Make Ahead/Freezer Meals - Share your Favorites!

annabenanna

DH and I plan on dedicating a weekend in September to just prepping and freezing a bunch of meals for when baby gets here.  

Do you ladies have any true and tried recipes you love that freeze well?  Please share!

Also, if you have crockpot recipes you wanna share, would love those too!  We just used a gift card given to us from our wedding to buy a Philips Multi-Cooker and I'm hoping it helps us with dinner prep!  

blaf322

Here's the website with all the crockpot meals. My bestie and I made every recipe on the list because there's a giant shopping list that combines all the recipes for you to make shopping easier. I put in an online order at my local grocery store and let them do all the shopping for me. The only thing we didn't love is that it's A LOT of chicken for dinner. If we do it again, we'll be more selective with how many of the chicken recipes we do. Let me know if you have any questions about taste on some of the recipes. I'll tell you if I can remember
 https://whoneedsacape.com/2012/11/crockpot-freezer-cooking/

For the pulled pork mentioned in the link above, you're not going to want a full pork shoulder of bbq. 
Recipe link below is a pulled pork taquitos with chipotle ranch dipping sauce that's delicious. Fix it with a bag of the 90 second spanish rice and a side salad and you have a full dinner. Plus, it's super easy: 
https://iowagirleats.com/2013/09/25/pulled-pork-taquitos-with-chipotle-ranch-dipping-sauce-crock-pot-recipe/

Other really good things to make for early meal prep include
- lasagna (but I just buy stouffers)
- chili 
- soups (example: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/autumn-chowder)
- Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Alfredo (this recipe is AH-MAZING. Like one of my staples. I typically double the goat cheese b/c I love goat cheese and add 1/8-1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes, depending on how spicy you like things. I'd venture to say you could make the sauce ahead, freeze in a ziplock, and just thaw and pour over pasta when you want it. https://www.laurenslatest.com/roasted-red-pepper-goat-cheese-alfredo/)

CopperBoom86

I have a ton of recipes pinned, but haven't actually made any of them, so I can't recommend anything specifically. 

BUT, I did see this on Pinterest and thought it was good to know:

mrszoess

my friends sell wildtree products, theyre all non gmo mostly organic spice blends, sauces and such.

They sell these freezer meal bundles which just require you to purchase meat and veggies to prep freezer meals of all types. I got a bundle for the crock pot which im totally doing.

Also besides freezer meals, you can make whole chickens, meatballs, chilis, soups, really anything in the crock pot. I am obsessed w the chickens.

samkins

I'm going to start the freezer meal planning soon. Definitely want a good stash before baby comes and for after mom goes back to work and I'm on my own for food. I found pinterest  to be helpful with lots of recipes. Fingers crossed, I'm not really a fan of the.crock pot so... 

klv

DH makes a great spaghetti sauce so we are planning to stock up on that. I also make these delicious meat pies that freeze really well. 

And i I love my crockpot so thanks PP for the link!! Can't wait to try some!

blaf322

Make sure y'all are posting recipes for the stuff you're making so the rest of us can try too

annabenanna

Ladies, I now have a pinterest board dedicated to just this meal prep day.  I hope it's epic and not a major fail. LOL.  

Off the top of my head, these are our favorite make ahead recipes:

- Braised Beef
- White Bean, Kale and Sausage Soup
- Lentil Stew

I'll post recipes!  DH and I just kinda invented it along as we went.  

ByeBabyBunting

It would be tacky to set up my own meal train right? I've set them up for a lot of mom's in my mom's group so they'd better reciprocate

We also do a freezer meal swap night occasionally where we each make enough of a frozen meal for each person involved and then trade. Then you have a bunch of different frozen meals ready to go and don't have to shop for so many ingredients.

I always freeze leftover spaghetti sauce and pans of Mac n cheese whenever I cook them. Pork is a great freezer meal meat and you could replace it for chicken to add variety. 

ibabyloveb87

Good crockpot meal is chicken breasts with BBQ sauce. Literally throw it in there on high for 4 hours and voila! It makes a ton. I add a little water in the bottom and just cover the chicken breasts in BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Rays is my go to but anything works!)

I also love to freeze a chicken tetrazzini. I will have to go find the recipe and will edit the post with it. Easy and delicious! I've made it for friends to have after babies. It's easy to split into several aluminum pans so you can have a couple meals. 

mothernorth

I am going to start brain storming, but I confess- I just hopped on the take-out train with my last two, and suffered through making dinner a week or so PP. I am horrible at meal planning on a day by day basis- months in advance is too much pressure! Haha

ashleyp625

ibabyloveb87 said:

Good crockpot meal is chicken breasts with BBQ sauce. Literally throw it in there on high for 4 hours and voila! It makes a ton. I add a little water in the bottom and just cover the chicken breasts in BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Rays is my go to but anything works!)

I also love to freeze a chicken tetrazzini. I will have to go find the recipe and will edit the post with it. Easy and delicious! I've made it for friends to have after babies. It's easy to split into several aluminum pans so you can have a couple meals. 

I love making BBQ chicken like that too. I always add a half of a 20oz bottle of Dr Pepper too- it makes it so good! 

mrszoess

throw some pineapple w the BBQ chicken !

westcoastfoodie

@bnsmith85  I'm definitely going to need to make that goat cheese alfredo this week. It looks SO GOOD! Thanks for the recommendation!


It's been a crrrrrrrrazy work day so I'm going to get together some recipe ideas, although I do admit I don't do a lot of freezer meals, but plan to start! 

blaf322

mrszoess said:

throw some pineapple w the BBQ chicken !

That MAY be one of the recipes on the crockpot link I posted... It sounds familiar

queen_frostine

I wish my husband wasn't so picky! I have already written down a list of what meals we eat (or parts of them) can be frozen ahead of time. But my stupid husband is super picky and he really hates leftovers, too. Like, he'll be all disappointed that the potato soup is being warmed from frozen instead of cooked fresh. Personally I can't tell a difference and think it's all in his head. Maybe I'll be able to convince him to cook once in a while...

CopperBoom86

@RainMira9e - That's absurd. Most things totally taste the same from frozen. Some even taste better! I feel you on the pickiness, though. My husband doesn't eat bell peppers, onions, or tomatoes, so that makes my life difficult. 

krzyriver

@RainMira9e Has he ever had a frozen slow cooker meal? They definitely don't taste like leftovers! Anything out of the slow cooker is juicy and tender, even if it was frozen! Trick him one day, let him scarf it down and then tell him you froze it first. Lol

@CopperBoom86 My SS is the picky one in my house. It's mostly stubbornness tho. He just doesn't want to try things and he'll fight us till he's grounded for life if he feels like it. Lol. But of course he'll try anything my parents ask him to eat. 

allison_smith_6212

We make "Turkey Veggie Mac" in the CrockPot pretty much weekly starting in the Fall throughout the winter (and occasionally in the spring/summer). 

It's super easy to make too  

1 pound Turkey meat - pre-browned

1 can Diced Tomatoes
1 can Rotel (we typically do medium) 
1 can Black Beans
1 can Corn
1 TBSP Southwest Seasoning (we use: (Salt-free) Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle Seasoning Blend)
Mix all above ingredients together in the crockpot and cook on low (we typically put it together right before work and have it cook all day).

Last 30 minutes mix in :
1 cup uncooked macaroni noodles

Serve - we usually add a dab of sour cream or ranch dressing on top to add a bit of creaminess.

Delicious and a favorite of our 3 year old (and has been since around 10 months). 

Edited to add brand of seasoning we use. 

von1976

@amheimerman Sounds great! I'd like to try it, but what is "Southwest Seasoning"?

allison_smith_6212

I honestly could probably add quite a few CrockPot recipes to this board. 

Here's another we really like: 

Chicken & Stuffing

INGREDIENTS
2 lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
2 box Stovetop Chicken Stuffing Mix
2 can Cream of Chicken Soup (sometimes I'll change this to 1 cream of mushroom, 1 cream of chicken or 1 cheese soup mix and 1 cream of chicken - basically whichever I have in the pantry)
2 can (14 oz) Chicken Broth
Salt & Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
Spray slow cooker with non stick spray.
Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper.
Place in bottom of slow cooker.
Sprinkle stuffing mix over the top of the chicken.
Whisk together soup and broth until blended and pour evenly over dry stuffing.
Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 7 hours.

I usually add a vegetable of some sort on the side when making this. 

mothernorth

Frozen enchiladas forever!

allison_smith_6212

von1976  Any one in the spice/seasoning aisle works, but my hubby and I use a salt-free one called "Mrs. Dash Southwest chipotle seasoning blend".  

https://www.mrsdash.com/products/seasoning-blends/southwest-chipotle-seasoning-blend

von1976

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this site yet, but I just found https://newleafwellness.biz/. I've linked to their page on 17 crockpot freezer meal plans with grocery lists. There's dozens upon dozens of meals! I've just printed out a bunch and I'm planning to do this. Genius! So much easier to store gallon bags of frozen food than casserole dishes, though I'll probably make a few lasagnas as well.

blaf322

@von1976- the freezer meals I pinned are like that... With the freezer bags 

ETA- by pinned, I mean posted... Here... Above

mrszoess

ball up 6 balls of foil and place on bottom of crock. spray entire thing w cooking spray. rub the chicken w a mixture of whatever spices you like (I usually put salt pepper adobo garlic onion powder etc)

quarter a lemon and shove it inside

put on low for 6-7 hours. done. eat. 

annabenanna

@mrszoess, I just sent your chicken picture to DH.  The other night we were debating and couldn't get on the same page about meal prep.  

He thinks:  crockpots and slow cookers suck.... he thinks they aren't "gourmet" enough recipes and look like mush... and that basically all we'd eat is chili and queso.  He'd rather do a once a month food prep where we cook a shitton of food and freeze, and in between those meals supplement with like easy meals (trader joe's prepared stuff).

I on the other hand am all for the slow cooker.... but he's not convinced.

So I sent him your picture with "is this mush?  it was cooked on a slow cooker". LOL

mrszoess

LOL I may make ribs next week send him that too for real that chicken is the easiest thing ever and when poultry is on sale you can make your own chicken for like 7 bucks and know exactly what's in it. 

im by no means crunchy but it makes me happy to know what I'm eating  

annabenanna

Well if you make it next week @mrszoess, take a picture for me!  I need to win this food prep war.  

mrszoess

hahahaha @annabenanna I'll see if they're on sale, but game on!!! 

BarrysBride05

annabenanna said:

DH and I plan on dedicating a weekend in September to just prepping and freezing a bunch of meals for when baby gets here.  

Do you ladies have any true and tried recipes you love that freeze well?  Please share!

Also, if you have crockpot recipes you wanna share, would love those too!  We just used a gift card given to us from our wedding to buy a Philips Multi-Cooker and I'm hoping it helps us with dinner prep!  

I have a board in Pinterest as well. I am dipping my toes into freezer meals. 
Crockpot go to site is crockpot365 (we like the cream cheese chicken and taco soup). Another meal we like is salsa chicken: toss some frozen, skinless thighs or beasts into CP with drained and rinsed black beans and corn (I like frozen) and salsa (adjusting amounts based on how much you are making). Cook on low until chicken is cooked (4-6 hours), shred. Turn to high and a add a brick of cream cheese (if desired) for about 30 minutes. Serve over rice and/or tortilla chips, shredded cheese, sour cream and cilantro (we keep freeze-dried in fridge). I have made a double batch, halved and served it without cream cheese in soft tortillas then melted cream cheese later.

blaf322

THESE... .you all must make them... and then make more for an unhealthy PP breakfast. You won't regret it. We call them crack rolls... but the formal name is Cinnamon Cream Cheese Roll Ups. They're seriously AMAZING. I haven't frozen them before, but they would freeze well. I would save the final step of rolling in butter then cinnamon/sugar mixture until you're ready to bake because if you don't, they'll likely stick together when placed in a ziploc to freeze. You could probably bake them in advance, but you'd have to re-bake to warm, so I'd probably just do the butter/sugaring and baking on the day of.

https://www.food.com/recipe/cinnamon-cream-cheese-roll-ups-26882 

blaf322

Sorry I'm deviating so much here @annabenanna ... but I still feel like this one is helpful, given that we'll all probably have some Thanksgiving leftovers and will be looking for easy things to do with them.

This is a good recipe for using that leftover stuffing. It's DELICIOUS
https://www.wellplated.com/leftover-stuffing-recipe-stuffing-cakes/

annabenanna

Deviate all you want @bnsmith85!  Also, I now have that cinnamon cream cheese roll ups pinned.  Breastfeeding burns lots and lots of calories right?!?!?! :)This will motivate me to really try and bfeed.

blaf322

Easy Freezer Calzones- I've made them as a freezer meal before. They're delicious and super easy!
https://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/easy-calzones/

annabenanna

bnsmith85 said:

Easy Freezer Calzones- I've made them as a freezer meal before. They're delicious and super easy!
https://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/easy-calzones/

We haven't made calzones, but we made empanadas before, and did like a huge batch of dough (which we failed at, so we ended up buying puff pastry & pie pastry--which is the way we'll do it again next time) and we made chicken curry empanadas, ground beef empanadas and cheese empanadas.  Froze about 50 of them, and it was so well worth the hard work!  Might do them again this time!

blaf322

annabenanna said:

bnsmith85 said:

Easy Freezer Calzones- I've made them as a freezer meal before. They're delicious and super easy!
https://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/easy-calzones/

We haven't made calzones, but we made empanadas before, and did like a huge batch of dough (which we failed at, so we ended up buying puff pastry & pie pastry--which is the way we'll do it again next time) and we made chicken curry empanadas, ground beef empanadas and cheese empanadas.  Froze about 50 of them, and it was so well worth the hard work!  Might do them again this time!

Confession- I buy store bought pizza dough that our bakery sells. It makes it SO easy

MRSCORKER

Here is the granola bar recipe link you requested. They work with dried fruit or chocolate chips or both if you're feeling ambitious! The recipe makes about 8 bars that I typically individually wrap in cling wrap and store in gallon zip locks.

blaf322

DH's coworker sent this to me- 20 meals in 2 hrs 
https://www.stockpilingmoms.com/2016/06/20-slow-cooker-freezer-meals-in-4-hours/

nsquaredlife13

Crock pots and slow cookers are great and all, but have you guys tried the Instant Pot? That shit is magical. Seriously. It slow cooks too if you must use that feature but anything that can make a pot roast in 70 minutes, dry beans in 10 minutes, or a full chicken in no time is a winner to me! A lot of these meals (all of them) would be perfect in an instant pot too.

KarenBM13

I really like creamy soups in the fall. You just freeze the actual ingredients all pureed and then add stock/milk when you are ready to eat. So for example, for this cream of asparagus:

https://allrecipes.com/recipe/13114/cream-of-fresh-asparagus-soup-ii/

You would just do step 1 and freeze and then defrost and do steps 2 and 3. It takes up less room in the freezer too, which is great. You can do it with really any cream based soup.