Freezer Meals That Work

So in the past year, I have become a huge fan of freezer meals. Not only do I love the concept of having a meal on hand on those days I do NOT feel like cooking, but I also love that if I'm ever called upon to take a meal to someone it doesn't stress me out because I know I always have at least one meal in my freezer that I just have to cook.

However, I'm not a huge fan of a lot of the freezer meal recipes. Mostly because they are things my family would never eat. So slowly I've been finding recipes that we like that are freezable. Here are a few of our favorite freezer meal recipes and a few things I've learned along the way:

Baked Chicken Taquitos (Our Best Bites) -- Our Ultimate Favorite!

Oh my heavens, we could eat these taquitos once a week! I have made them countless times and they never get boring. Besides being so easy to make, I love how when you pull them out of your freezer they only take 25 minutes to cook, where most of my other freezer meals take almost an hour. I also double the batch and then freeze them in bags of how many we'll eat in one meal. So I usually get at least 3 meals out of it for our family of three (and my 4-year-old eats TWO without complaint!). Everyone who has had them (and believe me, I've fed a lot of people these) have liked them. You can always count on Our Best Bites.

To find the recipe, click here.


Freezer Meal Tip #1:
Don't freeze cooked potatoes. When you thaw and re-cook them they will be very very mushy. But if the potatoes aren't the main part to the meal, you can add them almost cooked to the recipe when you pull it out to re-heat it (I'm thinking of soups here). But since I like the idea of just dumping the meal in the crockpot or putting it in the oven, I just don't do potato freezer meals.

Tomato-Basil Parmesan Soup (365 Days of Crockpot)

Photo credit: inthekitchenandonthecouch.blogspot.com

So I have to start out by saying that my husband doesn't like parmesan-y things and I don't like tomato soup, but we BOTH like this recipe. This recipe is SO incredibly easy (can you tell I'm a lazy cook?), especially if you cook it in the crockpot, let it cool and then freeze it to warm up when you want to eat it another day. What I usually do is make the full batch and have half for dinner that night and freeze the rest. I've made it with 1% milk or half-and-half and I would suggest using whatever you prefer (or have on hand!). It doesn't make that much of a difference. I would suggest that when you warm up the freezer soup that you add a little milk to it when it's reheating. Otherwise it is kind of watery. Also, I use the Parmesan cheese in a can and I only put in 1/2 cup.

To find this recipe, go here.


Freezer Meal Tip #2:
Always write the date of when you made the meal, the name of the meal, and the cooking instructions on the foil or bag. Then if it gets shoved in the back of your freezer, you will still know what it is and whether it's still good. As a general rule of thumb, freezer meals are good for a couple of months.

Baked Ziti/Penne (My sister-in-law DeAnn)

This one was not written as a freezer meal, but I took a chance and found out that it tastes just the same. This is a nice variation of spaghetti/lasagna and my husband has loved this dish ever since his sister-in-law made it for him ages ago. This recipe makes a TON of food, so I usually split it up into two meals. We also can our own spaghetti sauce, so that is why it's listed in pints. Here's the recipe:

Sorry I have a crappy camera. I promise it looks appetizing.

1 lb. ziti or penne pasta
1 small onion, diced
1 lb. ground beef
3 pints spaghetti sauce
8 slices provolone cheese
1.5 cups sour cream
6 oz. mozzarella cheese, grated
2 Tbsp. parmesan cheese, grated
     OR a handful of fresh shredded
     parmesan cheese


Cook the ground beef with the onion. Drain any excess grease. Cook the pasta and drain. Add spaghetti sauce to beef mixture and simmer for 10 minutes. Using the end of a cube of margarine (or cooking spray for me), lightly grease the bottom of two pans: an 8 x 11 and an 8x8. Divide the following instructions between both pans:

Pour in half of the pasta and spread evenly. Add the provolone cheese (the slices will overlap a bit). Spread the sour cream across provolone cheese. Pour in half of the spaghetti sauce and spread evenly across the pan. Add the rest of the pasta. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese across the pasta. Layer the rest of the spaghetti sauce and then sprinkle on the parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes or until hot and bubbling.

IF FREEZING: Instead of cooking, put tin foil over it and freeze with these instructions written on it: Thaw and bake at 350 for 1 hour, until hot and bubbling in the middle.


Freezer Meal Tip #3:
Store-bought breads freeze and then thaw very well. It doesn't matter if they're wheat or white. I buy the hoagie-type rolls that come in a big bag from Sams or Costco and then freeze them in smaller quantities in gallon ziplock bags with the date of when I bought them written on the front. I pull out 3 of them at a time to slice in half with butter and garlic salt as our french bread to go with the Baked Penne recipe above.

Crockpot Cantonese Sweet & Sour Chicken (Food.com)

 

Photo Credit: http://eatathomecooks.com

Another super easy one and it cooks in the crockpot too when you pull it out of the freezer. Not as good as some of the sweet and sour chicken I've made, but I'll take it over standing in front of the stove on a hot summer day. If you're going to freeze it, just cut all the vegetables and chicken, and mix into a gallon ziplock bag with the sauce. But freeze the drained pineapple SEPARATELY in a quart ziplock bag. You don't want to add the pineapple to the crockpot until the last hour.

To find this recipe, click here.


Freezer Meal Tip #4:
When freezing ziplock bags, put a cookie sheet under it while it freezes. Believe me, you'll thank me later when the bag you thought was sealed tightly, really wasn't.