10 Freezer Meals: Steps and Recipes to Stocking the Freezer

 

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Join me for the fun process of 10 Freezer Meals: Steps and Recipes to Stocking the Freezer (actually 11 cause I threw in a bonus!).  See my previous post for the grocery list and menu (click here).

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Now be creative, because many of the below recipes, if not all of these recipes can be cooked either in the slow cooker or on the stovetop.

Same goes for how we freeze them. If you have lots of freezer space, feel free to freeze all of them in aluminum pans and warm/cook in the oven. I find, the stacking of the baggies (make sure to double bag and label), takes up a little less room and stack so nicely in my upright freezer.

I also want you to remember before you get started, and I say this often, but it really is true, ” My recipes are guidelines, so if you want to swap out, substitute, or omit an item you like better- please DO.”

And please, please let me know how you like these recipes, and maybe an alteration you did, or an idea you have! I would love to hear your insight!!!! Please share with all of us on my facebook page Tandy’s Quick Meals or hastag #tandysquickmeals so we can all see the fabulous food you are cooking!

Happy cooking! You will be so glad to designate a day to these freezer meals, once they are all done and sitting in your freezer! I am a huge believer in freezer meals, and love to share what I do with you!

Because we are busy people, and we need anything and everything to make our lives a little easier (and tastier), and relieve us of just one task on those busy chaotic nights, so that we can spend more time with what really matters to us in life, no matter what season of life you are in right now.

Click HERE to see a favorite time saving, mess free freezer meal MUST have!

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Chicken Pot Pie:

INGREDIENTS:

Yield: 2 Regular 9 inch pies (or 4 small aluminum foil pie pans)

• 4 cups cubed cooked chicken (ham, shredded beef or turkey)
• 4 medium potatoes, peeled and small diced
• 2 cups sliced carrots
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 1 cup flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 3 cups chicken broth/ bouillon cubes
• 1½ cups milk
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup frozen corn
• Pre-made pie crusts for two double-crust 9-inch pies

INSTRUCTIONS:

Boil potatoes, carrots, and cubed chicken in a large stockpot for 8- 10 minutes. Drain vegetables and chicken and set aside.

In a large skillet, sauté onion in butter until tender. Stir in the flour, salt, thyme, and pepper until blended. Gradually stir in broth and milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add the chicken, peas, corn, potatoes, and carrots. Remove from heat. Cool.

Next you have 2 options:

1. Freeze mixture in baggies, hold pie crust in fridge until cooking day.
2. Assemble the pot pie, cover with foil, and freeze (see below instructions).

Crust option 1: Line two 9-inch pie plates with bottom pie crust; trim even with edge of plate. Fill pastry shells with chicken mixture. Roll out remaining pastry to fit top of pies. Cut slits or decorative cutouts in pastry. Place over filling; trim, seal and style the edges.

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When ready to bake:

Cover edges of frozen piecrust with foil; place on a baking sheet. Bake at 425ºF for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350ºF and bake for 1-1/2 hours longer, or until crust is golden brown. Let set for 10 minutes before serving.

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Freezer Chicken Alfredo Bake:

INGREDIENTS:

• 8 ounces of Pasta (use whatever you have on hand)
• 1 Jar of Alfredo Sauce
• 3 Baked and cup up Chicken Breasts
• 2 teaspoons Garlic Salt
• 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
• 1 Cup Shredded Cheese of your choice
• frozen broccoli (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Bake or boil your chicken breasts and cut into bite sized pieces
2. While the chicken is baking, boil a pot of water to cook the pasta until it is a little under done
3.  Mix the chicken, Alfredo sauce, cheese, garlic salt, broccoli (optional), and Italian seasoning together in a bowl and place in 1 gallon size baggie.
4. Once pasta is cooled, place in a separate gallon size baggie, drizzling a little olive oil over noodles. Then combine the sauce baggie and the pasta baggie into 1 gallon size baggie, label, and freeze (click here to see this amazing tool to make it mess free).

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When ready to bake:

Defrost in fridge, mix together, and pour into baking dish, top with a handful of shredded cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until warm. Enjoy!

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Slow-Cooker Potato Soup:

So It’s been a long week and you it’s definitely time for a throw and go recipe. This is it!

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 cups dice Russet Potato
• 1  cup diced Onion
• 3 Tablespoons minced Garlic, Cloves
• 1 tablespoon Season Salt
• 8 cups Chicken Broth/Stock/make your own with bouillon (always good to have on hand) (serving day)
• 2- 8 oz boxes of Cream Cheese (serving day)
• ¼ cups Cheddar Cheese, Shredded (serving day)
• ¼ cups cook and dice Bacon (serving day)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Add potatoes, onion, garlic, and seasoning, and broth into gallon freezer bags. Make sure potatoes all totally submerged in liquid. Freeze flat.

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When ready to cook:

1. Cook on high in slow-cooker ( if you leave for work early, just set the time on your slow cooker for when you need it to turn on/off) for 6 hours.
2. Stir in the cream cheese and allow to melt. Stir every 10-15 minutes until soup is well blended. It takes about an additional 30 minutes to 1 hour
3. .Garnish with cheese and bacon (click here to see my article on freezing bacon).

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Chicken Noodle Soup:

INGREDIENTS:

• Chicken breast, whole/diced, uncooked
• Chicken stock
• Frozen noodles (serving day)
• Celery, diced
• Carrots, diced
• Onions, diced
• Hot Sauce, optional
• Dill

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Throw all ingredients, except the frozen noodles, into a gallon freezer baggie. All ingredients uncooked. If you want to save time just throw the chicken breast in whole. If you don’t like the thought of putting all that liquid in a baggie just hold the stock in your pantry until cook day. I also love the addition of a little buffalo hot sauce and sprinkle of dill in my soup! AMAZING!
2. Lay Flat and Freeze.

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When ready to cook:

Defrost. Place in slow cooker and slow cook all day long. Make sure to add the chicken stock to slow cooker if you didn’t freeze it. When its dinner time add the frozen noodles and click to high for about 30 minutes. Enjoy!

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Lasagna:

I was introduced to the below ingredients for lasagna back when I was in culinary school by a Puerto Rican Friend of mine! I have never made lasagna with ricotta again! This is the ALL-TIME best lasagna hands down! I made it when I was in the restaurant and catering industry and it was always a hit then too! So hope you enjoy it to! Is super easy and takes minutes to throw together 🙂

INGREDIENTS:

• Lasagna Noodles, uncooked
• Spaghetti Sauce
• Parmesan Cheese
• mozzarella Cheese
• Cream Cheese, softened
• Garlic, minced (optional)
• Ground Beef, cooked

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Mix your ground beef and spaghetti sauce together. If your sauce is thick add some water to the sauce to make it more fluid (we are not pre-cooking our noodles so a little water is important).
2.  In an aluminum pan or metal pan you don’t mind sitting in the freezer for awhile, spread a layer of sauce in bottom of pan.
3. Then a layer of the un-cooked noodles.
4. Spread a heavy layer of cream cheese onto noodles. I find this works best when cream cheese is super soft/a little warm. I go through 1-2 8 oz. cream cheeses when making a 9×13 pan of lasagna. As you make the lasagna and eat it you will learn to know how much you like or dislike.
5. Sprinkle the cream cheese with minced garlic and parmesan cheese.
6. Repeat steps 2-5 until your pan is full.
7. Sprinkle with more parmesan and cover with plenty of mozzarella cheese.
8. I would recommend covering tightly with plastic wrap and the covering with foil. If you cover well it will last quite awhile in the freezer.
9. And Freeze!

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To Prepare:

1. Defrost in refrigerator.
2. Remove plastic wrap before baking, but re-cover with foil.
3. Bake at 350 degrees covered for about an hour. Uncover the last 10-15 minutes for the cheese to brown.
4. Remove from oven and Enjoy!

Tip: I would recommend making a 9×13 pan of this lasagna, even if you think its too much for your family. Once you cook the lasagna and let it cool put individual portion sizes into containers and pop in the freezer for quick “tv dinner” meals, or a quick lunch for you or your husband for work.

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Chicken Enchiladas:

So this recipe is super simple. I usually make mine a little different than what my sister is craving, but these are for her so we’ll go with it 😉

INGREDIENTS:

• chicken breasts, chopped
• taco seasoning
• enchilada sauce
• shredded cheese
• Jalapeno tortillas
• condiments, optional

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a saucepan cook your chicken breasts with the taco seasoning.
2. Once chicken is done, let cool a bit, and add enough shredded cheese for your liking (which for me would be a lot! I might even add in some sour cream 😉
3. Pour your enchilada sauce into a flat pan or large pie dish.
4. Get your aluminum pan next to your enchilada sauce pan.
5. Dip the tortilla into the sauce(yes this is a messy job). If you didn’t want to be messy you could just pour sauce over the tortillas at the end, but you wont get the same effect as you would if you “smother” the tortillas in sauce.
6. After you dip both sides of the tortilla into the sauce spoon your chicken cheese mixture into the center of the tortilla and roll up.
7. Place seam side down in the pan.
8. Repeat steps 5-7 until you have no more chicken and/or tortillas left.
9. Smother with any left over cheese.
10. Cover with plastic wrap tightly and then with foil.
11. Freeze.

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To Prepare:

1. Defrost
2. Remove plastic wrap and replace the foil.
3. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until warmed through
4. Remove foil and let cheese brown for an additional 10-15 minutes
5. Remove from oven enjoy! I would of course eat mine with tomato, sour cream, onion, etc.
6. Enjoy!

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Tator Tot Casserole:

INGREDIENTS:

• Bag of Tator Tots
• Cream of Mushroom Soup
• Can of Peas(or your favorite canned/frozen vegetable)
• Velveeta Cheese/American Cheese Slices
• Lawrys Seasoning Salt
• 4 # Ground Beef, uncooked

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. “Smoosh,” (I’m using the technical term in this recipe 😉 the uncooked ground beef into your aluminum pan. 4# of ground beef fits nicely into a 9×13 pan.
2. Sprinkle a liberal amount of Lawrys Seasoning Salt over raw ground beef
3. Dump a couple cans of cream of mushroom onto the ground beef and spread out.
4. Then evenly sprinkle a can or so of the peas onto the cream of mushroom
5. Slice velveeta cheese, covering every inch, layer the cheese over the peas.
6. Then last but not least spread tot by tot over the top so they are evenly layed down and lined up. Sounds tedious, but if you just throw them on they wont all evenly brown and get crunchy, which in my opinion is what makes it delicious!
7. Cover with saran wrap tightly and then with foil
8. Label and Freeze.

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To Prepare:

1. Defrost
2. Remove saran wrap and recover with foil
3. Bake at 350 for about an hour or until beef is done and juices are running clear and not red
4. Remove foil for the last 10-15 minutes to crisp up and brown the tots.
5. Enjoy!!!!

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Chicken Tortellini soup:

So with this recipe, I am gonna leave the chicken stock in my pantry until cook day, along with leaving the frozen tortellini in the freezer until cook day. And since I love throw and go meals on days I work, I will be using the crock pot for this meal to cook during the day. But you can certainly warm it up on the stovetop too!

INGREDIENTS:

• Cooked Chicken breast diced
• 3T olive Oil
• 1 Clove garlic, minced
• 3 stalks, celery, chopped
• 3 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 onion diced
• 10 oz box frozen spinach (unthawed)(tip: when I buy fresh spinach and it starts to get bad before we get is used up, I just throw it into a baggie and freeze! Any food you throw away is like throwing $$ away, so always preserve if you can)
• 2 cans cream of mushroom/chicken soup
• 2 cans water
• 32 oz chicken broth
• Family size package of frozen tortellini

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Put olive oil in the bottom of a large soup/stock pan
2. Saute’ garlic, celery, carrots and onions until tender
3. Add frozen spinach. Break up spinach as you cook
4. Add cream of mushroom soup and water
5. Add chicken broth(or hold in pantry until serving) and then add tortellini (or also hold in freezer until cooking day)
6. Pour the vegi, soup mix into a baggie and freeze.

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To Prepare:

1. Defrost baggie
2. Empty contents into crock pot or sauce pot, along with the chicken stock and frozen tortellini.
3. Heat through, and enjoy!

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The Best Beer-Soda Beef Roast

INGREDIENTS:

•  2-pound boneless beef chuck shoulder roast (No substitutions! This is the best cut of meat for the slow cooker!)
• 1 bag of baby carrots
• 3-4 Large potatoes, cut into chunks(day of cooking)
• 1 packet of Dry Lipton Onion Soup Mix
• 1 can of beer or coca cola
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup, optional
• 3 T Olive Oil
• 1 T. butter
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2-4 cups beef broth, salsa, or salsa juice1 T Worcestershire sauce
• salt and pepper
• 2-3 T tomato paste, optional
• 1 1/2 t. sugar, optional

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Combine all ingredients, except the potatoes
2. Divide into a Gallon size baggie (Double bag).
3. Freeze.

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To Prepare:

1. Defrost baggie.
2. Add contents of baggie, plus freshly diced or whole potatoes to crock pot and cook on “low” setting for 6-8 hours until beef shreds easily with a fork.
3. Enjoy!

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Crockpot Honey Dijon Chicken and Red Potatoes:

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 pounds of chicken(you can use chicken pieces with skin on or boneless)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (or whole grain mustard)
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground thyme
• 1/2 cup water (day of cooking)
• 16oz bag of baby red/russet potatoes (hold until cooking day since there isn’t enough liquid in this recipe to cover potatoes. You may also buy the fresh potatoes in the green bag and freeze so when you go to cook you just pull from your freezer and dump into crock pot- no prep morning of cooking day)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Add all contents into a gallon freezer bag, except the potatoes
2. Freeze

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To Prepare:

1. Defrost baggie
2. Dump into a slow cooker, including the potatoes, whether fresh or frozen
3. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.
4. Serve with side of steamed veggies and/or a salad
5. Enjoy

Serving Suggestions: I would recommend shredding the chicken and serve as a sandwich with ranch dressing. My daughter had 3 helpings of this chicken, dipping it in the creamy ranch. It was delicious. I also substituted sweet potatoes for white.

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Chicken Rice Broccoli Casserole:

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups cooked rice (white or brown)
• 1 cups cooked chicken, chopped (bake or boil it)
• 1 cups chopped broccoli, lightly steamed (can use frozen or fresh)
• 2 cans cream of mushroom/chicken soup
• 1 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Throw all ingredients directly into baggie.
2. Label, Double Bag, and Freeze.

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To Prepare:

1. Defrost Baggie in refrigerator
2. Dump contents into a casserole dish
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until heated through and bubbly. Enjoy!

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