Freezer cooking, and 5 recipes

A while ago I mentioned freezer cooking and never did anything about it. So now here I am to tell the world about the wonders of freezer meals. The ones you make yourself, not the ones you find at the grocery store. These are a lot better.

What is it?

You cook several meals at a time and store them in the freezer, ready for dinner. You can do once a week cooking, once a month cooking, or twice a month cooking, or whatever. I was doing once a month cooking, but it is just too much for me to do on my own at one time. It's great if you can do it with a friend, but I decided it would be better for me to do twice-a-month cooking, usually on Saturdays.

Generally, you make enough of one recipe to last two or three meals, and freeze in meal-sized portions. Most meals will still require some preparation on “eating day,” such as cooking rice or pasta, or adding cheese.

Most of the recipes I use I have adapted into freezer meals myself. A lot of recipe books out there use a lot of high-fat, high-sodium, high-whatever ingredients that I try to avoid in general. I also personally don’t like some of their methods, since there are things that just shouldn’t be frozen*. My method requires a bit more work on eating day, but the vast majority is done on cooking day. I also utilize a lot of frozen vegetables—stock up on them when they’re on sale, and it cuts out a LOT of work, and it probably won’t be any more expensive than buying fresh vegetables.

Why?

Well, I started doing it because I was sick to death of spending my evenings cooking dinner and then cleaning up after it. Freezer cooking really cuts down on the amount of dishes to do every night. I also don’t have to rack my brains to figure out what to have for dinner every night, because I made the decision when I planned my menu. If dinner is already mostly ready, then it’s much less of a temptation to just go get a pizza or burgers for dinner.

How?

Take time to make a plan. I like to list each dish and specific things to do for each dish, preparation in one column and cooking in another. Then I can cross things off as I go. Make your shopping list the day before you go shopping.

Divide your work up into two or three days:
Day one: shopping
Day two: prep (chopping, preparing sauces, etc. Anything that isn’t cooking.)
Day three: cooking
I sometimes combine shopping and prep day. If you want, add a day four for cleaning. I for one am not ashamed to leave my dishes in the sink or on the counter til I can rest up, then attack them the next day.

*There are some things that just don’t freeze well, like pasta, cheese, rice, potatoes, etc. Pasta gets mushy, rice gets gummy, cheese (dairy in general, really) gets…just gross, and potatoes get mealy. It’s really best to wait until eating day to cook these things. Commercially frozen potatoes are ok.

These are the things that I made this past Saturday. They're divided up into two sections: cooking day and eating day. There may be additional ingredients listed under eating day. The ingredients listed under cooking day are really a doubled recipe. The ingredients listed under cooking day are a single recipe, since, at least when I do it, I make enough of one recipe for two meals, then thaw half at a time to eat. So the eating day ingredients are half of the cooking day ingredients. If that makes any sense.

Slow-cooked Pork Ribs
This recipe comes from a recipe for a pork loin roast. I used pork ribs cuz they're a lot cheaper and easier to cook.

Cooking day:
2 to 2 1/2 pounds boneless country-style pork ribs
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup lime juice
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons red pepper sauce
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into eighths
1 medium onion, cut into fourths
4 garlic cloves, crushed

Place pork ribs in large bowl. In blender, place orange juice, lime juice, cumin, red pepper sauce, allspice, pepper, onion, and garlic. Cover and blend until smooth. Pour over pork ribs; cover bowl. Refrigerate at least 4 hours but no longer than 24 hours.

Place in slow cooker with 1 cup water. Cook on low 6 to 8 hours, or high 3 to 4 hours.

Divide in half (including the remaining juices) and freeze.

Eating day
Thaw and heat. Make a gravy out of the liquid. It’ll be green, but it’ll be tasty. These are really good served with garlic mashed potatoes. Pineapple goes really well with it, too.


Chicken Taco Grande

Cooking day:
2 tablespoon oil
2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1/4 to 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/3 cups frozen corn, thawed
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup chopped onion
2/3 cup water
2 pkg (1 oz) taco seasoning mix or use this recipe

Heat oil in medium skillet over medium heat until hot. Add chicken; cook 5 minutes or until no longer pink in center, stirring frequently.
Add corn, bell pepper, onion water and taco seasoning mix; mix well. Heat until bubbly. Reduce heat to medium; cook 10 to 15 minutes or until liquid evaporates, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; divide in half and freeze.

Eating day (remember, this is for one half of the recipe above):
1 cup (4 oz) shredded Cheddar cheese
2 cans refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
lettuce, tomato, whatever taco toppings you like.

Thaw one meal’s worth. Stir in cheese

Unroll both cans of dough; separate into 16 triangles. Arrange triangles on sprayed cookie sheet with short sides of triangles toward center, overlapping into wreath shape and leaving 5-inch round opening in center. Lightly press short sides of dough to flatten slightly.

Spoon chicken filling onto widest part of dough. Pull end points of triangles over filling and tuck under dough to form ring. (Filling will be visible.)

Bake at 375°F. for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with taco toppings.

Cajun Burgers
For these, I used ground chicken that I ground with my KitchenAid food grinder attachment. They would be good with ground beef as well.

cooking day:
1 pound ground beef (or chicken, turkey)
1/2 cup diced pepper
1/2 cup diced onion
3 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
1 egg
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
1 tablespoon prepared mustard

Cook onion and pepper in skillet over medium heat until onion is translucent.

In a medium bowl, mix the ground beef, pepper, onion, bread crumbs, egg, green onions, 1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning, and mustard. Form into 4 or 5 patties.

Cook on grill, or broil (what I did), 4-5 minutes per side, to internal temperature of 165 degrees.
Allow to cool, then freeze in meal-size portions. Tip: first, freeze on a pan lined with wax paper so the burger don’t stick together in a bag. Then put them in a plastic freezer bag.

Eating day:
Thaw. Heat in 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes, or until heated through. I suggest heating in an oven so that they don't get soggy. Then place a slice of cheese on each burger and broil until cheese on each burger melts. Serve on buns with burger fixings and bbq sauce.


Italian Soup

Cooking day:
1 lb ground beef, chicken, or turkey
1 1/2 cup chopped frozen carrots
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 onion, quartered then halved
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoon dried parsley
3 teaspoons dried basil
3 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoon salt

In medium skillet, cook beef, chicken, or turkey until browned through. Remove from skillet. Cook onion in olive oil until translucent. Stir in garlic and cook until tender (about 30 seconds).
Combine chicken, onion mixture, carrots, and spices; dive in half and freeze.

Eating day:
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
2 3/4 cups water
1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup ditalini pasta

Thaw. In med or large pot, combine meat mixture, tomato sauce, water, and beans. Heat until boiling, reduce heat and simmer 1 hour. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Remove from heat and stir in parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.


Honey Chicken Stir-Fry

Cooking day:
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 garlic clove, minced
3 teaspoons olive oil, divided
6 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 (16 ounce) package frozen broccoli stir-fry vegetable blend

Stir-fry chicken in 2 teaspoons oil. In small bowl, combine garlic, honey, soy sauce, and pepper. Allow to cool. In two freezer bags, combine chicken, frozen vegetables (still frozen), and sauce. Freeze immediately, before vegetables thaw.

Eating day:
Thaw in skillet over medium heat. Bring liquid to a boil. Cook 5 to 7 minutes, until vegetables are done. Serve over hot cooked rice.