Alright, I'll admit: I didn't do a search yet. And I will! But, in light of our brand new deep freeze... share with me some of your loved freezer meal recipes please! We're going to start buying in bulk and I'm going to attempt to do at least *some* monthly cooking. We don't really have many diet restrictions here, mostly sodium (and we just don't add the salt :lol: ), so send whatever! TIA! (PS - I don't really know what freezes well and what doesn't. I've never had room to cook up ahead of time and freeze! If there's anything you know WONT work in the freezer, tell me that too! DH knows better than I, but not everything of course! :lol: )
Lasagna is always good. I also cook chicken in advance and freeze it in individual bags. This way I can thaw it out and use it on salad. I also save the broth, about one cup in each container. This way I can just pop it out an add it to my spanish rice.
Soups are great. Bread freezes nicely. You can bake muffins and freeze them. I also freeze my beans, whole or smashed.
Check this out. Of course, soups and chili are always good to freeze. I sometimes cook and freeze chicken and ground beef to have on hand when I'm in a hurry.
Thanks for that link, Pam! I can do the part about freezing part of a meal to add to something later... I just hesitate because I know that when it comes to what we have in the freezer NOW, I won't hardly use it unless it will be ready in half an hour or less. :lol: If I have to thaw the chicken (even if the chicken is already cooked) before I can use it, I'm liable to bypass it. Anyway. Great site, and thanks ladies! Do noodles (for lasagna and similar meals) do well in the freezer? :shock:
I will buy 10+ lbs. of chicken breast when it's on sale for $1.99/lb. I buy it with four breasts per package, and will get some of it in a marinade. Then I freeze it in the marinade, which saves time in the long run. I'll post some other stuff later, when I have time.
I love this thread. Being an hour from the closest grocery store, I make a real effort to only grocery shop once a month. I checked out a library book one time that was about once a month cooking. I am just not that organized and it was too tiring for me. But I still cook some things ahead. I always double chili, tacos, sloppy joes, and meatballs and freeze half. Pretty painless. Also, enchiladas and lasagna freeze well (either cooked or uncooked). Line your pan with foil and put the whole thing in the freezer. When the food is frozen solid, remove from pan and you can wrap it up in the foil. It plops right back into the pan when you are ready to cook it.
Lasagnas and pastas freeze and reheat well (baked ones. Taco meat. Chicken. Soups. Heck even veggies freeze well! Stock up...blanch...dry...freeze! I usually try to double up on meals when I know they freeze well...like When I make meatballs, I ALWAYS double the recipe and freeze half before we eat any! When I make taco meat, I double and freeze half. When I make chili, I double and freeze half. I, too, get my chicken in bulk so that I get it cheap...we just went and froze over 5 packages of chicken! LOL I like doing that so that on those nights when I need a quick meal, I know it's a grab away. OR...I like waking up and tossing something in the crockpot and walking away knowing that when dinner time comes, our dinner will be ready!
I also do the Monthly Meals system. I love knowing that I can just pull something out and toss in crockpot or let thaw and broil, bake etc. It took some getting used to (taking an entire day just cooking) but once I did it for awhile, it works out so much better. I try to invite a friend over so she can do the same thing at the same time. Makes it almost like a holiday around here
Aggie, if you search on-line for OAMC (Once A Month Cooking), you'll find all kinds of meal plans and recipes!
I don't have alot for meals but I do buy in bulk when on sale and separate into smaller storage bags for meals later. Such as ground beef, chicken, pork chops, cheese slices, etc. I freeze my old bananas for banana bread. My old bread to make bread pudding at a later date. All my vegetables from my garden. No matter what I want to make for dinner I usually have it in the freezer to make it.
