I made several meals for my freezer, so we can actually eat more than canned chili and cereal when Baby Girl gets here and I am too tired to cook!
My mom came over this week to keep us company for a few days while Andrew was out of town.
Yesterday I got it in my head that I should do some freezer-feeding and since Grandma was here to help entertain the boys, I decided to actually do it!
Over the course of the afternoon, I ended up getting several meals ready and boy did that feel good!
I also snuck in a few minutes to organize our garage freezers so we can actually find those meals again in a few weeks, which felt almost as good as getting the meals ready themselves!
Nesting has officially come to town, I think!
All of these dishes I made on the smaller side, so that we don't have more than one meal and one meal of leftovers from each one.
Here's what I froze:
2 - 9" pans of my Tuna Casserole
6 - small-loaf size Cheesy Barbeque Chipotle Meatloaves
1 batch of Chili-Seasoned hamburger meat for tacos or chili later
2 batches of Hamburger Soup
1 big batch of Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff (we'll get at least 2 meals or a company meal out of this!)
oh and one more triple-batch of Raspberry Freezer Jam.
And I still have a big batch of our favorite Split Pea Soup to make (today or tomorrow... I forgot to buy carrots for that one!) that will give us 3-4 meals worth!
Here's what I did:
I made the Tuna Casserole's except for baking, put into foil pans, covered with foil, placed in gallon ziplocs, labeled and froze. (To serve, I will thaw overnight and bake at 350ºF until heated through and bubbly.)
For the meatloaves, I mixed all the ingredients, formed and placed into small foil loaf pans, covered with foil, placed into gallon ziplocs, labeled and froze. (To serve, I will thaw overnight and bake at 350ºF until cooked through, brushing with more barbeque sauce if needed!)
I browned 3lbs of ground beef and seasoned with Homemade Chili Seasoning. Half was used to make 2 batches of Hamburger Soup and half was frozen in a ziploc to use later for tacos or chili making.
For the Hamburger Soup, I put all the ingredients, and the cooled, cooked hamburger into gallon ziplocs, labeled and froze. (To serve, I will add corn - I was out - and then heat on the stove or slow cooker!)
I cooked my Slow Cooker Stroganoff as usual, except for adding the sour cream, let it cool and then placed it into a gallon ziploc, labeled and froze. (To serve, I will reheat in the slow cooker, adding sour cream at the end, and serve with fresh cooked noodles.)
I will make my Split Pea soup as usual tomorrow and freeze into gallon ziplocs (probably will take 4), label and freeze. (To serve, I will reheat on the stove or slow cooker!)
And... we will eat well for a while at least!!
Do you freezer cook? Or have you before??
What are your favorite recipes to freeze and reheat?
I may do another day of this if I feel up to it, so I need some ideas!
(Fun story: I *may* have sharpened my knives before I began, and I *may* have cut myself a few times with those newly sharp knives. Here's a tip: If you do the same, don't decide to cut up a bunch of fresh pineapple the next day!)
