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Saturday, May 15, 2021

Needed: Meals to prepare and freeze for later - ideas please!

My Hubby has a request for my upcoming bunion surgery (again - glad we only have 2 feet!) and that is to prepare and freeze meals in advance or at least main dishes. 

He got really worn out during my recovery last summer and it takes a long time before I can help cook.

We have never really done this before beyond freezing leftover soups and chili or throwing some cooked meat in the freezer.

Do you have any suggestions? 

10 comments:

  1. I live alone and like to cook in very big batches and then freeze. If you have favorite recipes, make the batches much larger and then freeze. Freezing keeps thing tasting fresh for 3 to 6 months. If I cook, it is always at least 5 servings. It is a wonderful feeling to look in the freezer and realize if I don't feel like cooking today I don't need to.

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    1. It is wonderful to realize no cooking is required isn't it. Sounds like you have a system that works.

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  2. How about a lasagna, either meat sauce or cheese, an enchilada dinner, again it could be cheese or chicken,, rice freezes really well, so maybe a rice stir fry with chicken( precooked) Trader Joes has a great stir fry asian vegetable bag in the freezer section,. For the rice just cook normal, then cool and freeze in a container that's enough for 2 people. A quiche would freeze well too and then just open a salad pack. It'll be warmer then so maybe cook up some chicken breasts, then freeze in containers and that could be for a big cobb salad dinner.
    Glad you're thinking ahead.

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    1. Great ideas. We do like Trader Joe's stir fry and I think freezing the rice is brilliant.

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  3. First two suggestions. Cook chicken brrasts ahead on the grill. Par cook them even if a little pink. Freeze them separately and then pull.them out to slice in salads or top.with black beans and salsa. Secind, cheat and get the ready made sides. Frizen biscuits and mashed potatoes. Those 90 minutes in the micro rice things and ready pasta. Considering it's summer...show cooker chicken pot pie that you can heat with biscuits. Quiche. Chicken Alfredo or chicken broccoli casserole. Taco casserole with all.the pico.and olives and normal toppings mixed in. Ham and cheese or Philly style beef and cheese sliders in a pan
    Freeze and them just reheat. Is he comfy throwing things into a slow cooker? If so you can dump some meals in ziploc and then just heat them up. Basically anything cooked on a stove top.csn be turned into a casserole and be frozen. So I cook pork chops snd potatoes and asparagus on a sheet pan and then put it into a foil pan and seal and reheat. Also the Freezer does have some good frozen options and you might look at the free z er to oven meals from schwans depending on sodium issues. I also freeze homemade waffles and eggs and make scrambled egg muffin cups with sausage egg and cheese.

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    1. I like the idea of egg muffin cups. Breakfast is a challenge as I can't cook or carry things easily for weeks. We don't grill or use a slow cooker but I can adapt your other ideas. Thanks.

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  4. I make huge batches of twice-baked potatoes, then individually wrap and freeze (actually I freeze them first, then wrap, much easier and neater). Nice to have a side in the freezer too. I got a recipe from co-worker the other day that was basically just small individual serving sized meatloaves for quicker cooking. As soon as I saw it I thought that I would make a big batch and freeze (either cooked or uncooked) as they would thaw quicker as well as cook quicker.

    I also like to throw a couple of bags of tortellini from the refrigerator section into the freezer to have on hand. I use them to make Greek Tortellini Salad (http://whatscookin4milesnorthofnowhere.blogspot.com/2014/05/greek-tortellini-salad-from-two-peas.html) or an quick and easy Spinach tortellini soup (https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/spinach-tortellini-soup-recipe-1958087).

    Best of luck planning and prepping!

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    Replies
    1. Frozen meatloaf will work as will tortellini. We love both. Thanks.

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  5. How about one of those food subscription services that they ship to your door? Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, Home Chef, Noom...lots of them around with varying degrees of prep work already done for you.

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  6. Hadn't thought of those. I'll look into their sodium levels as that is a permanent issue for me. Great idea.

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