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Recipes for freezer meals

m+jm+j
in Working Moms

Hi ladies!  I'll eventually be joining you as a WM around November assuming everything goes as planned.  For now I'm doing my best to prepare at work and home, even though I realize have plenty of time.  DH and I were talking about making several large meals over the next few months and freezing them for those nights that I just don't want to cook.  We'd probably save them for just after the baby is born as well as after I return to work.  We aren't big on fast food and prefer not to eat out during the week.  We also try to eat as healthy as possible.

So here's my question:  Does anyone have any ideas for meals that can be made and frozen in advance.  Like months in advance?  We have good lasagna and baked ziti recipes, but I'm looking for more ideas.  Also, do you have any tips/tricks for keeping frozen meals free of freezer burn? 

 

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Re: Recipes for freezer meals

  • DanielleWrlyDanielleWrly

    Check out this lady's blog:

    https://joelens.blogspot.com/2010/05/freezer-meals-preparations.html

    https://joelens.blogspot.com/2010/05/freezer-meals-menu.html

    I came across this here on the bump somewhere and was very impressed! I'm not a good cook at all and am not good at planning dinners. I don't really see the recipes for the things she froze but maybe it can give you some good ideas. I'm hoping to try this out too when it gets closer to LO being born.

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  • K.a.T.eK.a.T.e member

    Google "once a month cooking" - there are a few books and tons of blogs out there re: one or 2 busy cooking days but you'll have enough meals for the month.

    It is time consuming; I've done it once or twice but am thinking of doing another batch before LO arrives

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  • xmasbabymamaxmasbabymama

    I used Fix Freeze and Feast and Don't Worry Dinner's in the Kitchen for some recipes to get started and tips on how to bulk freeze - using zip locs and flash freezing. Now I am pretty good about figuring out how to do it on my own, but I like their recipes too.

    I probably bulk cook about once or twice a month and we have a variety of dinners and we eat healthy, home made food all week long. I like to freeze portions that will feed me and DH for one meal, maybe 2, because he doesn't like leftovers. It was a huge help on maternity leave, I would have dinner and just have to fix a salad and it's been great as a working mom too.

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  • Bears1Bears1
    I am using a book Don't worry dinner is in the Freezer.  I am just starting this and only have one meal in the freezer.  What I "Plan" on doing and did do this with the meal last week is make a double batch of a freezer meal and one goes in the freezer and the other is for dinner.  It seems simple enough! 
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  • Bears1Bears1
    Also, in my preparation, I compiled other recipes googling Once a month cooking.  I also went to a lot of the recipe places and searched this and picked the ones with the best reviews. 
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  • bhawk0527bhawk0527 member

    Google dump chicken recipes: you take chicken and put different ingredients in and then store in freezer bag. Take out thaw and bake & add a side to it. EASY Here are some I used:

    DUMP CRANBERRY CHICKEN
    2 Tablespoons Melted Butter
    1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
    1/2 cup Cranberry Sauce
    1/4 cup Orange Juice
    1/8 Teaspoon Cinnamon

    DUMP HONEY SESAME CHICKEN
    1/2 cup Beer
    3 Tablespoons Sesame Seeds
    3 Tablespoons Honey
    2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
    1/2 Teaspoon Pepper
    2 Cloves Crushed Garlic

    DUMP STICKY CHICKY
    2 Tablespoons Oil
    1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
    3 Tablespoons Smooth Peanut Butter
    3 Tablespoons Ketchup

     

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  • xmasbabymamaxmasbabymama
    Sorry, the book was Don't Worry, Dinner is in the Freezer (not kitchen)
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  • Flowr4246Flowr4246 member

    I did this before DD was born and it's turning out to be wonderful now that I'm back to work.  Here're a couple things I've made, with a recipe for the easiest of them.  Feel free to PM me if you want other recipes too.

    Baked ziti, chicken soup (don't add the noodles until you're reheating it or they'll get really starchy in the broth), Italian wedding soup, a couple types of muffins (great for quick breakfasts after LO is born and when you're running out the door to work), chicken & broccoli mac 'n' cheese and...

    BBQ Pulled Pork -

    2 pork tenderloins (about 2 lbs. of meat total), 1 root beer, 2 bottles of BBQ sauce (any type) and salt/pepper/minced garlic (to taste)

    Put the pork, root beer, garlic, salt/pepper into a crock pot and cook on low for 7 - 8 hours.  Drain the juice, pull of any fat that hasn't cooked away and shred the meat.  Return to the crock pot, add the BBQ sauce and simmer for another hour (just until the sauce starts to bubble really).  To reheat, put it in a sauce pan (with some additional BBQ sauce if you like it extra moist) and heat through.  Serve on rolls with cole slaw or a simple salad.  Voila!

    P.S.  As far as health goes, I recently joined Weight Watchers to get rid of the extra PG lbs. and I plugged the recipes I'd made into the tracker to see what damage they would do...  The highest one (baked ziti) was still only 14pts., not bad when you're talking about dinner.  Just use low-fat/fat-free options of ingredients (I didn't, so that's why things were higher) and you should be good to go.

     
    Piper, 4/10/10
    Connor, 3/16/15
    Morgan, EDD 9/22/16



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  • m+jm+j
    You ladies are awesome, thanks so much!  I'll let you know how they turn out.  Smile
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