Seeking Recipes That Freeze Well for Mother Who Is Having Surgery

There are breakfast casseroles as well as lunch and dinner ones that are easy to make and freeze. Eggs (or egg beaters if she has a cholesterol problem) with ham, bacon, sausage, etc and peppers baked in the oven is always good. You can make omeletes in 1 qt bags by putting in veggies, meats and a little of the shredded cheese and boil in a bag for about 30-40 minutes, let cool and then freeze. You can use noodles or rice and make almost any kind of a "leftover" casserole baked or micro-waved and then freeze it as well. All of these can be cut down to a size that would be easy for her to reheat in the microwave, toaster oven or oven and not create a lot of dishes or time. Hope this helps.

I'll second that vote that Shelagh H gave you - Let's Dish is great. Price is very in line with what you'd pay on groceries and you're still choosing/prepping the dishes you'd want your mother-in-law to have. They also include cooking instructions. I stocked up on these when I was about to have each of my children so my freezer would be stockpiled for when we got home from the hospital. http://www.letsdish.com/ Good luck!

If you are cooking something you know she'll like, make extra or set some aside and pop it in your freezer to take to her freezer later. Pancakes or French toast freeze well, I do a big batch and then pack it in sandwich bags, then it's easy to take out a bag and heat them up in the toaster(really, like frozen waffles)
Meat loaf is easy to slice and freeze, my basic recipe is:

Ground beef (or ground turkey, or in the grocery is a combo of
beef, turky and pork)
to each pound of meat, add 1 beaten egg, one handful of breadcrumbs (about 1/2 cup) or one slice of bread dampened with water and crumbled,1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 tsp onion salt or powder, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp celery salt. Mix well, hands work the best, then shape into a loaf in a casserole dish or loaf pan. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes or so--if you need to check you can cut it in the middle to be sure it's cooked through. Meatloaf is one of the easiest things to adapt; you can add chopped vegs, cover it with tomato sauce or gravy, substitute flavorings, like using A-1 or garlic. As long as there's enough meat to hold it together to shape it, go crazy and cook to your family's taste. Oh, ground turkey may be dry since it's less fat, so don't overcook, and you may want to add some chicken stock to it for moisture.

Check out this website www.frugalmom.net/once_a_month_cooking.htm - 24k
or the book Once A Month Cooking. Most of the recipe's are very good.

S.

How nice - and organized - of you to think ahead about your mother-in-law's meals after a hospital stay! I have used the allrecipes.com site for many freezer meals (see the link below and the list of recipes there). Meatloafs (small individual ones), turkey burgers, many soups and stews and some casseroles freeze well, and can give you a variety of serving suggestions. I would encourage you to freeze 3-4 different dishes in individual portions if possible so your mother-in-law can have a choice daily without having to thaw a large portion and eat the same dish for several days.

http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Freezing-Foods-A-Real-Time-Sa...

Good luck!

C.

Hi Victoria,

I'm a caterer from Va. and will be happy to offer some suggestions to you.First of all,buy some disposable alum.foil pans. Make her favorite recipes and freeze with instructions
on the pan for reheating.Make sure you totally cool them down and wrap well with heavy duty foil before freezing. Baked chicken,easy
soups,meatloaf,brisket or chuck roast with
potatoes and carrots,baked spaghetti with
sausage or meat sauce and chile are a few easy and good selections. Using a crock pot can help you prepare several entres at once. Remember to buy side dishes to complete her meals. Have canned or frozen vegetables,rice and potatoes and perhaps canned fruit available to complete her meals. Most of us love dessert so have a few goodies in the freezer for her to enjoy. Hope this helps.....J.

My suggestion:
Cook a chicken. Cut the meat into chunks. Cook a good amount of rice and some frozen peas, or mixed veggies. Mix together in single portion containers, add a little water/broth and freeze. Chicken are rice are easy to digest for after a surgery, and rice freezes well.

Victoria -

We have a cooking exchange club in our neighborhood so I have a ton of good freezer recipes (all of which I have personally tried). I have a lot on my email that I could forward you. Not necessarily casseroles, either. Things like Chicken Pie, Pork Loin Roast, Hawaiian Chicken, Spinach Lasagna, Baked Ziti, Chicken Tetrazzini . . . If you are interested, just write a personal message to me. I think it's great that you are doing this. I know she will appreciate it.

A. T.

If you haven't heard of Let's Dish, you should look into it!! It is great.

Let's Dish or any of the dish-it-yourself places are excellent places for food like this. You can either go in and dish your own meals or pick up something they've already dished. Toss them in the freezer when you get home, and then just follow the directions when you want to eat. It's the BEST thing we've done in our home regarding meal time--it's guaranteed variety and nutrition.

Good luck! And best wishes to your mom for a speedy recovery!

The best thing to do is buy some frozen dinners and I'm not talking about the little dinners,more like swansen dinners. I can't standup long enough to cook and this is what I do when there is no one here to cook for me. Farm Fresh has flat bread pizza and you cook it for 14min in a toaster oven and there are several different ones to choose from. This way you can keep track of sodium and sugar intake which with these meals aren't bad. You could get her some Ensure to drink in between meals so she can have vitamins and minerals that help with the healing process. What kind of surgery? Does she have any health problems? Hope this helps. Good luck to your mother on her surgery.

Chicken pot pie in individual servings, hearty soups, chili (mild, I assume), breads. My mother-in-law had surgery recently and in addition to what we made, she stocked up on Lean Cuisines for days when she just needed a quick meal. I think some kid foods are good to keep around too, like peanut butter and jelly. There's also a recipe book called something like" Cook Once, Eat for a Week".
Good luck!

Victoria:

Soups are usually great for freezing. I would say a baked ziti or lasagna but there's a lot of cheese in those.

Good luck and I hope your mother-in-law fairs well.

Victoria
Some things that freeze well & can be put in single serving size containers are; Soups like vegetable, chicken corn,chicken or beef noodle, chili & bean. Other things like spaghetti, bar-b-q, baked chicken, beef or turkey (with gravy). Hope everything goes well.
A.

Chili is a great freezable. Veggie/beef stew works great too. Betty Crocker cookbooks have great recipes for both of these, and some other good recipes that freeze well.

Good Luck!