Need Freezer Meal Ideas

You should try crock pot cooking. It's so easy and you can let it cook all night or for the day, whatever and have a good meal for the night or next day. They can easily freeze too.

Savingdinner.com has some recipes for free and many for sale that are specifically designed for freezing ahead.

Have fun!

C.~
PLEASE go to any book store or library and get ANY book from "Dream Dinners". There are Dream Dinner shops/stores in our area and I did this for about 13 months (then we had a loss at our home which took me off track). But, I will tell you; the recipes are great and it is a time to spend with your loved ones on a daily basis. My young son, (at the time was 12-13) would call and say; "Mom, my friend asked if I could stay for dinner; but I told him that I had to ask you because I know we always have dinner together."
You can make 15-20 dinners for the month in about 2 hours. It's the greatest "invention" since the microwave (which you will NOT use!) Good Luck to you!

Lucy B.
P.S. I Love Dream Dinners!

the cookbook Eating for Life by Bill Phillips has quick and easy recipes. Not sure how freezable they all are, but I know some would work because I have done them. Plus they are well balanced and will help with achieving and/or maintaining optimum body weight.

Meatloaf is a good one. Take a lb of hamburger 8 oz. tomato sauce, one egg, one package of saltine crackers put in bread loaf pan cover with wax paper. cook for 45 minutes on 350. Add ketchup on top cook another 30 minutes.
Enchilladas and lasagne also work out well frozen. You can make a couple of trays at a time and freeze.

Hi C., I understand your need. Have you looked up Rachel Ray? She has great time-saving great ideas (menus, cook-once-eat twice ideas too). Checkout Food Network.
Do you have a personal consultant w/ the Pampered Chef? If you don't, email me privately. I loved to pass along some ideas or schedule a "power cooking show". Menu uses beef, pork or chicken and prepares 3-4 meals depending on selection.
Good Luck. I'm sure Mamasource mmoms will help w/ lots of ideas.

one super-easy thing to do is freeze things like pork chops or chicken legs in ziplocks in the marinade of your choice. Move it from the freezer to the fridge the night before and then transfer to an oven-safe dish and bake. I'll also slice pork and freeze in ziplocks in stir fry marinade.

I buy two things of ground beef at costco and then i make a ton of homemade hamburger patties from a recipe including oatmeal, BBQ sauce, egg, wort. suace, and then I freeze the patties in large zip lock bags for the next time we want to BBQ. They are so much tastier than the plain store bought ones.

I also buy the huge bag of frozen chicken breasts at costco and when it's chicken night, i just take it out because you cook them from a frozen state - no thawing needed. I like things like this because it cuts down on how often I need to go to the grocery store. Then when I do go, I am mainly getting fresh stuff like produce.

my sisters & i just made a good list of things for my upcoming delivery. Chicken/Rice Soup & froze in several different sized containers. Lasagna - used non boil noodles which cook great. enchiladas - but this takes little longer than 30min, but still easy. stuffed shells - froze in several different bags. spaget sauce - used crock pot so was easy. any other crock pot recipe i guess since you can just throw in & leave it. 'baracho' beans

Hi C.,

I've been going to a meal prep place for about 3 years now and can't imagine life without it! I spend about 1.5 hours once a month preparing my meals and am set for the whole month! I go to Dream Dinners (you can find them online to see their locations) but there are several other companies out there that do the same thing. I highly recommend you try it.

Take care!

Italian Meat Sauce - Great for Spaghetti and Lasagna

Grilled Chicken Breasts - Vacuseal them and they are great for dinners and salads.

Scrammbled Eggs, Ham or sausage and cooked hashbrowns. Mix all together, vacuseal. Great for Burrittos

Cooked Brown Rices with vegetables - goes great with the chicken breasts.

This has been an interest of mine as well - I'd love to be able to prepare dinner right after I drop my kids off from school (or on a weekend or free evening and then freeze it), and then just have to stick something in the oven an hour before dinner time. From first glance, there's a ton on the internet about it - the best sites I've found so far are:

http://www.urbanmamas.com/urbanmamas/2007/04/freezable_di...

http://www.once-a-month-cookingworld.com/

http://www.recipezaar.com/cookbook.php?bookid=45929

. . . but there are *lots* more. Granted, it will take a while to sift through all the recipes and get a collection that your family will enjoy and you will want to make for your family (health-wise, some of the recipes don't look so appealing). A friend of mine did the once-a-month-cooking (OAMC)thing when her kids were little and loved it. My only concern is that now that I have 3 larger kids (and much bigger eaters), that I'd have to make and freeze a *lot* and my freezer would be insanely overcrowded. If you're interested in keeping in touch off line, I'd love to hear which recipes were successful for you :).

lasagna and spaghetti sauce freeze well. Also things like chili and soups freeze well. You can also just precook things like chicken and keep it in the freezer, then pull it out to make casseroles or whatever with it and you don't need to go through the hassle of cooking it.

Hi C.!
Muffin Tin Meatloaf! This is perfect! Just make any meatloaf recipe, spray a muffin tin with Pam and fill it with the meat loaf mixture. I top it with a brush of BBQ sauce. Bake it as you normally would (45 minutes at 350?)! I wrap them in plastic wrap and then put them in a freezer bag. They heat up in the microwave in a couple of minutes and they are the perfect size for a toddler! My husband eats 4 at a time, though!

Every month I prepare meals for my mother inlaw because she is disabled. I cook all her food and freeze it. Here are some of the things I prepare. These meals I fully cook & then freeze.

Tuna Casserole
Meatloaf
Lasagna
Stew

Check out Leanne Ely at www.savingdinner.com she works with Marla Cilley with www.flylady.net. Both offer great programs. Good Luck!

Check out www.flylady.net for meal ideas and other helpful hints for cooking, cleaning, etc. It is a great site for help in maintaining your home, etc.

Hi C., I recently got hooked on Dump Chicken Recipes because they're so quick and easy to put together in the first place and you can make a ton and get them in your freezer. My family absolutely loves them, too.

Just google Dump Chicken Recipes or email me and I'll send you the ones we've tried and like.