Its been about two months since I had my little guy and we finally go through all the freezer meal I had prepped. For the most party it went really well but there we had a few flops too. So here is my break down of each meal. For recipes and instructions on how I prepped these meals Click below!
Freezer preparation
Freezer Meal Recipes!
The chicken pulls turned out great! I thawed the bag overnight in the freezer and then put it into my crockpot the next morning. I thawed this meal because the sauce would have made the meal stick in the bag. This meal tasted as if I threw it together the same day. The flavor was still there and it was still moist! Suggestion buy the buns fresh if you can :) if not don't freeze the buns as long. Try buying those closer to the time you'll be eating them. Mine were a tiny bit freezer burnt which made the buns crumble a bit.
Chicken Fajitas! These bad boys are so yummy and so easy to make. I didn't bother thawing these out. I just tossed everything in the dish, topped with our favorite seasoning and cooked. The pepers and onions came out fine. I was worried they'd be soggy but nope perfect! The shells lasted too so you can purchases them without worrying about freezer burn. Topped with sour cream, cheese and next time Im adding some tomatoes and lettuce yum!
Now I don't have a picture of the
Chicken noodle soup. However that turned out really good. The celery, carrots, onions and chicken all came out fine. I tossed it frozen into my crockpot with the chicken broth and seasoning. Added cooked noodles and thats it. Nothing tasted frozen or altered!
Creamy sweet pork roast. This is by far one of our families favorite meals. We serve with a side of mashed potatoes and some sort of veggie. I thawed this meal in the fridge overnight because of the sauce. Then next morning tossed it in the crockpot. The sauce didnt taste off and was full of flavor. This one was a win!
Now the Stuffed shells gave me some problems. This meal I put in a foil pan with the sauce. Put in the oven frozen. It took 4-5 hours to cook and once I took it out.....the meal was just sad. The sauce seemed to have disappeared and it tasted so dry.
The fix for this meal. Next time Im going to stuff the shells and place on parchment paper. Once frozen place in a freezer bag. That way I can take out as many as I need, thaw overnight to avoid long cook time and add as much sauce as I want.
Next fail was the sausage ziti. This meal I thawed in the fridge for 48 hours. It still took 2-3 hours to cook all the way through. We had the same problem with the sauce. It seemed to have dried up. I had a few cans of sauce so I added them. It still didnt save this dish. DO NOT MAKE AND FREEZE THIS MEAL. I highly suggest you avoid it......
The chicken broccoli casserole. This meal does not freeze well. We've had this dish before and its really good but frozen not so much. I added fresh rice and it cooked in a decent time. Sadly the broccoli came out mushy and the chicken chewy. There wasnt much flavor left either which was a big disappointment. So this is one I say AVOID freezing its just not as good.....
The Pepperoncini beef roast sandwiches was pretty straight forward. Thawed the meat and buns, cooked and enjoyed! Super easy :) The same can be said for the ranch pork chops. We had those with a side of potatoes and veggies. Super easy ones!
Stove top chilli. This one made me nervous. I was so scared the beans would be mushy or the flavor would be lost. I thawed in the fridge over night flat. Tossed it into the pan and reheated. To my surprise it was amazing. It tasted just like leftovers! I love leftover chili better then same day chili. The spices absorb into the meal and just give it more of a kick. So this is our number one highly suggest freezing meal!
Banana bread didnt taste as good as a freshly baked bread does. However heating it in the microwave for just a few seconds and adding butter really made a difference. I can say fresh bread is so much better but in a pinch this wasnt too bad. I do make loaves and freeze them now. To bring them back to life I just reheat and eat.
Finally our second favorite meal. The breakfast sandwiches! These are a daily thing in this house now. For english muffins theres nothing special that needs done. Just cover in a damp paper towel and microwave for a minute and enjoy! Now the bagels thats another story. For these I suggest you thaw overnight and then place in a damp paper towel and heat for a minute. This will keep the bagel from getting chewy and the eggs from getting dry. When we place in the microwave frozen it was awful! Even defrosting in the microwave didnt help. So unless you use bagel thins I say overnight in the fridge for sure.
Hope this helps and I'd love to hear about your freezer meal adventures!!!!!
