Freezer Meals: A simple solution with little clean up.

By More Food

With our children home from school, our time is divided across many tasks.  Finding time to prepare meals can be more challenging than normal. Now is the perfect time to start preparing those pre-made meals your little ones can easily reheat themselves or can be placed in a crockpot for ease of serving. Making and freezing meals in advance allows you to make the most of your ingredients.  It can also save time, money, and a headache.

When preparing to make freezer meals:

  • Make sure you have one of the following:
    • Freezer-safe containers with tight lids
    • Sealed heavy-duty plastic bags
    • Freezer paper and freezer tape
    • Foil or plastic wrap or disposable aluminum.
  • Dark colored permanent marker
  • Masking tape
  • Notepaper
  • Pen or pencil

Preparing Freezer Meals:

  1. When cooking, make extra to freeze. Casseroles, one-pot recipes, soups and stews are ideal. Other favorites include sloppy joes, tacos, shredded barbeque pork, and fillings to roll up a burrito.
  2. Once your recipe is cooked, put the contents into the container and seal. Be sure to leave a small amount of air. FUN TIP: Exchange some of your extra freezer meals with family/friends, this will give you more variety. EX: If you have four extra servings of lasagna to freeze, exchange two with a friend for their soup to freeze!
  3. Indicate on the container, the date and recipe. Most frozen foods will last 3 to 6 months.
  4. Keep a notepad of the date, number of servings, and recipe you are putting in the freezer.
  5. Hang the notepaper on the freezer to remind you what’s inside!

Heating Freezer Meals:

When reheating in the microwave, be sure to use microwave safe containers. If the container used to freeze the meal is not microwave safe, place the meal into a microwave safe plate/bowl/container.  Do not reheat in the crockpot due to the lower temperatures.  You can heat food on the stove to 165 degrees and then place the in a crockpot on warm for serving.

To learn more about how to properly freezer certain foods, please visit:

https://www.foodsafety.gov/food-safety-charts/cold-food-storage-charts

This blog used information from the following websites:

Connecticut/Rhode Island Family Nutrition Program- https://www.thriftyfun.com/downloads/quick_eazy_freezer.pdf