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They had to do this on Top Chef once, and the dishes that were frozen with the sauce separate were much better. I would advise you to cook meat ,ost of the way, and leave fish raw, as it will cook enough from just getting steamed from the sauce (which, of course, was frozen sepaarately)

I've never tried the Bertolli dinners you're talking about, but I do have a lof of dinners that can be made quickly from things in my freezer and panty. I've pretty much always got spaghetti sauce in the freezer, and pasta cooks in about the same time from dried pasta as it takes to defrost and heat it when it's frozen. Or at least not enough time difference for it to matter. It takes at least that long for the sauce to heat up, anyway.

There's also usually tomato sauce, or whole peeled tomatos, and recently I canned a bunch of tomato paste as well. If I have shrimp onhand, I can do a shimp creole type of dish in no time. Yeah, I still might chop an onion and a pepper, and add some spices, and I have to cook rice, but it's tales almost no brain power and not much time.

I've also got squash gnocchi in the freezer that cooks really fast, and a simple browned butter sauce is all it needs. Maybe a salad and veg on the side.

I think the only complete dishes I have in the freezer are some soups.

Without wanting to start an animal rights argument (which means I'm probably about to start one), Kosher doesn't equal humane. Slitting the throat of a fully conscious animal and allowing it to bleed to death doesn't strike me as a big step up from the air-bolt stun.

To answer your actual question, I like to make gnocchi. It freezes well, and if you take it out of the freezer and put it in the fridge in the morning, you can just boil it for a few minutes, then bake it in whatever sauce for 20 minutes more. We like a simple Bolognese with mushrooms and mozzarella on top. The kids really like tricolour gnocchi, with 1/3 made with pureed spinach and 1/3 with roasted tomato and red peppers. Pureed pumpkin can be nice as well, mixed in with the dough.

I also always make twice as much lasagna or cannelloni as we could eat, and freeze the rest. Enchiladas work well too. Frozen soups and stews popped into a slow cooker on low before you leave the house in the morning. Red beans and rice with smoked sausage or chorizo. These all freeze and reheat very well, in my experience. I think the trick is to defrost at least a bit beforehand. So again, if you can pull it out in the morning and let it rest in the fridge, you'll be fine. I usually add a bit more liquid before baking, be it wine or stock or just water. The best dishes always seem to have something fresh you add later, like cheese or sour cream.

I also like to make my own virtually-condensed soups. Potato, parsnip and leek, but with half the cream and stock. Freeze in small containers, then reheat adding hot cream or stock as you like. Or just a carton of well-roasted vegetables ready for a can of tomatoes and 30 minutes on the cooker. You can also freeze spaetzel and other dumpling dough quite well to add.

And of course, there's always chili. Thank you, heavens, for chili.

Thanks for all the great feedback, everyone! I will try to see if I can find some recipes from that Top Chef episode for sure. I dug out some old ice trays to freeze my sauces and I guess I'll fill them more shallowly than I probably would have. I want to be able to open the freezer, grab one bag, one pan and that's it - no cooking pasta seperately, etc. (This I could even delegate to my husband, and he would feel like he'd produced something fantastic! He's wonderful in many ways, but cooking is NOT one of them - which is why he married ME!) I'll write up some recipes and instructions up once I get something perfected.

I'll for sure freeze some soups, stews, etc. that I can crock-pot - on those rare occasions when I am that conscious in the a.m. Also some sauces for those nights when I can cook some pasta or rice while the sauce heats. In fact I'm making Creole sauce today for that purpose. I've never made gnocchi - I don't think I've ever even eaten any - but I want to make it - can someone point me to a good recipe?

As for freezing casseroles - that's great except that I don't have room for casserole dishes in the freezer, and my goal is to get rid of the deep freezer in the garage. I'd thought about freezing an uncooked casserole in a silicone pan, then popping it out and vacuum packing the frozen casserole. Then I can just stack them up like bricks!

@sarajane - what is "The kitchn" you referenced? I'd love to see those recipes!

@NotAmerican - thanks for the info on Kosher meats - I obvioulsy need to look further into that since it sounds like my buying choice may have been based on a faulty assumption. I shop mostly at Whole Foods, and their newly implemented 1 - 5 system (I'm not sure what 1 is, but 2 is "enhanced indoor environment" or something and 5 is born, raised and humanely slaughtered all on the same farm) is what I go by these days. (I heard Temple Grandin on NPR recently say that her methods and equipment have been implemented in - I think she said - 50% of US slaughterhouses. Not because they've gotten all humane, but because the meat is tainted by the animal's fear at the time of slaughter, so this improves their bottom line. I'm reading a third book by Dr. Grandin now - she's awesome.) Now that I think about it, I noticed the other day that the Kosher pork tenderloin was labeled "1", which I thought was strange, but I didn't need it that day so postponed thinking about it... I really am glad for that input. Thanks again.

I don't have much to add, but ... I don't know what pork tenderloin you were looking at, but it wasn't kosher. Pork isn't kosher no matter how the animal is slaughtered.

Here is a decent description of kosher slaughtering - you may have to scroll down to find it: http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm#Shechitah . I think this covers mostly everything, though it doesn't mention that the animal cannot be slaughtered in front of its children or parents.