Need Help With Foods I Can Put In The Freezer!

[rkmonckton11]

Does anyone have any recipes that i can freeze or put in a thermos so i can just reheat quick and eat it. I need to start making meals ahead of time and freezing them. Anyone got any tips or ideas?

[kabowman]

I always do this, we are busy with kid stuff Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings.

-I bake meals on Sunday's and freeze half.

-I make my own sausage on Saturday's then cook and freeze the patties on Sunday for the week's breakfast.

-When I make chicken soup or chili, I make a HUGE amount and freeze meal size portions that can be reheated any time.

-I cook hamburgers up and ground hamburger that I can use for a quick spaghetti meal and freeze them.

-We freeze stew when we fix that in the colder months.

-I have even frozen chicken wings with my homemade BBQ sauce for re-heating later.

-Hubby grills every Sunday evening and we freeze some of that for later in the week too.

This way, I only have to fix sides to go with meals during the week when we are so busy. Monday's and Thursday's we don't get home until 9PM, Tuesday's and Wednesday's we are home by 8PM - we snack before we leave then eat when we get home (since we are going to their sports they can't have too much before a long practice). This also helps for my lunches in case I am running low on food to take in to work.

[RiceGuy]

Lots of meals can be frozen and reheated without losing too much appeal. Rice/veggie dishes for example. Stuff like pasta probably not though. Tinkyada pasta may hold up better than wheat pasta, but I doubt it would make a good meal reheated like that. Especially if you intend to microwave it. Beans also reheat fine IMO, as does millet and other grains I'm sure. If you like chili, that's always good reheated, and it would keep warm in a thermos for awhile too. Mashed potatoes/sweet potatoes are a no-brainer if you reheat in a microwave.

I generally avoid microwaving since it destroys more nutrients than stove-top cooking, but when time is limited I guess we all tend to make exceptions. Anyway, things like stews and soups reheat well both on the stove and in the microwave, so either way those are a winner, and they're fast. I think you might find that meals having some amount of moistness/liquid content work better than dryer things like a veal cutlet for example. Whole baked potatoes are sorta an exception when they're small enough, though they do carry their own amount of moister. Microwave reheating seems to be a 'hit & miss' thing where you end up with hot and cold spots, so it works better when the food can be mixed and put back in for a little extra boost of heat. Stuff using breads like pizza generally don't microwave so well. I know wheat pizza crust tends to get soggy in the microwave, and gluten-free pizza crust is usually already less than ideal to start with. Hot sandwiches such as a meatball sandwich may be less convenient since it would essentially be a two-part meal; the meat gets reheated while the bread waits/warms up at room temperature.

Peanut butter sandwiches have always been one of my favorite fast-foods, with no reheating at all. I guess if you have an insulated lunch box/bag, you could also make salads. Potato salad, macaroni salad, cole slaw, and of course green salads all work well. Given enough room, you could pack both a salad and a bowl of stew/chili or whatever to be reheated.

Hope that helps a little.

[jenvan]

I can help you find specific recipes if you like, but here are things I freeze for later:

any kind of soups, stews

tortillas

homemade spaghetti sauce

paella type crockpot meals

chili

blondies, cookies

sauces

[rkmonckton11]

Thanks for the help! ive already started on a couple of things. It all seems so hard. but its becoming easier and eaiser. im still hungry throught out the day. i just have to make a schedule so i can have cook days, thats sounds like the best plan. Ive been craving White bread so i picked up some "Bob's Red Mill Homemade Wonderful gluten-free bread Mix " Has anyone tried it? it is good? Ive been wanting a sandwich so bad!! It seems all ive been living off of is yougurt, chicken, rice, cereal, cornuts, potatoes, and some ice cream. Ive just been so discouraged about cooking latley. I haven't wan't to really cook anything except easy stuff like chicken & rice or like beef and rice. And Stuf you can just buy that is easy. But im learning. And my Boyfriend is leaving for a week to deer camp(oh fun) So i think im going to be experimenting while i have some alone time ane while the house is quite. So if anyone has any good recipes for and pastrys please write them down for me!!! thank you !

Kristen

[Guhlia]

I freeze chicken nuggets made with Kinnikinnick breading. They make a great snack for my daughter. I also freeze casseroles like rice/chicken/cheese/garlic. I generally make large dinners and then freeze the leftovers for future lunches.

[Guest Ang]

Here's an easy dessert to freeze: NAMASTE spice cake mix. My mom buys these and uses 1/2 a package to make me 4 mini-loaves of raisin spice cake with a cream cheese frosting. She bakes them, frosts them, and then freezes them, so I always have something yummy when I come to her home. I have even been known to eat some for breakfast...like when my family gets dougnuts!

Angie

[Guest cassidy]

I make three different things that freeze well:

The first is veggie lasagna. Most of the time I use spinach, but sometimes I use eggplant.

1 box tinkyada lasagna noodles

2 - 15oz cartons of low moisture ricotta (I used Publix brand)

1 -2 cloves of garlic - depending on how much you like garlic

1 1/2 jars (26oz jar) of spaghetti sauce - I used Classico 4 cheese

1 1/2 lbs mozzorella - I used Kraft low mosture

2 bags of fresh spinach

1 1/2 bags sundried tomatoes - the ones that are already julienned save time.

Cook pasta for about 6 minutes and lay out flat on a plate, after you drain it, so it doesn't stick together before you need it.

Slice top off spinach bag and lay it flat in the microwave. Microwave for a total of 3 minutes flipping after each minute. Repeat with second bag. Being careful of the heat, wring the spinach until all the water drains out. It is very important to get all the water out of the spinach. You will be surprised at how much is left.

Mix 1/2 lb of mozzarella with all the ricotta and the garlic in a bowl.

Put a layer of sauce on the bottom of the pan and then a layer of noodles. Add a layer of the ricotta mixture, then some mozzarella cheese and then sundried tomatoes and then spinach. Add sauce on top of that and cover with another layer of pasta. Repeat until you run out of ingredients. Make sure there is a thick layer of sauce and cheese on the top.

Cook at 350 for 1 hour or until golden brown. It is very cheesy and yummy!

I also make a mexican 'lasagna'

Spicy Mexican Lasagna

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon cumin

1 garlic clove

1/2 onion

1 10oz can rotel original tomatoes & chilies

1 10oz can rotel spicy tomatoes and chilies

1 bottle ortega medium taco sauce

3 cans black beans - drained

4 cups cooked rice

corn tortillas

4 cups shredded cheese - mexican blend

This is very spicy, so I would recommend substitutions if you don't like things spicy.

I use Uncle Ben's 20 min cook rice, so I started cooking that first.

Combine chili powder, cumin, garlic, onion, rotel cans, taco sauce and black beans in a bowl.

Place a layer of corn tortillas down, followed by a layer of rice, then the spicy bean mixture, layer of cheese and repeat starting with corn tortillas again.

Top off with corn tortillas with cheese on top. This layer gets crunchy in the oven (which I love).

Bake at 350 for 1 hour. I used a 9 x13 pan.

Lastly, I took a bunch of veggies and cooked them in the crock pot all day. I used my vac sealer (ziploc bags would work fine) and froze the veggies in side dish sized portions. Now I can have my main dish and some veggies at the same time just by microwaving everything.

[Guest nini]

when I cook meals, I cook enough for leftovers then I freeze the leftovers in ice cube trays or ziplock freezer bags, (after the ice cube trays are frozen I transfer those to ziplock freezer bags as well, labeled with what they are and the date)

rice dishes and chicken broth, pasta dishes, casseroles, you name it, I freeze it... I freeze just about everything! just make sure that it's wrapped well and labeled. Most stuff will freeze well for a long time, if you see an abundance of ice crystals, toss it, but for the most part this is pretty foolproof. I've found that if I freeze things in the ice cube trays it's much easier to thaw out individual portions than if I freeze a batch of something in a larger tupperware container. Things that stick together easy like breads and pancakes I either put into individual sandwich bags and then into a larger freezer bag or put wax paper between slices...

hope this helps