rutamattatt Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 How many frozen meals do you have in your freezer at a time? How much do you make up serving wise - enough for family or single serve? How often do you make/freeze meals? Favorite meals to freeze? Also, do you think an upright freezer is worth the $$$ over a chest freezer for freezing meals? (Can you tell I am a woman on a mission that will, perhaps, put the local fast food joints out of business...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyDay Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 I have a chest freezer because at the time, it was the cheapest option. When I freeze food, I freeze it in single servings. Muffins, cookies, candies and such, I freeze individually as well. Whenever I have leftovers that I know I won't eat, I'll freeze it. Whenever we make something that I know will freeze well (spaghetti sauce, mac n cheese, soup, chili, etc), I make enough to purposely freeze some. I don't really have a plan. I just double when I can, use the crockpot often in the winter, and make sure nothing goes to waste. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
besroma Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 IMO, an upright freezer is worth the difference in price. I use the cookbook "Fix, Freeze, Feast." The recipes are written for the bulk packages of meats and condiments at warehouse stores like Sam's. We have a family of 8, so I freeze large portions. The only single portions I freeze are for dishes only DH likes. I love using our freezer this way. I also double the recipe when I prepare our favorite meals and freeze those whenever I can. I rarely do not have something in the freezer to take out to heat up or to put in the oven to cook for a meal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 I freeze both family size meals and single serve size. The single servings are great for nights I cook something that one or two of us really don't like, or for when dh and I go out for the evening- the kids have food. As far as how many meals we have- it depends on the time of year. During the summer we eat light meals and don't usually have a lot of prepared dinners in the freezer. During the fall we build up a supply and can have 20 meals in there. Right now all I have are flattened/breaded chicken breasts for parmesan chicken and containers of spaghetti sauce. But I also have 70 pounds of our favorite veggies since it's harvest time. And we do make meals of just veggies and a side of rice. I find that having 10 meals in the freezer is about right for us- too many and I lose track of what's in there or they don't get used up quickly enough. But we do plan for our busy times and when those happen, 20 meals are about right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 How many frozen meals do you have in your freezer at a time? How much do you make up serving wise - enough for family or single serve? How often do you make/freeze meals? Favorite meals to freeze? Also, do you think an upright freezer is worth the $$$ over a chest freezer for freezing meals? (Can you tell I am a woman on a mission that will, perhaps, put the local fast food joints out of business...) I keep 2-3 family freezer meals on hand, and a few single-serving things like green smoothie kits, burritos, or fried rice for my teen. I have been reading up on freezers, and I think the chest freezer will actually keep the food better even if it's less convenient to use. Right now, I'm just using the freezer above my fridge, but I think I want a small chest freezer. I could do more bulk stuff and probably get it to pay for itself in less than a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsabelC Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 I never have more than two or three meals in the freezer, but I would love to be one of those people who can eat for a month without cooking. One day... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
besroma Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 I didn't answer the question how about the quantity I freeze. In the freezer, I keep approximately 40 entrees (around 5-6 different kinds), 3 large containers of soup, 10 sides, and 6 gallon-bags of red sauce. When I run low on the main entrees, we take a Saturday where DH watches the kids and I prepare the food for freezing. I work on it all day long. Our freezer is 20 cu. ft. I grew up with a chest freezer. I didn't like leaning over and digging through the food to find what I was searching for. I would consider a chest freezer if I only needed a small one. We purchased a Frigidaire that has the temperature displayed on a strip on the outside of the freezer. Since I can see the temp any time I walk by it, I have a lot more confidence in this freezer than the one we replaced. When I have it open to load it, I can see the highest temp it rises to and how quickly it returns to zero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAR120C Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 How many frozen meals do you have in your freezer at a time? How much do you make up serving wise - enough for family or single serve? How often do you make/freeze meals? Favorite meals to freeze? Also, do you think an upright freezer is worth the $$$ over a chest freezer for freezing meals? (Can you tell I am a woman on a mission that will, perhaps, put the local fast food joints out of business...) Depending on how things are going I might have a few dozen meals (whole meals for the three of us) in the freezer, or not very many at all. Right now I think I only have about five meals in there. Beyond the meals though, we have a lot of frozen meat, cheese, and vegetables, and I keep some grains in there (cornmeal, etc.) if we don't use them very fast. I greatly prefer a chest freezer, not because it's convenient (it's not) but because I've lost so much food and work to power outages in the past... and chest freezers will stay cold longer without power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plath Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 I love our chest freezer -- I agree that they stay colder during power outages and we seem to get quite a few where we live, so to me, it's worth it. I like to have about 6 whole family meals frozen so I don't have to resort to store bought frozen lasagnas. I do in whole meals with smaller (single serve sizes) of soups usually since my family isn't keen on soups (but I am). If there's only one serving left of something, then of course I'll freeze that, too. If dh would heat up meals at work for lunch, I'd probably freeze more single servings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firestar Academy Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 (edited) I don't consider myself a freezer cooker. I don't keep a whole lot of frozen meals on hand for daily cooking. I do extra cook and freeze for when we go on vacation, though. Right now there is nothing in my freezer because we did disney this summer (10 nights) and then hershey park (3 nights). We have an RV and I pack all frozen cooked meals so we don't have to eat out and I don't have to cook on vacation. my family's favorite meals (including grandparents) that I freeze are stuffed cabbage lasagna quiche stews different varieties. There is nothing like coming back from from the parks at midnight and having lasagna!! Edited September 9, 2012 by RobinLK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DianeW88 Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 I have around 20-30 freezer meals at any given time, and they are all in my regular freezer (the one attached to the refrigerator in my kitchen :lol:). I freeze most dinners flat in a zip-loc bag and stack them. Like big envelopes...it works great. Most are family meals, but there are a few individual items. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewsDK Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 I store family size meals. I tried individual size ones for lunches and they never got eaten. I do have tons of frozen snacks - muffins and things. I freeze all leftovers in lunch-size portions and DH takes them to work every day. I currently have 3 dinners in my freezer and it makes me feel kind of panicky. I prefer 15-20 (or more). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 I hated our chest freezer.... so now we have an upright, which I love. So much easier to find things and keep organized. I mainly freeze leftovers, usually in portions of two, as those are great for when we go out & leave the kids at home... Or the kids are out & we're home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mosaicmind Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 I freeze as I cook up meals. When I make something like chicken and noodles or meatloaf I make double and freeze. If I can I just put in a gallon size ziploc otherwise I freeze in rubbermaid containers. We have always had a huge Amana chest freezer. Chest freezers cost less to operate, stay colder longer during outage and don't lose their temp when opened. I have a basket organization technique I use that makes having a chest better than any upright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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