Thursday, April 12, 2012

Freezer Meals

For a while now I have been trying to make freezer meals. I first started by buying the book Don't Panic! Dinner's in the Freezer off of Amazon. I then discovered Pinterest! I mostly get my meals from Pinterest because there are pictures and I'm all about having a visual to go by. I also follow a few blogs where there are freezer meal tutorials. This last time I cooked some freezer meals I took pictures along the way and saved the websites so that I could share what I've done with whomever is interested. It took me two days to get all of these meals prepared and in the freezer (this was in between Brody's nap, playing with Brody, doing laundry, getting on Facebook, and making and eating dinner). 

I tried to take a picture of all the ingredients I would be using, but I realized later I left out my produce and cheese. But, you get the idea! 



The first meal I made was Teriyaki Chicken for the Crock Pot. It has 3 pieces of raw chicken breasts, teriyaki sauce, a can of pineapples, red onion, and baby carrots. Here is the link for the website and recipe that I used: http://melissafallistestkitchen.blogspot.com/2011/09/freezer-cooking-slow-cooker-meals.html You have to scroll down a little bit to get to this recipe. As you can see, I placed all the ingredients in the zip-lock, wrote the name of the meal and the date prepared, and then included the cooking directions so I wouldn't have to look the recipe back up to figure out how to cook it! We just ate this meal tonight and it was really good. 



The next recipe is called Italian Pork Chops, and the first time I made it I made it without it being a freezer meal and used pork. A friend of mine, Kristy, thought it would be better with chicken. So, the second time we made it we used chicken. This is the first time making it as a freezer meal. I have made other breaded chicken as freezer meals (http://amandathevirtuouswife.blogspot.com/2012/01/cheesy-fried-chicken-breasts-freezer.html) where I breaded the chicken before freezing them. This recipe had me freeze the chicken and breading separately and bread the chicken right before baking. We'll see how this turns out. I may try it next time by breading the chicken first, wrapping in seran wrap, and then placing in a gallon freezer zip-lock bag. I also used chicken tenders instead of breasts because I prefer the tenders. 


I have made breakfast burritos before for Kyle (http://amandathevirtuouswife.blogspot.com/2011/08/breakfast-burritos-and-beef-pot-pies.html - I also made the beef pot pies but haven't tried them yet). This time, I tried knock-off Egg McMuffins. (http://www.macheesmo.com/2010/03/breakfast-sandwiches/) The blogger had a great idea to cook the eggs in a muffin tin to get the perfect shape! Kyle asked that the next time I make these I break the yolks first. I used English Muffins and cheddar cheese slices. The only downside to these is that they are not microwave recommended. They recommend cooking for 25 min in the oven whereas the burritos can be popped right into the microwave. 




Next, I made Creamy Meatballs. I've made this before and let me tell you they are yummy! This recipe makes so much you can totally make two meals out of it, which is what I did this time. Actually I doubled the recipe, so I made 4 meals! I didn't get a picture of the freezer bag with the meatballs and the soups mixed together. Whoops. Here is the recipe: http://fabulesslyfrugal.com/2010/05/creamy-meatballs.html. I was running out of time by the time I started these so I made one of these meals for dinner that night and served it over rice. 


The next day, the recipe I decided to try was Green Been Chicken Casserole - http://www.rd.com/food/green-bean-chicken-casserole-recipe/. The night before I went grocery shopping I was quickly looking up recipes and making my list. I wanted a lot of freezer meals so I doubled all of the recipe's ingredients so I would get 2 meals out of each recipe. After reading the directions for this recipe I noticed it made two (one to eat and one to freeze) so I ended up getting 4 meals! We had this for dinner last night. It was pretty tasty. 





The next meal I was going to make was Pasta Carbonara. It turns out the only prep work to freeze it was to freeze the noodles and the already frozen peas! Ugh! That's what I get for not fully paying attention when making my grocery list! So, instead of a freezer meal, we decided to make one for dinner that night. It was so good that I thought I'd include the recipe just so you could make it if you want! I didn't get any pictures until dinner was over so I got a "leftovers" picture. Kyle ended up eating the rest before bed that night! http://fabulesslyfrugal.com/2009/03/fabuless-freezer-cooking-pasta.html 




I'm excited about this last one! It's called Baked Penne with Sausage and Creamy Ricotta - YUM! (http://joelens.blogspot.com/2011/09/baked-penne-with-sausage-creamy-ricotta.html). Most of the time, I try to look for freezer meals that I don't have to cook before preparing (like the Italian Chicken and Chicken Teriyaki), but some meals are worth it (like the Creamy Meatballs and, hopefully, this one!). I had to cook the sausage and sauce before preparing. The white cubes on top are a cut up block of mozzarella cheese... oh yummy! 




I took these last few pictures because I wanted to share how clean freezer meal cooking/preparing can be! I still had a batch of Creamy Meatballs I was working on when I took these pictures. There is minimal mess in my opinion. 


After all of those meals, I don't think the amount of dishes in the sink is a lot. Not bad, I think! 


My last batch of Creamy Meatballs for the night! :)


I hope you enjoyed this post. I might do this every month I make my freezer meals to share the recipes I've found and also for a reference of the things I have made and may want to try again. Here are a few other recipes I have made in the past! 






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3 comments:

  1. MicahApril 14, 2012 at 10:32 PM

    Whoo hoo for freezer meals! I have a few chicken recipes that I do pretty often. I might have to post the recipes for those. I'll have to try these out!

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  2. KelleeApril 16, 2012 at 3:18 PM

    Yes! Post recipes! I'm always looking for more!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Denise SkeltonApril 18, 2012 at 11:53 AM

    I am definitely voting for a monthly freezer meal post!

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