Hey Y'all,
If you joined us earlier in the week we talked about freezer meals and I shared some tips to prepare you. Today I will be sharing the recipes and suggestions that we used and found to be handy. Now keep in mind this is a pretty much all day task, or at least it was for us. But we really made a lot of foods. Plan to start early in the day.
If you are a friend of SHE Degree, then you probably know that Brittney and her husband are expecting their first baby literally any day now. So that is the inspiration behind these freezer meals.
First Brittney found a few recipes she knew that they liked, wrote out the ingredients for each. If you are preparing 1 it's just as easy to make 2 and that is what we did. She doubled each recipe and the list of ingredients. Keep in mind your available freezer space. Next she surveyed her pantry and highlighted what she would need to pick up at the grocery store. And we were off to our neighborhood grocery to stock up on all the supplies we would need.
Once home, foods were organized and separated for each recipe. I recommend cleaning and prepping all your fresh veggies at once and have them ready to assemble. But you can also prepare 1 recipe at a time. This might make it a little more organized if you get overwhelmed with your kitchen counters being covered and in disarray. My kitchen appears to be a little chaotic any time I am cooking but it all comes back together nice and neatly at the end.
Now it's easier, just decide what you want to make first and go from there. Some foods need to be flash frozen (fancy wording for placing on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper and putting in the freezer for 1hr or so to freeze enough to keep their shape. Think meatballs and cookie dough). I suggest starting with those as you have some wait time.
Be sure to keep your work areas clean at all times, washing down counters and utensils to avoid any cross contamination from raw meat and chicken. When packaging your meals, we used containers like these and double wrapped with aluminum foil. Each was labelled with the name and date. You may want to add a card inside the foil with any special baking instructions to save time later. For example, we made the base for chicken casserole but did not add stuffing mix. When she is ready to bake it she will take out of the freezer, unwrap the foil and remove paper lid, sprinkle with stuffing mix and dollop bits of butter on top, recover with foil and bake according to directions.
Here is what we made and remember this are meant to serve 2-3 people. So if your family is larger, you might need to adjust the recipe up more to make 2 dinners. The number indicates how many pans were made of each. These were all found on Pinterest ~ so they aren't our "original" recipes but I think they are a good variety of menu items. We've shared links for most below.
Cracked out Chicken (4)
Chicken Casserole (2)**
Hamburgers (4)
Crockpot hamburgers with gravy (1)
Sausage balls (4)
Swedish meatballs (2- but each pan contains enough for 2 meals)
Pork chops and potatoes ( 1 with leftovers)
Ravioli Lasagna (4)
Caramel White-chocolate Cookie dough (3 dozen individual cookies)
Garlic bread (16 slices)
Chicken strips (these are a healthy baked option)
Granola bars- we make these in bite size balls
Brittney used casserole type pans for most of these, so she can just pop into her oven when she is ready for them. But you can use freezer bags for some of these recipes too. They lie flat when frozen, but consider how you will prepare it. Will it go into the oven, crockpot or Instant Pot- freeze in the shape that will make it the easiest to transfer from freezer bag to container. You can freeze in the bag in a bowl the shape of your casserole dish and just remove the bag once thoroughly frozen. We want these meals to require as little effort as possible on the night you are preparing them, so thinking ahead will make things smoother in the long run. Super easy to plunk a round frozen meal into a crock pot and go about your day. Grab a few sides and viola you have a hearty meal for your family that didn't take up your whole day preparing. These are great for the "Oh no my family really wants dinner ....
what can I feed them?" nights
We hope these helped give you some encouragement to try some freezer meals of your own. Let us hear from you~ what are your go to meals? Crock pot dishes?
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| Chicken Tator Tot Casserole |
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| Chicken Casserole |
** We omit the cream of mushroom soup and substitute chicken broth for milk in the chicken casserole recipe. You want it a little bit runny, the dry stuffing mix will need the extra liquid. When ready to bake, just top with dry stuffing mix and add butter and chicken broth as needed.
xoxo, Amy
