Sunday, June 21, 2009

Need your help!

We bought a deep freezer yesterday!!! Yes. THREE exclamation points. It is very exciting.

The refrigerator in this house is considerably smaller than we've had in the past - and the freezer has about enough room for 2 bags of vegetables. Being people who like to stock up during sales and such, that just wasn't cutting it...

One of my plans is to use the month of July to prepare some meals ahead, so in the last weeks of pregnancy and first weeks of Life With Two Kids, I can have some frozen meals ready.

Suggestions?


I need meals that freeze well - all suggestions are welcome! My ideas so far are chicken (pulled chicken, maybe with garlic/onions, that I can use in other things), sweet & sour chicken, meatloaf, of course soup... what else? I'm looking for not just meals, but also things like the chicken, that aren't a whole meal, but would cut down immensely in preparation.

Look forward to your ideas!!

8 comments:

Lori McDonald said...

check out this entry on my blog -

http://belovedkeepsakes.blogspot.com/search?q=freezer+meals

...you will see what I did!!!

HTHS~
Lori

Anonymous said...

Throw boneless chicken breast in the crockpot with general seasonings and cook it. Then let it cool. Cube some, shred some, slice some etc. Then freeze it in smaller portions. As you need it for a meal, just pull it out. Saves on cooking. I've bought a turkey before and done that too.

I have a good recipe...I'll email it to you.

aj

Sara said...

Lori - I'm having a hard time seeing what exactly was in your freezer. All I can see is a pie and some chicken breasts - I need a list! :-)

Andrea - yeah, that was the basic idea of what I meant by "pulled chicken." I was planning on just cooking a bunch on the stove like I usually do, but putting it in the crock pot for said purpose is a good idea - seems much less involved.

Anonymous said...

Sara-

Yeah, I know what you mean. Plan on freezing meals soon myself. I was thinking about making two things and freezing one, like lasagna, cheesy potatoes, cookies, muffins, crock pot chicken, freeze then get it out and use it with rice, enchiladas, noodles or whatever. I also thought about cooking up a few pounds of hamburger and then freeze it, for tacos, nachos.I'm still thinking,if I find more recipes I"ll let you know.

Carrie

Anonymous said...

- go to store
- find the frozen foods section
- buy pizza rolls
- when hungry, open pizza rolls, choose desired amount
- place on cookie sheet
- bake until crisp
- enjoy with a tall glass of milk

You can also do the same thing with pie, french fries, tater tots, burritos, and a variety of other healthy delights

ylf

Anonymous said...

My mom has this book called "Once a Month Cooking" and every meal is designed to be prepared, frozen, and then "cooked" when needed. There are some good recipes from that... I can email them or you can look up the book yourself. :)

B

Jacqueline Berg said...

I don't know if you are like me, but I wanted sweets after Abby was born- and I needed the fats for nursing. Choco Chip and sugar cookie dough freeze well as does cheesecake. I also like to have frozen fruit for yogurt parfaits in the morning. I make granola ahead and can just throw the fruit and yogurt in the bowl and get a good protein boost to start my day.

Michelle L said...

Hmm Pulled pork, pot pie filling (and pie crust... I've got a good recipe that freezes well if you need it!)... we've totally utalized the crockpot these days and rarely have I been so desperate as to tap the freezer's supply of soup.... but we've had our days! Also, we use shrimp sometimes because it cooks up quick.

Miss you!!
ps... I'm jealous of your freezer! :-)