Ideas for meals to freeze

[annedonnelly]

I don't have time or inclination to cook when I get home from work. So I cook at the weekend and freeze portions for weekdays. Things like curry, bolognaise and other pasta sauces. Does anyone have pointers to good recipes that I can try? I'm happy to cook a recipe for four and then portion it up. I don't want anything too complicated or with ingredients that will lead to waste.

I don't eat a lot of red meat so I'm looking for chicken, fish and vegetarian meals. Ideally things that can be quickly reheated and served with rice, pasta or bread.

Thanks!

 

[hispoiema]

There's a book called "Dinner is in the freezer" and another one called "Once a Month Cooking". I owned the latter one and it gave shopping lists for the entire month and explained how to make many different things at once using one of the meats at a time. The author suggests you take one day for shopping and organizing, and the next day for cooking.

I searched and found that there is a website called Once A Month Meals. It's got various menu plans such as Paleo and Vegetarian etc. Looks like a place where I will be spending some time at...

 

[OhioTom76]

I just tried out a new recipe today for "quick chicken paprikash" that I saw on the back of a soup can. If I recall it off the top of my head, the recipe was as follows:

1 can of condensed Cream of Chicken soup
1 medium onion sliced
1 lb of boneless skinless chicken breast, diced
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Cooked Egg Noodles

Cook the diced chicken and sliced onions in the oil. Take your time doing this, and let the chicken and onions get a nice golden brown. Add the paprika and toss to evenly coat the chicken and onions. Add the water, sour cream and condensed soup and mix thoroughly then simmer for a few minutes to combine all the flavors. Add cooked egg noodles and toss.

 

[Jade]

I think stews are always a good to preserve in the freezer as you aren't really risking it turning into a different texture upon reheating. My favorite is beef stew that's either tomato based or soy sauced based, but seeing as you aren't fond of beef, then maybe just look into cooking something like Chicken Cacciatore which is an Italian tomato based chicken stew.

 

[clairebeautiful]

To be honest, I don't necessarily plan freezer meals, I just double the recipes of whatever I'm already making and freeze what is leftover. This works especially well when I have defrost meat and don't want to refreeze it raw.

Chili (traditional or white-chicken chili) in my humble opinion, is always better the longer it sits and allows the ingredients to soak up the flavors. This is one I usually make a huge vat of and freeze half for later. (We always enjoy the second round better than the first, and it is so easy to just pop it all in the crock pot to reheat.)

But I mean, last night I made fajitas and my family only ate about half. There was too much for like a leftover lunch, so I froze it. Next time I make it I will simply have to add a few more peppers and onions. It will be quick and probably really good.

The only thing I do not love (but will still eat) after frozen is anything with noodles in it. Spaghetti or stroganoff just don't reheat with the right amount of moisture and texture. Macaroni and cheese never bothers me (if it is the homemade natural stuff with real cheese) but anything else with noodles tends to be very blah after reheating.