Recipe Time: Freezer Meals

Everything's a freezer meal, I've discovered. 

I took a class once called "30 meals in 6 hours" or something like that.  I even bought the cookbook the lady was selling.  I think I paid $20 total for the class and book.  I came home all jazzed up (of course) about making all our dinners ahead of time.  Then I read the cookbook.

The 6 hours was misleading, of course.  First you spend some time planning out what you will make.  A certain number of crock-pot meals, a certain number of cook-and-freeze meals, and a certain number of assemble-and-straight-to-freezer meals.  Then you make a crazy-long shopping list, combining the needs from each separate recipe.  Then you go shopping for all the stuff (whether it's on sale or not!), come home and start prepping it (chopping vegetables, grating cheese, browning meat).  This is all before the actual "cooking day".  Then there's a Saturday when somehow your kids and husband won't need you OR the kitchen most of the day, while you cook and package like a madwoman.

I was feeling kind of discouraged about the whole thing.  There was just no way I could see this working out.  I just didn't see being able to find that kind of time.  (Yes, I know, if it's important to you, you'll find the time - obviously this wasn't that important to me, ha!)  I felt frustrated that I was missing out on all this time-saving magic.

Then one day I realized something: This lady had taught me how to spend between 10 and 15 hours making 30 meals.  Probably I'd get faster as I learned to streamline the process, but at least initially this is what I was looking at.  And then I'd still have to spend some amount of time each day, cooking those meals.

It dawned on me that I already have my own streamlined process, and that I already only spend between 10 and 15 hours each month making dinner, and I don't have to meal plan, and I don't have to make a crazy-huge, dedicated shopping trip, and I don't have to spend a whole Saturday cooking.

So here's how I do "freezer meals".  I just make twice as much dinner, and freeze half.  Some things I make for dinner just don't freeze well, so I don't.  But most things do, so I do.  Then all I have to do when I'm in a super big rush, or the baby's cranky and I-can't-put-him-down-for-one-blessed-minute, or I just don't feel like cooking (I know, how lazy am I when I already told you that I spend less than 20 minutes on dinner in the first place?)... is grab a bag or two from the freezer, dump them into a big pan, and let it heat.  Presto!  Dinner in 20 minutes without even cooking at all!

Here is a list of a few of our favorites, my stand-by's, my tried-and-true meals that freeze well and my family loves:

SPAGHETTI MEAT SAUCE
Browned ground beef (previously cooked and frozen)
Tomato sauce
Garlic powder, minced onion, Italian seasoning, a little sugar
Simmer for several hours.  Or 15 minutes if that's how much time you have. :)

TACO SOUP
Combine:
Browned ground beef (previously cooked and frozen)
2 cups/cans corn
7 cups/cans assorted beans (we like pinto, kidney, red, black and pink)
Several cans of tomato-whatever: sauce, diced, stewed, paste, etc, just whatever I have
3 T cumin
1 T garlic powder
1 T minced onion
1 t chili powder
Simmer til hot.  Serve with cheese, tortilla chips, sour cream.  Or do what I do and never actually serve it with chips because either I forgot to buy them, or someone already ate them.

I just cut the bags off and toss the blocks of frozen soup into a pot to heat.

CHICKEN POT PIE (I freeze this before I cook it - except the one for that night, obviously)
Using homemade or store-bought pie crust, and a 10-inch pie pan, fill each pie with:
2 c cooked chopped chicken
1 c chopped carrots
1/2 c frozen peas
2 c diced or shredded potatoes
2 c chicken gravy
Cover with top crust, wrap in foil and freeze.
When ready to eat, thaw in fridge all day, then bake at 350 for 50-55 min.

BBQ PORK for Sandwiches
This is great for all those cheap, tough cuts of pork that go on sale
Just put it in the crock-pot, cook all day
When completely cooked through, shred with two forks add either a couple of bottles of BBQ sauce or make my own:
1 med onion, diced
1 6 oz can tomato paste
2 cans water (tomato paste can)
1/2 t oregano
1 t salt
2 T chili powder
1/4 t pepper
2 t dry mustard
1 t garlic powder
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c Worcestershire sauce
Sometimes I add some BBQ sauce to this anyway.  But I think it tastes better than just using BBQ sauce, plus it's cheaper.  And it doesn't burn to the side of the crock-pot so much.
Serve on buns.  Or over slices of bread.

CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP
4 T dried minced onion
1/2 t garlic powder
3 T cumin
4 t chili powder
4 c chicken broth (or 4 c water + 4 chicken boullion cubes)
2 c cooked chicken (grab a bag from your freezer!)
3 c (or cans) white beans
2   28-oz cans pureed tomato (or whatever tomato-y stuff you have)
Bring to a boil, add rice.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 min.
Serve with chips, sour cream, cheese, avocado.

There you have it.  My version of Freezer Meals.  I'm a lazy cook, but my family eats pretty well, so it all works out.

Kate