the total calories and then just simply divide that amount by how many portions I get out of it.
    I make sure that each portion weighs exactly the same though, that way I know precisely what each 'brick' in the freezer contains calorie/nutrition wise, lol!

    What an awesome idea. I'm doing this!!
  • janemem
    janemem Posts: 575 Member
    I always make batches of food for the freezer. If I make a pot of soup/casserole/chilli/bolognaise etc I use the recipe function to calculate the total calories and then just simply divide that amount by how many portions I get out of it.
    I make sure that each portion weighs exactly the same though, that way I know precisely what each 'brick' in the freezer contains calorie/nutrition wise, lol!

    What an awesome idea. I'm doing this!!

    Oh I'm so glad, it's good to feel of use for a change. :)
    If I can offer a tip, it may come across as a bit anal though but I do like to keep all my recipes and diary logging accurate.
    When I make any food I weigh and log all the ingredients in the 'recipe' section but what I also do is once the dish is finished I transfer to another pot/bowl that I have weight previously, that way I know exactly how many g's the acual food weighs. Then when I have that number I decide how many portions I want it to make (2,3,4,5 etc) and divide the total weight by portion number. That's when I dish out the precise amount into freezer bags/tubs.
    Another method of tracking I use is to weight the whole finished product, log the recipe name and also tag it with '100g = 1 Serving' and then in the 'servings' box put the correct amount. For example if a soup weighs 876g I would put this as 8.76 servings and then when it comes to freezing it doesn't matter what size container I freeze it in, when I want to defrost and eat it I just take the block from the container, weigh the block and calculate how many servings of 100g it is. So a 240g block would be 2.4 servings.
    Does that make any sense? I really hope it does but I know I have a way of overcomplicating things. :)
  • zonah
    zonah Posts: 216 Member
    I always make batches of food for the freezer. If I make a pot of soup/casserole/chilli/bolognaise etc I use the recipe function to calculate the total calories and then just simply divide that amount by how many portions I get out of it.
    I make sure that each portion weighs exactly the same though, that way I know precisely what each 'brick' in the freezer contains calorie/nutrition wise, lol!

    What an awesome idea. I'm doing this!!

    Oh I'm so glad, it's good to feel of use for a change. :)
    If I can offer a tip, it may come across as a bit anal though but I do like to keep all my recipes and diary logging accurate.
    When I make any food I weigh and log all the ingredients in the 'recipe' section but what I also do is once the dish is finished I transfer to another pot/bowl that I have weight previously, that way I know exactly how many g's the acual food weighs. Then when I have that number I decide how many portions I want it to make (2,3,4,5 etc) and divide the total weight by portion number. That's when I dish out the precise amount into freezer bags/tubs.
    Another method of tracking I use is to weight the whole finished product, log the recipe name and also tag it with '100g = 1 Serving' and then in the 'servings' box put the correct amount. For example if a soup weighs 876g I would put this as 8.76 servings and then when it comes to freezing it doesn't matter what size container I freeze it in, when I want to defrost and eat it I just take the block from the container, weigh the block and calculate how many servings of 100g it is. So a 240g block would be 2.4 servings.
    Does that make any sense? I really hope it does but I know I have a way of overcomplicating things. :)


    Thank you this is such a great idea I'm going to have to check out this function.
  • hutchy90
    hutchy90 Posts: 67 Member
    I found this post in Pinterest..

    4609990352_93a1ea95ae.jpg

    http://joelens.blogspot.ca/2007/01/freezer-friendlymake-ahead.html

    Here is the website.

    It has a ton of ideas/recipes for frozen dinners. Hope you can find it helpful!
  • MWojdak
    MWojdak Posts: 20 Member
    Thanks, I have been thinking about doing this for a little while.
  • jsukhan
    jsukhan Posts: 149 Member
    Pretty much everything I cook has at least 4-5 servings. I could individually portion any of it and freeze it. Things you cook yourself is more healthier since you know what is in it.
  • croberson8711
    croberson8711 Posts: 67
    This is something that I have been thinking about doing for some time now, also. Thanks for creating this thread!
  • now_or_never12
    now_or_never12 Posts: 849 Member
    Cook extra servings of things for dinner and portion and freeze. Do this for a week or two and you will have tons of options for homemade and health frozen meals.

    I do this all the time when freezer space allows.
  • hutchy90
    hutchy90 Posts: 67 Member
    Another good site with GREAT re-heatable meal ideas.
    And these ones look so easy with hardly any ingredients!

    http://www.askscooby.com/nutrition/homemade-frozen-steamer-meals/
  • zonah
    zonah Posts: 216 Member
    hutchy90 Thanks for those new links I'm going to check them out. :D

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