So, I decided to try it out. Because I am a truth seeker and lover of being honest, I will tell you all the goods and bads. I will give you some of the recipes I tried but please know I am not a pro and I highly recommend you seek other sources as well for ideas. This was my first time. :)
The Good:
- I always have meals ready to go. And for me, they have laster longer than a month.
- I don't have to always stress about what we are going to eat during the week.
- You don't have to plan to far ahead. You can just think about what you want to pull out the night before and there you go.
- If you make meals you like, its yummy and its fast.
- We used a vacuum sealer so that it would not spill and would last longer in the freezer with no freezer burn. I HIGHLY recommend this. But I know Ziploc bags can work as well. They just don't last as long.
The Bad:
- It can get repetitive. When I tried out this method, I made 6 different options: breakfast burritos- sausage and bacon, enchiladas- beef and chicken, chicken broccoli bake, and honey glazed chicken. After you have had these meals for awhile, you don't necessarily want to keep repeating.
- I chose meals that were too similar (burritos and enchiladas). Again, too repetitive.
- It can be expensive when you buy a large quantity of food at one time.
- If you don't plan ahead, then it is going to take longer for your meal to defrost. If, for example, you take out the meal that morning for the night, it might not be ready to be cooked yet. This drives me nuts when I am hungry and it is taking longer to cook. :( So you do have to plan ahead a little bit (the night before)
If I could do it again, I would try to vary my meals a little more. I would also maybe plan for two days to cook so that I could have enough time to make different kinds of meals. I tried to find recipes that had ingredients that for the most part I had around the house. I didn't want to spend extra money on little ingredients. I recommend double checking your freezer to make sure you have enough room! I ended up not having to buy an extra freezer, but if you really want to go hard core, it could be a good investment. My friend makes cookie dough in advance to freeze, sauces, lots of things! It can be addicting!!
Here are my recipes: (Keep in mind I am a beginner and I recommend looking at other sources for ideas as well)
For All Freezer Meals
- get disposable casserole dishes- I suggest 9 x 13 aluminum dishes
- vacuum sealer
- sharpee for labeling once vacuum sealed
- make sure you have large mixing bowls
Chicken and Beef Enchiladas
Ingredients:
6 cups cheddar cheese
1 pack of white rice
2 cans of black beans
2 packs of FLOUR tortillas (I don't recommend corn- tried it and didn't work too well)
4 packs of taco seasoning
1 big pack of chicken breasts from Costco or Sam's club (I split up my chicken into what I wanted for enchiladas and for my chicken broccoli bake)
1 pound of ground beef
4 once can of green chiles
3 cans of enchilada sauce
Optional: Sour cream, green onions, toppings for when you are ready to cook
Steps:
1. Cook chicken. Suggestion: Use slow cooker the night before your marathon cooking day. Season with taco seasoning.
2. Brown beef. Season with taco seasoning.
3. Cook rice (I suggest rice cooker). Make as much as your rice cooker will hold or 3-4 cups.
4. Heat black beans.
5. Combine rice, black beans, and green chiles in a mixing bowl. Divide the mixture in half and put the half in another mixing bowl.
6. Once meat is cooked, add beef to one and mix it all up. Add chicken to the other bowl and mix it all up.
7. Grease your casserole dishes. I used about 5 or so.
8. Warm up your tortillas. (Zap em in microwave for 30 seconds)
9. Set up an "assembly line" to prepare your enchiladas. Take a tortilla, put about 2 spoonfuls of the mixture in the middle of the tortilla, roll it up, and set it in in your disposable dish. I was able to fit about 4-5 tortillas in a dish.
10. Add enough enchilada sauce to cover all the tortillas in each dish. Add cheese on the top of each dish.
11. Vacuum seal your dishes. Label with a sharper the name of the dish and date made.
12. Take the enchiladas out the night before you are ready to cook.
13. When ready to cook: preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook for 30 minutes with aluminum foil on the top of the dish. Cook for another 15-20 minutes or until cheese has melted.
Add sour cream or green onions on top and serve! Yum. :)
I have also heard that others freeze separate parts of the enchiladas and assembly when ready to cook. An idea for thought!
Breakfast Burritos: Sausage and Bacon
Preparing the burritos is very similar to the enchiladas. Except that once they have been thawed, you can zap em in the microwave and they are ready to eat. Yes!
Ingredients:
2 packs of sausage (I like Jimmy Dean)
2 packs of bacon
2 dozen eggs
4-5 potatoes or a pack of hash browns
2 packs of flour tortillas
Gallon Ziploc bags
For serving later: salsa
1. Brown sausage.
2. Brown bacon.
3. Cook eggs.
4. Chop potatoes in 1/2 inch squares. (Or cook hash browns)
5. Mix eggs and potatoes all together. Separate into half- put half in another mixing bowl.
6. Add sausage to one bowl, bacon to another.
7. Warm up tortillas in microwave.
8. Get your "assembly line" ready. Get tortilla ready, add scoops of bacon or sausage mixture, roll up.
9. I used ziploc bags for the burritos or you can vacuum seal the burritos directly. (The enchiladas have the sauce which makes them a little harder to do this) Label with name and date.
10. Pull out the burritos from the freezer one day before.
11. I heat the burritos in the microwave when ready to eat!
Chicken and Broccoli Bake
Ingredients:
10 cups cooked rice (white or brown)
4 cups cooked chicken, chopped
4 cups broccoli, lightly steamed (you can use frozen or fresh)
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 cans cream of chicken soup
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Ziploc bags or disposable aluminum dishes (2-3)
Butter for greasing dish
Steps:
1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix.
2. Separate into your greased dishes.
3. Vacuum seal or put in ziploc bags. Label with dish name and date.
3. When ready to eat: Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until bubbly.
Honey Glazed Chicken
Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 pounds chicken breast
Steps:
1. Place all ingredients in a gallon bag OR separate into smaller quart bags (For Tony and I, smaller portions are better- up to you).
2. Take out the night before you want to eat it.
3. When ready to eat, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Empty contents into a baking dish, about 20-30 minutes. You can also dump into a crock pot (day of)- 6-8 hours on low, 4-6 on high or until done.
You can also call the chicken recipe a "dump" recipe, meaning you can just dump it and go. Super easy. Basically, you are marinating your chicken. I think the freezer option helps the flavors really sink in the chicken.
We eat the chicken with rice. You could do potatoes with it. Or you could make chicken sandwiches with burger buns. I like potato burger buns :)
Well, those are my recipes! There are LOTS of places online you can look up freezer meals and get some ideas. I recommend trying it out and seeing what you think. Stress free!
I also recommend this book: (My friend and I found lots of good recipes in there- but you can see what you have around and get some ideas)
Happy freezer meal making!!
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