Freezer meals

Into+the+Kitty

Give me your best freezer meal recipes or ideas, please! Bonus points for vegetarian and or healthy options. We are meat eaters here, so please feel free to still share those ideas also.

I've been doing a few precooked large meals every week that we can just heat up (lentil soup, turkey and bean chili, chickpea curry, meatballs, and will also be making pasta fagioli, asparagus soup, and possibly a split pea soup) but I need some more ideas and variety.

Into+the+Kitty

Oh and I forgot to mention I'll be making cubes of frozen pesto for pastas. I'm thinking of making some other frozen pasta skillet meals too.

sarenu1

Honestly, I loved having meals I could toss together in the slow cooker and forget about all day.

I had chicken thighs, and beef stew meat in the freezer ready to slow cook.

I also made pot pie filling and froze it in servings.

You could also freeze chicken taco meat in serving sizes. Then you could make soups, tacos, or salads with it.

candlequeen

I said i was going to do this while pregnant with harp but never did. I think i might this time

abby8279

I really like this lasagna recipe.  It's homemade yet uses some prepared ingredients.  It's vegetarian but I had friends over who are major meat eaters and they loved it.

https://allrecipes.com/recipe/hearty-vegetable-lasagna/detail.aspx

Into+the+Kitty

Chickypoo2468 said:

You're so much more prepared than I ever was. I always had the intention... I second the crock pot. Meatloaf? There's some site where you bag the ingredients for 9 meals and freeze it all and then just crock pot it or something. BSIL did it, if you're interested I can ask again what it was.

My own BSIL posted this too haha. I'd prefer having something that's either frozen straight to oven or a fully cooked meal that just needs to be reheated. If I was doing a frozen to crockpot it would need to be vegetarian, because I don't like the taste of frozen, uncooked meat.

candlequeen said:

I said i was going to do this while pregnant with harp but never did. I think i might this time

I've been just picking one or two meals a week and making enough to eat that night and freeze the rest (sometimes multiple portions), so it's been pretty low stress and easy. When I get closer to D Day, I'm going to start focusing on making snack, breakfast, and lunch portions of things. Plus, it's a great feeling for my nesting urges each time I add something to the stockpile.

sarenu1

Meat balls and meat loaf. I made 4 mini meat loafs and froze them. They thaw a lot quicker that way. And the portions were perfect for 2 people and a toddler. You could probably precook and freeze them.

mrshudson618

I basically hate anything casserole like so I don't like a lot of the typical frozen meals. So what I do is just cook and freeze meat. I buy ground beef in bulk brown it, and freeze in one lb portions. Since its cooked you can throw it still frozen in a skillet with pasta sauce, taco seasoning, etc. I do the same with chicken breasts.

Another idea is to make and freeze pizza dough.

TJ1979

Things like muffins, pancakes, cookies would be a good idea.
I do chicken and rice and meatloaf.

kz's_girlygirl

I've been doing the same thing, and hear you on preference for heat and eat over crock pot. 

Here's what I have in my freezer so far:
Chicken and cheese enchiladas:
-Ingredients:  Chicken, flour or corn tortillas (I find flour works better for freezer cooking), taco seasoning packet, Old El Paso enchilada sauce, shredded cheese
-Bake and shred chicken (if you have a kitchenaid it works really well!), mix in taco seasoning.
-Add a little bit of enchilada sauce to bottom of baking dish to prevent sticking
-Roll chicken mixture in tortillas and arrange in pan
-Cover with remaining sauce and top with cheese
-Freeze and reheat before serving

Chile Rellenos casserole:
Ingredients: Poblano peppers, taco seasoning, ground beef (we use venison), cooked rice, cheese
-Prepare 1 cup rice
-Brown and add taco seasoning to ground meat
-Slice poblano peppers and arrange in baking dish
-Top with meat, then rice, then cheese
-Freeze

Chicken Parm Casserole:
Ingredients- Chicken breasts, your favorite sauce, breadcrumbs, mozzarella cheese
-Bake Chicken breasts and arrange in baking dish
-Top with sauce, breadcrumbs and cheese (super easy!)
-Freeze

Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells (with meat sauce)

Chicken, broccoli and rice with kale

Lemony Chicken and Spring Veg Soup

I also made big batches of homemade cheese ravioli, and potato and cheese pierogi and froze them. 

ElleBeeDub

Red beans and rice is great for this type of thing if you like that flavor

Into+the+Kitty

So since there are some other people here doing it too, I figured I'd share these other links I just searched out last night. So if anyone else wants more ideas than what's been posted here, here you go:

https://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/03/hot-roast-beef-sandwiches/

https://www.hellobee.com/2012/11/02/breakfast-egg-muffins/

https://www.macheesmo.com/2012/04/breakfast-sandwiches-revisited/

https://www.hellobee.com/2014/03/26/breakfast-muffins/

https://tasty-yummies.com/2011/10/12/butternut-squash-chickpea-coconut-curry-crock-pot-recipe/

And a couple of my tried and true favorites: 

https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/vegetable-chickpea-curry

https://www.theburlapbag.com/2012/07/2-ingredient-cookies-plus-the-mix-ins-of-your-choice/

I think I might also make some garbage bread and freeze that too.

https://www.browneyedbaker.com/twd-orange-berry-muffins/ <-- link wasn't included for some reason.

Into+the+Kitty

abby8279 said:

I really like this lasagna recipe.  It's homemade yet uses some prepared ingredients.  It's vegetarian but I had friends over who are major meat eaters and they loved it.

https://allrecipes.com/recipe/hearty-vegetable-lasagna/detail.aspx

Does anyone have any ideas for something that I can sub for the ricotta in this? Would it be too dry if I just left it out entirely?

stoneycakes

Into+the+Kitty said:

abby8279 said:

I really like this lasagna recipe.  It's homemade yet uses some prepared ingredients.  It's vegetarian but I had friends over who are major meat eaters and they loved it.

https://allrecipes.com/recipe/hearty-vegetable-lasagna/detail.aspx

Does anyone have any ideas for something that I can sub for the ricotta in this? Would it be too dry if I just left it out entirely?

I like a thick bechamel sauce instead of ricotta in lasagna.

TJ1979

My mom always used cottage cheese.

Into+the+Kitty

TJ1979 said:

My mom always used cottage cheese.

This is even more disgusting to me. Lol I hate both of them.

redrockmama

I made a few of these, but haven't tried them yet because they have dairy. I was really excited about the French toast though so hopefully M can tolerate dairy soon.

https://thrivinghomeblog.com/healthy-recipes-index/healthy-freezer-meals-recipes/

I second the frozen burritos we do that al lot, breakfast ones are my favorite and it's so easy

tjkdlhb

I love love love this site:

www.100daysofrealfood.com

not freezer-meal specific, but most of it can be frozen.

Frozen pancakes can be re-heated in the toaster.

Into+the+Kitty

I'm glad I've got a large chest freezer. Thanks for all the awesome ideas, ladies! I've bookmarked a ton of stuff.