Feeding the Freezer - Page 2

[Sihaya]

Here's the list I have right now. I still need to add all of the "dump" and skewer/kabob recipes I have, but otherwise I've added links for everything I have them for. Let me know if any of the links are bad. If you want a recipe for a dish that doesn't have a link, let me know and I can either PM the recipe to you or post it in this thread.

Breakfasts
Pancakes, Waffles, and French Toast
Bagels
Pumpkin Bread, Banana Bread, and Zucchini Bread
Baked Oatmeal
Rice Pudding/Oatmeal Pudding
French Toast Casserole
Spinach Quiche with Tortilla Crust
Egg, Bacon, & Cheese Muffins
Coconut Muffins/GF Coconut Muffins
Red, White, and Blue Muffins
Zucchini Muffins
Raspberry Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Pumpkin Wheat Honey Muffins
Morning Glory Muffins

Dinners
Chili
Beef Vegetable Soup
Shepherd's Pie
Hamburgers
Taco-Seasoned Ground Beef
Cherry/Blueberry Meatballs
Crock Pot Swedish Meatballs
Slow Cooker Meatballs
Lion's Head Meatballs in Spicy Coconut Sauce (post 159)
Lasagna
Meat & Cheese Stuffed Shells (post 536)/Mexican Stuffed Shells
Meatloaf
Brown Bag Burritos
Sloppy Joes
Tex-Mex Cornbread Casserole
Layered Enchilada Casserole
"Dump" Beef and Chicken (raw meat frozen in marinades)
Beef and Chicken Skewers/Kabobs
Chicken Pot Pie
Bourbon Chicken (no alcohol required)
Chicken Fried Rice
Farmhouse Chicken
Scrumptious Chicken
Tex Mex Corn Chowder
Salmon Cakes/Crab Cakes
Minestrone Soup
Lasagna Roll-ups
Baked Ziti
Stuffed Shells
Baked Macaroni & Cheese
Honey Baked Lentils
Tomato Soup
Sweet Potato Chowder
Pizzas (freeze crust, sauce, and cheese separately, add desired meat/veggies when ready to cook)

Side Dishes, Bread, and Snacks
Pre-cooked Brown Rice (White rice DOES NOT freeze well!)
Pre-cooked Quinoa
Hummus
Freezer Mashed Potatoes (post 335)
French Bread (post 92)
Make Ahead Garlic Bread
Soft Honey Whole Wheat Bread/Cinnamon Rolls and Black Pepper & Bacon Biscuits
Five Minute Buns

Desserts
Lactation Cookies
Peanut Butter Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Oatmeal Cookies
Easy Homemade Brownies
Chewy Chocolate Freezer Fudge (keep scrolling, I promise it's there!)
Chocolate Coconut Pudding Pops
Chocolate Earth Balls
Easy Homemade Chocolate Candy
Homemade Mounds Bars
Vanilla Buttermilk Pound Cakes
Coconut Macaroons
Frosty Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie
Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler with Candied Ginger
Rice Krispie Treats
Muddy Buddies
Edited by Sihaya - 12/6/10 at 6:11pm

[alireb]

Wow, great thread!  I'm just now able to start cooking real meals again for my family so I'm definitely going to want to start making freezer meals the last month like I did the last time.  Some things I made last time that were really good:

Beef Chili

Beef Stew - recipe from CI The Best Make Ahead Recipe

Lasagna

Roman Style Chicken - Giada recipe from food network

Chicken Soup

Meatballs

I'm sure I'll try and add some muffins in there too and some other healthy meat based meals.  I now follow a paleo diet for the most part (1st tri not included), so will try to stick to that. 

[nerdymom]

Sihaya that French Toast Casserole looks really good. Oh I am going to have so much motivation to do all this once Christmas is over. Until then I will be busy baking and sewing.

[Kmama2]

Originally Posted by Sihaya 

Here's the list I have right now. I will come back and add more links later, but I had a rough weekend and wasn't able to get all the recipes linked like I wanted. Let me know if any of the links are bad. If you want a recipe for a dish that doesn't have a link, let me know and I can either PM the recipe to you or post it in this thread.

Breakfasts
Pancakes, Waffles, and French Toast
Bagels
Pumpkin Bread, Banana Bread, and Zucchini Bread
Baked Oatmeal
Rice Pudding/Oatmeal Pudding
French Toast Casserole
Quiche
Egg, Bacon, & Cheese Muffins
Coconut Muffins/GF Coconut Muffins
Red, White, and Blue Muffins
Zucchini Muffins
Raspberry Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Pumpkin Wheat Honey Muffins
Morning Glory Muffins

Dinners
Chili
Beef Vegetable Soup
Shepherd's Pie
Hamburgers
Cherry/Blueberry Meatballs
Crock Pot Swedish Meatballs
Slow Cooker Meatballs
Lion's Head Meatballs in Spicy Coconut Sauce (post 159)
Lasagna
Meat & Cheese Stuffed Shells (post 536)/Mexican Stuffed Shells
Meatloaf
Brown Bag Burritos
Sloppy Joes
Tex-Mex Cornbread Casserole
Layered Enchilada Casserole
"Dump" Beef and Chicken (raw meat frozen in marinades)
Beef and Chicken Skewers/Kabobs
Chicken Pot Pie
Bourbon Chicken (no alcohol required)
Chicken Fried Rice
Farmhouse Chicken
Scrumptious Chicken
Tex Mex Corn Chowder
Salmon Cakes/Crab Cakes
Minestrone Soup
Lasagna Roll-ups
Baked Ziti
Stuffed Shells
Baked Macaroni & Cheese
Honey Baked Lentils
Tomato Soup
Sweet Potato Chowder
Pizzas (freeze crust, sauce, and cheese separately, add desired meat/veggies when ready to cook)

Side Dishes, Bread, and Snacks
Hummus
Freezer Mashed Potatoes (post 335)
French Bread (post 92)
Make Ahead Garlic Bread
Soft Honey Whole Wheat Bread/Cinnamon Rolls and Black Pepper & Bacon Biscuits
Five Minute Buns
Pre-cooked Brown Rice (White rice DOES NOT freeze well!)
Pre-cooked Quinoa

Desserts
Lactation Cookies
Peanut Butter Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Oatmeal Cookies
Easy Homemade Brownies
Chewy Chocolate Freezer Fudge
Chocolate Coconut Pudding Pops
Chocolate Earth Balls
Easy Homemade Chocolate Candy
Homemade Mounds Bars
Vanilla Buttermilk Pound Cakes
Coconut Macaroons
Frosty Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie
Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler with Candied Ginger
Rice Krispie Treats
Muddy Buddies

WOw!!! Thanks for all the ideas and links!! So far I have like 3 things in our deep freeze. We get a few meals from friends and church family but I hope to have at least 10 days worth of stuff... nothing fancy.. shephards pie, lasagna, baked ziti, quiche, meatballs, tater tot cassarole ( not exactly healthy but yum and its food), burritos,

[MamaChef]

Hi Ladies, I did this before DD arrived and had 6 weeks of dinners and 4 weeks of breakfasts and lunches that really really helped.

I did make sure that alot of it was dairy free because Im lactose intolerant when not pregnant and worried the baby might react. I also made sure to label everything that had soy in it anticipating that it may be a problem, but luckily it never was.

What I did with was line my cookware with foil and then Id freeze it and pop out the food, wrap well.. and then when I was ready to cook it, Id put it back in the original container, let it thaw in the fridge overnight then bake.  I froze the soups in large canning jars or in ziplocks laid flat so they would fit well in the deep freeze.  For the tamale pie and the lasagna I froze till hard but where I could still cut them and I packaged individual pieces.

Here was my list last time.

Turkey and gravy (non dairy)
Mac and cheese frozen in  muffin tins then popped out and put in a ziplock
Mashed potatoes (muffin tins)
green bean casserole (muffin tins)
sweet potato squash casserole (muffin tins) (non dairy)
chicken enchiladas (non dairy)
sweet potato black bean enchiladas(non dairy)
veggie and cheese enchiladas (hubby)
veggie lasagna (hubby)
veggie lasagna (no dairy, used cashew ricotta and crumbled tofu)
apple pie guts (so that hubby could make apple crisps) (dairy free)

brownies

cookie dough (oatmeal, chcolate chip and chocolate freezer cookies)
individual veggie quiches (muffin tins) (non dairy - put cheese on top of some for DH)
Breakfast muffins (non dairy)
Pumpkin bread (non dairy)
Banana bread
Apple walnut bread (non dairy)
Dump chicken
pie shells
Pot pie filling - (non dairy ) I just made ziplocs of the sauce and then hubby could defrost them and dump it into a pie shell with a bag of mixed frozen veggies, half a bag of quorn pieces or tofu and a cut up potato
Chili
Turkey soup
lentil stew
corn chowder (non dairy - soy)
taco meat (veggie and chicken)
tamale pie (I made lots of this)
tamales

This time my list will be shorter and Ill send DH to trader joe's more. :)  Last time I was due right after the holidays, so putting away the turkey and fixings was really easy, it was a good 2+ weeks of meals for me just in the turkey alone.

[nerdymom]

Originally Posted by MamaChef 

Hi Ladies, I did this before DD arrived and had 6 weeks of dinners and 4 weeks of breakfasts and lunches that really really helped.

I did make sure that alot of it was dairy free because Im lactose intolerant when not pregnant and worried the baby might react. I also made sure to label everything that had soy in it anticipating that it may be a problem, but luckily it never was.

What I did with was line my cookware with foil and then Id freeze it and pop out the food, wrap well.. and then when I was ready to cook it, Id put it back in the original container, let it thaw in the fridge overnight then bake.  I froze the soups in large canning jars or in ziplocks laid flat so they would fit well in the deep freeze.  For the tamale pie and the lasagna I froze till hard but where I could still cut them and I packaged individual pieces.

Here was my list last time.

Turkey and gravy (non dairy)
Mac and cheese frozen in  muffin tins then popped out and put in a ziplock
Mashed potatoes (muffin tins)
green bean casserole (muffin tins)
sweet potato squash casserole (muffin tins) (non dairy)
chicken enchiladas (non dairy)
sweet potato black bean enchiladas(non dairy)
veggie and cheese enchiladas (hubby)
veggie lasagna (hubby)
veggie lasagna (no dairy, used cashew ricotta and crumbled tofu)
apple pie guts (so that hubby could make apple crisps) (dairy free)

brownies

cookie dough (oatmeal, chcolate chip and chocolate freezer cookies)
individual veggie quiches (muffin tins) (non dairy - put cheese on top of some for DH)
Breakfast muffins (non dairy)
Pumpkin bread (non dairy)
Banana bread
Apple walnut bread (non dairy)
Dump chicken
pie shells
Pot pie filling - (non dairy ) I just made ziplocs of the sauce and then hubby could defrost them and dump it into a pie shell with a bag of mixed frozen veggies, half a bag of quorn pieces or tofu and a cut up potato
Chili
Turkey soup
lentil stew
corn chowder (non dairy - soy)
taco meat (veggie and chicken)
tamale pie (I made lots of this)
tamales

This time my list will be shorter and Ill send DH to trader joe's more. :)  Last time I was due right after the holidays, so putting away the turkey and fixings was really easy, it was a good 2+ weeks of meals for me just in the turkey alone.

You are brilliant! Lining the casserole dishes with foil - a stroke of genius and it cuts down on the amount of aluminum thrown away I am sure! Now if only I had more than 1 large and1 small casserole dish! Maybe I will use the money saved on foil as an excuse to buy some more pyrex after Christmas!

[MamaChef]

nerdymom,

I wish I could give whoever I borrowed the idea from credit.  I didnt come up with it on my own ;) 

I only had one small and one large too and splurged on another of each.  I also used my oven safe stovetop cookware and my pyrex storage bowls for things like baked ziti, seitan stroganoff, and creamy noodles with veggies (forgot to put that on the list).  They all fit inside one of the pyrex casseroles so Id just put the frozen one in the dish that fit to thaw.   Id cook all the pasta stuff for 1/3 less time and make sure my sauce was plentiful.

[kaPOW!]

subbin'! i'm trying to empty out our freezer at the moment, so save money and clean it out, but will be wanting to restock with stuff soon. yay!

[nerdymom]

Originally Posted by kaPOW! 

subbin'! i'm trying to empty out our freezer at the moment, so save money and clean it out, but will be wanting to restock with stuff soon. yay!

Don't forget, a lot of empty space in your freezer makes it work inefficiently. As you use things up, fill the space by placing newspapers, cardboard, or plastic jugs of water on the bottom, so that your freezer keeps working efficiently while you eat it up!

[kaPOW!]

you are so right! but i expect it to fill up again pretty quick, i think i'm going to just enjoy my empty freezer for the brief period. i HATE digging around in it. so. much. right now there's a huge turkey right on top of everything else, grrr! lol

do any of you have a chest freezer that has some sort of built in organization capability?

Originally Posted by nerdymom 

Originally Posted by kaPOW! 

subbin'! i'm trying to empty out our freezer at the moment, so save money and clean it out, but will be wanting to restock with stuff soon. yay!

Don't forget, a lot of empty space in your freezer makes it work inefficiently. As you use things up, fill the space by placing newspapers, cardboard, or plastic jugs of water on the bottom, so that your freezer keeps working efficiently while you eat it up!

[nerdymom]

A chest freezer with built in organizational capability? No, but I do have a unicorn. >.<

[kaPOW!]

:p i DID find some stackable freezer boxes that would probably help, but meh.

[Kmama2]

 I do actually. We got our chest freezer from sears and it has this divider thing in it that divides it into 4 areas and then it also has 2 baskets on top. There is still plenty of digging around in there though. I hate when its super full though.

Originally Posted by kaPOW! 

you are so right! but i expect it to fill up again pretty quick, i think i'm going to just enjoy my empty freezer for the brief period. i HATE digging around in it. so. much. right now there's a huge turkey right on top of everything else, grrr! lol

do any of you have a chest freezer that has some sort of built in organization capability?

Originally Posted by nerdymom 

Originally Posted by kaPOW! 

subbin'! i'm trying to empty out our freezer at the moment, so save money and clean it out, but will be wanting to restock with stuff soon. yay!

Don't forget, a lot of empty space in your freezer makes it work inefficiently. As you use things up, fill the space by placing newspapers, cardboard, or plastic jugs of water on the bottom, so that your freezer keeps working efficiently while you eat it up!

 

[BabyFireFly]

Planning on taking the old husband out over the next few weeks and shopping for a chest freezer....my grandmother had one that you could literally fit 4 bodies in! While I do not think we require one that large yet (she had 5 kids and 4 of them were boys) I would like to be able to start cooking and freezing enough meals to at least get me through the first month or so. Plus, where we are located, the you can buy livestock from the local farmers (sorry all you veggies out there....) that are free range and brought up on organic diets and then processed on the farm (much more humane than transporting from auction to feedlot to processing plant). It's way cost effective and much healthier than buying what they call meat at the local supermarket.

[nerdymom]

Originally Posted by BabyFireFly 

Planning on taking the old husband out over the next few weeks and shopping for a chest freezer....my grandmother had one that you could literally fit 4 bodies in! While I do not think we require one that large yet (she had 5 kids and 4 of them were boys) I would like to be able to start cooking and freezing enough meals to at least get me through the first month or so. Plus, where we are located, the you can buy livestock from the local farmers (sorry all you veggies out there....) that are free range and brought up on organic diets and then processed on the farm (much more humane than transporting from auction to feedlot to processing plant). It's way cost effective and much healthier than buying what they call meat at the local supermarket.

Mmm! Real beef! I love real beef. Lucky you!

I tried that french toast casserole this morning and it was a HUGE hit! Plus one batch made 3 8x8 pans, so we ate one and put 3 in the freezer (I had a little extra bread so I just added extra eggs, milk and syrup to make 4 8x8 pans).

[mamapigeon]

Oooh, a chest freezer would be nice! Unfortunately I have to work with the standard freezer size on a fridge. I'm planning on doing chicken enchiladas, veggie lasagna, veggie chili, veggie soup (with beans), and quesadillas. When a friend of mine gave birth, the hospital actually sent her home with a lasagna and sides for dinner!

[Neuromancer]

Good ideas! I have a very small freezer (and apartment and family!), but I think I might make a lasagna and some turkey chili.

[Full Heart]

I plan on doing some meals but mostly meal starters.  Manacotti, turkey, pancakes, muffins, breads, taco meat, chicken breast, bbq chicken, etc.  Since August I have been ftf about every 6 weeks.  I started when I found out I was pg cause I knew once the ms hit I wouldn't be able to cook.  I was SO glad I did that.  Cause it was 2 mos before I was cooking again.  My family had just enough meals to get through.  Seeing how easy it made our lives I have been doing it regularly since then.  A few kids back I wrote down all my recipes (cause they were in my head lol) so dh could cook after I had a baby.  Now with the meal starters I have been doing it will be even easier for him.

[BabyFireFly]

Originally Posted by mamapigeon 

Oooh, a chest freezer would be nice! Unfortunately I have to work with the standard freezer size on a fridge. I'm planning on doing chicken enchiladas, veggie lasagna, veggie chili, veggie soup (with beans), and quesadillas. When a friend of mine gave birth, the hospital actually sent her home with a lasagna and sides for dinner!

A little suggestion.....if you don't already have one, why not go out and get yourself a crock pot! If your freezer space is limited, you can at least cut down on the "active cooking" time by preparing meals in a slow cooker. There are a ton of recipes online and cookbooks that are slow cooker specific. The nice thing about this cooking method is you can throw together the ingredients in generally less than 15 minutes, and most the items that you will need in the recipes are pantry items (boxed, bagged, jarred,etc). Everything that you listed in your post can be made in the crock pot...

[mamapigeon]

BabyFireFly, thanks for the tip! I do have a crockpot, but I rarely use it. It certainly will be a help once I'm busy with baby! I'll have to look around for some slow cooker specific recipes. Thinking of doing some Indian food ahead of time too, maybe in the crockpot?