Aug. 5, 2008 - Freezer Meals X 14

Yesterday, with help from two awesome helpers, I made 14 freezer meals.  I am trying to fill my freezer up and make my Fall a bit easier.  It makes my days run so much smoother if I don't have to stress about what to cook at 4pm everyday.  I will stick to my monthly menu and include half freezer meals and half easy meals, like grilled cheese and a fruit salad. 

Here is my list of meals made. 

• Meatballs in Tomato Sauce (5 meals)
• Poppyseed Chicken (2)
• Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole (4)
• Italian Meatballs (3)

I froze all the casseroles, except the poppyseed ones and the meatballs, in a baking dishes lined with foil.  After they were frozen solid I lifted the casserole in the foil out of the dish.  If you struggle to lift the dish out of the pan, just run hot water on the bottom and the sides of the dish. 

Then I wrapped them in foil again, day dreamed about this really cool vacuum food sealer at Sam's Club, labeled the foil package with a name and a date and off to my freezer they went.  When I want to cook one of these foil wrapped casseroles I will unwrap the frozen meal and place in the dish I used originally.  This keeps my dishes clean and ready to use any time and not tied up in the freezer for several weeks or months. 

This casserole was first wrapped in saran wrap then foil.

Here are three of the meatballs in tomato sauce.  I made sure to form the foil around the frozen casserole so I could easily tell which dish it belonged to. 

Here is my freezer in desparate need of a defrost but it gives you an idea of our bounty.  Anyone want ot have a baby so I can make you dinnner?!  See the ice cream tub on one of the lower shelves, it's not ice cream any more.  I bought a big bag of hot dogs at Sam's Club and stacked the uncooked ones in here so I can pull them out as needed and not have a frozen block of hotdogs.  They fit perfect standing up on end. 

These 14 meals are not alone though.  I have 10 pounds of cooked ground beef in meal sized freezer bags, 2 freezer bags of the poppyseed chicken casserole, bags of uncooked chicken breasts in marinades, blocks of butter from Sam's Club, uncooked meatloaf dishes, a ham I picked up inexpensively at Easter, and several meal sized bags off stew meat for beef stew. I also have some cooked beans for chili that I made at home and bags full of the heals of our store boght bread to make bread crumbs as needed.   I need to add some pork roasts and beef roasts when I find them on sale.  I hope to buy more ground beef on sale, less than $2.25/lb, and cook it in meal sized freezer bags as well.  I love to add ground beef to our chili, taco soup, spaghetti, pizza, mac and cheese, and calzones.  Bacon freezes well too, either cooked or raw. 

As a side note did you know that bacon can be cooked in the oven.  I lay the strips in a large oven safe pan and bake at 425* until done maybe 15 minutes?, I don't remember how long.  Just check it every 5 mintues or so and you'll be able to see it is done.  No splatters all over the kitchen and no dangerous grease filled skillet on the stove top. 

Here are some of the recipes:

Meatballs in tomato sauce

2# ground beef uncooked

1/2 cup raw rice

1 egg

1/2 tsp garlic powder

2 Tbs dried minced onion

1 small can tomato soup

1 large can tomato soup

1/4 cup milk

1. Set aside 2/3 of the small can of tomato soup, the large can and the milk.  Mix everything else well.  Form into meatballs and line a large pan or two medium sized pans. 

2.  Mix the 2/3 of the small can of soup, the large can and the milk in a separate bowl.  Pour this over the meatballs.

3. Freeze.  When ready to bake, thaw completely and bake at 350* covered for 1 hour.  If you forget to thaw it, bake covered at 350* for alot longer. :)  Maybe 1 1/2 hours, just check it for doneness. 

4.This size recipe makes a very large dish or 2 regular sized meals for my family of 7.   We love this over pasta.

Chicken and Wild Rice

5 cups cooked wild rice

2 small cans cream of mushroom soup

8 oz sour cream

2 TBS lemon juice

3 cups cooked chicken

1. Spread 2.5 cups of the cooked rice on the bottom of your large pan. 

2. Mix the soup, sour cream and the lemon juice ina separate bowl. Pour half this mixture on top of the rice.

3. Add the chicken and then layer more soup mixture on top. The final layer is rice.

4. Freeze.  Thaw completely and then add a layer of bread crumbs or stuffing on top with melted butter for added interest. Bake at 350* for 45 uncovered.  This makes 2 family sized portions or one large meal.

Poppyseed Chicken

(Amanda V. this recipe may sound very familiar! Thanks for contributing to the church cookbook. :))

4 chicken breast, cooked and cubed

1 cup sour cream

1 can cream of chicken soup

1. Mix all ingredients together and pour into a casserole dish or a freezer bag. When you are ready to bake, thaw, pour into a baking dish if needed and add crushed ritz crackers,melted butter, and 1 TBS poppy seeds to the top.  Bake at 350* for 30 minutes uncovered. Serve over cooked rice or pasta.

This makes a decent family sized portion.

For the italian meatballs I added a few eggs, bread crumbs, italian seasoning and salt to several pounds of raw ground beef. I formed into meatballs and froze them uncooked.  It helps to freeze on a cookie sheet and then transfer the hard frozen balls to a freezer bag. 

Update to this entry:

I added up the total for all these meals and it amounted to about $85.  Each meal, which will feed 7 people with at least one extra meal, totals up to $5.  I will have to add pasta to the meatballs recipe and rice to the poppyseed chicken recipe but those are staples I keep on hand and purchase at very low prices.  I calculated that it will cost under $1 per person per meal, not including the leftovers that John can take to work the next day.  :)