If you follow me on my youtube channel you know Im expecting my second son in just 6 weeks. I decided this time around I would attempt freezer cooking so we wouldn't starve or live off of cereal and soup. Lets just say that was a big lesson learned our first time around ha ha. Anyway I've never done freezer cooking and the thought was intimidating! Reading on how some things like potatoes wont freeze right or how rice may not taste good once thawed scared me. So after looking at meals I make all the time I realized I could do this. Forget all those articles and just think about it. Most of the meals Im going to share with you are my meals. I left the starches out of the prep process so I can avoid those funky tastes they may cause. I'll have to cook some rice or potatoes on the day we have some of these meals but hey thats a small step right!
Lets talk organization. For me it was easy to sort my list by freezing technic. Meaning if it was going to be froze in a freezer safe storage bag, foil pan or just the meat. I'll show you what I mean by posting a list of what's in this picture.
In Freezer gallon bag
- Chicken pulls
- Chicken Fajitas
- Chicken Noodle soup
- Creamy Pork roast
- Chili
- banana bread
- bagel bacon egg and cheese sandwiches
- bacon, egg and cheese english muffins
In a foil pan
- Stuffed shells
- Baked sausage ziti
- Chicken Broccoli Casserole
Just the meat
- Pepperoncini beef roast sandwiches
- Ranch pork chop stew
Once I did that I looked at what I needed for each meal. For me prepping all this in one day was not going to happen. So I started with the breakfast sandwiches. Bought the stuff to make it and spent an hour prepping both! As for dinner I just double batched a lot of these. So when we had chili I froze half and if I made a creamy ranch meal I just tossed one in a bag to freeze and then the other in the oven. I'll explain more when I break down each meal.
Now lets talk stickers! Yes Im a neat freak and for me I wanted to make sure I had EVERY item I needed for each meal. I don't want to run to the store for anything when baby gets here. After making my first list above I broke down each meal and what they required. So if I needed noodles or chicken broth I made sure I bought it. Once a meal was in my freezer I better have the dry ingredients to add on cooking day in the cabinets too. Now to keep myself from using these ingredients I put on these bright stickers and wrote what they were for on them. Now I know not to use them until its time to cook that meal! So easy and organized ha ha.
Freezer organization was my next step. How in the world was I going to get 10 meals plus some in my small freezer? Also how could I make it simple enough for my husband to do if I couldn't get to a meal one night? I decided on the write it all out method. An example is pictured on the right. EVERYTHING has the cooking temperature, cook time and what I need to add to each meal before cooking. Also the date I put it in the freezer. That way when I start cooking I can use the stuff that was in the freezer longer. All the early dates (8-5-12) are at the top and the later dates (8-23-12) put on the bottom. So I can just grab and work my way down the freezer stacks. Maker sure you lay the freezer bag meals flat! It will save you room. I found filling the sink with water and submerging the freezer bags in it helped seal the bag and push out all the air! Now just be carful you don't go and dunk the zipper part or you will have a watery meal. As for the foil pan meals its best to freeze without stacking those. So if you're making more then one you want to be sure you don't stack any of them until they're rock hard. Foil covers wont hold in your sauce and it will create a big mess which you don't want. No I didn't do that myself but heard about some ladies that did. That's all my tips! Try not to do too many meals in one day and just prep as you go. If this is a prebaby or surgery preparation you can plan ahead. I did two to three meals a week. Got 10 meals done in just three weeks!
Now lets talk recipes! I think for this one Im going to create another post. All my freezer meal recipes and how I froze each one. Click the link to go onto that post!
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