I'm finished with my second weekend of freezer cooking...

[fiddledeedee]

Tracy, I would also LOVE to hear your MSG-free suggestions for the taco seasoning (and the fried rice & meatballs too!) Those are our biggies for MSG and if I could figure out a way to make them taste good without all the crap in them, that would be fabulous!! :D

 

Costco sells taco seasoning without MSG, as well as the gravy mixes. It used to only be the turkey gravy that was MSG free, but finally the brown gravy mix says it too is MSG free. Sometimes I make my own gravy, but sometimes in a hurry I need a mix!

[Tracy in Ky]

Here is the Chicken Fried Rice recipe. I adapted it from the book, "Frozen Assets Lite & Easy" by Deborah Taylor-Hough. The only trouble is that I didn't measure several of the ingredients, so I will try to guess at what I used ;)

 

6 servings

 

Cooked brown rice (I maybe used 1 1/2 cups)

Oriental Sesame Oil (I maybe used 1-2 tsp. This oil makes the dish I think)

Diced, cooked chicken (2 cups?)

1 1/2 cup chopped onion

2 tsp fresh ginger root, pared and minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Chopped zucchini and asparagus (maybe 3/4 cup of each?)

Frozen peas (1/2 cup?)

2 eggs beaten and scrambled

5 TB soy sauce (I think I added more)

 

Cook onions, ginger, garlic and pepper flakes in sesame oil over medium high heat for 2 minutes. Add zucchini, asparagus, and peas. Cook while stirring 3-4 minutes or until veggies are just softened. Add rice and chicken, then add egg. Add soy sauce and maybe a little more sesame oil (taste it to see if you want more in there.)

 

That's it! To serve, thaw then heat in a skillet with a little oil.

 

I also didn't measure the spices that I used to season my refried beans or taco meat, but here is the list that I remember using. I just cooked the pinto beans in the crock pot for several hours, then chopped the drained beans in the food processor with the spices. I seasoned the cooked, diced chicken by putting the chicken in a skillet with chicken broth (to keep it from drying out), then stirring in the spices.

 

chili powder

cumin

garlic salt

garlic powder

paprika

salt

pepper

onion powder

 

Here is a link to a fun short video on youtube of a group of women preparing meals together...

 

 

[bookfiend]

Ditto the paper squares; I use them for everything from wrapping sandwiches to covering dishes in the microwave. The box never seems to run out!

 

I need to get back to bulk cooking. My favorite version of this was the year when I teamed up with two friends who had similar sized families and food preferences. We each took a meat (chicken, beef or pork) cooked three batches of five different recipies and then traded. I had fifteen instant dinners and greatly reduced prep. Costs were split evenly and recipies agreed upon ahead of time.

[stansclan89]

Do your potatoes turn grainy when they are frozen? How do you avoid this?

[Tracy in Ky]

Do your potatoes turn grainy when they are frozen? How do you avoid this?

 

I'll report on them when I thaw and eat them. I've never frozen & thawed mashed potatoes before! :lol:

[Tracy in Ky]

Tracy, I would also LOVE to hear your MSG-free suggestions for the taco seasoning (and the fried rice & meatballs too!) Those are our biggies for MSG and if I could figure out a way to make them taste good without all the crap in them, that would be fabulous!! :D

 

Here is the meatball recipe. It is one that my mom made while I was growing up. It is yummy!

 

Mix together:

 

2 eggs well beaten

1 lb ground beef

1 clove minced garlic

2 Tb parsley

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1 tsp salt

 

I bake them on a roaster pan so the fat can drip out as they cook. 350 degrees until no there is no pink in the middle. Cook time depends on how big you make them. Mom would make a tomato sauce to go with these and serve it over spaghetti. But they are yummy plain as well. :)

 

If you freeze them individually on baking sheets, you can toss them all into a bag when they are frozen and remove as many as you want when time to serve.

[Giraffe]

Everyone - thanks for the suggestions. I will try. He's convinced (and may be right, I don't know) that food that's cut and stored (like a prep in advance method for stir fried veggies, etc.) leaves them with less nutrients and not tasting as good.

 

I think I will do the "don't ask, don't tell" method for a while and see how that goes. He honestly doesn't know anymore if the meatballs and lasagna are fresh or frozen - it's just that I've told him and then he does that little grimace.

 

My only problem is if he sees the evidence in the fridge or freezer, he'll be upset. And yes, he's in the fridge that much. And I often have to ask him to reach things for me when I'm having one of my bad back/can't bend over days (fused spine).

 

Even his mom says he's a bit odd about this. :)

[crowscreek]

 

Here is a link to the pizza recipe...

 

http://www.freezerdinner.com/recipes/making-frozen-pizza/'>http://www.freezerdinner.com/recipes/making-frozen-pizza/'>http://www.freezerdinner.com/recipes/making-frozen-pizza/'>http://www.freezerdinner.com/recipes/making-frozen-pizza/

 

The crust is baked at 500 degrees for 4 minutes, then a layer of cheese is added while the crust is hot. The cheese seals the crust so the sauce doesn't make the crust soggy!

:)

 

I just wanted to comment on http://www.freezerdinner.com

 

She is AWESOME! I found her through a LDS preparedness blog: http://www.everydayfoodstorage.net. The girl from freezerdinner is a frequent guest on a Utah morning show and there are links to that on her site.

 

She has a youtube channel with LOTS of yummyness...that uses food storage, but in an appetizing way.

 

:) HOORAY for freezer meals!

[Tracy in Ky]

Mashed potato report :D

 

I thawed some of the frozen mashed potatoes last night and served them for dinner to my family (and my dad was here for supper too). Nobody knew they had been frozen! Everyone liked them! I didn't let them know they were frozen until I got reports from around the table. lol. SO, the freezer mashed potatoes are keeper.

 

When I originally mashed them (before freezing), I added some sour cream and some half and half, as well as salt and pepper and butter.

 

Just thought I would report back since some had wondered whether this would work or not :)

[unsinkable]

Gosh, I can't imagine...how would he even know??

I wouldn't lie about it, I just wouldn't point it out. I'd quietly put away a few things in the freezer that you think he'd like if you made it "fresh", and then on the day I needed it, I'd quietly thaw it out, put it in the crockpot or pan, then throw away the "evidence" of my crime before he saw the bags & such. :D

I'd probably start out by doing it on days when I was home all day, so it wouldn't be obvious I hadn't put the time in that day. Once dh had been acclimated (sp?) to eating and liking a particular dish, I'd worry less about whether or not he knew I'd been freezing it the whole time.

 

I think the texture of food changes when it is cooked, frozen, thawed and then reheated. Sometimes it make the food better (according to my DH) like meatballs & sauce...but I think it certainly changes and I can taste the difference.

 

That's just me...it doesn't mean I think it is bad or that freezer cooking is not worth doing...it's just that I can taste/feel/see the difference.

[mom26]

 

Chicken Tetrazzini

 

 

 

Mashed potatoes

 

 

 

Chicken Fried Rice (yummy!) (I added this one late--I had forgotten to take a picture of it lol)

 

Tracey,

Can you elaborate on the mashed potatoes...how will you reheat them? Did you freeze them in the muffin tin and then pop them out, wrap them and refreeze in a ziploc?

I just made muffin tin meatloaf and that would be a nice addition...my kids are thrilled they will have meatloaf more than 2x per year :)

Thanks for any advice you can give!! You motivated me and a friend recommended a session from the CHAP convention about bulk freezing meals...it was a great start :)

Blessings,

Kathi

[Tracy in Ky]

Hi Kathie,

 

I froze them in plastic-wrap lined muffin tins and little bread pans. Once frozen, I popped them out and then packed them into a freezer bag.

 

I thawed them on the counter for a bit, but then, because I was in a hurry, microwaved them to finish. Ideally I wouldn't use the microwave; I would prefer to thaw them and then reheat in a sauce pan on the stove, adding butter or milk as needed to hydrate.

 

My family really did like them; I was very pleased.

 

We ate some of the pizzas tonight. I need to work on my sauce recipe, but all in all, they worked well too! :)

 

The kids LOVE the burritos. Next time, I am going to add/hide some mashed sweet potatoes to the refried beans to add a little more nutrition!:lol:

[mom26]

Hi Kathie,

 

I froze them in plastic-wrap lined muffin tins and little bread pans. Once frozen, I popped them out and then packed them into a freezer bag.

 

I thawed them on the counter for a bit, but then, because I was in a hurry, microwaved them to finish. Ideally I wouldn't use the microwave; I would prefer to thaw them and then reheat in a sauce pan on the stove, adding butter or milk as needed to hydrate.

 

My family really did like them; I was very pleased.

 

We ate some of the pizzas tonight. I need to work on my sauce recipe, but all in all, they worked well too! :)

 

 

 

Thanks for the quick response :) Did you keep the mashed potatoes in little separate muffin cup portions or did you m ix them all together?

The muffin tin idea may help me with portion control as we could eat a 1`0# bag in 2 meals!!

Thanks for getting us motivated!

Blessings,

Kathi

[LisaKinVA]

I think the texture of food changes when it is cooked, frozen, thawed and then reheated. Sometimes it make the food better (according to my DH) like meatballs & sauce...but I think it certainly changes and I can taste the difference.

 

That's just me...it doesn't mean I think it is bad or that freezer cooking is not worth doing...it's just that I can taste/feel/see the difference.

 

:iagree: Which is why I am careful about what I freeze. This fall, I'm going to be making chicken pot pie... but only the "guts" will go in the freezer. I'll make the pie crust fresh. There are a few things I make to re-heat (taco meat, black beans, chili... meatballs) that seem to cook, freeze, reheat okay, but there are others that I do notice a difference. I will have to try the pizza dough suggestion, though. Making fresh dough every week gets a bit...old.

[Tina]

Thanks for sharing the fried rice recipe! Sounds wonderful!

 

I really need to do this again, too. September and October are going to be very busy. I could use some pre-made meals to avoid eating out.

 

I'll start another thread where we can post what freezes well, and things we've tried.

 

OTOH, I guess we have tons of threads on this I should look through first. :)

Edited August 26, 2010 by Tina

[mom26]

oops...just saw you had the recipe listed a few pages back...sorry!

Edited August 26, 2010 by mom26

[workingmom]

I put the mashed potatoes in a muffin tin lined with Glad Wrap. After they froze, I popped them out. I like the small servings so that I can thaw exactly what we need, and so the kids can eat them as snacks. My dc love mashed potatoes. The burritos are wrapped individually too; they are great snacks for the kids. I have learned to make my refried beans from scratch, and to season my own taco meat so that there is no MSG in there!

 

Yes, the BPA free bags are at WalMart. The Ziplock brand is the only one that I am aware of. It says "BPA free on the box." I learned about the safe bags and wrap from Sue Gregg. :)

 

Are the potatoes OK when you thaw them/microwave them? I thought potatoes tend to get watery when defrosted? Do you use sour cream and milk in the mashed potatoes?

[angela in ohio]

I really want to do this idea, but DH is absolutely opposed. He wants "fresh" meals when he comes home, not freezer meals. And he's diabetic and feels that freezer meals are not good for him and his diet. We just had a long conversation about this, where I tried to explain why I wanted to do *some* freezer cooking just to make life easier on days when I spend the whole day in the car driving from this lesson to that errand and back again.

 

He's ok with my frozen spinach lasagna, and with uncooked Turkish meatballs that I cook before serving, but as for the rest, he resists. Horribly. Makes faces - even if he likes it (he doesn't realize he's making a face, I just can read him well). I don't know what to do.

 

Any ideas from the experts?

 

My dh is the same way. You can really tell the difference when dinner comes out of the freezer every night. Even I got tired of it. Plus, since we changed our way of eating, we can't eat a whole freezer meal, as fresh fruits and veggies just don't work that way.

 

So I freeze parts of meals. For example: I buy a giant bag of fresh chicken breasts at the meat market and trim them, cut them into strips, and freeze them in portion sizes for dinner. Then I can stir fry or grill them and add fresh veggies. I keep bulk amounts of rice, couscous, etc. in the cupboard to go with them. I also make homemade pasta sauce and then put it over freshly prepared noddles with a fresh salad. And so on...

[mom31257]

:bigear: Looks yummy! I can't wait to have time to read through the thread.

[Tracy in Ky]

I put the mashed potatoes in a muffin tin lined with Glad Wrap. After they froze, I popped them out. I like the small servings so that I can thaw exactly what we need, and so the kids can eat them as snacks. My dc love mashed potatoes. The burritos are wrapped individually too; they are great snacks for the kids. I have learned to make my refried beans from scratch, and to season my own taco meat so that there is no MSG in there!

 

Yes, the BPA free bags are at WalMart. The Ziplock brand is the only one that I am aware of. It says "BPA free on the box." I learned about the safe bags and wrap from Sue Gregg. :)

 

Are the potatoes OK when you thaw them/microwave them? I thought potatoes tend to get watery when defrosted? Do you use sour cream and milk in the mashed potatoes?

 

They really did okay for us; my family didn't know they had been frozen. I did use sourcream, butter and half & half in them. I didn't notice them being watery :)

 

I keep the portions separate so that I can thaw exaclty what we want to eat.