Great Article about Freezer Meals...

This appeared in my inbox today from Jenny Ahlstrom Stanger the author of Fabulous Freezer Meals and the creator of the www.FreezerDinner.com website. She has some great ideas and I think there's a lot of usable, practical information here. Enjoy! (Recipes and more ideas can be found at her website mentioned above...wonder how much longer this information will be free?)

WHAT'S IN YOUR FREEZER?

A few questions I hear quite often are: How do I get started with freezer meals and what are your family favorites that cook up in 15 minutes or less?Diana sent me this email a few weeks ago and she was willing to let me post it.

Question:

Hello, I purchased your book about a week ago (a birthday gift for myself) and I am anxious to start some of the freezer meals. I have a few questions about how you personally make it work for you. Before I bought your book, I spent some time researching OAMC online and freezing meals. Some of those sites talk about how they make 15 dinner meals, 10 lunch meals and 10 breakfasts. How do you organize how many meals to make? Right now, our family is my husband, our 1 year old, and myself. We are very health conscious and after hitting the year mark from my son’s birth, I am down to losing my last 10 lbs. So, I want this to be healthy for us and make my life in the kitchen easier. Since you are a mother, and have older children who eat real food (my son is barely into the eat what we eat stage), I would appreciate any further tips regarding health or feeding your kids.

Thanks so much!
—Diana

Answer:

Thank you for emailing Diana and thank you for purchasing a copy of my book! Happy birthday. I hope you had a good one.

Your question is a great question, one that I think a lot of people have.

I first tried the OAMC (once a month cooking) method to stock my freezer and it was very difficult for me. In fact, I vowed I would never do it again. I’m sure it gets easier the more you do it, but I chopped vegetables and cooked meat for a week before meal assembly. The next week I spent assembling and I only had one set of pots and pans so I had to wash them and re-wash them 4 or 5 times a day during that week. With 2 small children needing my attention during it all, it was exhausting.

My method is to take it slow. Don’t try to do it all at once just one or two recipes a week. It is also smart to double any recipe you make. Serve one meal and freeze the other. If you do this, a variety of meals will start to stock quickly in your freezer. Start with the basics in the bulk recipe section of my cookbook “Fabulous Freezer meals”. Stock up on things such as cooked rice, browned ground beef, sweet shredded pork, re-fried beans, salsa etc… Then make the pot sticker recipe, wheat bread and cook a spiral ham and bag up all the leftover meat.

Some great quick 15 minute meals are: the BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, Orange Chicken, Freezer Pizza, Chicken Cordon Bleu, Chicken Alfredo, Stromboli, etc… Make the fajita mix or pork roast and shred it for quick nachos, Chim-Changas or taco salads. Also, I would make a cookie dough recipe. It is always convenient to have cookie dough in your freezer.

After you stock your freezer with the basics, I would recommend making these recipes once a month: Chicken Pot Pies, Chicken Manicotti, Lasagna, Cheesy Ham Bake, Turkey Bake, etc..

For my family size (2 adults 4 small children), I have one of these: and one of these in the garage. and it is enough freezer space for us. It may be a mis-conception I have, but I feel like you just fill up a deep freezer and only use the top 2 inches of food while the bottom frozen food gets old. Please leave a comment if you think I missing out by not owning a deep freezer.

What’s in my freezer right now?

Pot Stickers
Frozen Burritos
Cookie Dough
Cooked ham (use in eggs for breakfast, sandwiches, soups)
Marinated Chicken
Frozen berries, peaches, and pineapple
Frozen broccoli, carrots, & peas
Shredded cheese
Freezer Jam
Wheat bread
Cooked rice
Bananas and shredded Zucchini to make breads with
Tortillas (flour and corn)
Large tubs of whipped cream (we make a lot of french toast and top it with whipped cream and fruit)
Chicken Pot Pie
Frozen Pizza (homemade…not the cardboard, store-bought kind)
Tator Tots (once in a while we use these but fry them in olive oil)
Walnuts, pine nuts and cashews
Yeast
Muffin batter in muffin cups
Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken and Rice
Beef Sirloin Tips in Mushroom Gravy
Butter and Margarine

There is not a day that goes by that I don’t use something from the freezer for each meal. Most often I take something out that is frozen and add it to fresh ingredients.

I attended a Cinco De Mayo party Saturday night at my neighbors house and I was in charge of bringing a dessert. Because I was at a book signing all day I had no time to make something from scratch. I pulled out some frozen cookie dough when I got home (I had 1 hour before the party started). In 20 minutes the cookies were done. I had time to get ready and do all my kids hair before the party started and then I topped the cookies with whipped cream and strawberries and off we went to the party, on time.

Anyway, it’s getting late. I’m starting to not make sense anymore. I better get to bed. Let me know what questions you have about getting started. I would like to answer this question for everyone out there that wants to start, but is not sure where to.

Thanks again for the great question.