Freezable dinner recipes?

M

MCunningham

Cathlete
Fellow Catheites,

I am trying to help DH and myself stay away from takeout... We have the best of intentions with regard to eating better, but we both work long hours and usually get home pretty late (7:30-8:30pm). I've been toying with the idea of making dinners ahead of time in batches and freezing them (I have a HUGE upright freezer that is almost empty). However, the few things I've tried have not frozen (or defrosted) well. :(

Do you guys have any healthy recipe ideas that freeze and defrost well? If so, the more details you could provide the better (e.g. defrosting/cooking temperature and time).

Thank you so much ahead of time!!

MC
 
I am interested as well. Not only do I work long hours, I work odd hours (3rd shift) when most things are closed. Even shopping can be a chore when you attempt to shop around hundreds of boxes and stock clerks in the isles.

This forum always has so many good ideas!

Abbygail
 
I like the following books:
Don't Panic Dinner's in the Freezer & Don't Panic More Dinner's in the Freezer. I have tried several recipes and liked them all. I change the ingredients to make them healthier. I found them at Sam's a few months ago. Maybe you could try the local library to see if you like them before buying.
 
Yes, buy the book The Best Make-Ahead Recipe. It's written by the people from America's Test Kitchen, and ALL of their cookbooks are excellent, and never let me down. Sometimes you can find their books at Costco, so you may want to check there first since it will be cheaper there. Otherwise you can go to their website. Here's a list of the table of contents:

CHAPTER 1 - Appetizers
CHAPTER 2 - Side Dishes
CHAPTER 3 - Double-Duty Cooking
CHAPTER 4 - Slow-Cooker Favorites
CHAPTER 5 - Stews, Chilis, and Sauces
CHAPTER 6 - Casseroles
CHAPTER 7 - Oven-Ready Entrees
CHAPTER 8 - Breakfast and Breads
CHAPTER 9 - Desserts
CHAPTER 10 - Make-Ahead Holiday Menus

Hope this helps ya!:)
 
dania said:
Yes, buy the book The Best Make-Ahead Recipe. It's written by the people from America's Test Kitchen, and ALL of their cookbooks are excellent, and never let me down. Sometimes you can find their books at Costco, so you may want to check there first since it will be cheaper there. Otherwise you can go to their website. Here's a list of the table of contents:

CHAPTER 1 - Appetizers
CHAPTER 2 - Side Dishes
CHAPTER 3 - Double-Duty Cooking
CHAPTER 4 - Slow-Cooker Favorites
CHAPTER 5 - Stews, Chilis, and Sauces
CHAPTER 6 - Casseroles
CHAPTER 7 - Oven-Ready Entrees
CHAPTER 8 - Breakfast and Breads
CHAPTER 9 - Desserts
CHAPTER 10 - Make-Ahead Holiday Menus

Hope this helps ya!:)
Click to expand...

I just got this book and I love it so far. I have tried a couple of the double duty cooking recipes, and one of the casseroles. The recipes are very tasty. They are not low fat, or low carb if you're looking for that, but they are good and you can substitute low fat cheese and so on as you like.

The recipes are a much better option to take out.
 
I recommend this website: www.savingdinner.com
Leanne is great. She has all sorts of recipes available, including those for the freezer. Everything I've tried has been good. She offers low carb and healthy options, too. I need to get back to doing this myself. Too much taco bell lately!
 
I just know when I freeze pasta or meatloaf it tends to reheat well. My kids love both of these recipes.

love this turkey lasagna w/spinach (was from clean eating magazine):
http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=276408

not sure how clean but this meatloaf is DELISH. it makes a bunch so we usually have leftovers plus another meals worth going in the freezer. I keep extra bbq sauce on the table: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/...muffins-with-barbecue-sauce-recipe/index.html
 
Homemade frozen meals are so good! I think the container size is important as far as defrosting and reheating. A shallow container of the exact size for the number of servings you need works best. My favorite dishes for freezing are vegetable soup, split pea soup, chili, enchaladas, spaghetti, hummus. Just about any recipe with meat and/or beans freezes well.
 
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Much of what to freeze also depends on how you plan to reheat them. If you are reheating in the oven, most dishes will work fine, but take longer to reheat. If you reheat in the microwave, then you need to stick with foods which traditionally are microwave friendly, like Calvillo mentioned, which are pasta and meatloaf. Steak, fish, anything with a seared "crust" doesn't work so well in the microwave.

When I'm really busy, I tend to do a lot of protein-with-salad meals, or veggies with eggs. I'll take leftover steak, like london broil, or grilled chicken and just put it on a bag of lettuce, use a bit of my own dressing (white pear balsamic vinegar w/evoo) and a small crumble of feta or stilton. With eggs, I saute mushrooms and spinach in a skillet and then add eggs and a little low fat cheese and it takes maybe 5 minutes. Garden burgers with brown rice and hummus is also really good and quick if you make the brown rice ahead of time.
 
I forgot to post a huge THANK YOU to all of you who gave me such great ideas on where to start with this cooking-ahead-and-freezing concept! I got all the books you guys recommended and I'm checking out the websites now to print off recipes! I'm so excited about this... I'll let you know how it turns out! :)

MC
 
I've recently discovered my oven has a timer function where I can put a dish in the oven and set the timer to come on at a certain time and it will automatically shut off.

I thought this might work well with frozen dishes that could sit in the oven all day. I don't think making up a fresh dish with meat in it would work as I was worried about the meat/chicken going bad if sitting out all day. Any thoughts on if the meat would go bad?
 
MC, you will love freeze ahead cooking, trust me! It's a lot of work on the weekends, but it's so worth it to eat a good meal during the week. My DH and I also work long hours, so doing this is great.

I also recommend crock pot cooking. Just about anything that works well in the crock pot freezes beautifully. I make a wonderful pot roast in the crock pot and freeze the leftovers. Very yummy.

The other thing I do to help weeknight meals is cook a chicken breast on Sunday when I'm making dinner anyway. I toss it in the fridge and use it twice later in the week (the ones from our butcher are huge). I either make a quick stir-fry or chicken tacos or salad if I have the veggies pre-cut. This time of year I throw the chicken breast on the grill while I'm making whatever else on the grill on the weekend, then toss it in the fridge.

MommaPew, I think leaving a frozen meal in the oven would be okay, but I wouldn't leave a fresh dish out all day. That would make me too nervous.

anne
 
things i always make in triple batches so i can freeze:
chili
pasta sauce
stuffed cabbage
pesto

make whole wheat pasta or brown rice and a salad or some steamed veggies -- you'll have dinner ready in 20 mins. (with the cabbage i just make salad.)

when i was working full time i also stocked up from trader joe's frozen section. they have all sorts of prepared foods or shortcut foods (my faves were the butternut squash and tomato soups, i just added veggies and a dollop of fat-free sour cream). you just have to watch the sodium content in the ones that look healthy otherwise.


wendy
 
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