Freezer Cooking Help Needed

try super suppers or one of those type places. you go in, make 12 meals and then pop them in the freezer, They feed me and my husband for 3 nights each so you really get 36 dinners. Each month offers new selections.

I freeze just about everything. Soup is a good one making a large batch and separating it out into containers for family size servings.

Casseroles a simple one is 4 cups elbow noodles a can of cream of chicken or mushroom, 2 cans of tuna, one can corn, one can peas. Cook, cool separate into serving sizes and freeze.

Enchiladas flour tortillas, red enchilada sauce from a can, shredded chicken, shredded cheese. Dip your tortilla in the sauce roll chicken and cheese into a burrito place in a casserole pan bake @350 degrees let it cool. Place in freezer. When you reheat it you can pop in back into the oven or microwave it.

Hope these help.

Here are a few recipes I like that are easy to prep, freeze and cook later.
CEASAR CHICKEN
1 lbs frozen skinless chicken breast or chicken tenders
1 bottle Creamy Ceasar salad dressing ( I like Ken's)
2-3 cloves of Garlic
Grated Parmesan Cheese
1. Place chicken, dressing a garlic in gallon size freezer bag, make sure chicken is coated well.
2. Freeze
3. Defrost in fridge the day before you want to cook it.
4. Dump contents of bag into baking dish, cover with foil and bake at400 degrees for 40 minutes (30 minutes for chicken tenders)
5. Remove from oven and sprinkly with Parmesan cheese
6. Serve with salad or over cooked pasta

PORK BABYBACK RIBS
2 lbs Pork Babyback Ribs
3/4 c Ketchup
1 tsp Chili Powder
1 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbs Vinegar
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
1 Sliced Onion

1. Cut rack of ribs in half and place in gallon-sized freezer bag.
2. Add all remaining ingredients to bag except onion
3. Mix well in bag and make sure ribs are coated.
4. Freeze
5. Thaw in fridge the day before you plan to cook
6. Dump contents of bag into baking dish
7. Top with sliced onion
8. Cover and bake at 400 degrees for 1.5-2 hours

MUSHROOM CHICKEN
2 lbs frozen boneless skinless chicken breast or chicken tenders
1 can Golden Mushroom soup
1 cup Milk
8 oz fresh Mushrooms, sliced
4 slices Bacon,crumbled
2-3 cloves Garlic, minced
2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbs Lemon juice
Grated Parmesan cheese

1. Combine all ingredients except Parmesan in gallon-sized freezer bag
2. Freeze
3. Thaw in fridge the day before you plan to cook
4. Dump contents of bag into baking dish
5. Cover and bake at 400 degrees for 40-45 minutes for chicken breasts (30 minutes for tenders)
6. Top with Parmesan and serve over rice or pasta

Hope these work out for you.
Congratulations on the new baby

If you like Mexican food here is a super easy one that freezes well:

Mexican Manicotti

1 tsp. Oregano 1 lb. Hamburger
1 tsp. Cumin 1 can refried beans
1 tsp. Salt 1 cup salsa
1 tsp. Pepper 1-1/2 cups water
1 box manicotti 1 can sour cream
Longhorn cheese (as desired) Jack cheese (as desired)

Brown hamburger with oregano, cumin, salt and pepper. Drain fat. Add refried beans and warm. Stuff each manicotti shell with hamburger/bean mixture. In 13x9x2” baking dish place manicotti. Cover with salsa and water. Cover with foil and bake 350 degrees for one hour. Remove foil and top with sour cream and cheese. Place in oven until cheese melts. Top with olives, tomatoes and lettuce.

Just put in dish and put foil on top and through in freezer, let thaw before cooking especially if using a glass dish.

Here's another one that freezes well:

Heavenly Chicken

1 10 oz. pkg. frozen, 1 c. cracker crumbs
chopped spinach 1 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 c. sliced green onions 8 boneless chicken breast halves
2 tbsp. margarine skinned, about 3-3/4 pounds
2 tbsp. flour 1 cup cooked cubed ham
1 c. milk

In a small saucepan, cook spinach according to package directions; drain well. In a medium saucepan, make white sauce; sauté onions in margarine over low heat until tender. Stir in flour, adding milk all at once. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until bubbly. Boil and stir 1 minute more until smooth and thickened. Combine cracker crumbs and cheese. Dip chicken breast halves in crumb mixture to coat lightly. Arrange breast halves in a 13x9x2 inch baking dish. Seal leftover crumb mixture in a 1 qt. bag.

Stir spinach and ham into white sauce; spoon sauce over chicken breasts. Allow to cool and cover baking dish with foil, attaching bag of crumb mixture to side of dish.

To prepare for serving, thaw dish, and bake covered in a preheated 350 degree oven for 60-75 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle top with crumbs. Bake 10 minutes more. Makes 8 servings.

Enjoy! It's great you are getting organized ahead of time.

K.

Hi K., Congrats on the upcoming addition! This isn't really a recipe but it bails me out all the time. I buy the big 5 or 6 pounds of ground hamburger at a time (you can probably use turkey too). I brown all of it at once with chopped onions and seasonings. Then I divide it into about 4 or 5 servings and put in quart size freezer bags and throw them in the freezer. Then if I need a quick dinner, I have something ready to go with pasta, taco's, sloppy joe's, etc. Good luck and congrats again!

Check out http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

This gal di d365 recipes in the crockpot. MAny of them can be frozen after cooking and reheated. One of my favorites is the 'original crockpot soup'. It fills to the brim or my 6 qt crockpot. I feed my family with it and have between 3 - 4 qt size freezer bags to freeze and reheat later.

Hope this helps!

I did that too! www.savingdinner.com Click on the freezer meals. There are also Mega Freezer meals (you make like 21 at the same time) but that was exhausting to prepare so many at once.

Lasangna is a great dish for the freezer. If you want to make single servings, after it is cool and firm cut into desired sizes and wrap individually. It will microwave easily to warm or you can use the oven.

If you have a favorite soup or chili that you like to make, those will do well in the freezer also.

Good Luck

BRAVO for geting organized in advance...
However instead of trying to do it all yourself might I suggest the following...
If you haven't already had a baby shower (I am assuming you don't need much if you kept the items from your first son, I didn't with mine after the first one) I asked for meals and/or chores for gifts.
bewtween friends and relatives I didn't cook a meal or do a load of laundry the entire first month. It was heaven!
Just a thought...

Meatloaf is a good thing for the freezer. I do a double batch and cook one and freeze the other. You can cook it first and then freeze it, but it doesn't warm up as well. Meatloaf is one of those things that a lot of people only like their own, but I will give my recipe just in case you don't have one.
1 pound of hamburger
1 cup of milk
1 slice of bread broken up and soaked in the milk
1 egg (beaten)
salt (about 1/2 teaspoon)
pepper (about 1/2 teaspoon)
cook at 350 for about an hour. When I am cooking a frozen one I put it in the oven when the oven is still cold then turn on the heat. You don't have to defrost it first, although I usually do. It usually takes about an extra half hour to cook when frozen.

Make large batch of things like stew, spagetti, or lasagna. I make all my own. Some dinners we do grilled cheese and soup or corn dogs and soup. Also wrap hot dogs in crescent roles and bake even slice the hot dog down the center, not all the way thru, and add a little slice of cheese. S.

Hi K.! How exciting to be having another, and great thinking getting ready in advance! One thing I like to do is make a huge pot of beans, and then I divide them into ziploc bags and defrost as I need them. I freeze them whole with some juice so that if I want "refried" beans I just throw them in the blender (or mash them with a potato masher) with a little juice until they are the right consistency. Then you have a main ingredient ready for burritos, tostadas, and so on. I just like them so much more than the canned variety. Also, the crock pot is my salvation, I take ten minutes in the morning to throw the ingredients in and then when it comes time to eat (which varies with a little one, no?) I sit down to a hot meal. I bought a book with some really simple recipes that I never would have thought of, and I love it. I also have a great beef stew recipe if you don't already have one. Email me and I'll send it your way, along with any recipes from my book that you might want. Just let me know what ingredients you prefer. Good luck!

lasagne, spagetti, meatloaf caserroles, potatoes doen freeze well, furits dont either. chicken and rice casseroles, one realy easy one is to put 4 chicken breasts in a baking dish, add one can cream of mushoorm soup and spinkle cheese on top and bake at 350 for 30 minutes cool then freexe. chicken enchilada casserole . cook and shred some chicken, sautee chopped onion, chopped galric and gren chiles in butter until soft, add a can of cream of chicken soup and i can water, 1/2 cup sour cream and a 1/2 package of dry ranch dressing mix. add shredded chicken bring to a simmer. put a few spoonfuls int he bootm of a baking dish cover with corn tortillas, add chicken mixture sprinkle with cheese and repeat until all of the chickien mixtureis ogne end with cheese, back and at 350 for 25-30 minutes serve with shredded lettuce and salsa. roasts arr easy and great tasting. put a6-8 lb roast in the crock pot, add 1/2 onion whole . 5 cloves garlic, salt pepper and 1 cup water. cook at 300 for 3 to 4 hours until it starts to fall apart, you can take it out earlier and slice it or you can shredd it if it cooks longer and make tacos burritos, bbq sandwiches use the broth to make gravy or au jus or if you shred it just put the meat back in oit and add a can of diced green chiles. with eather of the chicken of shreded beef, you can make nachos. put a handful of corn chips on a plate, cut up several slices american cheese and place them on top. top with chicken or beef or even shrimp. salsa. pop in the microwave until cheese is melted top with diced avocado and wour cream. my salsa recipe is real easy. put in the blender, 1 peeled onion quartered, a nadful of fresh cilantor leaves, a tablesppon of chopped garlic, one fresh jalapen, whole jsut take the stem off and a large can of crushe tomatoes i like to use the italian flavored ones because it gives it a smoky flavor, blend until everythign is smooth and serve.

Since my mom was a working mom, she was always cooking huge batches of food over the weekend and then saving them in serving size zip lock baggies. That way, if she was working late, or during the summers when we were home all day, my sisters and I could just pick out what we wanted to eat and throw it in the microwave for a couple minutes. Here are a few dinners that froze really well and was easy to portion out:

Chili
Lasagna
Grilled Chicken (always good to have for salads, or as a meal with a side of steamed vegetables)
Burritos

Another thing my mom would do was pre marinate meat and freeze them in portion sized baggies such as fajita steaks/chicken, teriyaki steaks/chicken. She would just take something out of the freezer in the morning to defrost and then throw them on the grill or in the oven after work.

I've picked up her habits so my freezer is always full of "left overs".

K.,
Yeah for you for getting a head start on things! I know that this is not home made but it is one of our families favorite meals and it is super quick for the nights I have school and just need to get out the door. It's the prepackaged Butoni pasta and their sauces. They have a Red Maranara (sp I'm sure!) and Pesto and Alfredo. If you put the pasta and the sauce in the freezer they stay good for a while and the pasta cooks up in no time flat. The sauce you could warm up in some warm water or defrost it in the fridge that day. We usually have it with green beans and if we feel like getting extra fancy, frozen bread sticks. So yummy!!!
The other suggestion is if you don't want to premake the lasagna, or enchaladas and freeze them in a family serving size (they take up a lot of room and take forever to cook sometimes) you can pre cook the meat with all of the seasonings, let it cool and then use a food saver to seal it in a bag and write on the bag what it is. You could even put a whole chicken in the crock pot all day and shred it for many recipies including BBQ Chicken sandwiches. Good luck with your new little one!