can throw in with no prep or just cutting potatoes to add. We also eat vegetarian ish a lot of the time and not much cheese, so that helps keep costs reasonable. Freezes great. I add Italian sausage and ground pork for an easy meat sauce. Their rotisserie chicken, Mac and cheese, chicken Alfredo, chicken pot pie, stuffed bell peppers.
Frozen pizzas and lasagnas are also good options. Like Violation Reported Report as Inappropriate c cfkb tuna or taco casserole! Like Violation Reported Report as Inappropriate a aibous23 Chili, chicken broccoli and rice casserole, stews etc, that others have mentioned.
Chicken soup to go in crockpot using bone in chicken thighs, or just a whole chicken! Like Violation Reported Report as Inappropriate emilyglw These are my ideas so far.
Breakfast: -Waffles -Pancakes -Muffins -Breakfast casserole -Breakfast burritos -Breakfast sandwiches -Egg bites.
Those are the only 2 that come to mind right now. Edit: you can check out this blog or other blogs just type in budget freezer meals. Also can you get cheaper foil containers for your food?
Sign Out. Getting Pregnant Fertility Ovulation Calculator Ovulation Symptoms Preparing for Pregnancy Preconception Health Implantation Bleeding Interpreting Pregnancy Test.
First Year Postpartum Recovery Newborn Care Month by Month Milestones Breastfeeding Bottle-Feeding Introducing Solids Baby Sleep Vaccinations Gassy Baby Relief Feeding Schedules Sleep Schedules. Toddler Month by Month Health and Safety Learning Toddler Sleep Potty Training Food and Nutrition Playtime Growth and Development Colds in Toddlers.
Family Finances Childproofing Second-Time Parents Child Spacing When to Have Baby Shower. Baby Names Top Baby Names for Boys Top Baby Names for Girls Best Gender Neutral Names.
Registry Builder Custom Checklist My Registries My Perks Take the Quiz. Sign Up. Posting as. December Babies. Start Discussion View Members Join Group Leave Group. Community Guidelines Community Glossary.
The views expressed in community are solely the opinions of participants, and do not reflect those of What to Expect. Learn more about our guidelines Just so you know, What to Expect may make commissions on shopping links on this page.
Bookmark Discussion Remove Bookmark Report as Inappropriate. Newest First. Violation Reported. Yayyy, yeah especially if you load them up with beans. you can do a lot with Rotisserie chicken too. I made 4 meals worth of red sauce aka spaghetti sauce and froze it, then added a chopped up pepper from our farmers market on top of each frozen sauce.
Homemade pasta sauce is super easy and way better tasting than the jarred crap. spaghetti sauce, chili, soup, gumbo. tuna or taco casserole!
Chili, chicken broccoli and rice casserole, stews etc, that others have mentioned. You May Also Like Pregnancy. First Year. I really wanna do them but how? We are barely keeping up with this weeks groceries : how are you all able to buy extra groceries?
For those of you who are not rolling in money. Latest: 23 days ago jmammmajammma. In August Babies Postpartum Help. My husband and I can't afford to hire a postpartum doula or anything like that, but we've had a lot of people offer to help out once the Latest: 10 months ago Hi In Multiples and Twins Postpartum Help.
Latest: 9 months ago Mae WTE Must Reads. When we get back to the condo all we have to do is throw a salad together and dinner is ready.
There are always homemade cakes or cookies around for dessert. My chicken pot pie is easy peasy. I boil my chicken: when done, cool, debone if not boneless , and shred.
I boil potatoes in some of the broth until tender; then mash some or all of the potatoes in the broth this acta as a thickening agent.
Mix potatoes, 2 bags of frozen mixed veggies, 1 or 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, potatoes anything else you might want to add and season to taste. I make just a pie crust for the top but have made top and bottom.
Then cover with foil and freeze. Bake at for about 45 min or until crust is golden and mixture is bubbly. You can also use refrigerated pastry or puff pastry for the cust if you wish.
This makes a huge batch so could easily be into freezer meals for the home. But feeding 8 — 10 people and having leftovers for another night, we need a big batch! Would really like the chicken enchilada recipe! My sister makes turkey enchilada and I would much rather use chicken plus hers is so time consuming!!
Do it often enough, and you almost never have to cook dinner during the week when everyone is busy working and other stuff too. Cant have lasagna without mozzarella cheese…………:D. Thank you!!!
My fiance is a trucker and I was looking for my things to make and freeze for him to take on the road. Wonderful ideas 😀. I used to make lots of freezer meals for my husband while he was on the road. He always loved having the home cooked meals and not having to go into a truckstop to eat.
How do your drivers take the frozen meals? He does not want to take anything big as he does not have his own truck right now and is only gone 5 days a week. I am trying to figure out how to send him better stuff then all that prepackaged foods.
My husband and I both work outside the home full time, have 3 small children 5 and under , and are currently also full time graduate students. I am excited to put this amazing post to good use.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! but also probably have activities and miss meals too.. so that should probably work. Just have extra rolls on hand for filler:.
I use to do this with 3 other families. We each cooked a chicken and a beef dish for our family plus theirs and exchanged them on Mondays. It gave us a week worth of meals and was easy to do since you were basically preparing only 2 different meals.
The key is to do this with families of similar size we have 5 children. Finally a site that makes normal meals in batches that my whole family 10 living with me at this moment will eat. Thanks so much for your blog. Same versatility with pork, cooking a large roast in a Crock-Pot or other slow cooker, etc.
And they do extremely well sliced, prepared in recipes, and frozen. Thank you for the ideas and detail, and for the shopping list. Thanks, this is a great idea. I really appreciate you sharing.
I would like to come up with another 30 dishes, this way every other month, you could have a rotation and a great variety. I used to do this years ago for my family of four, but quit when the kids were grown. You have inspired me! Thank you and Paula! for a great post! Cream of anything soup works for me as long as protein and vegetables included!
Are all of these cooked and frozen, and then reheated when ready to eat? Or do you freeze some of them uncooked? Most of them are precooked, but the lasagna noodles are uncooked.
They all reheat the same way, oven for 45 minutes or so until thoroughly warm. One thing I learned was something you touched upon with the lasagna. It was a little more work but much less whine 🙂 I cook the noodles and lay them out to cool.
While still warm I spread the ricotta mixture down one side with a layer of mozzarella on top. Roll it up from one short end and sit on a cookie sheet. I put sauce in another bag equal to the amount of roll-up bags and put them all into a gallon bag.
I only label the gallon bag! Saves me some time When we want lasagna I take out one sauce and one bag of 2 roll-ups. Thaws pretty quick too! Love this idea! Question though — how would you go about thawing and reheating the chili? I cut off the bag with kitchen scissors, then put it in a pot with a cup or so of water, then heat it up on medium heat.
It takes 15 minutes or so — but if I can remember to put it in the fridge the day before, I can pour it out of the bag and have it ready in about 5 minutes. Super simple 🙂. This is probably a silly question but can someone tell me how you know how long to cook it?
Also do you have to let these thaw before you cook them? This is an amazing idea and id love to try it but im not sure about the cooking part? I do set them out to thaw some cook them at you can tell when they are done or when the top is brown and bubbly.
Thank you so much for this! Again, thank you, thank you!! Many blessings to you and your family. Perfect to have on hand for those times when you need to bring a friend a meal. I got all the stuff to do this and am in my kitchen now to do it… I am excited!!!
I know I should have known I needed mozzarella for lasagna but my brain was apparently on auto pilot. My fault! Alas to the store one more time! I have never done a month of meals in one day, occasionally I just make a really big batch of something and divide it.
The grill keeps my food protected from critters and I can chill foods quickly without my freezer having to work overtime. I never thought to do that, we live in Texas and have some cold nights, cooking on a cold day is great and I could use the grill or smoker over night on a cold night, not a 60 degree night, lol.
Im 38 weeks pregnant, and while my husband can make chicken and rice, I hope to not have to put his culinary skills to the test. This will be so easy for us to adjust to life with a new baby, and not have to stress about dinners.
Some more ideas……. did you know you can freeze pop corn. I use to run concessions at ball fields. Leftover popcorn always came home with me. Spread in pan -pop in over and heat for about 10 min….
taste like fresh. Potato Chips can freeze. I would make hot dogs and freeze for the kids to pop in microwave….. just dog in bun, wrap and freeze. potato casseroles. On the shopping list there is no mozzarella cheese.
We doubled everything since two of us were doing this. We feel like geniuses! There is no prep or clean up for these meals which is awesome!!!
Thank you for the idea and we will be doing it again! This is a great post! My husband tends to do all of the cooking, however, I do know he gets tired of it. I am going to suggest that, as a family, we do this once per month. Again, thanks for taking the time to explain your experience.
I was very informative. Gina, thank you! I may not use every recipe,but I can definitely do this! Yes, I can see how I will be not too happy around 2 hours in, but this IS totally doable.
And you are a great mom. Suzie made pork chops and potatoes and vegetables ALL AT THE SAME TIME! Seriously, now that I have time and grandkids, I cook a lot better, but time is still precious when I run an online store also.
I will surely do this. Thank you so much! Thank you for this wonderful post. I need to confirm two things, if I may. First, I put the dishes together and then cook them before freezing, correct!?
The second thing is do I thaw them before cooking? Thank you again. I hope you know what a blessing you have been with this! I have a question about the chicken breasts — are you using fresh or frozen? Looking forward to making these recipes! Thanks so much!! cut the quantity in half!
the broccoli, chicken, pasta bake needs more seasonings; it was rather bland. I just have to say…as a working mom of 6 kids.. This article has so motivated me into making this a family-event for a saturday afternoon once a month.
Thank you so much. Love this post! I did the marinara sauce without meat and it was great! I used to make your lasagna recipe and added ground turkey and turkey sausage and it was awesome!
I am making it again and this time for 12 people that will be visiting for the holidays 😉. I started making a few freezer meals after I watched the Pioneer Woman episode on freezer meals, I ran out and bought those disposable containers, they are so easy to use, stack nicely in the freezer and are just the right portion for a family of four.
My crockpot is another tool that I love. Although I a small number of recipes that I make in it, It so wonderful to have dinner done. thanks for sharing. at the end of the day. the three of us had NINE meals to freeze.. Thanks for this!
I have a very demanding job and after getting home at around 7pm, I find it hard to get to the gym and cook for me and my husband. What a great way to plan ahead. For us, I made: — baked ziti instead of lasagna — turkey chilli — the basic chicken casserole above but substituted chopped broccoli for the other veggies and panko bread crumbs for french onions, and used one can of cream of chicken healthy request with one can cream of mushroom healthy request.
I was sitting here wondering what to use instead of the French onions and viola …Panko bread crumbs. Thank you! My tip: cover the tops with foil and write complete baking instructions on it for both frozen and thawed. I did that for my husband and son and it worked great! Then when I was working late they could throw dinner in.
Takes about 20 mins to make. Keep a bag of cooked peeled shrimp in the freezer. You can used pre cooked chicken too. I stock up on the shrimp when it is on sale. Keep a bag of stir fry veggies in there as well, and finally some minute rice or you can use pasta too. I put some butter or olive oil in the skillet and heat it with some garlic.
Add the shrimp and sauté on medium until done. While it is cooking prepare your rice or noodles. Add the veggies to the shrimp pan and toss together. Then, when the veggies are no longer frozen, add the rice or pasta and toss together.
Dinner is done and it tastes wonderful! You can use already cooked chicken too. You can change it up by using oriental sauce. Happy cooking! Just wondering when you use the dollar store tins do you put plastic wrap down first or just the paper top it comes with?
and if just the paper top silver side down? I just put the cardboard top on it, foil side down. No plastic wrap or anything else. Love this post. here are a couple of suggestions I would add. I would suggest using stoneware as opposed to aluminum, much healthier.
if you freeze in the stoneware you can then transfer to a fresh-saver zip-lock bag, remove the air and store in the freezer, taking up much less room.
Just set the stoneware in a hot water briefly to allow you to dump the frozen contents out and slide into the appropriate sized fresh-saver zip-lock bag. the fresh saver bags also protect the food better from possible freezer burn. Liquid items like soup and chili can be frozen in plastic containers and similarly transferred to fresh-saver bags.
The bags are reusable. meat items should also be frozen first before storage in fresh-saver bags to keep from crushing them together. this provides more room in you freezer and allows you to use much healthier cooking containers. Stoneware is good both in the oven or the microwave and can come directly from the freezer or refrigerator to the cooking medium.
Plastic an aluminium are not good to cook in. Items should be cool before storing in plastic. Being a single man who loves to cook, I have been doing this for myself and others for a long time and find this in addition to your suggestions to be good techniques for storing cooking and serving good healthy food.
Keep up the good work!!! I cook in waves with prepared meals—I have found the crockpot is my best friend to do this with.
I will put in 10 pounds of chicken breast in one; 8 pounds of ground beef in another; 8 pounds of flank steak in one. I cook this all over night so when I get up in AM I am only putting together veggies and other ingredients needed to make several meals.
Simple, time saving and in general cost saving for our family. We eat more earls in tan out and one of our kids can pull the meal out of the freezer to throw in the oven for dinner.
Are you poaching the chicken in the slow cooker? the slow cooker is doing the cooking for you? I like this idea, I only have 2 slow cookers but for me I think that would work! They have changed my life back to making casseroles. I loved your recipes. I am going try some of these. I thought that I would add, when I cook a meal for my family that I know freezes well, I double my recipe and freeze half.
That way I always have meals in the freezer for the nights that are crazy. I bought about ten 9×13 pans with lids that I use just for freezing meals and my freezer is always stocked. I have more kids than you, so I need more food.
Most of you can get away with much smaller pans. Its just as easy to make twice as much when I am already cooking. I am going shopping tomorrow and cooking Wednesday.
I am really excited and am hoping this goes well. There are 4 of us in my family I have 2 big eaters men and they could probably share one of those pans between the two of them and leave my daughter and myself out.
What do you have in mind for this. I would love to make dinner like this. Thank you so much for sharing this!!! If you want your chicken shredded and have a stand mixer, just toss in several pieces while still warm and VOILA!
Less prep time! Also great for shredding for BBQ sandwiches…I even did it with leftover pork roast so we had BBQ pork sandwiches! What dollar store do you get the container as and do they freezer burn with just the cardboard top? Love this! And the grocery list is such a bonus!
I started doing freezer meals a few years ago and agree completely that it is so worth the afternoon of cooking. We normally keep the garbage can out of site in the laundry room, but when it comes time to cook freezer meals, we set up a folding table in the middle of the kitchen for added counter space and put the garbage can right under the edge so we are not running back and forth to it for every piece of trash.
Also, I glued some magnets to the back of clothes pins and hang them on the back part of the oven hood or on the fridge would work to display all the printed out recipes at one time, so I dont have to flip through recipes with messy fingers while trying to make so many at the same time.
Hope those are helpful… and thanks for taking the time to share your details! For the cheeseburger casserole, do you cook the dough before freezing it?
Or do you freeze it before cooking the dough?? Line baking dishes with plastic wrap, add ingredients, cover and freeze until solid.
Turn the frozen food out of the dish and seal in a zip bag. When ready to use, remove the food from the bag, peel off the plastic and put it back into the original dish.
To eliminate freezer burn in frozen casseroles, place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the food before freezing….. just be sure to remove it before heating.
Another idea for freezer meals that my daughter and several of her friends all young mother do. Each makes several casseroles of the same kind and freeze them, then one a week, they swap casseroles. It works for them well for them. I am normally pretty organized so I am hopeful this will go well.
My daughter jokes that she was in college before she realized that cream of something soup could be eaten on its own! Cooking for one is challenging.
I think I could divide each meal into four individual servings and freeze them that way. Or maybe freeze two servings and have the leftovers for lunch. Hi, I use the rectangle ones that she uses for my brother. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Just wondering, how long would these be good in the freezer before becoming freezer burnt? Thanks for doing this!! So many of these meals are ones we would eat. i have a picky husband. I really hope to try this. Just a suggestion: If you have the time, print out and laminate a recipe card for each.
Cover each meal with foil. Place recipe card with directions on each. Slide into a ziplock freezer bag. This way they are ready for whoever is doing the cooking OR for when you need to take a meal to a sick friend, new mother, or just because. These can then be re-used for the next cooking marathon.
I live alone and had to have surgery to repair a collarbone that dislocated at my sternum a couple of years ago due to a bicycling accident. for over a month, so before I went to the hospital, I made about a months worth of meals for myself. About the only thing I did differently from you was I completely cooked each casserole on the prep date and I used disposable plastic containers so that I could freeze individual servings.
I think all my recipes made six servings, so I made ten casseroles one after another lunch and dinner meals for 30 days. You are right, cooking or merely preparing like you did all that in one day or two days in my case will make you wonder what the heck you are doing when you are about halfway finished!
I also have a modest collection of cookware so I had no choice but to constantly wash things. I had a lot of community and church friends who brought me meals.
Others took me out to eat, invited me to eat at their house, helped me wash my hair, changed my bed sheets and did my laundry for me. But on those days when I was on my own, it was really nice to have my own home cooking!
My doctor told me I have to go easy on beef products. Then go home and cook it exactly like beef, such as with beef spice mixes.
I would love to have some other recipe ideas that might be out there. I have gotten tired of the same old recipes and would love to put some freezer foods together. Sounds so simple when you explained it, but I need to come up with other recipes.
Any help would be appreciated. Great post. I try to do something like this when I have friends having babies, especially if they have other kids. Sometimes several will fit in one baggie. I also try to do breakfast stuff and desserts that freeze like pancakes or muffins in baggies or breakfast casseroles, cobblers freeze well too.
Super easy and convenient for lunch or dinner. this of course has all been used for friends, but no reason not to make it for myself! One tip, find out about food allergies BEFORE doing this for others!
Thank you for this post! I so need to do this! This gave me the inspiration I needed to take on the challenge on my own! If you hate to cut up onions, buy diced onions in the frozen section of your grocery store.
Thaw and drain, and they are ready to use in any recipe calling for diced onions. This is amazing! So badass! What size would you say your pans are for the lasagna? We used the 8. We came out with 5 dishes total. We did, however, run out of noodles and had to turn the last two dishes into pasta bakes by substituting layers of rotini.
well I for one want to say thank you for what you are doing. I know there are more recipes everyone can make. I never thought of using those pans at the Dollar Tree ,General Dollar,ect….. I use empty butter dishes and plastic containers to freeze food in.
I make soup and red beans a lot and make too much. sometimes my spaghetti and meat sauce is left over also. but it would be better frozen in a casserole dish for leftover warm up.
so I say bring the recipes on. I would love to see more. thanks again Martha. You are a genious! Been doing it for almost 20 years. so many recipes can be frozen.
An easy way to start — always fix an extra of whatever meal you are cooking and freeze one. I find it much easier to can sauces, etc.
If you are going to store it in canning jars anyway…. Having trouble being able to print off the shopping list say the website is unavailable,can someone please help me with this.
THANKS so much for this! So easy. I just wish I had started earlier in the day. I saw it about 3 pm, went right out and bought the foil, then the food while my daughter started cooking the frozen hamburger. I feel like dinnertime will go SO MUCH BETTER with all these back up freezer meals.
No fast food for a while, either — which means we are eating healthier and cheaper, which my hubby loves! Thank you for sharing. Glad for your reader that put the grocery list together also! Just ran across this post and now I am feeling totally inspired.
Guess who will be going to the grocery early this morning. This girl right here. Thank you for such a relatable, thoughtful, and accomplishable post. Will let you know how it turns out. Thanks for sharing recipes that have real food in them—not processed junk.
Healthy freezer meals. What a concept almost unheard of in our day and age. Go one step further and put those meals in Tupperware Freezer Mates products!
Reusable and in the end, save you tons of money. Contact your local Tupperware consultant to order. I just ran across this and I love it!
I am def. doing this as I have been trying to figure out how to incorporate the gym to my after work schedule being a single mom with 2 kids…. seems impossible before this! I also ran across another site that had mason jar salads! You place the dressing in at the bottom of the mason jar very important and then you layer in tomatoes, carrots, onions whatever goodies you like on your salad and then the lettuce and spinach at the top also very important Store in the fridge and pull them out and shake it up and they are ready to go.
How easy is that?? States on the article that they will stay good for a weeks time if you make sure to keep the dressing and lettuce at the ends specified. where do you get the covers for the pans? Are they available at the Dollar store? Do they come with the Pans? If covered do you have to still put them in a freezer bag?
They can be bought at dollar tree they come with lids if it makes you more comfortable you can put them in a freezer bag also but I dont. Then I put a helping of each in to 7 plastic containers, add a small handful of shredded cheddar cheese on top of each, put the lids on and freeze!
I love my easy breakfasts! I think this is just great. I really got a lot of ideas from reading your recipes. However, there are a couple things that I will change for myself.
I also stopped using Ziploc about 6 months ago. I took some out of the box and was overwhelmed by a strong chemical odor. These chemicals prob. Petrolem based can leech into food. Any cream of anything soup has MSG in it which is unhealthy. It can cause aggression, anxiety, anger, fast heartbeat, rise in blood pressure and is neurotoxic.
I love your recipes above and am not criticizing. For me, I will just make some alterations. When my daughters and I do this marathon cooking, I start a pot of vegetable soup, tossing in any compatible leftovers from what we are making.
That way when everything is done and packaged for the freezer, we still have a tasty supper when we are way TOO tired to cook anymore — without immediately dipping into our month of meals. A quick pan of cornbread and all the hubbies are happy.! Where can you buy the tins with kids. I have never seen them before, should I go to a supplier company?
Store in jar in cupboard. Makes the equivalent of 9 cans of soup. Add mushrooms, celery or onion when cooking to make whatever cream-of-soup you are replacing. I usually make without bouillon and add while cooking. Amazing detail. What a great reference you have given us.
I am expecting our second kiddo and have been looking for ways to make our post parted time easier. Thanks so much. Great idea! Also for those of you wanting to freeze in jars look at freshpreserving. While a bit pricey for the initial investment they are re-useable. This is great! I have done the freezer meals from different websites and they work great!
These recipes are things that I know that my family will eat without guessing! I am going to go through coupons, pantry, freezer, and fridge right now and head to the store! I will let everyone know how it goes!
I stumbled upon this on pinterest. My husband is low carbing his meals soooo I cook 2 meals now. Thanks for the info! I am EXCITED to tackle this. I teach school for until , then have another job working the after school program from until almost so this is AWESOME!!!
I have some of my own recipes that I can alternate, but I am thankful for yours too. I saw some new ideas! Just thought I would share for the folks like me who do not want to spend the day cooking and then freezing, yet love the idea of freezer meals.
Six sisters blog has at least 20 delicious frozen meals that you put into the freezer I use gallon zip-locks , then take out as needed, place into your crock pot, and let it cook them for you all day long.
I love the chicken and bean Chile, as well as the lime cilantro chicken. Just passing along another option for your readers. You do a shop they list all ingredients as well, and are on pinterest too , spend about a half an hour packaging them up and labeling, and you are set to go!
I take one bag out the night before, thaw in fridge, place in crock pot in the morning, and go! Thanks for sharing, hope this is useful for someone else as well! While a good idea, these meals are all so unhealthy.
Everything on the shopping list is canned or frozen. Try substituting some fresh vegetables. I would really love to get more recipes from you. Your ideas here are great , I have a large upright freezer. I go to store maybe 2 times a month.
In winter no transportation off of here to go to store. Thank you very much for this , Lou-Ann mcGee in : Milton,WV east coast. Hi Gina!
Thanks very much for your post. Really fabulous ideas and inspiring, too. I just wanted to mention that we do something like this — and always include a meal in the slow-cooker, made to freeze. Usually ham… Here are two recipes:. On a bed of onion chunks, place the biggest ham you can fit, pour a bottle of strong tasting beer over it, then poor a can of maple syrup.
Run your cooker hours. Freeze in family-sized portions with sauce. Make two layers in your cooker: almost cooked macaroni mixed with ham chunks and frozen veggies, favorite cream-of soup and spices, shredded cheese. Slow cook. Run cooker on low hours. I tried this and it was surprisingly simple, I love the idea and the fact that it saves us money.
I made these meals today. Recipes were easy and food tasted amazing. I will, however, wear comfortable shoes next time, as my feet are hurting.
I hope all of the meals freeze and reheat well. Thanks for sharing this post! I have freed up a lot of time, as a mother working outside of the home, for the next month! I just did this today.
Great deal of work, but so worth it!! I am excite to have all this ready so my oldest can get dinner started and it will be ready when my husband and I get in from work!! Thanks for the tips and great recipes. I have already started searching for some to add to it next time!! When you get home, take them out and shred.
Freeze what you want in smaller amounts in ziplocs or food saver bags. You will have chicken ready for tacos, quesadillas, burritos, casseroles, etc.
LOVE your blog! Thanks so much! I just did a freezer meal session a few days ago and reading your stuff makes me want to do it again! If only I had room in my freezer! Excited to try yours, too! Also, I bought some Glad Ovenware, they are plastic freezer containers that come in 8×8 and 9×13 and are perfect to freeze casseroles and then cook them in the oven!
This is a great idea the only thing I have with it is having 5 lasagnas 3 of the same chicken meals so forth there are a few variations in there but I would rather fix different meals so my family will not get sick of the same.
you can still use the same ingredients but fix different meals. just my opinion. I will still take this idea an just tweak it a bit for different meals. Thanks so much for the freezer recipes!
I bought 28 ounce size and it seemed like slot but wanted to make sure:. Also on the sauce I bought 2 24 ounce jars. Is that right?! Just a little tip to anyone that is interested. You can put the chicken breast in a crock pot overnight and be ready to make the chicken meals the next day. Yummy, shredded chicken ready to go, no waiting for the chicken to poach.
Hello — what would be the cooking temp and time if you were cooking one of these meals from not frozen? made the lasagna, now the chili. Just a type of small onion, or a soup base? Here you go, Ms. How were you able to keep them from freezer burn, i tried this once and after the 5th day all those meals in aluminum were freezer burnt.
Why is there store bought marinara in a homemade marinara recipe? Is just easier? The thing I like about this post is that you shared what works for YOU, and are open with the fact that we can take it or leave it. I just wanted you to know that this website gave me my start in freezer meals.
Because of this website, and the instructions and recipes, my induction into freezer meals went smoothly. I spent a few hours in my kitchen on a Sunday with all of my ingredients making my meals, and I must say I had the BEST time!!
I truly enjoyed every minute of it. While I was preparing, the clock repair man came in to repair our antique grandfather clock , and commented on how delicious my house smelled.
It made me feel good. The kids have loved every meal. The husband is thrilled to have a delicious home-cooked meal on the table when he gets home from his 13 hour work day, and the stress is off of me of worrying about what to feed my family during my very busy day!
I love this post! I just wanted to add what I do since I dont have the stamina to do a 4 hour stint. I also like to bulk buy when on sale so when I get say a big buy on hamburger then I do a day of all hamburger meals then maybe the next weekend its all chicken etc etc.
This breaks up the chores and I can usually get it done in a hour or two. If I keep at it we have a good selection moving through.. unfortunately sometimes it becomes heavy on say hamburger meals and the pork or chicken go by the wayside.. lol But I try!
Ab how many pounds of chicken would guess the 15 chicken breasts is? I buy organic chicken and it comes in small breast cutlets.
I LOVED that the menu was in order and the shopping list was provided for me. It was a HUGE timesaver! I put 25 meals, in the freezer, plus we had the chili for supper that night and lunch the next day and had rice leftover for yummy rice pudding. I would definiltely do this again!
It was very well laid out and I followed your order. I would love to have another set of freezer meals to do and rotate the two plans! This totally works!
My best friend and I have gotten together every few months for the past couple of years to assemble freezer meals together. The last time we cooked, we made 15 meals each for our families she cooks for 3, I cook for 4. I know we spent more, but spreading it out over a few weeks helped a lot.
Couponing helps as well…I bought a TON of Ziploc bags for next to nothing. Also definitely helps to have a buddy to cook with! It has become one of our favorite ways to spend time together! Great idea on saving meal time. I have in the past made meals and froze them for a later date Chili, Cabbage Rolls, BBQ Baked Beans and others but your recipes have put a whole new spin on frozen t.
This is a great idea! Food saftey is something to think about when making all these meals. Make sure you cool your food down before storing or freezing. You have 2 hours to get food from to 70 degrees before you can refrigerate and try to get it to 40 degrees before freezing. This is awesome. Sooo…that being said, almost all of the grocery items you have listed, I have in my pantry!!
I can do all these meals, and shop for very little until I leave. THANK YOU SOOO VERY MUCH!! You my friend, are awesome sauce. I have a family of 6. Two adults, three boys 19, 17, 17 and a 10 year old girl. What do you recommend for increasing the recipes?
I have never made freezer meals before. You can buy all different size pans and you can double or even triple the recipes if needed to fit your family.
So excitied about this! Just got home from grocery store! Will do the chicken today and ground beef I use ground deer tomorrow! I really appreciate the grocery list it made it so easy!
I have a question about the Tinfoil pan things, I have never used them and was wondering if they keep the food sealed so it doesnt get freezer burn? I have never had a problem with freezer burn but if it makes you more comfortable you can put it in a Ziploc bag also.
Between work, after school activities, and everything else going on in my life… I really think this is brilliant. Thanks for this!!! Does the cheeseburger casserole crust get baked before you freeze it?
I am kind of confused there. Thanks 🙂. I stumbled upon this through a Facebook posting this week. I love the idea and it would be such a tremendous weeknight help. And for all those opposed to the use of cream soups…make your own!
I saw that you use 6 cans of soup to make a total of 9 meals, or 36 servings. I think this is a great idea and look forward to trying some of your recipes and freezing some of my own.
I do have a question about your chicken and dressing recipe. Your recipe calls for a big pan of cornbread. Do you mean 9 x 13? Who makes cornbread mix?
Thanks for all the great ideas! What a great post. And ppttthhhh to all of the comments written by people who are commenting from the back of a horse. A very, very tall horse. What about freezer burn? Do you have any problems with that?
If so, how did you resolve the problem? Thanks again!
Healthy Freezer Meals on a Budget ; BBQ Chicken Pizza · Breaded Smothered Chicken · Chicken and Beef Fajitas · Chicken Crescent Rolls Lasagna and meatloaf are typical freezer meals for me too. If you buy ground meat in bulk at sams or Costco, they're 2. Easy make ahead Orange Chicken Freezer Meal. · 3. Chicken Burrito Bowls. · 4. Stuffed Shells Freezer Meal recipe. · 5. Instant Pot
Shaktinris 
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/BYRDIE-best-travel-sized-beauty-products-4690913-v1-f3cae39d2a9542ef924112a3bace3a33.jpg "Small Size Beauty Must-Haves")
