The Great Freezer Meal Thread

catlady2015 · January 2019

The babies are coming, and we parents (and other sibs) need to eat! Are you planning to prep some freezer meals before this LO enters the world? Share your recipes or plans to make sure everyone eats after the birth here!

catlady2015 · January 2019

Selfishly started for ideas, but I do plan to stockpile a couple lasagnas and some chili to start with! It's just DH and I who'd need to eat so some larger meals (like the lasagnas) we can eat for a few days.

mayoduck · January 2019

Looking for ideas for freezer meals as well. I do plan to have some frozen pizzas and other heat-and-eat items like canned soup stocked up.

AprSnow59 · January 2019

This thread is a great idea! I plan on doubling a lot of what I cook over the next few months to freeze half. Just bought extra bananas so they brown to make banana bread/muffins to freeze!!

Also going to do a big trader Joe's run to buy a bunch of the easy frozen meals that can be heated up in 5-10 minutes!

I love my crock pot, so I'll probably cook a chicken or roast once a week once the baby is here for quick leftovers.

3rdtime_charmed · January 2019

I got a new pressure cooker/air fryer for Christmas and was thinking about prepping ingredients/recipes for last minute throwing together. More extended meal planning than cooking, but maybe that is a bad idea? I’m terrible at eating leftovers...

catlady2015 · January 2019

@3rdtime_charmed - I'm awful at leftovers, too! I'm sure some of mine will wind up being frozen pre-prepped casseroles, skillet dishes, etc. to just defrost, heat, and eat! Hope to find some casserole recipes to prep, and just throw frozen into the crock pot in the morning for dinner that night. The beauty of this for me is to hopefully freeze into smaller portions so it's not way too much food/leftovers in the fridge at once.

@mayoduck - totally stockpiling the frozen pizzas, too. I'm sure my cart on meal prep day will look like I'm shopping for a frat house

sejica · January 2019

I was just thinking about how this is such a great time of year to make big batches of food because I can set it outside to chill and not drastically raise the temp of my fridge/freezer.
So, Thursday I made 12 servings of a recovery stew that definitely turned into more of a risotto/pilaf texture. Beef (actually venison) for iron, barley for boosting milk, mushrooms for vit d, veggies for fiber.
I really want to make lactation cookies/granola bars, and I'm hoping to make some one-handed meals, like bbq chicken turnovers and taco hand pies. I was planning on doing all that in mid Feb, but I'll also keep making extra of whatever I cook and putting a few servings away for post baby. My go-to resource is Debbie Koening's (so?) Parents Need to Eat Too. She and I don't have the same palette at all, but the book is still my launch point for meal prep as a mom.
For everything else, Smitten Kitchen is my Bible for effort to reward cooking.

chocolatelemons · January 2019

Last time, I froze about 30 meals. Here’s what I remember:

- banana chocolate chip muffins
- marinated chicken separated into bags for grilling ( https://everydayshortcuts.com/8-easy-chicken-freezer-meals-in-one-hour/ )
- pizza pockets
- chili (https://pin.it/rpy3zwtxbenfo5 )
- chicken soup
- chicken pot pie
- shepherds pie
- meatballs and homemade sauce
- homemade veggie burgers for grilling

I also made pancake mix. I don’t know what I’ll have time for this time, but I’m hoping to get some done.

lelkcot · January 2019

This is a great reminder that we’re getting close enough to be thinking about stocking the freezer! I typically keep a decent stock of frozen pancakes, waffles and muffins for DS for breakfast- will probably make an extra effort to make some more muffins for me as snacks and breakfast.
As I type DH is smoking 2 Boston butts, so those will stock the freezer for some easy dinners (pork tacos, bbq sandwich’s) and also going to use those bones to make a batch or two of red beans (they freeze wonderfully and can use them for burritos or reheat for red beans & rice - plus they’re my ultimate comfort food).
Will likely prep a casserole or two to toss in the freezer as well, but honestly DS isn’t great about eating casseroles, so probably won’t go overboard with those.
Some of the recipes I’ll use:
muffins (recipe in the spoiler because I seriously altered the one I started from and have really liked it):

Apple Spice Muffins

2 medium bananas, very ripe

1/2 c 2% Greek yogurt

1/2 c apple sauce

1/3 c apple cider

2 egg

3 Tbs butter, melted

1/4 c brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 c whole wheat flour

1 1/4 c apple

2 tbs sugar for dusting

Pre-heat oven to 400, grease of line muffin tin.

Add banana, yogurt, apple sauce and cider to the blender and blend until smooth.

Pour into a mixing bowl and whisk in the eggs and butter. Add remaining ingredients (except apple) and mix well. Fold in the apple.

Fill muffin tin 3/4 full and sprinkle each lightly with sugar.

Bake st 400 for 10 minutes, drop to 350 for an additional 7-12 minutes (just keep an eye on the to see if they’re browned).

Super easy to do variations on these, and you can definitely cut the sugar out completely.

crockpot red beans: https://spicygarlic.wordpress.com/2013/01/31/my-favorite-comfort-food-crockpot-style-red-beans/

LBs Poppyseed chicken: https://spicygarlic.wordpress.com/2012/03/17/lbs-chicken-lynn/

gowenc · January 2019

Love this thread. I've been meaning to do more batch cooking but so far I just have a thing of black bean soup in the freezer. Things like lasagna, meatloaf, etc are all good - and you can prep them in those foil pans from the grocery store so you're not using all your cookware. We also got some stuff at Costco that would be easy to heat and eat while nursing (one-handed food becomes much more important when you're nursing a baby constantly). We got a big thing of frozen burritos and Jamaican patties.

peacebubblebaby · January 2019

I love the book Don’t Panic Dinner is in the Freezer...a good number of recipes that we like. I will probably also mass prep/freeze things like shredded chicken, ground beef, chopped onions...they don’t take long to put together, but when you are struggling just to get stuff on the table when kids are actually hungry, cutting out 10-20 minutes makes a difference.

mamakate1616 · January 2019

Love this thread! My countdown is at 65 days today and I had a mild freak out.

@catlady2015 when I had DD I made a big batch of lasagna guts but assembled roll ups and put them in foil loaf pans so they were 2ishperson sized servings instead of a giant thing.

@sejica what is a taco hand pie??? Sounds like my kind of food.

purplepirate09 · January 2019

Definitely going to start this within the next few weeks. Probably stockpiling some easy frozen meals from Trader Joes, making pastas, chilli, and some various burgers.

Pooka8 · January 2019

I've frozen the skinny taste quinoa Fiesta enchilada bake before. I'll come back when I'm not on mobile.

novelblessings · January 2019

I am planning to do some freezer meals next weekend. Mostly things I can have DH dump in the crockpot. I will stock up on a few pantry items and meats when we get closer. Currently I am planning to do two batches of chili, crockpot chicken pot pie, and sloppy joes. My mom is going to make a couple batches of lasagna. I’ve got 55 days, mostly likely less.....

kbear28 · January 2019

Love this thread!

I will do a Costco meat stock up. Chicken, pork loin, pork shoulder/butt, tri-tip...

Also TJs frozen food. Veggie fried rice, teryiaki bbq chicken, roasted potatoes, hash browns, pizzas, lasagna, hatch chile mac and cheese, meatballs....

Here are a couple favorite recipes:

Pioneer Woman pulled pork - divide freeze to use for tacos, salad, Hawaiian roll sliders. https://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/spicy-dr-pepper-shredded-pork/

Did the same for whole chicken - season, crockpot cook high 4 -4.5 hrs, cool, shred/cut, divide, freeze. Use on tacos, salad, stirfry.

Mediterranean Chicken - serve over spaghetti or zoodles https://www.lecremedelacrumb.com/slow-cooker-mediterranean-chicken

Pineapple chili chicken (I don't freeze the veg, just cxn+sauce) serve over rice https://brendid.com/sweet-chili-pineapple-chicken/

Didn't freeze, but a favorite on my last leave https://www.gracefullittlehoneybee.com/slow-cooker-sausage-cabbage-and-potatoes/

meggyme · January 2019

My friends typically do a meal train for new babies, so I'm counting on that for at least a week's worth of meals. I'll also stock up on freezer meals by either freezing leftovers or doubling regular recipes. I'll probably plan to continue a high protein/low carb diet for at least the first several weeks in case my GD doesn't resolve itself immediately. Luckily a lot of recipes I have, like chili and carnitas are pretty low carb or easy to modify.

lovesclimbing · January 2019

I didn't do any freezer meals with my daughter. My H did most of the cooking for a few days, and my sister brought us one meal. It worked pretty well. I don't know that I'm going to do a lot of meal prep this time. I find it kind of hard because my H eats a lot. So it's not as easy as just "double it and freeze half." If I make a casserole, I'm making a 9x13 pan, and cooking up the meat sauce or whatever fills my largest skillet 3/4 full or more! And we need a 9x13 pan. That's enough for supper and some leftovers for lunch the next day (we aren't sandwhich people). So we'll have to see. A lot of the easier to freeze stuff tends to be casserole-type stuff, and my husband is not a big fan of casseroles. Ugh!

novelblessings · January 2019

@meggyme I appreciated the few meals we received last time from people but DH got food poisoning! That is my number 1 reason for doing freezer meals and stocking up this time.

Pooka8 · January 2019

One of my favorite easy meals that is comfort food to me (but probably doesn't freeze well because it has potato in it) Is Chana Masala. If you mix up the spices in a baggy and keep the canned goods on hand it's as easy as sauteeing onions and garlic, opening a few cans, setting the instant pot and making rice or serving with naan.
https://smashedpeasandcarrots.com/instant-pot-chana-masala/

Here is the Quinoa Fiesta Enchilada Bake recipe I mentioned above. Just omit the cheese and toppings until you're ready to bake. I usually double this and make one/freeze one.
https://www.skinnytaste.com/quinoa-fiesta-enchilada-bake/

Beyond that I don't freeze much, so I'm stalking this thread for ideas.

sejica · January 2019

@mamakate1616 Koenig calls them taco empanadas. I add refried beans to mine, and am just as likely to make them on refrigerated pizza crust as empanada shells.

momofmanyinthemitten · January 2019

DH, nor my children, are big on casseroles, so I do a lot of freezing raw meat with marinades. I also like to have a lot of breakfast options, as that tends to be the big meal of the day for a few of my kids (breakfast sandwiches, burritos, muffins, pancakes, waffles, breads, quiches, packets for the bread machine), and a lot of those things can be eaten as snacks as well. I like to do a few types of soups to have on hand for lunches. We have an upright freezer in our basement, as well as an extra fridge/freezer next to it, but we could really use another freezer with the amount of food I like to have prepped and on hand. We go through so much food as a family of 6 currently.

swanbrooner · January 2019

I want to make at least a few meals this time around.

If you are not a good prepper or if you don’t have the freezer space, we did a lot with rotisserie chickens last time around. They are always tasty and usually cost less or just as much as raw chicken.

flyingmombula · January 2019

I'm a vegetarian so I'm going to make a few things from this list:https://www.buzzfeed.com/deenashanker/vegetarian-freezer-meals?s=mobile

Also the pioneer woman has a ton of really awesome make-ahead meals. I

her.

And I'll probably make these lactation cookies. MH loves them too.https://www.howsweeteats.com/2015/02/lactation-cookies/

My kid basically only eats chicken nuggets and pizza so I don't have to plan for him when I'm making dinner

kristimh80 · January 2019

@flyingmombula Thanks for the vegetarian recommendations! I'm also one, so been wracking my brain of what I'd want to put together.

flyingmombula · January 2019

@kristimh80 np! I also have a list of freeze-ahead crockpot meals if you’re interested! Basically you put all the ingredients in a ziplock to freeze and then thaw the night before & just dump in the pot in the morning.

lelkcot · January 2019

So, I had tossed one of these calzones in the freezer several months ago and pulled it out for lunch today. A minute in the microwave and 20+ in the toaster oven and it was awesome! Definitely planning to stash a few in the freezer. Wanted to share (I’ve added sautéed mushrooms, onion, bell peppers and sausage to mine, plus a tomato sauce for dipping)!
https://www.kitschencat.com/ricotta-spinach-calzones/

chocolatelemons · January 2019

@lelkcot I just made a bunch of calzones today and froze them. Glad to hear they reheat well- I wasn’t sure.

lovesclimbing · January 2019

I made beef and bean chimichangas the other day. It ended up being a ton of the filling, so I froze half of it. So I can just thaw the bags, fill the tortillas and top them with cheese and then brush oil on them and bake.

But of course, it was a meal my H didn't overly care for. He just doesn't like freezer stuff!

lelkcot · January 2019

@lovesclimbing MH gets grumpy about pretty much any freezer meal as well!

novelblessings · January 2019

@lovesclimbing I kind of tested some crockpot meals out over Christmas break, on DH to see what he would like and what DD1 would eat. They can both be picky. Then I used the recipes that they enjoyed as my freezer meals. I also asked DH if he had any requests and he requested a family recipe of taco soup. We've never made it so I'm hoping it is good once we unfreeze it.

meggyme · January 2019

I’ve got a couple recipes I’ve frozen before that I’ve reheated to test on hubby as well. He is the picky eater in our family (never mind the toddler). I plan to do all my freezer meals next month while DH is out of town most the month, but I’ll be doing carnitas, enchiladas, chili, and a few instant pot and other easy recipes ready to go.

momofmanyinthemitten · February 2019

My upright freezer is just about at capacity, my basement fridge freezer is full, my kitchen fridge freezer is stuffed, and I haven’t finished my list of items to make and freeze! I’m just hoping that we don’t lose power with the wind storm that’s passing through right now.

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