All this time that I’ve been trying out various freezer meals (meals that are ideal of freezing and eating later), I’ve not been sharing our verdicts! Silly me.
Here are our favorite freezer meals/freezer ingredients:
Crockpot Marinara — A basic marinara, slow-cooked and then frozen in normal portion sizes. This has been AWESOME to have on hand for “quick” pasta meals and it saves quite a bit of money. For about $3, I made 7 “2.5 cup” freezer bags of sauce. Love it!
Homemade Stock – I don’t know that I will ever go back to buying stock again. Having it on hand (via the freezer) was so nice this past month. If you want to try making stock but want a simpler method than what I use, try this one from Simply Recipes. With either, if you add your veggies toward the end, you’ll avoid them turning to mush and you can then “fish them out” of the stock and freeze THEM for quick “soup veggies.”
Crockpot Ground Beef/Turkey/Chicken — I stumbled across this batch cooking method and I haven’t turned back. I love that this method utilizes the crockpot, keeping my Houston kitchen free from a lot of heat. That’s always my priority when pregnant! Love having cooked meat on hand for pasta dishes, tacos, soups . . . so EASY! I also came across this busy mom’s post, which offers other ways to batch cook ground beef for several freeze-ahead meals.
Johnny Marzetti with Cheesy Noodles — this was one of the first meals I tried from the Once a Month Mom site. It is SO yummy, with a great “homey” flavor. Perfect comfort food dish. This will definitely be a recipe I prepare/freeze in July for Numero Three’s arrival.
Calzone Bake* — This pizza night alternative is easy enough for a great Friday night meal but is IDEAL for freezing and making a “even Daddy can make this” dinner. When you prepare the filling, double the amount of ingredients — use half for your meal and then freeze the remainder for later.
Homemade Meatballs — This is another great recipe that uses the crockpot. When I make this, I make extra meatballs and flash freeze them. Once frozen, they go into a durable freezer bag and wait their turn in my deep freeze. Saves a bunch of prep work the next time the Little Lady wants spaghetti and meatballs for dinner!
Asian Wonton Dumplings — I’m sad because I ate the last of these yesterday for lunch. This recipe makes a TON of dumplings . . . enough for 5-6 separate meals. I’ve pulled them out of the freezer for many of our Asian Dinner Nights (or whenever my preggo cravings have DEMANDED I eat them).
What Are We Eating This Week?
Monday – Roasted Whole Chicken (using the bones to make another batch of stock), Broccoli & Spinach Salad with Walnuts . . . trying to recreate one of my daughter’s favorite dishes from a local restaurant.
Tuesday — Tilapia with Black Bean and Corn Salsa*, Spinach Salad, fresh fruit
Wednesday — Goat Cheese Vegetable Lasagna (one of the recipes from the new “Whole Foods” meal plan offered by Once A Month Mom), fresh green beans
Thursday — leftovers
Friday — Pizza Bites (basically “bite-sized” pizza rolls or calzones)
Saturday — Grilled Blue-Cheese Burgers (going to make extras and flash freeze for later) and sweet potato fries
Sunday — dinner with out small group
As always — if you have a great freezer meal, please share it. I’m only three months away from baby number three and need to get busy filling my freezer!
