"Follow You Monday" Freezer Cooking!
To go along with the YOU in Bloom theme for the week, Candid Kitchen, I thought I’d go ahead and post a video related to cooking. As you know, I’m not the best cook… so instead of me doing the cooking, I’ll be featuring an awesome reader by the name of Rachel. She shows us how to save money by freezer cooking!
Enjoy!
**If you can’t see the video, then go here to watch it.
Support victims of the Tennessee Floods with a T-Shirt
https://thriftyniftypeeps.blogspot.com/2010/05/support-victims-of-flood-h2o10-t-shirt.html
Great post. I was just researching how to Freezer Cook or whatever it is called when this was posted. Thanks for the pointers.
I love the idea of ice cube trays. I was saving my store bought babyfood containers and then using them again. The tray will be so much easier. (Yes, you get bonus points for a cute baby).
Rachel- you are TOOO CUTE! Thanks for the tips. I want to make your Mexican Stuffed Shells!
love it!
Thanks so much for the great video! I especially loved the segment you added about baby food. I am about to embark upon that stage of my baby’s life and want to make her baby food myself. Now, I think I can do it!
Oh my gosh. Thank you so much, that was awesome.
Thank-you Collin I loved this video I have a family of 7 to feed this would be so much easier Thank-you Rachel
Awesome Video- I’ve been thinking of OAMC a LOT lately! I haven’t yet tried it. I’m not that good of a cook & my main problem is thinking of what to make! I don’t think I would make a month of meals at a time, but maybe cook Once every 2 weeks….OE2WC?? From Couponing (why isn’t that a word yet??-the computer is always underlining it!) I have a stockpile that would help me get started=] If anyone has any recipes that they use for freezer cooking please share!- easy ones- I’m just a beginner-lol
I googled it (also an underlined word which it shouldn’t be because “googled” is as common as sliced bread) the other day and there are literally tons of websites dedicated to this and even books you can check out of the library. I’m like you. I’m not that great of a cook, nor do I have a plethora of recipes to choose from. But I have been thinking a ton about it. I also need to know basic things like how long to warm a dish up once you take it out of the freezer, what temperature to set the stove on, what things can be frozen and what things shouldn’t be frozen, etc. By the way, I have also been thinking about OE2WC….Only I would have never come up with such a snappy name for it! This makes me laugh…can you imagine telling someone this Saturday is your OE2WC day! Too funny!!
I don’t mind cooking(too much) – but trying to please 3 kids and a husband is hard! I think that is why I have such a hard time coming up with recipes…then when I do find one that everyone will eat, I make it sooo much that they eventually hate it=[ I like all your questions, I need to read the rest of the comments to see if anyone answered them!
Hey! Ok, here are 2 of my absolute favorite freezer recipes that are super easy (and they use items that you most likely already have in your stockpile). The chicken parmesan is amazing and I was totally shocked because I thought it would get soggy if you froze it, but it is AMAZING!
Chicken Parmesan (recipe is doubled)
3 lb. chicken breast
4 eggs
2 t. salt
¼ t. pepper
1 ½ c. bread crumbs
1 c. oil
64 oz. tomato sauce
½ t. garlic powder
4 T butter
1 c. parmesan cheese
16 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded
(I personally use 1/2 the amount for each of the cheeses because when I made it before I found it to just be kind of overkill on the cheese – so use however much makes you happy!)
Place chicken on cutting board – pound until ¼ inches thick. Combine lightly beaten eggs, salt & pepper. Dip chicken into egg mixture, then bread crumbs. Heat oil in skillet until hot, quickly brown chicken on both sides, remove to shallow baking dishes. Stir in tomato sauce & garlic powder into skillet, heat to boiling. Simmer 10 minutes until thickened. Stir in butter. Pour over chicken, sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Cover with mozzarella cheese & cover with foil.
To serve: Bake at 350 for 30 minutes (if thawed) or 1 hr (if frozen) with foil on. Uncover. Remove foil & place mozzarella cheese over chicken. Bake 10 minutes longer.
Another one of my favorites: – because I am way too obsessed with Mexican food, but when you have it in your freezer, it’s way cheaper than going to a restaurant, plus a margarita, and queso, and, and, and =)
Brown Bag Burritos
2 lb. ground beef
2 cans refried beans
1 1/3 c. enchilada sauce
½ c. water
1/3 c. minced onion (can use dried)
1 T chili powder
1 T garlic powder
1 t. salt
1 t. dried oregano
3 c. shredded cheese (any kind)
20 flour tortillas (burrito size)
Brown beef; drain.
Add remaining ingredients (not tortillas). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover & simmer 20 minutes. Heat 3-4 tortillas at a time. Spoon ¼ c. mixture down side of ea. tortilla (use cookie scoop) Roll up. Wrap each burrito in paper towel, then wrap in foil. Freeze in ziplock bag.
When ready to eat – remove foil & microwave for about 1 minute.
THANKS SO MUCH!! I KNOW THAT TOOK LOTS OF TYPING=]
Thanks for the recipes….I will have to try these sometime! That was very nice of you to write everything down!
Thanks for sharing! They sound delicious.
Well done!! Freezer cooking is something I need to start doing, I just need recipes!
Great job!!! I def. want to learn how to do this – maybe just start off small with 1 meal per week (making enough for the month).
Can you post her blog link? I’d love to follow her frozen meal recipes but I can’t seem to find it (I’m sure I probably spelling something wrong).
http://www.frugaliciousdef.blogspot dot com is what it is I believe.
Thanks Rachel! Awesome tips, I had never even heard of “freezer Cooking” before, very interesting!! I can’t wait to try it for my familY!
I agree what is your Link called again?
I was wondering, does Rachel get anything for you featuring her video on here? Just was wondering. It was a great video loved the interesting twist to cooking! =]
I was wondering the same thing too. She so should!! It was a great video!
Hmmmmm.. . … . I wonder that also! By the way, AWESOME video Rachel. I too have never even heard of this and am anxious to try it. Sounds like a really good idea! 🙂
Anyone have the recipes Rachel Talked about?
I cant wait to try this. Of course with a family of 5, and then every other weekend a family of 7 it is going to be a little tricky doing portions. I guess I am going to google the best way to store the food. I prefer food saver method. Thanks for the awesome video Rachel, loved the music, and the humbleness of Samie not caring about a dirty dish, we all have them! LoL
I have a question about using meat in freezer cooking. If you buy the meat and stock-up it would be frozen, You would be cooking it and freeze it again. I wanted to know if this is safe? I have wondered the same thing with chicken breasts. Quite often when you buy them on sale, they are frozen. Do people cook them and freeze again? Thanks for any thoughts or ideas.
I always buy my meat in bulk so when I get home I’ll cook all of it. Then I freeze it in 1lb sections. So when I need to make tacos for example I already have my meat cooked and ready to go. I’ll just add seasoning and it saves me a lot of time.
I have always thought it was ok to freeze meat again after you cook it…however, you cant thaw it out then refreeze it before cooking it. If I’m wrong someone correct me.
I buy the meat raw and freeze it when i get home. haven’t had any issues yet
It is totally safe to refreeze the meat only if you have cooked it first. It is when you thaw it, then refreeze without cooking it that it can unsafe.
AWESEOME!!!! Love the ice cube trays for baby food ideas!!! 🙂
I do this with some of my girlfriends…I make a menu and go shopping at BJ’s and then we slip the bill and the food……because I have learned how to save (Thanks Collin) I can make about 15-20 meals for about $60.00,,,,,,it’s amazing and you aren’t doing it yourself, you have your g/f to help….. 🙂
I really would like the Mexican Unstuffed Shell recipe. It looks really yummy.
Here’s the recipe for the Mexican Unstuffed Shells. They are delicious, but my 1 tip would be to make this after you have stocked up on some free gas-x strips. – probably TMI there, but just wanted to warn you =)
Mexican “Un” Stuffed Shells (doubled)
32 oz. seashell pasta, cooked
2 lb. ground beef
6 T taco seasoning
1 c. water
4 c. onions, chopped
3 c. salsa
2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
50.75 oz. tomato sauce
to taste chili powder
Add seasoning, water, onion, salsa, 1/2 cup cheese, tomato sauce, and chili powder to 2 pounds cooked ground beef. Mix well. Stir in cooked pasta and portion into 4 8 x 8 baking dishes. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Cover with foil and freeze.
To serve: Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes (thawed) or 2 hours (frozen).
Thanks for posting the recipe Rachel. I was looking on your blog for it and didn’t see it. I definitely want to try this recipe out!
Great video by the way! 🙂
Oh thank goodness I looked back here. I am making the recipe tonight, but was just gonna wing it…..(and it wasnt going to be right) 🙂
Thanks for posting the recipe!
Thank you for the recipe. It looks really yummy. I enjoyed your video. 🙂
Do you fill the seashells with the mixture or do you just mix the seashells in with the other stuff? Do you use the big seashells or can you use the small ones? I really want to try this recipe but would love to see a video on it from start to finish.
how many does this serve?
I have a friend who is part of a group. They do freezer cooking. There are 6 women and they each make enough for the whole group. It is neat because they do 1 recipe but make it 6 times so when they come together each girl has 6 different meals ready for the freezer. Also there is a place here called Dream Dinners and it is all about freezer cooking. I know you can buy the books on-line and they are called Dream dinners. Going and making them at the place really helps for the beginners.
I have just started doing freezer cooking, what works for me is not to do once a month cooking. Instead when I am making something for dinner that freezes, I multiply the recipe by four or five. This keeps our freezer stocked but prevents me from needing to find whole days to to cook many meals. And multiplying the recipe really does not take much more effort.
I do something similiar to that, but usually just double or triple it. There are only 3 us in my family so far, and freezer space is somewhat limited. I am more inspired to do this more often though, especially as I have baby #2 about 1 1/2 months away, and I know cooking will not be at the top of my list for a while. I will say though, that just from couponing, I’ve gotten some super cheap already prepared frozen meals for about $3 or so.
When we had both of our kids, a couple weeks before I was due, my mom drove 3 hours to visit me and we spent the whole day in the kitchen…both times making and freezing over 25 meals! The first time it actually put me into labor, so I sat more second time around, but it was GREAT to have all those meals ready for after the baby was born. Lasted us about 3 months!
That is a very good idea Sandy! I will have to remember this when I start having kids!
That was a great video and I definitely want to start freezer cooking. My question is….when you have meat in the freezer, once you take it out and cook it, can you refreeze it in a dish???
My daughter is now 4.5 but when she started eating solid foods as a baby my mom and I had so much fun making her baby food! Not to mention how much money you can save when you have a garden and can use your own home-grown ingredients. I truly think I have the homemade baby food to thank for such a healthy and nonpicky eater! Here is a great book I recommend with lots of great tips on how to prepare and cook your ingredients, and lots of recipes.
https://www.amazon.com/Blender-Baby-Food-Recipes-Homemade/dp/0778801187/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273529350&sr=8-3
Yes! Making your own baby food is great and so affordable! One large sweet potato cooked and then divided up into icecube trays is so cheap and makes a ton of meals! We did veggies and fruit that way. The other nice thing is you can control exactly what goes into your child’s food.
I made both of my little girls homemade babyfood from 6 months old to 18 months old. I compared it a few times with the jarred stuff at the store and there is NO comparison to the texture, color, taste and overall quality of the homemade stuff. Once you’d seen what REAL food looks like pureed, you’ll never go back. I never bought a book, just made up my own recipes and food combinations (for example, two cubes of mango with one mini cube of chicken was a favorite) and I also used Wholesomebabyfood.com.for reference. My favorite was a crockpot recipe – baby beef stew.
Baby Beef Stew
One bag of frozen stew vegetables (remove most or all onions before cooking)
One Top Round Steak (about 1 lb)
1/2 cup water
No seasoning needed
Place frozen veggies on bottom, steak on top, cook 8-10 hours on low or 4-6 hours on high. Puree meat in food processor, gradually add cooking juices and vegetables and puree until consistency is age appropriate. I remove most of the onions, but I found it tastes better if you leave a few pieces in. My girls loved this one from about 9 months on, and it is sooo easy to make!
Thanks for the video! I will have to try the freezer cooking. I made my own baby food for both of my kids (one is 2 years and the other is 6 months)…neither one ate (or will ever eat) a jar of baby food because it is way too expensive! I am able to save even more because I have a large veggie garden.
I too would like to know about freezing and cooking then freezing the meat again, is it good?
Also i have NO idea where to start on this…lmao.. this sounds great because we are always eating out….
Does the food taste like freshly cooked or it does not taste very well? I have been wondering this all the time.
It tastes just as good and sometimes better….
I’ve been doing freezer cooking for 20 years. Haven’t had any problems with the meats. You’d be amazed at the recipes that will freeze. Best tip: line your baking dish with foil, freeze the dish. Once it’s frozen you have take it out of the dish and put it into a ziploc bag. To unthaw, place it back inside the dish, partially thaw, cook, eat(of course), lift foil out for easy cleanup. Biggest surprise when I started freezer cooking: all the egg dishes that freeze fine.
Mega-Cooking by Jill Bond will answer all of your questions and has tons of recipes. I recommend starting small with making a few extra meals here and there, esp if a certain meat is on sale, find a bunch of recipes to make/freeze using that meat. also check out onceamonthmom dot com or menus4moms dot com.
If it is frozen, you can bake it 50-100 degrees lower than the original recipe and double the time, works well, but should be covered.
Baby food–check wholesomebabyfood dot com or read super baby food by ruth yaron. I steamed my veggies and used the magic bullet.
Once you see how little extra effort it takes to make several meals while you are making dinner, you’ll be excited to keep trying it.
thanks! great video, got me inspired.
I really like the idea of making your own baby food and putting it in the ice cube trays! I don’t have kids yet, but I deffiantly want to remember that one! 🙂
Another tip – after you make the food, you can put it in a ziploc bag and keep it in the fridge if you are waiting for your other ice-cube trays to finish freezing/cleaning/etc. Then, when it’s time to portion the food out into the trays, you can just snip a small corner of the bag and basically pipe it out into the trays. Works SO MUCH easier than trying to pour it or portion with a spoon. Just another tip to make your food-making a little easier =).
so basically freezer cooking is make-your-owm tv dinners? I just live by myself so i guess Id save thousands making my own food. Ahhh the joys of being single!
I have been doing this for almost 4 years. A few friends and I use Don’t Panic Dinner is in the Freezer . We all make 4+ meals once a month then trade. So I may start out with 4 Buttermilk Chickens but I end up with 4 entirely different meals. What I like about this book is that there are very few casseroles, my kids like them and they don’t consume your entire day unless you want to.
https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Panic-Dinners-Freezer-Great-Tasting/dp/B002T4511S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273548026&sr=8-1
I liked the video, but you mention cooking day and you actually are cooking for two days by cooking up and chopping up some of the ingrediants ahead of time. Sounds like it works. I love the ice tray trick. Our boy is out of the baby food stage, but it will be great to pass that idea around. Thanks for posting this video and the recipe as well.
That pasta dish you showed, unstuffed mexican shells looked delicious, you just mixed all the ingredients together and then froze it, correct?
the fact that it is already done (& I didn’t have to cook that night) tastes better to me!!
Like Chantel, I usually triple or quadruple a recipe like Meatloaf. I don’t cook the extras the same day. I wrap in plastic wrap and then in foil. I pull it out and bake it when i am ready to use it. It is a huge time saver. If I buy pork tendorloin or other meat that I prefer marinated, I pour the marinade in the bag with the meat before I freeze them so they marinate while they are thawing! Freezing the chopped onions really makes for quick sloppy joes or tacos. I also freeze tomato paste in 1 T portions. For some reason, my recipes never call for a few tablespoons and got tired of throwing the leftovers out! Great video!
That is such a good idea with the tomato sauce! I’ve also read about putting eggs in ice-cube trays to freeze for whenever a recipe calls for egg? I haven’t tried it yet, cause eggs are one of those foods I get scared to mess around with too much, so I try to just use fresh, but I’ve heard plenty of plenty of people doing it.
I didn’t see the link posted yet so I paused the video…..
frugaliciousdef.blogspot.com
I couldn’t find any other recipe videos on it though. Rachel, we would LOVE to see more recipe videos! I think it’s a great idea. Thank you for the video!
Thanks Rachel. And thanks to the other readers sharing different resources to get started with Freezer Cooking. I’d like to give this a try. Bridget – freezing the tomato paste in 1 T portions – great idea. I hate throwing out the leftover in the cans. Thanks everyone!
What I do with my freezer cooking, is when I am in the mood for cooking I cook several meals and freeze them, or if I am making a meal that takes a little more time, like lasagna, for dinner, I just make a second one at the same time. It only takes a few minutes longer to make, but then I have a whole lasagna in the freezer for another day.
Also, I buy the disposable tin pans w/ lids for my freezer meals. Then I can either reuse them or throw them away on the day we eat them, and it makes so I can stack them better in the freezer. I don’t really like using the zip lock bags, I think it is to hard, and then you still have to transfer it into a pan to cook it in.
Also, I usually go to the freezer the night before and take out something that i would like for dinner the next day and set it out to thaw. Then in the morning I put it back in the fridge until ready to cook.
Wow, I just rambled a lot. Sorry.
how do you store your meals so they dont get freezer burn?
I use freezer ziploc bags for soups or pasta dishes if I’m tight on room, otherwise I have used the foil baking dishes before which work great, I just hate paying for them and then throwing them out (though you can find them at the dollar store which is your best bet!). Recently I purchased some small 8×8 baking pans from the dollar store to use and cover with foil. I’ve read that they should work fine like that, but you could also line them with foil like Pam said. Definitely if you plan on freezer cooking – make sure to stock up on foil whenever you see it cheap (Walgreens often has their brand on sale for less than $1).
You’re pretty awesome, Rach! Love this!
A great tip for homemade baby food is using a stick blender! I made my own baby food for all three of my children. I would just steam fresh or frozen vegetables in a glass bowl in the microwave, then I would transfer them to a tall round plastic container (I had a favorite one that was from Chinese takeout that worked great) and just mash them with a stick blender (hand held drink drink mixer). We never had a food processor, but that stick blender worked great because I could move it around and up and down to get to all the food, and I could control the consistency I wanted, from chunky to completely pureed. Also, it’s so inexpensive compared to a food processor, you can find new ones for around $20. Also recommend the ice cube tray. I used microwave to warm, super easy and fast. If any of the food was ever looking too runny to me, I would just mix in baby cereal to thicken it up.
I love freezer cooking, it truly saves time and lots of money. I blog a lot on freezer cooking! Everyone I have talked to that has tried freezer cooking LOVES it!!!
Great video!
You must check out FREEZEHAPPY.COM
It’s a great resource for everything freezer cooking.
I tried looking up the site but it doesn’t pull anything up?
Ooops, nevermind. I was typing in freezeR.
Love this!!! As a school nurse it would be great to plan ahead this summer and get my freezer full. So on those oh so hard first days back to school when your too tired to cook, supper is in the freezer!!!!!!!!!
How come I can’t find her website? DId anyone else have trouble finding:
furgalicioudef.blogspot.com????
It isn’t furgalicious…..it is frugalicious
Rachel – where did you get the little bags that you showed your chopped onions in?
What was the chicken in the crockpot recipe?
Completely off the topic of freezer cooking (thanks for this video though!), what is the name of the song that is played at the very beginning of the video? Anyone. . ..
Try Dream Dinners and I hope you have a wonderful Dream Dinners experience. It is the ultimate buy in bulk and save way to have a home cooked dinner and does cost less than buying the same ingredients at a grocery store. It is also very eco friendly, so much less packaging when you buy in bulk. We actually have children on our tasting panels; it is amazing to see what kids will really eat. We put kids in a box when we only feed them “white foods”. Don’t miss our new Dream Rewards loyalty program. You can get more dinner ideas on my blog Take care. https://stephanieallen.wordpress.com/