My new favorite way to cook:
I am a new huge fan of make ahead cooking! I love putting together freezer meals that go from the freezer to the crockpot, and give us a home cooked dinner without all the work! We have a very fixed income, and therefore a fixed budget every month. I've recently found that I can cook a lot more better food, and a better variety, by using freezer meals most of the time. My family has been trying out new ones every once in awhile. I wanted to compile a list of our favorites (for my own future reference) so I thought I would share on here too.
BBQ Spareribs
1-2 pounds of pork ribs
1 1/2 cups of ketchup
1 1/2 TBSP seasoned salt
1/2 TSP liquid Smoke
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
Combine all in a gallon freezer Ziploc bag. Thaw in refrigerator 24 hours, then cook in crockpot (High 3-4 hrs., Low 6-7 hrs.)
We like to put this over white rice and have some kind of vegetable on the side to make a complete meal. These proportions lasted my family only one night, but when I make it again I plan to double the recipe (for one bag) so we can get more than one dinner out of it.
French Dip Sandwiches
2-3 lbs. beef chuck roast
2 cans beef consommé (it is different than beef broth- I made that mistake once)
1-2 packages of hoagie buns
Combine beef chuck and beef consommé in a gallon freezer Ziploc bag. Thaw in refrigerator 24 hours, then cook in crockpot (High 5-7 hrs., Low 8-11 hrs.)
Shred the meat with a fork and fill sandwiches with it. Use the extra liquid in the crock pot for dipping the sandwiches.
We had some fruit on the side to make this a complete meal. These proportions lasted my family two nights for dinner and one day for lunch!
Cottage Cheese Pancakes
4 eggs
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup canola oil
Pinch of salt
Mix well and cook on a griddle, using a 1/2 cup measuring cup to size the pancakes. Turn once when bubbles begin to form.
We love these topped with fruit, and a little syrup.
Joelle especially loves to help me make these, and its very easy to do! I love easy stuff like this!
These actually freeze very well! Last time I made these, I think I tripled the recipe and put half of them away in a Ziploc bag in the freezer. A couple weeks ago, I pulled them out and let them thaw for a couple hours. They didn't quite thaw in time for dinner, so I ended up microwaving them. However, they were so good and tasted so fresh still that my husband thought I had made them that night. I will be keeping this trick in mind for sure :)
We like to sometimes have eggs with these or bacon. The fact that these are made with cottage cheese makes them very filling! I love simple things that stretch far. Sometimes it is hard having enough food to satisfy a man! This one always works!
Some recipes I'm looking forward to trying:
Here are some new recipes I just put together and I have in the freezer, that we will be trying in the next couple weeks: (stay tuned for our review of them)
Slow Cooker Sweet Teriyaki Chicken
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup sugar
1 TSP. garlic salt
1/2 onion chopped (I did 1/3 of an onion since I made a triple batch, and we don't love onions)
1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts
Combine all in a gallon Ziploc freezer bag. Thaw in refrigerator 24 hrs., then cook in crockpot (High 3-4 hrs., Low 7-8 hrs.)
I plan to have some rice to go with this. I think it would be good with the Teriyaki chicken over it.
Slow Cooker Creamy Salsa Chicken
1 lb. chicken breasts
1 (16 oz.) jar chunky salsa
1 (10.75 oz.) cream of chicken soup
Combine all in a gallon Ziploc freezer bag. Thaw in refrigerator for 24 hours, then cook in crockpot (High 3-4 hrs., Low 6-7 hrs.)
Shred chicken and serve over rice, chips, salad, in tortillas.
I'm not sure what I will do with this yet. I think eating it as tacos will probably suit my family well.
Slow Cooker BBQ Cranberry Chicken
2 lbs. chicken breasts
1/4 cup dried minced onion
1 (16 oz.) can whole cranberry sauce
1 cup Barbeque sauce
Combine all in a gallon Ziploc freezer bag. That in refrigerator for 24 hours, then cook in crockpot (High 3-4 hrs., Low 6-7 hrs.)
With this meal, we will have a side of stuffing (from a box mix) and maybe some kind of vegetable to make it a complete meal.
I was able to make nine meals for the freezer (three bags of each of the three meals above) with the frozen chicken breast from a 20 pound bag from Costco. I usually like to triple the recipes when I make freezer meals just to make it more worth my time. I like to try to fill up my freezer with new meals frequently.
Some recipes I'm planning on pulling together soon:
Beef and Mushrooms
3 lbs. stew meat
1 (10.75 oz.) can cream of mushroom soup
2 (4 oz.) cans mushrooms, with liquid
1/2 cup apple juice
1 (1 oz.) packet dry onion soup mix
Com
Combine all in a gallon Ziploc freezer bag. Thaw for 24 hours in refrigerator, then cook in crockpot (High 6 hrs., Low 10 hrs.)
This would be good over rice, with some fruit on the side
Pineapple Glazed Ham
4 thick slices of boneless ham
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 (20 oz.) can crushed pineapple (undrained)
2 TBSP Dijon mustard
Combine all in gallon Ziploc freezer bag. Thaw in refrigerator for 24 hours, then cook in crockpot (High 3 hrs., Low 5-6 hrs.)
This would probably be really good with a boxed Au gratin potato mix. My mom makes a good version of this ham fresh. I am interested to see how it comes out from the freezer. Some things freeze well and some things don't. This one will be an experiment.
All of my recipes for crockpot meals came from the following site:
http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/
I retyped them for myself because I wanted to simplify a list for us without some of the other recipes that we tried and didn't like from their list.
Some tips and thoughts on freezer cooking:
I like finding recipes that are easy and don't involve a lot of ingredients. The real test will be seeing if we like them. If we do like them, I will add them to my growing list of favorites. I'm hoping to have a large list to choose from before too long :)
I always store my freezer bags flat in the freezer. I do not have a big freezer. I only have the freezer that is attached to my refrigerator. By storing the bags flat, I have been able to store up to 25 meals in there.
I started out freezer cooking just as a back up, so we have food when we are on a short month and low on groceries. However, it has turned into my favorite way to cook! I love that I can do several in a short amount of time, on a weekend, without kids crying or pulling on me. And, then we are set for dinner any weeknight so easily I barely have to prepare anything. I love this way of cooking for the stage of life we are in! It seems with a toddler and a five year old, I feel I can only get half of something done at a time. I've got multiple chores just hanging around the house because I have to work on them slowly. I am glad I am not trying to cook a fresh dinner every night anymore. Especially during those crazy hours 4pm-6pm, my kids seem to lose it. Its not realistic for me to spend 45 minutes trying to pull dinner together every day anymore. Maybe at some point in the future. For now, freezer meals are perfect for us!
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