Freezer cooking or "Once a month" cooking

Hi LTH,

I tried googling the above terms on the site, but nothing came up!

With a baby due in two weeks, I'm trying to stock our freezer with dinners since I know we'll be dead on our feet shortly! However, I feel as if I've gotten into a run with my freezer cooking. Typically, I make the following:

Marinated chicken breasts (different types of marinade for variety)
Chicken or beef stew
Chili
Meatloaf
Quiches

Do you have a recipe you'd like to share with me? I'm looking for simple main meals that freeze well.

Thanks!
Kim

Congrats, Kim!

Chili and meatloaf were a few things that immediately came to mind for me, too. What about some soups that take advantage of the spring veggies that are starting to arrive?

I like this Cooking Light recipe for Shrimp with Basil, Feta and Orzo. The recipe calls for parboiling the orzo before baking the entire dish, so I think you could easily assemble and freeze it, then bake when you're ready to eat it.

Enchiladas freeze well, as do some pasta dishes, like lasagna and stuffed shells.

My brother and sister-in-law recently had a baby, and I noticed that they are making more crock-pot dishes. Last time I was there, we had some great pot roast, as well as a roast chicken. In both cases, my brother started the meals before he left for work in the morning, and they were done for dinner.

Personally, I always do heavier soups - lentil, split pea - and freeze them. I also make soups like chicken noodle and rice. However, I prefer NOT to delete the noodles or rice and add them when I heat them up. The advantage of doing that is that the soup takes up less space.

Other ideas:
Lasagna
Pasta shells.

Also, realize that you can easily cook off a 3# pork loin roast and roast potatoes and split it into four meals, all of which for freezing.

Several tips:
Label and date everything
Freeze in small containers
Freeze in small batches - putting 5 gallons of soup in a small freezer will tend to thaw out other things in the freezer.

There is a book out there about 30 day cooking. I do not recommend it as all of the recipes use a lot of processed foods.

I have been cooking in advance for elderly family members for years based upon things I learned in a hospital kitchen.

I have 50 more ideas but not the time right now.

Chicken Kiev freezes beautifully, and if you make extra compound butter, you can freeze it to melt over sauteed fish filets.

Other suggestions include:

Breaded pork chops
Manicotti
Potato gnocchi

Best wishes.

Congratulations!

foodie1 (aka Joelen) has two good posts about freezer-friendly foods on her blog. Check out When it snows...cook and Stock the freezer!

There's also a What's Cooking Freezer-Friendly Cookbook PDF (scroll down--it's under "Collections" subhed).

Hi, I don't have anything to add in the way of ideas, I think the ones you have here are really good; I just wanted to say CONGRATS! and to request that you please post a pic of the little baby when he/she comes.
(My daughter & I I just love babies !)

PS - Oh, and make sure you take a week or so before the baby comes to just REST...believe me, you will need all the energy you can get from the moment you go into labor til the baby is 21. Enjoy the quiet time you have now - your life is about to change dramatically...and in the best way you could ever imagine

Congratulations! There is a similar thread on this topic, which took a bit of creative googling, but here it is. To reiterate what I said in that thread - if you're planning to breastfeed, make sure you have a stock in colic-friendly foods - I was unable to eat my stock of veggie lasagna, etc. My advice would be to prepare foods that have 3 ingredients or less, and to make sure you have a variety, to make it easier to pinpoint which foods are difficult for your child. I almost always bring a freezable casserole as my gift to a new Mom; you might want to put the word out to friends that you'd love a gift of food (rather than crazy baby widgets.)

Enjoy your new baby!

Hi,

For useful information on freezing food, then consult the National Center for Home Food Preservation website. There are tips on containers, headspace and how much you may freeze at any one time. They suggest no more than 2-3 pounds per cubic foot of freezer space.

All the best for the new family member.

Regards,

Thanks for all the suggestions so far everyone! They have been wonderful!

This is our second (and final) child, thus I trying to be more prepared on the food front this time. With the first, it felt like we ate carry-out for three to four weeks straight.

I thought pasta would get "soggy" if I froze it and then defrosted it, so I'm loving the pasta suggestions, as that opens up a whole new front. I also think I'll try a couple of soups in the crockpot this weekend.

Kim

Kim3 wrote:I thought pasta would get "soggy" if I froze it and then defrosted it, so I'm loving the pasta suggestions, as that opens up a whole new front.

You want to parcook it just till it softens and then put it in cold water to stop the cooking. Cook it to just barely beyond crunchy.

However, don't overlook the idea of frozen sauce to put on quick-cooking angel-hair or couscous.

Rice and wild rice also freeze very well. I sometimes make up a big pot of rice and then freeze it in individual portions for quick microwaving later. I usually freeze the rice and whatever I'm serving on it separately, so as to provide the most options, but dishes like jambalaya and fried rice freeze well.

Last summer, I grilled a bunch of bratwurst and stuck the leftovers in the freezer. Reheated in the microwave, they weren't as good as freshly grilled, but they were pretty darn good for something I could cook in 5 minutes and meant I could have bratwurst at times when I didn't feel like firing up the grill.

Another good freeze-ahead option no one has mentioned: crepes. Separate the crepes with sheets of waxed paper. Freeze the filling separately, or do a fresh cheese and salad filling.

This site may also be useful:

100 Make-Ahead Meals

One thing I didn't count on when I was pregnant and planning such things (I started the other thread referenced by Mhays) was how little freezer space I have. Especially when I started pumping and freezing milk right away. It adds up and eats up the space in the freezer very quickly, so keep that in mind if you're doing the same!

We ended up not doing any of the Dinner by Design or First Slice or anything. I honestly cannot remember what I stocked up up the freezer with, but between that and delivery/take-out, we managed to survive. It also helped that my husband took off 5 weeks from work - I could give him the baby and then cook a bit. I went for two strategies: quick easy meals or things that might take a while to cook but didn't take much attention (long slow simmers for sauces) but made a good quantity. It worked for me - still does.

Good luck!

We have plenty of freezer space, as the 4 ft cubic chest freezer in our basement is only about 1/3 full right now. I'm only cooking for 2 1/2 people, as our toddler does not eat a lot and is picky (typical toddler).

My goal is to prepare 8-10 make ahead meals between tonight and tomorrow and then a few more on Tuesday night. Between food that relatives/friends will bring when they visit, what I make ahead, and the occasionally take out meal, we should be good for the first 3 weeks.

Hi Lth,

I wanted to thank you all for contributing to this thread! Thanks to your suggestions, I made the following to stock my freezer:

Corn and Bacon Chowder
Sausage and Black Bean Soup
Smoked Chicken and Pea Risotto
Spicy Chicken Stew
Spinach Lasagna
Beef Stew
Stuffed Shells
Pork and White Bean Cassoulet

Since each of these made about 6-8 servings, I have enough to last 16 meals for three people!

Since some of you have asked, here is a picture of our latest addition.




Thanks again!
Kim