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Hello,
Freezer Meals!
This week's issue is about cooking ahead and cooking for your freezer. We have included some tips and linked to some articles on the website. I hope you find them useful.
Cooking ahead and meal planning can save you a lot of time and money, because of this, we have started publishing a new Freezer meal recipe each day in our recipe newsletter. You can find an archive of the freezer recipes we have published so far here:
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Tips
As a busy home school mom I needed a way to have easy, quick, inexpensive meals without going out. I did not even have one day to do once a month cooking. So I cook half the month. I make a menu for 15 days. On day one for instance, we might have meat loaf, well I make enough for two meals by putting the meat loaf in muffin cups and freezing half. This works with most things like hamburgers, chili, soups, etc. For pastas I make the sauce and freeze and cook the pasta when needed.
Lisa
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Cook Once, Eat Twice
By Ashley Ocampo
Finding time to prepare and cook nutritious and delicious family meals can be a challenge for even the most organized mom. Between driving the kids to their various activities, household chores, and the everyday occurrences that come up, most moms find their time is at a premium. Once a month cooking is quickly becoming popular with busy moms. However, storage space can quickly become an issue if you don't have a stand alone freezer.
An alternative for the "freezer space challenged" is to *cook once, eat twice*. There are several ways you can implement this into your weekly meal planning, with minimal effort but with great results.
First, the key tip is to plan meals around one key food. Prepare that food in a larger amount than you would usually use the first night. Then you can use it for an entirely different recipe later in the week. This isn't the same as eating leftovers, since you are making an entirely different meal. One easy meal, and often a family favorite is to prepare a roast with your favorite vegetables in your crockpot. Be sure to use a roast that will allow you to have some leftover meat. Use the leftover roast and vegetables, to make a Vegetable Beef Soup or a Shepherd's Pie for later in the week. (Recipes to follow).
Before you set the meal out on the table, take out and refrigerate the portion for your next meal. By promptly refrigerating the food you also help ensure the quality and keep it safe. As a general rule, perishable cooked foods, such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs and dairy products, shouldn't be at room temperature longer than TWO hours TOTAL, that includes both the first and second meal. Be sure to use shallow containers so it cools faster in the refrigerator. Glad and Ziplock both make inexpensive, reusable containers perfect for storage. Cover loosely and stir occasionally to help it cool. Cover tightly when cooled.
You should plan on using the extra refrigerated food within one to two days. If you need longer storage, then be sure to freeze. Remember, you should never thaw anything at room temperature, but overnight in the refrigerator to avoid food contamination. with bacteria.
Tangy Pot Roast
Stir together flour, salt, and pepper, rub mixture on meat. Heat oil in Dutch oven and brown meat, about 15 minutes cooking time. Reduce heat, spread horseradish on both sides of roast. Line bottom of Dutch oven with slices of large onion. Return roast to oven, add water until it is 1/4 up side of roast. Cover tightly and simmer on range or in oven at 325 degrees for 4 hours. Pare and half potatoes, cut carrots in half and lengthwise. Add potatoes, carrots, and onions to oven 1 hr before end of cooking time. The juices can be strained and poured over the meat or vegetables as gravy (they may require thickening with a flour/butter mixture).
Vegetable Beef Soup
In a 5-quart pan, over medium heat, saute the garlic and onion in a small amount of oil until tender. Add the beef, tomatoes, salt, pepper, water and the carrots to the pan and cook for 5-10 minutes then add the potatoes and celery. Simmer for 5-10 more minutes then add the frozen corn and vegetables and cook for about 10 more minutes or until vegetables are tender. Adjust seasonings to taste.
Too Easy Shepherd's Pie
In baking dish layer from bottom to top: meat, onions, seasonings, carrots, potatoes, and cheese. Bake at 350: for 45 minutes.
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Meatball Mania!
By Deborah Taylor-Hough
Cooking up a large batch of meatballs in advance to store in the freezer goes a long way toward establishing a supply of quick and easy meals. And if you take advantages of sales on ground beef and stock up, this can be a tremendous boon to your family budget, too!
In addition to stirring meatballs into spaghetti sauce, you can also use them in soups, serve them on skewers (kids love this!), or heat in brown gravy or a warmed can of cream of mushroom soup served with mashed potatoes.
The following recipes prepare a large batch of freezer meatballs and also include examples of ways to use frozen meatballs. The sauces require some preparation, but the meals go together quickly with your stockpile of precooked meatballs in the freezer.
MILLIONS OF MEATBALLS
(this makes a lot -- at least four dozen, depending on size)
In a large mixing bowl, combine first eight ingredients. Add ground beef and mix well. Shape into meatballs (use a small cookie scoop if available) and place on boiler pan so grease can drain while cooking. Bake uncovered in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Divide into meal-sized portions. To prevent from freezing into a solid meatball-mass, freeze individually on cookie sheets and then place in freezer bags. Label and freeze.
To serve meatballs, thaw completely and reheat with your choice of sauces (six sample sauce recipes follow).
SWEET-N-SOUR MEATBALLS
(5 servings)
Drain pineapple tidbits, reserving syrup. In medium saucepan, combine brown sugar and cornstarch. Blend in reserved syrup, water, cider vinegar and soy sauce. Cook and stir over low heat until thick and bubbly. Carefully stir in meatballs, water chestnuts, green pepper strips and pineapple. Heat to a boiling. Serve over hot cooked rice.
CHILI-DAY MEATBALLS
(5 servings)
This recipe sounds a little strange (chili sauce and grape jelly?), but it tastes like burgundy sauce (only without the wine)
Whisk together chili sauce, grape jelly, lemon juice and bouillon, breaking up all clumps. Simmer on low heat until sauce starts to thicken. Add freezer meatballs; cook in sauce until meatballs are fully thawed and heated through. Serve over hot cooked noodles or rice.
MEATBALL SANDWICHES
(6 servings)
Thaw meatballs and spaghetti sauce (if using frozen). Place both in medium saucepan. Heat until hot. Place meatballs into warmed buns. Ladle small amount of spaghetti sauce onto each sandwich; place mozzarella slice onto each sandwich.
TOMATO-SAUCED MEATBALLS
(5 servings)
Mix together soup, water and Worcestershire sauce. Place meatballs in a medium sized saucepan; pour soup mixture over meatballs. Simmer until meatballs are heated through. Serve over hot cooked rice.
MEATBALL STROGANOFF
(5 servings)
In medium saucepan, mix together mushroom soup and sour cream. Gently stir in mushrooms and meatballs. Simmer until meatballs are heated through. Serve over hot cooked rice or over egg noodles tossed with melted butter and chopped parsley.
CATALINA MEATBALLS
(5 servings)
Saute' onion slices in olive oil until softened. Place frozen meatballs in medium skillet. Pour dressing over meatballs. Cover skillet and cook over low heat until dressing caramelizes on meatballs and onion, and the meatballs are fully thawed and heated through. Serve over rice.
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Freezing Soups or Chili in Bowls
Make a big pot of soup, chili, or stew and freeze the rest in bowls, thaw and heat up for the next meal. Out of one large soup pot I can get 5 meals or more depending on what it is.
By Nikki
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No "leftovers" at our house! We prefer to call them pre-planned meals. We buy meats on sale and I usually spend a Sunday evening cooking (i.e. in one "cooking spell" I made three meat loaves, two meals of barbecued spare ribs and five meals of baked chicken. These are all proportioned to what my husband and I will eat at one meal and then sealed in our food saver bags.
Off to the freezer they go for whatever meal we want. For a working gal it sure saves time preparing dinner. Just snip the corner of the food saver bag and pop into the microwave. Open a can or two of veggies or make a fresh salad and you have a quick and delicious meal real quick!
By MissMakeDo
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I use my stock pot to make huge pots of soup, or chili, or spaghetti sauce to use for one dinner and freeze the rest in meal-size portions and use one a night when there is not time to cook and you still need a hearty meal.
I also make several meals worth of meatballs, either for spaghetti, swedish meatballs or mealball subs. Freeze in meal-size portions and then pull out a quick pack before going to work. By the time you get home, they will be thawed and ready to go.
Meatloaf is also a favorite. I make several at one time and again, freeze them. Sometimes, I will slice it and put lunch-size portions into the freezer. A real quick lunch, You can make your sandwich, complete with your condiment (mayo, mustard, bbq sauce) and by lunch time, the slice will have thawed.
And I figured out if one of the major frozen food companies can freeze mac and cheese, so can I. I just double wrap in foil, and then in a plastic freezer bag (which is reusable). I also freeze lazagna, stuffed shells and the recipe for the meat that I use for stuffed peppers. On a night that I have left-over rice, I pull out a portion of the meat that I froze. I try not to freeze rice, it's a texture thing for me. The next night, I only have to blanch the peppers, mix the meat and rice, stuff and put into the oven for a half hour or so.
Whatever I cook, whether a roast of beef or a whole chicken, some of it usually ends up ground up and in the freezer for either hash or sandwich filling. For hash, a quick recipe is to use frozen hash brown potatoes mixed with the ground meat and whatever spices you like (I like to add a touch of cumin with my pepper and a touch of salt).
Just a touch of oil in a skillet, add those ingredients and whatever else might be in your fridge (peppers, onions, peas, left over veggies, whatever)
For sandwich filling, a little mayo, a little mustard, some pepper, maybe a little pickle relish, and viola, a great filling for even a simple hotdog roll.
That's enough for me. Take care all!
Crochet2
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Marinaded Frozen Chicken Breasts
When I buy "on-sale" chicken breasts to freeze, I add marinade, which could be Italian dressing, leftover wine and seasonings or beer or salsa, to the bag. They will be frozen in. That way they marinate before they freeze and while they are thawing and are ready to cook as soon as I thaw them. I mark the bags with the type of marinade so I don't thaw teriyaki when I want to cook Italian food!
By Linda
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Freezer Meals - Tips and Recipes
I have fibromyalgia and am finding daily chores becoming exhausting. I recently purchased a freezer and hope to cut my grocery shopping to once or twice a month at the most. I am looking for "make ahead" and freezer meals. Any tips, ideas and suggestions will be much appreciated.
Fancy55
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Turn Fresh Tomatoes Into Quick & Easy Dinners
By Patti McKenna
Most of us know that planting a garden is one of the cheapest ways to provide your family with fresh vegetables. My husband is the chief gardener in our household, and since it is his domain, he gets to decide what to plant. Let me tell you right away that he loves fresh tomatoes. I, on the other hand, hate tomatoes and have not eaten a raw tomato in over thirty years. Imagine my amazement when he strategically placed 16 tomato plants in our garden! It gets worse, each of those plants thrived and grew over six feet tall! That's a lot of tomatoes! The kitchen is my domain, so it became my task to figure out what to do with his abundant harvest.
Now, I know I said I don't like tomatoes, but I do like spaghetti sauce, chili and soup. I could have canned the tomatoes for use in the sauces; but I hate canning. It's hot, messy and time consuming. We decided to try freezing the tomatoes. Together we peeled them and started dicing and chopping them in a blender. Then we poured the chopped tomatoes and juice into gallon-size freezer bags, labeled them and placed them in the freezer. Freezer bags work well because you can lay them flat and they don't take up very much room in the freezer.
Then we got creative and began personalizing each bag for later use. For chili sauce, we added fresh chopped onions and peppers to the tomatoes before freezing. For spaghetti sauce, we went one step further and added chopped garlic. Vegetable soup sauce became a mixture of tomatoes, onions, and fresh herbs from our little herb garden. Sometimes we added chopped broccoli and other vegetables to the soup base.
We also make a garden salsa using the same methods, but drain the juice from the blended tomatoes. It keeps well, and we always have a fresh and healthy snack or dish to take to pot lucks, family gatherings, etc. Because we can season it to our tastes, we are sure to like it!
Ever since that time, I have never purchased a can of diced tomatoes, tomato paste, sauce, or spaghetti sauce. There is always a sauce ready to go in the freezer. It also tastes much better than commercial sauces. We just pull it out and simmer, adding any spices or meat necessary. It is a healthy and inexpensive way to have dinner partially prepared!
After a year or two, I even figured out how to effortlessly and inexpensively make vegetable soup. Leftover dinner vegetables are drained and placed in a freezer bag, sometimes even adding leftover roast to the bag. Once the bag is full, I pull it out and grab a bag or two of our frozen tomato mixture, throw them in a pot, add seasonings, and soup's on! This is by far the easiest and cheapest homemade meal I have ever made! Try it and see if you don't agree!
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Preserving Food: Freezing Prepared Foods (PDF)
Foods for packed lunches or elaborate dinners can be kept in your freezer ready for busy days, parties or unexpected company. By planning a steady flow of casseroles, main dishes, baked goods and desserts in and out of your freezer, you can make good use of your freezer and good use of your time.
Contents include:
This article is available in PDF format. Click here to download it.
Published by: University of Georgia and Ft. Valley State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture
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