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Ideas for freezer food?

615 views 16 replies 15 participants last post by  Sydnee 
#1 ·
I'm about 10 weeks from delivery, and one thing I want to get going when I have about 4-6 weeks left is preparing about 2 weeks worth of food for the freezer. I know that people will bring me meals for a few days from my church, but I want more meals in the freezer to get me through the first day (since we're having a homebirth and the church ladies won't be able to respond that quickly!) and for the first couple weeks while we're adjusting and I can't sit down LOL!

So anyone have a favorite recipe to share that can be easily frozen? I'm going to try to come up with some and add to this thread later tonight (if DD goes to bed easily, so we'll see!), I was thinking we could all use this as a resource so we can all have lots of meals in our freezer come May!
 
#3 ·
Here are a couple of great freezer meal sites. There are some gems in there if you're willing to pick through and see what looks good to you!

http://snider.mardox.com/OAMC.htm

http://www.astray.com/recipes/?search=freezer

http://busycooks.about.com/library/r...eezevegrec.htm (this one is all vegetarian)

http://www.recipesource.com/misc/freezer/indexall.html

Hope you find some good ones! I have Italian bean soup and some yummy Quinoa soup in the freezer already. Hopefully I will have a good couple of days to cook and prep in the next month or so, myself!
 
#4 ·
I've been getting quite antsy about getting some meals into the freezer as well.

My question is: What types of containers do you use to freeze what types of food?

I am hoping for some wonderful veggie recipes.
 
#5 ·
I was thinking of making and freezing:

ziti
lasagna
meatloaf

I'm also buying prepared or partially prepared food to stock the freezer. Stuff like pizza dough, ribs, hotdogs, veggies, etc that DH can easily (and willingly) prepare. We have a Trader Joe's nearby with a great selection of frozen foods.

I'd love to see other people's ideas!
 
#6 ·
hi there...not a member here, but saw the question on the main board. my dd is 2.5 mos. and we're just emptying our freezer now. so nice to have all that food.

a few freezable things we did were:

goolash (noodles, stewed tomatoes, green beans, corn, red peppers---whatever veggie you have)

lentil soup
bean soup
(my dh is anti-recipe, so i can't share...he just mixes a whole bunch of stuff together)

we dont' eat a whole lot of meat, but we did make and freeze a batch of taco beef, a creamy chicken casserole (chicken breast, cream of mushroom soup, provolone, and stuffing mix on top...yummy...freeze in two person meal size containers), homemade tomato sauce with ground turkey and a turkey soup stock to use later.

i also made some freezer peaches and nectarines (blanch the fruit, peel it, cut it up, and put it in a tupperware container with syrup...water and sugar, boiled, put wax paper crumpled up on top to keep the fruit in the syrup.) this is GREAT to take out of the freezer and mix with all kinds of fresh fruits for a fruit salad. the syrup makes a kind of dressing.

we didn't want to have to make our own bread/rolls for soup, so i bought some freezer wheat breads that you just bake up when you need them. healthier than pillsbury crescent rolls and biscuits.

i really wanted sweet stuff after dd was born, so to keep it healthy, i made some whole wheat banana and zucchini breads to freeze as healthier option to cookies, ice cream, and chocolate. pm me for recipes.

hope this really long post helps!
 
#7 ·
I froze a bunch of shepherd's pies and lasagnas (both made with about 25% ground lamb mixed with the beef. So much yummier.) Also several mason jars full of broth and some ground nut stew (beef and chicken and sweet potatoes and other stuff with peanuts and peanut butter mixed in. Yummy.) Also some borscht--the thick beefy stew kind, with lots of beets.

I also don't so much have recipes, but make everything from my head. No veggie stuff. I'd like to freeze some veggie stuff too, since I prefer veggies in general if I'm not feeling well. Just all my typical freezer meals are meaty...
 
#8 ·
I did not do this with my dd so this time I will since I know how TIRED I will be! I am going to make:

Lasagna
BBQ chicken for dh ( I don't eat meat)
cheesy potato soup
chili for me
probably some type of meat that I can just heat up for dh
I am not really sure what else but I am looking for ideas

I freeze our meals by portions size for dh and me since we eat a lot of diff foods. It is much easier that way. I only have to defrost what we need and much less is wasted. I just make the meal and double the recipe or whatever and then freeze it by the portions.
 
#9 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by babydoll
I just make the meal and double the recipe or whatever and then freeze it by the portions.
That's what I do - every time we have something freeze-able for dinner I double the recipe. I don't divvy it up into portions, though, because we have a big hungry family that doesn't usually leave leftovers.


I freeze lasagne and meatloaves right in the pyrex container I cooked them in, covered with a tight-fitting plastic lid. Side dishes go in tupperware/gladware containers. I have never actually frozen broth but I always MEAN to, if that counts
and I always intended to freeze it in ice cube trays, then transfer to plastic baggies (like you would with homemade baby food) and take what I need later. Usually when I cook using broth I don't need an entire jar of it.
 
#10 ·
I think I'm going to do a bean soup for sure, but I'm kinda at a loss for other things so far... DD is sensitive to tomatoes and I don't want to eat a lot of dairy while nursing a new baby (DD was also sensitive to cow's milk in my BM until she was about 8 months old). Otherwise I'd make up some lasagna, encheladas, pizzas, and tons of other casseroles. I think I'm going to search for dairy- and tomato- free casseroles tonight. If I find any good freezeable recipes, I'll link them here!

Thanks for all the other great ideas so far! Keep them coming!

I talked to DH, and we're going to defrost the freezer sometime in the near future, and start buying extra groceries at each trip, for items like frozen burritos and a few pre-made meals. Not the healthiest, but I'll try to figure out a few more meals to freeze.

I just found a good one I'd like to try...Lamb and White Bean Casserole
 
#12 ·
I currently have already in the freezer:

Lentil soup
Veggie pizza
a lebanese dish which is a mixture of different beans-- white, kidney, pinto, chickpeas and boulgour
another beef-based lebanese dish called kefta in a tomato sauce
lots of cooked chickpeas

Can you tell dh is lebanese? lol

I plan to add:

black bean soup
more pizza
pinto beans for bean burritos (I make my own refried beans)
yet another lebanese dish, a meat one, called kebbé

I also plan to stock up on ground beef and chicken breasts to make-- you guessed it-- various lebanese dishes that don't take much time (chiche taouk, for example, or kefta, which is easy to assemble).

I'm also one of the "double the recipe, freeze half" people!
 
#14 ·
*sigh* I shouldn't have opened this thread.


I've spent the last 2 months making freezer meals both at home and at Dream Dinners so that we'd be well fed. I went into the garage today and our supersize freezer door was open, and food seriously thawed out.
I have no idea how long it'd been open since no one has been out there, but the way everything was liquified I'm thinking bare minimum 24 hours.
Hundreds of bucks and hours of time down the drain. So upsetting.

Now I'm back in the boat of making more meals. Good ideas on this thread though, maybe I'll get a boost of energy to whip up a bunch of food to restock my freezer.
 
#15 ·
I am jumping in from April due date club...techniically if I am late I could be in the May club since I am due waaaay at the end of april...

I am just wondering how the food tastes after coming out of the freezer???? and does it matter how long it has been in there?

thanks.
 
#16 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by BurnsideMommy
*sigh* I shouldn't have opened this thread.


I've spent the last 2 months making freezer meals both at home and at Dream Dinners so that we'd be well fed. I went into the garage today and our supersize freezer door was open, and food seriously thawed out.
I have no idea how long it'd been open since no one has been out there, but the way everything was liquified I'm thinking bare minimum 24 hours.
Hundreds of bucks and hours of time down the drain. So upsetting.

Now I'm back in the boat of making more meals. Good ideas on this thread though, maybe I'll get a boost of energy to whip up a bunch of food to restock my freezer.


I'm so sorry to hear that...

Good luck restocking!
 
#17 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by BurnsideMommy
*sigh* I shouldn't have opened this thread.


I've spent the last 2 months making freezer meals both at home and at Dream Dinners so that we'd be well fed. I went into the garage today and our supersize freezer door was open, and food seriously thawed out.
I have no idea how long it'd been open since no one has been out there, but the way everything was liquified I'm thinking bare minimum 24 hours.
Hundreds of bucks and hours of time down the drain. So upsetting.

Now I'm back in the boat of making more meals. Good ideas on this thread though, maybe I'll get a boost of energy to whip up a bunch of food to restock my freezer.
Oh no, mama
: I am sick just reading that, I hope you can get some help, from friends and family.
 
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