Freezer Cooking, Round Two & A Giveaway
This is the second of three guest posts by Naomi, who blogs about her personal life at Donuts and Graham Crackers.
Hello again! It’s been a fun week of reading your comments and is exciting to know that so many of you want to take a stab at freezer cooking! I have coined this way of food preparation, DItTO (Dinner’s In The Oven) - do you think it’s catchy enough?
Remember those myths we talked about in my last post?
1. I only have a small freezer that is part of my refrigerator.
You can VERY easily make room for freezer meals! If you look towards a three-week plan (TWP), it is simply sixteen meals (most homes do not cook EVERY evening for a sit-down meal due to schedules, special treats, etc. and you need to remember to figure in leftovers as well). Sixteen frozen ziploc bags measures less than 18 inches tall and 12 inches wide!! Before you tackle freezer cooking, make sure to commit to purging your freezer! Use up those frozen vegetables that you bought way too long ago, and throw away the popsicles that have been in there since summer before last!
2. My family will get tired of eating the same things over and over.
Our family gets VERY bored with a rote meal plan. If you use a TWP, you are cooking 16 meals, for three weeks, BUT this does not mean you’re eating freezer meals for three weeks STRAIGHT. Plan to intersperse other meals (such as “breakfast for dinner” or meat grilled out) while you are making use of your previously frozen meals. There are at least four varied TWP available that I use on a regular and rotated basis. We haven’t had any “we JUST had this, mom” complaints yet!
3. It will take me too long to cook everything at one time.
This is really quite a silly excuse. Put it out of your heard! It will take you a good day (plus grocery shopping time) to get a TWP from grocery bag to freezer. Compare this day of really satisfying work, and add in:
45 seconds to pull something out the night before to thaw
25 seconds to put the thawed meal into the oven to cook
30 minutes of cook time (no mess!!! no pots, no pans) to enjoy your family, or do that load of laundry, or call a friend to catch up, or catch the evening news (I could go on and on!)
This line of thinking sure makes me realize the benefits of cooking the DItTO way … it sure beats a full sink of dishes every night and the 30-45 minutes of solid prep time to create ONE meal!
4. I don’t have enough counter space or pots/pans for this.
Sure you do! Imagine this …. you’ll be cooking all of the chicken, beef and sausage for ALL of the meals in the TWP at once. Then you take a short break, clean up after yourself, give the dishes a wash and a rinse, then move on to prepping the vegetables … so on and so forth until you’re ready to assemble the meals. It is a pattern, and if you follow the steps, you’ll be just fine even if you don’t have an arsenal of pots, pans and utensils!
5. My family doesn’t like casseroles.
Now this is a valid concern. I will - during my next post - discuss a TWP that contains all non-casserole recipes! I understand that not all families like one-pot meals, and we’ll tackle that next!
Ready for the first of our TWP recipe titles?
Spaghetti (2 meals)
Baked Ziti (3 meals)
Meatball Sandwiches (1 meal)
Meatloves (2 meals)
Mexi-Chicken (3 meals)
Broccoli-Ham Bake (2 meals)
White Cheese Chicken Lasagna (2 meals)
King Ranch Chicken Casserole (1 meal)
Your shopping list (of course, modify from what your pantry/fridge already contains):
3 1/2 C milk
7 C mozzarella cheese, grated
8 oz shredded Cheddar cheese
2 C Parmesan
2 C cheddar cheese
1/2 C butter
4 eggs
2 C ricotta cheese
* *
4 C broccoli
2 lbs frozen french fries
1 pkg (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach
* *
3 lbs Ziti noodles
package of lasanga noodles (no bake variety)
1.5 C bread crumbs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* *
5 large onions
3 green peppers
2 celery stalks
* *
5 lbs ground beef
2 lbs Italian sausage
11 C chicken (approximately 11 chicken breasts)
2-3 C ham
* *
salt
1/8 tsp thyme
1/8 tsp marjoram
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 T chili powder and 1 tsp cumin (OR 2 pkgs taco seasonings)
2 T vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
* *
1 large can sliced black olives
32 oz chopped tomatoes, undrained
44 oz total tomato sauce
32 oz whole kernel corn, drained
1 can black beans
7 jars of “store brand” spaghetti sauce OR 18 cups homemade sauce
4 16 oz cans of Italian-style stewed tomatoes, undrained (cut)
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
2 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 (10.75 ounce) can condense cream of brocolli soup
2 cups chicken broth
1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers
1 (12 ounce) package corn tortillas
Are you signing up? Will you commit to trying this with me? My final post will contain not only the promised “no casserole meals” but a fairly detailed description of the logistics of DItTO cooking … how I have found it works best to take me … from grocery bag to freezer, with my sanity still intact!
If you are interested in guest blogging for Happy to be at Home email the 3 Moms at 3moms@happytobeathome.net.
***And now for this week’s GIVEAWAY! ***
Once again we are giving away a fabulous Taste of Home Entertaining kitchen tool, courtesy of our friend Mary Beth. This week’s tool is an ice cream scoop. It has a wide, oval face and a nice weighted handle, just like the peerless peeler we gave away a few weeks ago. This scooper, while perfect for ice cream, is also great for scooping melons. And even better for this time of year, it makes quick and easy work of cleaning out a pumpkin!
To enter the giveaway, please leave us comment in response to Naomi’s great guest post on freezer cooking, or share a favorite pumpkin recipe with us. We will select one winner next Tuesday, October 14th.
For more kitchen tips visit Tammy’s Recipes.
Thanks for sharing your recipes. The chicken lasagna and King Ranch casserole are two that I’ve never tried… but will now!
Thanks especially for the non-casserole freezer ideas. My family also doesn’t really enjoy casseroles, so that is very helpful to me.
Awesome post! I love getting new ideas for freezer meals.
Great recipes and great ideas for the freezer! Thanks!
Thanks for the recipes! I can’t wait til next time to hear your “non-casserole” items for the freezer.
This is a wonderful post! Space really is an issue for us, so the three week plan sounds perfect.
Thanks for the great ideas. Found you through Tammys Recipes.
Thats a great menu. I don’t mind casseroles, but usually I won’t want to pull them out and eat them. Plus the whole cream of what ever soup from a can…shudder!
With four big-eating-boys in the house, a freezer menu would be just the thing to get dinner on the table in a snap!
Thank you for the recipes and information!
Just posted a yummy pumpkin muffin recipe on my blog today!
http://www.musesofmegret.com/2008/10/07/the-quest-for-the-perfect-pumpkin-muffins/
Thanks!
Megret
musesofmegret (at) gmail (dot) com
I aspire to do this one day. Right now it’s our busy time of the year with marching band so we do a lot of eating out. With freezer meals we could eliminate a lot of that…
Thanks for all the information!
I posted a pumpkin cake recipe earlier this week -
http://imnotyouraveragesoccermom.blogspot.com/2008/10/punkin-cake-my-version.html
I am so wanting to try this - I think November would be the perfect month to have dinner ready to go!
I have implemented aspects of freezer cooking, but never completely done it. You may have just convinced me. I look forward to the next post.
What wonderful recipes! My family doesn’t too much care for casseroles but they would definitely eat these dishes.
This is great, and just what I need with a baby due around Christmas!
I love PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!!!
Here’s the recipe: http://www.recipezaar.com/58757
Great ideas!
I just started doing freezer cooking and so far it’s been great. Sure it was a long day of cooking and the mess after we finished was too big that we put it off till the next day, but it’s saved so much time each night since then. We don’t eat a freezer meal every night, but at least they’re always there in case we have nothing else going on. The only thing we’ve had issues with is reheating — it seems nothing ever gets quite hot enough for us.
Freezer cooking is not for everyone!
We typically have to ‘over-cook’ our meals a bit to get them really hot as well …. Karen, are you taking the dishes out the night before the thaw?
We’ve also found that lots of our meals take longer than simply 24 hours to thaw!!!
While I don’t really have the desire to do a whole freezer full of meals, I have started trying to make extra of certain dishes. It’s coming in handy this week while I have finals!! I made a chicken corn chowder last night and ended up with enough for five extra individual servings.
I think that you have successfully address any concerns about freezer cooking. Thanks for the recipes and the grocery list. Awesome!
Halloween Monster Stew In A Pumpkin
Check it out here:
http://www.aliciasrecipes.com/Recipe/2522/Halloween-Monster-Stew-In-A-Pumpkin.htm
I really appreciate the recipes too:) Thanks!
I just might have to try frezzer cooking after reading those yummy recipies
I have loved the freezer cooking tips! I’m really looking forward to trying out some of these ideas.
The shopping list is SO helpful. I love my freezer and am finding that I’m using it more than I am canning this year. Thanks!
I loved the way she answered the excuses, ahem myths, about freezer cooking. I have been doing it for a while and find it much more convenient and less stressful.
Thanks so much for the new ideas. I like to make things ahead of time, but get tired of what I always cook.
I have been wanting to try freezer cooking but wasnt sure how some stuff would hold up, I am excited to try some of these recipes.
My freezer is packed to the gill in a very haphazard way. It is very inefficient. I am emptying it out by using it up or throwing away the ancient, unfathomable items. I will purge, purge, purge. Hopefully, I will then have a working freezer again.
Great ideas.
gkstratos@yahoo.com
I am new to freezer cooking and love all the helpful recipies you provide!! Would love to win the giveawy!!
im gonna have fun trying these recipes…but i want to enter this giveaway
I would love to try this, but we are on a pretty tight budget lately, how much would this shopping list be? I will definitely try to do a week or so though next time we go grocery shopping. Thanks for the recipes!
mommyhoodisthankless{AT}gmail.com
Re: Rebecca …. I will know in about two days what this shopping list will be exactly!
The other TWP that I reference a shopping total for, and the ones that I use more often, can be found
http://naomidoesfrugal.blogspot.com/2008/08/21603.html
and
http://naomidoesfrugal.blogspot.com/2008/08/shopping-trip-ii.html
[...] was going to use the Three Week Plan that I talked about in my last post and I was going to snap photos along the way, while I shopped, [...]
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Thanks for sharing freezer ideas. My wife loves these tips.