Homemade frozen meals?

[natalie_ca]

I decided that this is my weekend to make bulk meals and freeze individual portions. I don't just stick to dinners either. I like to cook make ahead breakfast foods like muffins, breakfast breads and french toast and freeze into portions too.

I went through my recipe book and wrote down what I needed for each recipe that I wanted to make, and then combined the list into a shopping list so I bought only what I need to make the recipes and won't have wasted food in the fridge.

I bought all of the stuff yesterday and am cooking this evening and tomorrow and maybe Sunday. On the menu plan:

Orange Chicken (4 portions).
- I'll freeze each portion with 1/2 cup of rice and there will be 4 ready to eat dinners.
- To add when I eat this: Nothing. It's got lots of veggies in it.


Lemon Chicken (4 portions)
- I'll freeze each portion with 1/2 cup of rice and there will be 4 ready to eat dinners.
- To add when I eat this: A salad


Beef Stirfry (4 portions)
- I'll freeze each portion with 1/2 cup of rice and there will be 4 ready to eat dinners.
- To add when I eat this: A salad


Shrimp Creole (4 portions)
- I'll freeze each portion with 1/2 cup of rice and there will be 4 ready to eat dinners.
- To add when I eat this: A salad and dinner roll.


Beef Stew (8 portions)
- To add when I eat this: A salad and dinner roll or slice of toast.


Meatloaf (8 portions)
- I'll freeze 4 portions with 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes and 1/2 cup of whole beans; and 4 portions with 1 cup of noodles and 1/2 cup of whole beans. - - - To add when I eat this: Maybe a salad, but it's really a whole meal.


Pasta with turkey tomato sauce (10 portions)
- To add when I eat this: A salad


Cheese and Spinach Shells (14 portions)
- To add when I eat this: A salad


French Toast (14 portions)
- 1 serving = 2 slices
- To add when I eat this: 1 banana a bit of splenda and some cinnamon


Yogurt Pancakes


I will also cook up and freeze the following:

- Basmatti rice and freeze it in 1/2 cup portions
- Wild rice and freeze it in 1/2 cup portions
- Noodles and freeze it in 1 cup portions
- Blueberry Muffins and freeze them individually and put them into a large freezer bag. I can take a muffin when I want one for breakfast.
- zucchini bread. Sliced into single servings, wrapped in saran wrap and frozen.
- Yogurt pancakes. A serving is 4 - 2" pancakes. I'll freeze them into servings.
- 4 pork chops, wrapped and frozen. I can then take 1, add some frozen rice and a salad and have a meal.

I might make a turkey taco filling and freeze it into individual servings. Then I can add it to a corn tortilla, put toppings on it and have a salad... but I'll see. I don't know if I bought all the stuff for it or not. If I did I'll make it. If not I'll put it on my list to make next month.

 

[tierre0]

I started doing this qabout 2 years ago. My reasons for starting was due to health issues. I have lost 90lbs since that point and preparing meals in advance has been really helpful. I have a pretty hectic work schedule and a lot of times I was grabbing high calorie fast food as opposed to making something nutritious. Now I usually take a few hours every week, plan my meals and prepare part of them so all I have to do when I get home is heat something up or throw it in the oven. I prepare lots of vegetarian pasta sauces, casseroles and even do meals with meat, potatoes and veg.
I cook pasta and leave it in a fridge, have cut veggies for salads etc.
When I began my healthy eating program ( I never say diet, to negative) I got a copy of the Canada Food Guide. Set up a menu from that and it has worked out really well. It has taken me 26 months to lose 90 lbs but I have so completely changed my eating habits during that time I don't think I will gain it back

. Plus I really enjoy cooking much more and am really more creative in my choices. I have actually tried a few items I never would have thought of before. One of my favorites is eggplant Parmesan which freezes beautifully, is nutritious and very low-cal if done with low-fat cheese.

It also helps with budgeting and in the end saves you money because you are not always stopping to pick up higher priced spur of the moment items. I generally shop only once every week unless I see a good sale on a favorite item.

 

[cococat]

Originally Posted by PurrPaws

Have you guys ever tried making your own frozen meals for the days when you're rushed and don't have time to fix something?

I was thinking that I could just make double of whatever I'm having for dinner and then freeze the uneaten part for later, then thaw it out in the microwave. Much more nutritious and tasty than store-bought frozen meals, not to mention cheaper.

Will this work for anything I cook?

I do for my dogs, lol. I use a food saver sealer to seal up the big batches into small portions.

 

[carolpetunia]

If you live in a larger city, you can probably find a restaurant supply outlet that has perfect containers for anything you want to make. Some cream sauces will separate when they're reheated, but if you add a little cornstarch when you make them, even those will usually do fine.

Tierre0, what a great story! Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[natalie_ca]

Ugh! I'm absolutely cooked out!!!

I've been cooking for what seems like days, but it's only been 2 really. I still have to make beef stew and spinach pasta shells and then I'm done. I hate making the spinach shells because they are so tedious to make, but they are so yummy to eat, LOL

Anyway, those who haven't done make ahead meals, especially single people, should really give it a try. Cook once and eat 4 times. Can't beat that. And the foods are good and healthy because you know what is in them and they aren't loaded with preservatives.

I'm fortunate enough to have a deep freezer, but you can still do it to an extent using just the regular freezer in a fridge.

 

[carolpetunia]

You've got this down to a science! Maybe you should start a business providing meals to those who don't have your talent for cooking...

 

[alice_curiouser]

I love making huge batches of stuff in the crockpot, and then saving the extra in Gladware bowls. I do chili, jambaya, split pea soup, bean soup, and spaghetti sauce, and whenever I don't feel like cooking, I just grab something from my "stash".

 

[larussa]

I always make a batch of chicken and freeze all the pieces separately. When I want chicken for dinner, I just take it out the night before to thaw and then have a good dinner the next night, tastes good too. I usually make noodles and put tomato sauce over all of it, yummy.

 

[natalie_ca]

On today's menu for cooking was Beef Stew and since I had extra carrots, celery, onions and stewing beef I decided to make a pot of beef barley soup.

Now I have to package it all up into single servings, and do the same for the meat loaf I made. I'll save the spinach pasta shells and cook those on Wednesday. I'm too burned out right now and totally over did it for activity this past 4 days.

So far as doing this as a business and providing meals to those who don't have the inclination to cook them themselves, no thank you

Way too much work and it's a huge task and my health is just not up for it and when I'm back to work I don't have time to really do it for myself, let alone for others.

People can do it for themselves easily enough just by making a different dish everyday and freezing 3 portions of it. I prefer to do it all in a few days and just freeze it all down because many days my health prohibits me from doing much at all, even cooking, so I'm wanting to lose some weight and I need to have some ready made foods in the freezer so that I don't spend money ordering in. Plus it's a whole lot cheaper to cook it than it is to order it in.

 

[natalie_ca]

Has anyone started to do this?