non-dairy freezer meals

[crl]

I'd like to get some meals stashed in our freezer. DS is allergic to milk (and apples, mangos and strawberries) so lasange and dairy-based casseroles are out. I'm going to make my mom's spaghetti sauce recipe (it's a meat based sauce and has green peppers, onions and olives so it's a pretty complete meal on top of healthy pasta).

Suggestions, or better yet, recipes?

Thanks!
Catherine

[Starflower]

I'm subbing to this thread. I have a freezer meals book but almost every single recipe is full of dairy. Dairy and I just don't get along.

I'd love some recipes or ideas too.

[Alyantavid]

I have such a hard time with this. I miss casseroles!

I do spaghetti sauce, meatloaf, pancakes, waffles, burritos, hot pockets. That's all I can think of right now. Let me know if you want recipes for any of them, but I warn you, I don't follow recipes real well so they won't be exact.

[crl]

Could you tell me how you do burritos (I'm not a TexMex fan so I've never cooked that type of food, but I think DH and DS would like them) and hot pockets?

I can post my mom's spaghetti recipe if anyone wants it.

Thank you for the great ideas!
Catherine

[Alyantavid]

Oh another thing I do is freeze ingredients to make the actual cooking easier. Like whole tomatoes. I freeze those all summer long so I can make tomato soup in the winter that my boys love.

The burritos, I just put some refried beans (and maybe a little nutritional yeast) in a tortilla and seal it all together in the frying pan. I usually bake those to reheat so they don't get soggy. The hot pockets are just pizza crust, pizza sauce and pepperoni (or whatever you want). Then I wrap them shut and bake. Those reheat pretty well in the microwave.

The crust recipe is:

1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp yeast
salt

Mix yeast and water until dissolved and let sit a few minutes. Add other ingredients and mix well. Roll out like you would pizza dough and then cut into pieces. I did triangles, but you can try different shapes and see what works.

[Biscuits & Gravy]

I make these all the time. The butter can be replaced by DF margarine, coconut oil, or any other fat. It just helps the tortilla get crispy when you bake them. I've done variations with different beans and chicken, too.

Beef & Bean Chimichangas

Ingredients

* 1 pound lean ground beef
* 3/4 cup chopped onion
* 3/4 cup diced green bell pepper
* 1 1/2 cups whole kernel corn
* 2 cups taco sauce
* 2 teaspoons chili powder
* 1 teaspoon garlic salt
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1 (16 ounce) can refried beans
* 8 (12 inch) flour tortillas
* 1 tablespoon butter, melted
* shredded lettuce
* 1 tomato, diced

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium-high heat. Drain excess grease, and add the onion, bell pepper, and corn. Cook for about 5 more minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Stir in the taco sauce, and season with chili powder, garlic salt and cumin, stirring until blended. Cook until heated through, then remove from heat, and set aside.
3. Open the can of beans, and spread a thin layer of beans onto each of the tortillas. Spoon the beef mixture down the center, and then top with as much shredded cheese as you like. Roll up the tortillas, and place them seam-side down onto a baking sheet. (If you want to freeze these, do so at this point). Brush the tortillas with melted butter.
4. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Serve with lettuce and tomato.

[crl]

Thanks! I can probably just do a pizza crust from Joy of Cooking so you don't have to post the recipe.

Catherine

[Alyantavid]

Originally Posted by crl

Thanks! I can probably just do a pizza crust from Joy of Cooking so you don't have to post the recipe.

Catherine

I found where I posted it on the allergy board, so I edited.

[crl]

Originally Posted by Biscuits & Gravy

I make these all the time. The butter can be replaced by DF margarine, coconut oil, or any other fat. It just helps the tortilla get crispy when you bake them. I've done variations with different beans and chicken, too.

Beef & Bean Chimichangas

Ingredients

* 1 pound lean ground beef
* 3/4 cup chopped onion
* 3/4 cup diced green bell pepper
* 1 1/2 cups whole kernel corn
* 2 cups taco sauce
* 2 teaspoons chili powder
* 1 teaspoon garlic salt
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1 (16 ounce) can refried beans
* 8 (12 inch) flour tortillas
* 1 tablespoon butter, melted
* shredded lettuce
* 1 tomato, diced

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium-high heat. Drain excess grease, and add the onion, bell pepper, and corn. Cook for about 5 more minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Stir in the taco sauce, and season with chili powder, garlic salt and cumin, stirring until blended. Cook until heated through, then remove from heat, and set aside.
3. Open the can of beans, and spread a thin layer of beans onto each of the tortillas. Spoon the beef mixture down the center, and then top with as much shredded cheese as you like. Roll up the tortillas, and place them seam-side down onto a baking sheet. (If you want to freeze these, do so at this point). Brush the tortillas with melted butter.
4. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Serve with lettuce and tomato.

Thanks!

[crl]

Originally Posted by Alyantavid

I found where I posted it on the allergy board, so I edited.

Thank you!

[kjbrown92]

Chicken mirabella (crockpot) freezes well
Chili freezes well
Pulled pork freezes well
Curried chicken and rice freezes well.

I freeze them as portions not as whole meals, but I know that they work.

[velochic]

Why is lasagna out? That was my first thought! You can do lots of different lasagnas that have no milk or cheese. Layers of meat with veggies off the top of my head. Top with soy-based cheese if you think it has to have a cheesy top. Homemade pizza, the same. It doesn't have to have cheese. There are many, many pasta dishes that don't contain dairy and freeze well. Think outside of the box. These things can be very non-traditional and still yummy.

How about a thick beef stew casserole. Make it like you would beef stew, but let it reduce more to make it thicker. Freezes well and can be served over rice.

Same with chicken and noodles. I never make chicken and noodle *soup*. It's always thick and rich and has no dairy in it. You can get noodles that contain no eggs or butter or make your own.

You can slow roast a whole pork butt, then divide it up into portions for meals: bbq sandwiches, spring rolls, pork and beans, add to soups.

Soups. Split pea soup is the favorite here. No dairy. Just peas, bacon, ham hock, chicken stock, spices, veggies, etc. Whiz it up with a stick blender and you have a creamy soup and no cream. Same with chili. Squash soup. Most soups freeze well and do not have to have dairy (and they are versatile as you can do them a million different ways).

Hmmm... trying to think of other ideas to help you. That's all I've got off the top of my head.

[crl]

Thank you for all the great ideas!

I'd never heard of Chicken Mirabella. I googled and that sounds good. Bonus that it's done in the crockpot. I suppose you do a double batch and freeze the extra? How do you reheat? (I don't have a microwave, but most things seem fine reheating on the stove top or in the oven. . . .)

I think my brain forgets soup all together because I haven't had a lot of luck getting DS to eat anything except TJ's chicken noodle (he rejects homemade ). But I should definitely revisit this because there's got to be a homemade soup he'll like and I can freeze.

I suppose it's just my prejudice, my favorite part of lasange is the cheese. It's kind of a lot of work so I don't really want to make it without the cheese. And we have some soy cheese and it's, well, yucky imo. DS eats it, but I won't. Pizza is my go-to delivery meal because we found a pizza place that does vegan cheese--hurray! You have no idea how happy it makes DS to get delivery pizza.

Thanks again!
Catherine

[noobmom]

What about pierogis? They freeze really well. Potstickers too.

Meatballs is another idea--you can use them either for spaghetti and meatballs or for meatball subs.

I usually only freeze food when I'm making extra--so think about what you already cook for dinner and whether you could double the recipe and freeze half.

It's also why I tend to freeze a lot of dumpling, meatball, peirogi type things. When I go to the trouble of making them I make A LOT and freeze enough for 1 or 2 extra meals.

[crl]

Oh, do you have a pierogi recipe? I've only had them premade, but they are yummy.

Thanks!
Catherine

[lucifugous]

subbing! Good ideas so far, thank you

[Biscuits & Gravy]

Oh yeah, meatballs! My boys love meatballs of any kind. Beef, turkey, you name it. I make extra and freeze them. I'm always trying different recipes, so I don't know of one to share, but meatballs are a great thing. I make sauce and freeze it in smallish portions so I can throw it and some meatballs in a pot for nights when I don't feel like cooking.

[Shantimama]

How about soups?

[crl]

Thank you all for the great ideas!

Catherine

[Pinoikoi]

lumpia has no dairy. We roll about 50 at a time (but only freeze about half since we like to eat them while working )

Ingredients- lumpia wrappers (we get ours at an Asian market).

Ground pork (or beef, but I prefer the pork ones)
chopped cabbage and carrots
raisins
in the past we have used the long type of green beans and bean sprouts, but not always.

Fry the filling in the cast iron pan and then roll (like a mini burrito) in the lumpia wrappers.

Generally we freeze the wrappers rolled but unfried, and then when we thaw them we fry them. So good, but labor INTENSIVE- seriously I would not do them by myself, imho it is a two person job.. one person to peel the wrappers and one to roll.

Thankfully my dp is VERY good at rolling lumpia. He has no patience for peeling the wrappers so that is my job

This year I froze a few quarts of Mexican tortilla soup. I generally SERVE it with cheese, but I think my soup itself is dairy free. I usually make it from leftover jamabalaya or leftover enchiladas.. so I don't have a "recipe" per se- my soup tends to always vary a bit..

How about stuffed peppers? I am pretty sure the ones I did this year were dairy free.. and there are tons of variations in recipes I have seen.. so it couldn't be that hard to find a dairy free one.

I made three meatloafs this year for the freezer.. I did add milk this time, but I have made them without dairy before.. again a million variations on how I make them.. I tend to cook with what I have on hand and substitute quite a lot so I have no "set" recipes for much..

Curry soup could probably freeze well.. not sure. I tend to cut the spice with coconut milk, so I am not sure how that would freeze, but would probably end up ok. I use leftover chicken, peppers, and pineapple in mine.