Pre Prepared Dishes

Sorry this is supper late, but my favorite pre frozen meal is lasagna. It freezes great, cheap to make, just put it in the oven (usually 1hr), and everyone likes it.

Hi L. - tell your mom we all hope she feels better soon!

I echo the last post and suggest doubling your recipes.

I also try to precook certain ingredients since cooking and cleaning pans seems to be the most time consuming part of meal prep. I saute several pounds of ground beef at a time for mexican food and freeze it in 1 lb packages. Meatballs are also easy to freeze - I can fit several dozen on a cookie sheet and bake. Boil several chickens at a time - My pot only fits one at a time so I just boil them one after the other in the same broth. I use 3 parts water to one prepared chicken broth and add carrots, celery and onions and seasoning. Add the 2nd chicken and a little water to the same broth. By the time the third chicken is done the broth is really flavorful. When it cools, just strain and freeze in portions to use later. When the chickens are cool just take the meat off of the bone and either package for freezing or use in your recipes.

You could also check out one of those "dinner tonight" places where you make 12 meals all at once in a couple of hours. They have a menu and prep all of the ingredients for you. All you have to do is assemble them.

I know there are a few sites on the web... here's one that has a great list of recipes for free

http://organizedhome.com/freezer-cooking-guide

If you're looking to buy a great product, this one is the best that I've found.

http://www.30mealsinoneday.com/products.php#software

Have fun! You'll get hooked on freezing meals. I do a couple meals a month is all, but love it!

We've just started daily sports practices & are running constantly. I've become a pro at throwing together quick casseroles (even the strangest combination of leftovers, mixed together, combined w/some sour cream or "cream of" soup, plus some cheese on top tastes great!) Can you throw food in a crock pot the night before, refrigerate the crock & put it in the base to cook in the morning? It's nearly soup season-I save all of my leftover veggie parts & scraps (not the peelings, but the ends of carrots & celery, the last bit of onion that isn't enough to go in a dish) in a freezer baggie for "soup guts". Spaghetti pie is easy to cook ahead & reheat later. Soups are your best bet. Grab a few loaves of bakery bread the next time you're at the store, put them in waxed paper & then a freezer bag (seems to keep the freezer burn off for me for months) to store for later. I have a deep freeze mostly full of leftover soups in gallon bags-I freeze them flat in my inside (up top of the fridge) freezer & stack them sideways to make more room. Tamales reheat well, taquitos are easy to make... I try to do "fast food" like stuff that my boys like but w/o the fast food cost & unhealthiness.
I've started cooking all of my ground beef & freezing in dinner-sized baggies when it cools; I cooked up a package of pork chops last night & wrapped them individually in waxed paper & froze them together in a gallon bag. We do a lot of meat-containing meals (casseroles, stir fry, etc) because it's cheaper, faster to cook & easier to prepare. We learned from our Hawaiian friends to stretch the meat-they grill a couple of big steaks, season them well, marinate if need be beforehand & cut them into strips. Everybody gets their fill & there's always leftovers, no matter what they started with.
I don't have many pre-made meals but hopefully that gave you some quick ideas...
Good luck to you all & best wishes for Mom's surgery!

If you have the money you can try looking on line because there are companies that you can call and tell them what meals that you want and they will prepare them for you. I believe some will deliver them to your house or you just pick them up and put them in the freezer unitl your ready to cook them. Another option you can try which I did right before I had my baby is I went to an online recipe page like www.allrecipes.com and got some recipes from there pre made them myself and while I was on maternity leave had food there to eat.

Hi,

I have two suggestions for you. Buy or check out fromyour local library the following:

Once A Month Cooking
Frozen Assets
Fix It and Forget it (lots of crockpot stuff can be frozen)

Also, see if there is a local place like "Supper Solutions" where you can make/get freezer meals. They have all the ingredients ready for you, directions, containers, etc. If you don't have time to assemble them, they will assemble them for you for a small fee.

Best wishes to you and for your mom's surgery,
L.

We make lazanya, shepherds pie, enchiladas, etc.
Most foods your family eats I am assuming could be froze.

If you double the recipe and then freeze it in your family's serving size container then you have more than one frozen for different days.

Good luck with her surgery.

S.
mother to Kai
www.HomeWithKai.com

I've had good luck with a business called Supper Solutions. I go to the kitchen and prepare the meals once a month, which takes about an hour or so. Then I put the prepared meals in the freezer, and thaw them out as I need to. It saves me having to think about what to make for dinner, and gives my family a greater variety than just the dishes I could prepare ahead and freeze on my own. It doesn't cost all that much more than I would pay for the same food at the grocery store. Check it out at www.suppersolutionsinc.com. I pray that the surgery will be successful.