Freezer meals.

waltzingmatilda13

Mel mentioned yesterday that she spent part of her weekend cooking to make freezer meals. This is something I want to do this weekend or next weekend so we have ready-made food in the house for when the baby comes. I'm thinking I want to do things for breakfast and dinner.  

Please share your best freezer meals (with reheating instructions, please!) or your go-to website for meals. Thanks ladies!

mickylvr1

Check out the What's Cooking board.  There are several ladies on there who have done this before.

A couple blogs that come to mind are Annie's Eats and What's Cooking Chicago.  Both of these ladies have freezer tags in their blogs.

Come things that are always recommended are baked ziti, lasagna, soups, casseroles.  For breakfasts, you could do waffles, pancakes, wraps/burritos.

dasmel30

Here's a few of our favorites.  Most of them have the freezer instructions right in the directions.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Three-Cheese-Turkey-Manicotti

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Ham---Cheese-Casseroles

 http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Mostaccioli-Casserole-2

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Mexican-Chicken-Alfredo

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Three-Cheese---Pepper-Penne

Breakfast Muffins:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Scrambled-Egg-Muffins (just be sure to line or grease the muffin tin really good)

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Blueberry-Oatmeal-Muffins 

allioops414

Mel is DEFINITELY the expert on this!

But some things that I've frozen with success: 

Pasta sauce - freeze in small portions. I just defrost in the fridge or reheat in microwave for about 5-8 mins. All you have to do is make a little pasta

Lasagna rolls (it's so easy to freeze and heat individual portions instead of a big pan of lasagna) or small portions of baked ziti.

Pretty much any soup- I would just avoid anything with cream or milk in it.  I made a pot of chicken soup this weekend with a whole chicken, some veggies, onions, garlic and parsley, and it made a TON.  Minestrone type soups are also good for freezing.

Enchiladas freeze well too

Pizza dough - you can just thaw on counter or in fridge and make fresh pizza

Cookie dough - you are gonna want some dessert sometimes   Make the dough and freeze it in a baggie.  Defrost in fridge until soft enough to use, shape and bake as directed. 

 

 

waltzingmatilda13

Oh, a lot of these recipes sound awesome! I'm am bookmarking the ones that sound the best. 

dayzchic9

lol totally bookmarking this whole post!  you ladies rock and i will sooo be referring to this in a few months!

friendlyturner

I like to pack away ready-made freezer meals in ziplocs, where all the ingredients are measured and cut already and just waiting to popped into a crockpot for 4 hours on high. Make some quick minute rice and boom you've got a meal. Once am off this silly laptop and on my PC I'll try to add some of my personal favorites on here as well!

Laurms15

Someone on the NJ board posted this link just now:

 http://melissafallistestkitchen.blogspot.com/2011/09/freezer-cooking-slow-cooker-meals.html