Freezable meals for one-two
Hi Everyone,
Here's the situation. I am one person, and the boyfriend is moving in in a couple weeks. We are both really busy and the thought of preparing a full meal every night almost brings tears to my eyes. Take out isn't an option. So, what I want to do is make food in advance on Sunday and divide it into portions and freeze so that when I (we) get home we can just thaw and reheat and it's healthy and good and just cook a side or something. I'm looking for ideas. I usually make like 10 burritos and freeze them and they come out great. They are healthy with beans and ground turkey and sauteed veggies. We are looking to keep it healthy and not too fattening. I love all kinds of food so any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
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11 Comments:
My husband and I cook exactly that way. This past weekend, we made roast pork with apples, onions and squash and stuffed peppers; pack 'em into individual freezer containers and stash 'em.
We also do chili, eggplant parm, meatballs and sauce (then we cook up the pasta fresh or do up a potful and use it across the week in various ways), stuffed squash halves, individual-sized meatloaves packed away with mash and a veg, loads of soups and stews, cassoulet--so many "wintery" foods do well for this kind of schedule. We go for two menus each weekend, and that keeps the variety of available food in the 'fridge and freezer going...
In summer, we roast a chicken and grill some fish, then eat it cold out of the 'fridge all week on salads, sandwiches, out of hand with other finger foods. Really, you're limited only by your imagination...
BobbieAnne at 10:04AM on 09/23/09
lasagna or mac and cheese can be made in a casserole dish and then cut and frozen in individual portions.
I freeze soup and stock flat in single or double serving ziploc bags. Split pea with ham (hocks) freezes exceptionally well.
Another option is to do things like roast and pull a whole pork butt, freeze portions individually in sauce, then you cna pull otu a portion and make a taco, quesadilla, burritto or sandwich or even use as pizza toppings.
BananaMonkey at 10:08AM on 09/23/09
I often make a big batch of fried rice and potstickers to freeze. also have individual portions of bread, white/brown rice in the freezer so I have access to quick carb for dinner.
hmw0029 at 11:08AM on 09/23/09
Don't be afraid to cook the larger cuts of meat or a full chicken, either. It's just the DH and me, but I tend to make a roast/grilled chicken or a roast beef or something *big* like that on the weekends, then it reincarnates itself as various things during the week... chicken salad, stirfry, fried rice, etc.
For lasagna, which freezes nicely and can be cooked from frozen, you can also make and freeze individual portions (use like a single serving pyrex or something). then you can just pop in the oven however many you need, which is convenient for those times when someone comes over... you don't want everything in two-person portions! You can also roll the fillings up in (cooked) noodles, making individual lasagna-roll type things. Freeze on a cookie tray, put 4 or so in a freezer bag. Then you just need to pull out one frozen baggie of these things (or a baggie and a half, that's what DH does), pour some really good jarred marinara over, some cheese, stick in oven. Spend the next hour doing something besides slaving over the stove, presto - hot delicious meal.
I have found that things that do well in the crockpot both tend to be larger portions and freeze-able. So soups, stews, as other posters have said... just because crockpots tend to force you to make large quantities of things, don't avoid them.
wasliche at 12:11PM on 09/23/09
Eggplant parm freezes very well, and it's a little lighter if you bake the eggplant instead of frying (or chicken). I've also had good luck freezing chili verde - great in burritos, turned into a stew with more veggies, or with rice and beans. Also, you can cook a whole chicken or roast and reuse the leftovers in other quicker meals throughout the week. A Sunday dinner starring a whole roast chicken can turn into a quick soup, taco (or even enchilada!) fillings, a curry, or even just in some marinara sauce wtih pasta for a few days.
joyyy at 12:20PM on 09/23/09
some random suggestions:
freeze marinara sauce, for either pasta or frozen spinach ravioli
add a few quick stir-fries to your arsenal, and maybe get a rice cooker
get a slow cooker and prep things early morning (and cook all day)
GKlose at 3:37PM on 09/23/09
Stews, soups. spaghetti sauce, meatloaf, chili, meatballs with mushroom gravy, stroganoff, casseroles, pot roast, rice & beans (freeze seperately or together).
I often make extra or double of what I'm cooking so that I have enough for leftovers or freezing.
CJ McD at 4:25PM on 09/23/09
Invest in a Food Saver! The vacuum packer is well worth it in terms of not allowing freezer burn and losing all that hard work.
You can even use it for liquidy meals like sauces and soups. First, freeze the soup in a plastic wrap-lined loaf pan. Once it's frozen, pop it out of the loaf pan, then seal the "brick" with the vacuum packer. They stack nicely in the freezer this way, too.
Buy the bags in open rolls, and you can cut the bags to your specifically needed size. And no, I don't work for them. Just love using them!
Editmom at 4:49PM on 09/23/09
I do all kinds of stews, soups, and they portion nicely. You can also do two week's worth by making three or four large ones, and then mark them so you do a rotation of A, B, C, D in turn. I just did a recipe called "curried cabbage" that was really a vegan main-dish with other veggies, rice, and peas, and it made a huge amount that I boxed and froze for lunches or dinners over the next couple to three weeks.
I also do saucy things and layer them over rice or pasta for instant meals. Stuffed squash seems to work well also, and I've had good stuffed cabbage and peppers from a congregational fund-raiser (the sisterhood prepped and you could order ahead) a couple years ago, so you might consider those. I second the idea about lasagna; just be sure to let it cool and re-firm a bit before portioning, if you make the big ones. I sometimes do it in loaf pans which give lots of nice crusty edges; I love those.
Also, crockpots are wonderful things. Prep the food ahead of time as much as possible, put it into the crockpot, go out, and come back to wonderful smells and a hot meal. A friend was really decadent and had a timer-driven bread machine that he would set to come home to hot stew and fresh bread.
morgancain at 5:26PM on 09/23/09
We (just me and my SO) usually cook a giant meal every Sunday. We usually make lasagna, stew, mac and cheese, a roasted pork loin or chicken... The crock pot also makes for quick and nutritious meals. We also keep frozen veggies around for instant side dishes.
My latest favorite is pizza. We buy the dough and mozz at the grocery store and I make sauce. We portion everything in freezer bags and freeze until we want to make pizza. Before we leave to work, we pop everything we need in the fridge and by evening everything is defrosted. I like to pull the dough out of the fridge as soon as I get home so that by the time I'm done changing/reading the mail, it's ready to toss out. And it just takes about 15-20 minutes to bake it. It's a great vehicle for leftover veggies as well since it doesn't take much to cover a pizza (2-3 mushrooms, 1/2 pepper, etc).
And we keep some quick staples on hand like rice and beans in a box (25 minutes), cheese/crackers/olives/chorizo for quickie snack like meals, refried beans/salsa/tortillas for quick burritos, leftovers frozen in individual portions (soups in bags laid flat or casseroles in tupperware).
gingercookiewithlime at 6:09PM on 09/23/09
I find about the only thing that doesn't freeze well for me is potato, so I'm not as happy as I could be with stew, for example, or shepherd's pie. Otherwise, practically anything freezes well. The key, for me, is to freeze in shallow portions so that they nuke better. And if you cook a couple of main dishes on Sunday then you can keep two-three days in the fridge without having to have the same thing every day, and without having to freeze and thaw.
My usual strategy though is to cook something I can transform quickly without having to have the same thing more than 1 day. Cooked pasta and rice in the fridge let you make stir fries and pasta dishes in just 5-10 minutes. A rotisserie chicken gives you lots of options without your having to take the time to add that to your Sunday cooking.
Make sure you always have a bag of petite peas in the freezer. They add at the last minute to just about anything, and don't have to be cooked. (I often thaw a bowl of them in a colander under hot water, add finely minced celery, cuke, chives, cubed cheese and a dressing and have a substantial salad)
Don't forget quick breakfast foods for dinner - omelets, french toast with a turkey patty or veggie sausage.
Although I admit I've never eaten anything from her show, I've watched Robin Miller's Quick Fix Meals on FN, and her approach of prepping ingredients that she can then make into different meals on succeeding days is really sensible.
I love traditional Thanksgiving food, and when turkeys are really cheap I cook turkey one day and then spend the next day making lots of stuffing, squash, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rutabagas, whole cranberry sauce, apple pie filling (cooked in a casserole). I freeze 20 or more packages with different combinations of sides and then cover the turkey and most of the sides with a thin gravy that helps prevent freezer burn.
lemonfair at 6:50AM on 09/24/09