Whats some good freezer lunches to make?

Since I am no longer able to go home for lunch anymore (moved 20 minutes away), I will need to start bagging lunches!

What's some good suggestions to make weekly lunches? I am looking to spend some time on a weekend to make, and freeze/store for the week. I'd want something to "grab and go" in the mornings.

Leftovers!  Chili, soups/stews, pot roast, fruit...now if only I put that into action, LOL!  There were times for clinicals that I got home tired the night before, knew I needed to bring a lunch the next day, so I picked up Subway for the next day and just threw it in the fridge.  Chinese makes for good leftovers if you buy the large containers of it.

Winchester has a link to the recipe exchange that has tons of awesome recipes. Starting a crock pot before work means a meal is ready when you get home...provided your cats don't mess with crick pots.   Mine don't, strangely enough.

I completely agree about leftovers, esp if you have access to a microwave. Any leftovers will work great if they can easily be warmed up. Any kind of casserole works well. 

Rick takes his lunch every day. Sometimes he'll make a sandwich, but he's fine with leftovers. He'll take a thermos of soup or chili. Spaghetti, lasagna (that man loves leftover lasagna), tuna casserole, pasta salad, mac-and-cheese....you name it, he'll take it. And even if he can't get to the microwave, he's even ok with that. I tend to make salad every other day with enough for him to throw some in his lunch the next day. We have little Tupperware cups with lids that he'll use for dressing. Applesauce is a staple for his lunch. I canned peaches the other night for him for over the winter. Leftover bbq in containers with a roll in a bag that he can have with his bbq. I always have yeast rolls on hand that he can plop into his bag, too....he loves those with his soup or pasta and sauce. Meatloaf! He loves a good meatloaf sandwich. There are always homemade frosted cupcakes in the freezer for him or some cookies. Applesauce brownies. Til it's lunch time for him, the frozen snacks are ready for him to munch on. 

Our son did pretty much the same thing when he was in school. He wouldn't buy his lunch; he preferred to carry. And he ate pretty much the same stuff his dad does. He didn't like what the school served for lunch and he was always happy with whatever we had on hand.

Quite often, esp in the winter, I will take a Saturday and cook. Pasta sauce, ham and bean soup, split pea soup, chili, vegetarian chili, etc. I'll make a big pan of garlic-parmesan rolls for the freezer. A bunch of cupcakes or a batch of cookies. Rick will use them all in his lunch, plus we have the meals for busy week nights when I have meetings or he's bowling early. We don't really have the money for him to buy lunch every day, nor do I really want him to do that....at least if he's eating what I make, I know that it's healthier than what he could buy. And I do worry about that.

Roast a pork tenderloin, slice it, and then tuck the slices into the freezer in portion sizes. Then you can make a sandwich from the slices, if you want. Add some sliced tomato or some lettuce and a nice dressing and that's a nice little lunch. Pulled pork freezes beautifully as does any kind of shredded chicken or beef.

Crock pots are wonderful. I worry about our cats (actually, I don't trust them at all), so when I use our crock pot, I either put it in the basement on top of the freezer of on top of the dryer when I'm working. But it's great for a good pot roast or any kind of soup or stew. I don't know how you feel about pressure cookers, but you can come home from work and get beef stew on the table in an hour.....and then you have leftovers, too.

Make soup and freeze it in one cup containers.

Make you sandwiches ahead of time and freeze those. Things like meat, egg salad, tuna salad, PB&J all freeze beautifully!  Of course if you want to add lettuce and tomatoes, you will thaw the sandwich and add it those elements once they are thawed.

Make chili and freeze in 1 cup portions.

French toast can be made in advance and frozen individual sandwich bags. Good for either breakfast or lunch.

Muffins

Stews

Roast a chicken with all of the fixings and make "TV dinners".  You can grab 1 in the morning and leave it out all morning and microwave it for lunch.  Also great for quick dinners.

Lasagna baked and frozen in single serving portions.  Just add a salad to have a complete meal.

You can make Hummus and take a salad with some veggies to dip (Hummus can be frozen)

thanks for the suggestions all! I've never brought my lunch anywhere with me. I will have to get into habit of bringing them in!

I love the lasagna idea. I'll be doing that this weekend, as well as soup and chili. yums!

I love lasagna.  Now that it's just me I will do the freezing in portions even though I work from home now.  I don't think there is a way to make a small amount of lasagna.  I go ahead and make a full pan and then freeze single portions after it cools off.

Rick loves the leftovers of a good chicken pot pie. He'll eat it for two days and not complain once. It's one of his favorites.

I always do two large pans of lasagna at one time. It's such a pain to make it that I make it worth my while.

I'm making some grab-and-go breakfasts / snacks this year for our busy high schooler. A great one is baked oatmeal - pretty standard and there are lots of recipes for it. You bake it and let it cool, then cut into squares and freeze. You can add raisins or chopped dried fruit - very good. I sweeten with maple syrup and use almond milk since there are dairy allergies here.

Another idea is eggs and toast: you need soft sliced bread and a muffin tin. Scramble eggs and put in any additions you want, whatever you put in your favorite omelette. Brush the bottoms of the muffin tin with a little oil, then line each with slice of bread, cut off crusts if necessary. Pour the scrambled eggs on top of each piece of bread (it works out to about an egg each). Bake, let cool, then freeze.

Baked oatmeal? I've never heard of that, it sounds great for an easy breakfast snack! I'll have to find a recipe for that.

I agree about leftovers. We eat lots of stews, stir fry, or pasta dishes for dinner. When I'm cleaning up after dinner, I portion out enough for lunch the next day and put that in a separate container, so the next morning I just have to pop the ready made container in my lunch box, maybe add a banana or apple for a snack, and I'm good to go.

My brother is single, works crazy hours and really doesn't cook for himself that much. Every year for Christmas I make a ton of freezer meals for him, individually portioned. I've done lasagna, baked ziti, mac and cheese, soups, chili, sausage and peppers, pulled pork and chicken, jambalaya, meatballs, stuffed peppers, etc. The possibilities really are endless.

AbbysMom said:

My brother is single, works crazy hours and really doesn't cook for himself that much. Every year for Christmas I make a ton of freezer meals for him, individually portioned. I've done lasagna, baked ziti, mac and cheese, soups, chili, sausage and peppers, pulled pork and chicken, jambalaya, meatballs, stuffed peppers, etc. The possibilities really are endless.

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would you make some for me?? lol. 

So far I made chili and a tray of eggplant parm. I'll have to cook something else this sunday

AbbysMom said:

My brother is single, works crazy hours and really doesn't cook for himself that much. Every year for Christmas I make a ton of freezer meals for him, individually portioned. I've done lasagna, baked ziti, mac and cheese, soups, chili, sausage and peppers, pulled pork and chicken, jambalaya, meatballs, stuffed peppers, etc. The possibilities really are endless.

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What a wonderful idea. I wish I knew someone that would do that for me. I have arthritis and it's hard for me to cook for myself.