Freezing individual servings?

[icxcnika]

I would love to basically make and freeze some homemade tv dinners for postpartum. Has anyone tried this? Most freezer meals I have seen consist of entire dinners (large lasagnas, pot pies, etc.). Some of the things I am considering are dal bhat (curried lentils with rice), individual servings of pasta and sauce, and individual servings of rice that I can heat up for lunch during the day. Also, can I freeze a batch of salmon patties? Do they freeze and reheat nicely? Could I freeze them on a cookie sheet and then transfer them to a freezer bag? And how about already-baked cookies, biscuits, and muffins? I know you can freeze cookie dough, but I want to just take the cookies out of the freezer one-handed and thaw them, not preheat the oven and fumble with a cookie sheet and spatula while trying to hold a baby, kwim?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!! I have already done some reading on freezer meals but have only actually frozen things like soups, pancakes, and pot pie before, so any real-life advice would be great.

[texaspeach]

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the only thing I've frozen that was single serve was bean burritos. I'm hanging out for more ideas.

[DandeCobb]

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i've made meatballs and pancakes to freeze before. that worked well. i have freezed muffins, they are okay dethawed.

the meatballs i used in spaghetti (you will learn to cook pasta with a slinging baby) and with gravy on mashed potatoes and also with a BBQ sauce on them.

side note: i do a snack night usually once a week and the BBQ meatballs are great with cheese and crackers and veggies with dip.

the pancakes are an easy breakfast. i put PB on them and roll them up and eat as i go.

would love some more ideas!

[stretch358]

I'm a freezeaholic

I love to freeze meals. My hubby and I are trying to save money and he is a big eater a sandwich would not be enough for lunch. He works two jobs so he often needs lunch and dinner, if I did not freeze there would be a lack of variety. I love my foodsaver if you don't like the plastic aspect ball jars (like the ones for canning) make jars specifically for the freezer. I also love these

Meatballs

Baked Ziti (to make individual meals bake whole tray let it cool fully the sceese should then be solid enough to cut nice rectangles which can be frozen individulally)

Chilli

Slopy joes (only the filling not the whole sandwich)

any non cream bases soup works wonderfully (if it calls for a cream or milk accent don't add it till you reheat it)

Multiple flavors of burritos/enchiladas

Pancakes/waffles

cookies and muffins (defrost in a sealed container helps keep them from getting soggy)

anything that you would make in a crock pot.

My new favorite
Trader joes makes these simmer sauces (indian and other ethnic flavors not spicy I ass extra cayanne for a little kick) I cook the sauce and chicken in crock pot all day add greens near the end. I also make rice. I put the mix over rice in corning wear or pyrex containers. I re-heat in the microwave but it could also be taken out of the container and done stovetop.

If I think of anything else I will post again. If you have any specific questions PM me.:

[cristeen]

Pot pies/shepherd pies can be made really easily in a smaller (single-serve) dish, like a ramekin or oven-safe bowl.

Personally, I wouldn't freeze cooked pasta (except like in a lasagna)... I like my pasta to still have some texture. I would freeze plenty of sauces though. A neat trick is to dump the frozen sauce in a pan with a lid, add about a cup of water, dump in the dry pasta, give it a stir, put the lid on it and let it simmer about 20 minutes (check partway, you may need more water). The pasta will soak up the extra water, and the flavor of the sauce both. And you didn't have to do anything more than you would to heat up the sauce.

You can also take any one-dish meal (like lasagna, enchiladas, moussaka, etc.), make it now, chill it, cut it into pieces and freeze in single-serve pieces. Or you can pick up some small throw-away pans (small loaf pans work well), make one recipe and divide it into 4 or 6 pans, then freeze them pan and all.

I buy salmon patties already frozen on occasion for my DH (I don't eat salmon), and they seem to do just fine with the process. Definitely freeze them on a sheet pan then bag after solid.

For freezing rice, I'd probably undercook it just a bit so that it's not soggy when you reheat it after freezing.

HTH

[KathinJapan]

I froze a bunch of roasted chicken breasts, great for salad, in soup, eaten plain or in a sandwich/tortilla.

I freeze individual servings of stir fries, meatballs, tofu burgers, spinach, pasta sauce, pesto, the list goes on and on. I use the quick freeze method, ie. on a cookiesheet then into a plastic bag for things I want separated, or just in small ziplocks for things like stir fries. I am not against plastic for this.

what else.. mini fritatas (like quiche w/o crust) baked in mini muffin tins then frozen individually have been a recent favorite.

we cook and freeze rice all the time. We use short grain brown rice, wrapped in wax paper then in a zip bag.

I was able to cook at least once a day post partum.
Kathryn

[icxcnika]

Thank you all for the great suggestions!

[Benji'sMom]

I freeze individual servings for my lunches because I don't have time to pack a lunch each morning. It's usually meat or beans, with either pasta or rice, and some frozen veggie. Nothing adventerous.
Or a soup (not milk based as someone mentioned earlier becaue the milk or cream can seperate).

I keep the sauce seperate from the pasta or rice because if they're together it will soak up the sauce and you'll loose all the "sauciness."

Most single servings reheat in the microwave in 4-5 minutes.

[JennySmith]

I freeze things like spanish rice/tex mex rice in small containers for my daughter to eat for lunch. (ground beef/chicken/turkey, rice, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, green and red pepper, onion, etc)

It turns out a little mushier than the first time around but it's pretty good. We sometimes top with cheese and sour cream and then you really can't tell the difference :