In my post yesterday, I mentioned that there are several meals from my meal plan that I intend to freeze this month. I love having freezer meals just in case something comes up: someone is sick, someone else needs a meal, life gets hectic, or, there is a baby on the way. There is nothing like having a stock of prepared meals that need only to be thawed and warmed.
When I was pregnant with both Tara and Brant, I worked hard to stock my freezer with 50+ prepared meals in order to make life post-birth easier on me. People thought I was crazy, but let me tell you, this allowed for a solid two months of prepared meals (thanks to others bringing food and leftovers!).
The second time around, I needed a plan for freezing meals because it was a bit trickier to aside days to cook like I could when I did not have a little one underfoot. It wasn’t hard really, and it happened by accident that my plan for freezing meals was born: simply double or triple the current meal I’m preparing! Why I hadn’t thought of it before, I’m not sure.
So, when I plan my menus, I seek to put things on my menu that are good to freeze. I will freeze just about anything but some things do freeze better than others. Here are the meals from my menu this month that I am doubling (or tripling) and plan to freeze:
Beans & Rice (well, just the beans! and lots of ‘em!)
Creamy Quinoa Primavera (never frozen before, but going to give it a whirl!)
Bean & Barley Stuffed Peppers (freeze filling separate from the peppers)
Pancakes
Beef Burritos (freeze beef, tortillas, some cheese all separately)
Chicken Enchiladas
Salsa Beef Verde (freeze beef and tortillas separately)
Chicken Divan
Pepperocini Beef Wraps (again, beef and tortillas separately)
Twice Baked Potatoes (never frozen these either, but worth a try!)
Squash Casserole
Italian Roast Wraps (do I need to say it?)
BBQ Beef
I also plan to freeze several breakfast dishes including coffee cakes and muffins, of which I will also double when I make them for our breakfasts this month.
This makes life a lot easier later on. I hope this helps and that it spurs you on to developing a plan for freezing meals! I’ll be posting some of the recipes listed above throughout the month as I prepare them.
Do you have a plan for freezing meals? What are some of your favorite recipes?
