Freezer cooking, do you do it?

[Katiebug_1976]

I am trying to find ways to make life more simple and stress free, and mabye cut back on the grocery budget a little, or at least stretch it farther. I bought the 30 Day Gourmet freezer cook book, and I like the concept. I am trying to set aside a little bit out of each weeks grocery budget so by the 1st of November (before the baby comes), my mom and I can cook and freeze a bunch of meals. I'm thinking that once we get it done the first time, then we shouldn't need to spend as much on groceries on a weekly basis. Then I will be able to set a larger amount aside every week and be able to take better advantage of sales that come along so I could do this several times a year. Does anyone else do this? If so, do you think it saves you time and money? Do you think it would still be worth it if you only had Walmart, Aldi and Food Pyramid to shop at? We live near a small town, and the nearest large metro area is at least 70 miles away. I'm tryning to decide if it would be worth driving there to by my supplies several times a year, or just buying locally. What do you think?

[Sherri in MI]

In other words, I've always wanted to, but have never been able to pull off a Once A Month cooking day. Too overwhelming. However, it has worked well in the past to cook double of whatever I'm serving on a particular night and freeze 1/2. I don't do that now because I have very little freezer space.

 

Good luck! I like the concept, but you have to have the time (2 days at least) to devote to it and the freezer space.

 

Sherri

[Katiebug_1976]

We have an upright freezer in the garrage, so I have the freezer space. As far as time goes, I'm not expecting to be eating out of the freezer every night. But the thought of having something ready to go in the freezer for those busy days is where I would like to start. I was thinking that if I only did this several times a year, then taking a couple days to just cook might not be so bad. I have thought about doubling meals a couple times a week and just regularly putting meals in the freezer, but I'm just not sure I could do that on a regular basis.

[snickelfritz]

#1 I don't use it for every meal. My goal is to have them 2-3 times a week. We can always fill in with breakfast-for-dinner or grilled cheese and soup, if I need another quick meal.

 

#2 I don't do sides or "complete" meals, just the main dish. All I have to add is is rice/potatoes (which could also be cooked ahead of time and frozen), bread and some veggies. Tonight, I'm cooking pineapple chicken (the chicken and sauce were previously trimmed, mixed ,and frozen in a freezer bag.) I still need to make fried rice (very simple with a rice cooker and then a little extra attention) and I'll add a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies to the sauce that the chicken is cooking in.

 

#3 I don't like to cook the meat ahead of time. I haven't had good luck with the meat turning out tender when re-heated. So, I like to get the meat trimmed and put it in a freezer bag with, what amounts to, marinade. Then, it's ready to take out and thaw while it sits in the marinade or it's ready to pop the entire contents into the crockpot. This makes filling the freezer REALLY quick, because I'm not cooking. While it may not seem like it saves me time, I find that it does. I have meals that are planned and ready to go and I don't have to think about it, trim the meat, measure out soy sauce, vinegar, pineapple juice, etc....

 

#4 A friend and I get together to do it, so we can buy things in bigger bulk. We've found a groove using Homemade Gourmet seasonings and recipes, but you could use the same principle with your favorite seasonings. We spent an hour planning out meals, she went shopping, and we spent 2 hours making up about 10 meals per person. We're trying out new recipes, so not doing big batches. If we had done more of each recipe, we could have mixed up even more. Once we get more recipes we like, the planning portion should be way cut down.

 

#5 Ground meat is the exception to my above rules. I've had good luck cooking up ground meat with a little onion and seasoning and freezing it in portions that are good to put in spaghetti, tacos, etc... I've also had good luck mixing up meatloaf and freezing it, raw, in the shape of my meatloaf pan. Thaw and cook as normal.

[i.love.lucy]

That book sounds neat. My problem is freezer space. I want to save up for a freezer, or really a new fridge and then move this one out to the garage for extra space.

 

What I am doing, to help with grocery budget and convenience is planning 3 meals a week, at least, that I can double up to make enough to freeze. So like this week I am making Chicken Spaghetti (Pioneer Woman's recipe which is a classic) and baked ziti and chicken tamale casserole. Today I am going to do the ziti for dinner tonight and freeze the rest. Tomorrow i am going to cook all the chicken I'll need for the tamale casserole and the chick spaghetti.

 

I already have a lasagne and 2 other chicken casseroles in there. I am using the square 8x8 foil cake pans to freeze in since I can also thaw and bake in them too, and they don't take up extra space. I cover it with a double layer of foil and then saran wrap (in between the layers of saran I have put a label of what it is and the date I made it).

 

I'm always looking for recipes that freeze well, so please share your favorites!

Edited July 22, 2009 by i.love.lucy

[katemary63]

I pretty much only do this for ground beef meals. I will make 10 lbs of sloppy joes, taco meat, chili, shepherd's pie filling, stuffed green pepper filling and meat loaf (frozen unbaked) at a time. That's 10 lbs of EACH but not all on the same day! Basically, If I have planned tacos for dinner and there's no taco meat in the freezer, I'll make 10lbs of taco meat that night. That's how I do it.

 

Our shepherd's pie filling is as simple as can be. It's just browned onion and beef with cooked green beans, tomatoe sauce and pepper. On dinner night I just heat it and make mashed potatoes. We don't even make "pie" out of it. We just plop a dollop of filling and a dollop of potatoes side by side in a bowl -yummy!

 

I have made extra stew, caseroles and soups and froze them and just didn't like the result. I will shred a roast for sandwiches and that freezes well.

[Jayne J]

I once spent three days making about two weeks worth of freezer meals. By the time I had planned, organized, shopped, pre-chopped/peeled/diced etc. I was exhausted and dreaded the cooking itself. Plus, once it was all done, I only really liked one or two of the meals. So many of the recipes are casseroles and use cream-o-something soup, which we don't generally like.

 

I've found that doubling recipes, pre-freezing components (like the above poster with the ground beef mixes, or pre-baked pizza shells and sauce) and using my crock pot work better for us in terms of time and energy.

 

I have heard, but not tried, that some folks also just put meat+marinade of choice into freezer bags and freeze. The night before, they let it thaw in the fridge, then toss into crock pot/oven at the right time.

[Sharon H in IL]

My local Attachment Parenting group did a big freezer cooking prep one evening. One person (Jan) who was very interested in it gathered the recipes, figured the costs, collected the money, did the shopping, set up the prep stations including laminated directions for each station.

 

Another member asked her church to let us use their space. Lots of people brought tools that Jan had sent out a request for.

 

We all helped wash and clean up, divided up the leftover supplies, and took home a bunch of meals to go into the freezer. They turned out very well, Jan had done her homework!

 

Come to think of it we actually did this twice, I only participated once. We'll likely do it again.

[Moni]

So many of the recipes are casseroles and use cream-o-something soup, which we don't generally like.

 

Same here.

And we don't really like tomato sauced based dishes.

What all do you cook? eat?

 

What works well?

:seeya:

[cougarmom4]

You're smart to think ahead for when a baby is coming! I buy everything at Walmart, so I think you'd do just fine. (I miss Aldi...I'd buy everything there if I could!)

 

I love once a month cooking--although not so much in the summer (because I hate using my oven). Here is what I do:

 

I keep a grocery list on the computer that I re-use each time I plan a cook (usually every other month). Basically list the ingredients for each meal x how many times you plan to make it. I find it is more economical because I can buy larger sizes & use it all up. Then write out an order of tasks to be done--I brown all of the ground beef, bake all of the chicken (in oven & three crockpots) while my kids are opening cans w/can opener or slicing olives or shredding cheese. Then lay out the ingredients for each recipe & start the assembly line. It's just as easy to make five as it is to make two!

 

Ground Beef meals--I buy tons of ground beef & brown it; then assemble the following meals--I usually do 4 of each (sometimes 5--I've started trading freezer meals for violin lessons!)--assembly style makes these go together really fast! I can do five of each of these five meals in about two hours. Then we eat them over the next two months-spaced out with other things.

 

Lasagna (uncooked noodles, spag sauce, ricotta cheese, mozz cheese)

Enchiladas (corn tortillas, tomato soup, cr mushroom soup, pinto beans, olives)

Shepherd's Pie (ground beef, cr mushroom, tator tots, green beans, french dried onions)

Meatloaf

Taco Meat (gr. beef, tomato sauce, taco seasoning, kidney beans)

 

I also keep a few bags of just browned ground beef that I throw into spaghetti sauce, taco soup, and chili.

 

That afternoon, I shred/dice the baked chicken--most of this I put into freezer bags so it is ready to throw into the following meals (you just have to make sure you have rest of the ingredients on hand).

White chicken chili

BBQ chicken sandwiches

Hawaiian haystacks

Chicken Lickin' (apricot jam, russian dressing, onion soup mix over rice)

BBQ chicken pizza

Chicken & Bowties (mix chicken with dried Italian dressing mix, cream cheese, little milk, serve over bowties & broccoli)

Chicken & Stuffing (mix stuffing as pkg directs, heat chicken with cr of chicken soup on stovetop, then pour over stuffing)

Chicken vegetable soup

Chicken wraps (chicken, black beans, diced tomatoes, cumin, corn in tortillas)

 

In the summer I love to marinate a whole bunch of chicken in Italian dressing, grill and freeze some of it (tastes great in a chef salad or pasta salad or wraps).

 

I've also done french toast, twice-baked potatoes, breakfast burritos, cookie dough, pancakes, muffins.

 

Be sure you remember to take the meal out of the freezer in the morning & leave on counter OR take out evening before & leave in frig. The hardest part of freezer meals for me is to remember to get the meal thawed soon enough! It takes much longer to bake if they aren't thawed!

 

I looked online and googled freezer meals--I think I really liked Frozen Assets. I think you just have to play around with things and find what your family will eat.

 

Have fun!