Easy Frozen Meals

K.,

I have 5 children and always made food ahead in the freezer when I had a new baby coming too. I have some suggestions that aren't really recipes but maybe you could make use of what I always did.

Buy a boneless ham and cook it then cube it and freeze it in 1 cup packages. Makes great pizza toppings, salad toppings, good in scrambled eggs, scalloped potatoes, mac n cheese, bean or pea soup, or even for a picky eater to nibble on.

Buy a whole turkey, cook it and again cube it up and freeze it in 1 cup packages. (Save and freeze the broth in measured amounts too.) It's good as a salad topping, or it makes a great turkey salad (just add some mayo and celery). I make gravy and put the turkey in it and then serve over mashed potatoes (instant) and my kids love it.

I'm sure you get the idea, I also did the same thing with ground beef, and bacon. Another thing I would do is make up a meatloaf and cook it, slice it, then freeze it in portioned packages for meatloaf sandwiches. I would also use the same meatloaf mixture to make meatballs (using a cookie dough scoop and baking on a cookie sheet at 350 for about 30 to 40 min depending on size of scoop and your oven.) then you can freeze them and when its time to reheat them use the crock pot and what ever sauce you like. I have used spaghetti sauce and then cooked some spaghetti at the last minute when we we were ready in eat, or cook with cream of chicken or mushroom soup and serve over cooked egg noodles or mashed potatoes.

If you can do the work of getting the main ingredients ready to go and waiting for her, I'm sure that the little bit of cooking left to do to finish out the meal will be manageable for her. What a great sister in law you are!

1 mom found this helpful

I don't eat frozen meals often, however, I am working on starting my own little "catering" business for small to medium sized events; provided someone could come pick up the meals, I can make dinners for your sister in law; I'm not sure how well my meals would freeze however and I don't actually measure things out. Feel free to email me: ____@____.com

Hi K., for my last baby I made a large batch of meatballs and sphagetti sauce. I froze them in smaller containers so we could defrost one and have meatball sandwiches for lunch or defrost a couple and put on some noodles really quick for a dinner. I love Terri's ideas!

My family LOVES this low carb meatloaf. This recipe makes 1 loaf.I always double the recipe and freeze 1 when I make it. I do recommend defrosting the meatloaf a day in the fridge so that it cooks evenly, so not exactly from the freezer to the oven, BUT - it makes it very moist and delicious!

Low Carb Turkey meatloaf:

2 lbs ground turkey (I use the frozen roll kind - much cheaper
1/4 cup milk (or beef broth if doing dairy free)
1 egg, beaten
1 cup quick oats
1/2 cup onion chopped fine
1/4 cup mushrooms, OPTIONAL
1/4 cup ketchup
2 squirts mustard
1 tbsp worchestire sauce or soy sauce
1 teaspoon or less salt
pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon italian seasonings
1/2 to 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Defrost turkey, if frozen, and put in large bowl. add all of the other ingredients and mix well with your hands. SHape into loafs and put into loaf pan. At this point they are ready for the freezer, so cover with foil and then plastic wrap. I always label and add instructions to the top.

Baking instructions:
Take out of freezer the morning of use. Let sit in the refrigerator until defrosted, about 6 hours. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake meatloaf uncovered 55 minutes to 1:10 or until the top is browned and the juices run clear.

Turkey meat loaf, chicken breasts in some kind of lite sauce, whole wheat spagetti in a lite sauce with turkey meatballs or ground turkey or soy protein substitute with a little parmesan baked. Turkey or veggie chili. Breakfast - one of the recipes off the lite Bisquick box.

You can do a search on Google and come up with a ton of recipes for doing this. I also have the Dream Dinner's cookbook which is great for doing this as well - it gives you some great dinner menu ideas and includes the amounts of ingredients you would need for 2 people, 4 people or more.

--K. N.

I found a few blogs that have some great ideas for meals you can freeze.

http://onceamonthmom.com/ and

http://stolenmomentscooking.com/

they have some great ideas in them. I wish you were my sister too..lol

I am not a cook so I can't really offer any ideas.

I just wanted to say I wish you were my sister-in-law! Ha Ha
I think that's a great idea. :)

Chicken casseroles freeze great. Turkey taco pie - my mom made 4 for me when I had my son weeks ago, they froze great. Not sure of the recipe but I am sure you can google it.
Lasagna (of course), Spaghetti sauce, purchase chicken breasts and marinate them and or cut into tenders. That cuts out some of the work.

pot pies too.