Let me start by saying....I am not a freezer meal expert. You can probably find much better/fancier recipes on Pinterst. But I really do love making them. And using them. During the school year they save me. Any time we move, they save me..then them with plastic utensils on paper plates and throw the whole mess away when you are done! (we've moved 10 times, I'm pretty good at knowing when to use these and when to pack my kitchen). I've also had 5 babies...and these are a lifesaver when you have babies.
I think some of my favorite Relief Society activities have been the ones when we get together and make meals. In Washington our ward did it a couple times and donated the meals. Once to Ronald McDonald House and once to a family in the ward who's child had cancer. It was something we could all contribute too. It would be a stretch financially to make so many meals myself, (or anyone) but we all pitched in ingredients and helped and within an hour we had them all done! Those activities had such a great spirit, and I will never forget delivering them both times.
I'm not a huge fan of a lot of freezer meals during the summer because the ones that I like use your oven. There are a lot of recipes on Pinterest for crock pot freezer meals. But (in my opinion) if I can dump it in a bag to freeze, then I can dump it in my crock pot to make just as easy.
Anyway. Last month, the youth in our ward had their fundraising service dinner. Included in this was a service auction. I couldn't think of anything that I really had to give, but then I thought about freezer meals. So I signed up to donate a week's worth of freezer meals. I provided a list for the family who bought the meals and they picked a couple favorites. There was a trick this time because the sister who bought them actually bought them for her mother, who lives alone.
Cooking for 8...I got that. I do that every night. But cooking for 1? I was so nervous to do this...it was a challenge and ended up being fun. Cooking for one is hard!
After posting a picture on Instagram and facebook I got a lot of questions for recipes.
Here are some of my favorite recipes and ideas:
(I use canned soup. If you don't like them, you might not like these...and if you want, I think there are a lot of recipes to make your own out there too. I also don't have specific written down recipes for some of these, I probably did at one point, but now I just make them..hope that they make sense, let me know if you have any questions).
Burritos.
Burritos are some of the easiest things to start with. Your filling can be whatever you want. My favorite has been just brown hamburger and re-fried beans. Sometimes I add taco seasoning to the meat, sometimes not. Then I just roll them up and freeze them on a cookie sheet for an hour or two and then dump them all in one big bag. You can wrap them in plastic wrap if you want, it helps to prevent freezer burn. But we usually eat them pretty fast.
When you want to eat these, wrap one up in a paper towel and warm it up in the microwave for a minute or minute and a half.
Another good filling for burritos is about one pound browned hamburger, and one can cream of mushroom and one can cream of chicken. Add the soups and heat until the mixture is smooth. You can add cheese to this too, but it's pretty good as is. Then fill the tortillas and freeze them. Wade really likes to eat these with cheese on top of them and some green Tabasco sauce.
There are a lot of really good cream cheese chicken taquito recipe that freeze well too. I like
this one.
Breakfast Burritos.
These are super easy too! When eggs go on sale buy a whole bunch. Scramble away. Add browned sausage or crumbled bacon, cheese, peppers, whatever. (I have found that ham does not do as well). Assemble the burritos, freeze on a cookie sheet and then throw them in a big freezer bag. I do think the eggs taste much better when you warm these up wrapped up in a paper towel.
Other super easy items to make and freeze:
muffins, pancakes, waffles, and peanut butter sandwiches...homemade version of uncrustables. (put the peanut butter on both sides of the bread and jam in the middle)
Some of my favorite recipes for freezer (dinner) meals:
Easy Lasagna
1 26 ounce jar spaghetti sauce
1 8 ounce package shredded mozzarella sauce
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1 container cottage cheese
1 pound hamburger
1 cup water
Brown hamburger, and add sauce. In separate bowl combine the 3 cheeses. In greased casserole dish layer lasagna noodles (I use the ready oven ready noodles and I do NOT cook them first). Then layer half the sauce, half the cheese, and then noodles again and repeat. Add some extra cheese to the top if you want. (you can add anything else to the layer too..if we have spinach on hand, I add that and the kids eat it and love it). When you are all done add a cup of water. I do a double later of tin foil on the top and I always spray the tin foil with cooking spray so the cheese won't stick. If you have time and remember to thaw this you only need to cook this for about 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees. If you are like me and don't' remember to thaw the meal out it usually needs about 1-1/12 hours to cook.
Swiss Chicken Bake
1 package of chicken stuffing mix (made and mixed)
2-3 chicken breast cooked and diced
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 8 ounce block of swiss cheese shredded (or you can use sliced swiss cheese)
Mix chicken and soup together, layer on the bottom of a greased casserole dish. On top of that layer swiss cheese. Then on the top layer stuffing mix. Spray tin foil with cooking spray and cover for freezing. Cooking is same as before, Since everything is already cooked in these recipes you just have to makes sure they are warmed up and bubbly before eating.
Pizza Casserole
This one is a kid favorite around here.
2 cups (8 oz) Mostaccioli pasta
1 jar (14 oz) pizza sauce
1/2 (2 oz) sliced pepperoni, quartered
1 1/2 (6oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
Parmesan
Cook pasta according to the directions on package. Drain. In a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish combine pasta, sauce, pepperoni and 1 cup cheese. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and Parmesan Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until hot and bubbly. (Makes about 4 servings)
I also just buy one package of the tiny pepperoni's and throw the whole bag in. I'll be honest. I add more cheese too. Just because cheese is good too.
I then put it in a 11x7 baking dish.
Or cover and freeze. If you are freezing then add about 1/2- 3/4 cup water.
Chicken Enchiladas
1 can Rotel
1 package sour cream
1 can cream of chicken
2-3 diced cooked chicken breast
cheese
Mix Rotel, sour cream, and soup together. In a casserole dish spoon about 1/3 cup mixture in the bottom of the pan. Add chicken to the mixture and roll into tortillas. Add remaining mixture to the top and then cover with cheddar cheese. You can add black beans to this recipe too and it's pretty good, or you can cover with a green enchilada sauce too. It depends on my mood (and what is one sale and what we have on hand, but we like any of these combinations).
thawed warm up in oven for about 30 minutes, or frozen it takes about an hour
Beef Enchiladas
1 pound browned ground beef
diced onions (cooked with the meat)
1 can refried beans
1 large can red enchilada sauce
cheese
It doesn't get easier than this recipe. I combine the beef, onions, and beans in each tortilla and then cover it with the sauce and then cheese.
thawed warm up in oven for about 30 minutes, or frozen it takes about an hour
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I think the hardest part of doing freezer meals is the prep that goes into it. If you are going to make a bunch at one time. Making the master grocery list and prepping the food. I also think prepping and cooking all your meat is a HUGE time saver. If I find meat on a good price I usually bring it home and cook it and freeze it whether it's a freezer meal day or not. It's a huge time saver to already have cooked, diced chicken in your freezer. Prep and get everything out and ready. Then it's easy to bust out 10 meals in an hour or two, including cleaning up your kitchen at the end!
I'll post the recipes in the post below that we've used for the Relief Society Activity nights too. If you are interested in doing this with a group, I have some sign up sheets already done too.
Let me know what questions you have. Sorry I don't have a lot of picture for these.
