what do you want to eat for a month?

[PeterT]

My local library has the following three eBooks available:

Make-Ahead Meals Made Healthy
Exceptionally Delicious and Nutritious Freezer-Friendly Recipes You Can Prepare in Advance and Enjoy at a Moment's Notice
by Michele Borboa
eISBN: 978-1-61058-060-1

Don't Panic—Dinner's in the Freezer
Great-Tasting Meals You Can Make Ahead
by Susie Martinez
Vanda Howell
Bonnie Garcia
ISBN: 978-1-4412-0393-9

Don't Panic—More Dinner's in the Freezer
A Second Helping of Tasty Meals You Can Make Ahead
by Susie Martinez
Vanda Howell
Bonnie Garcia
ISBN: 978-1-4412-0381-6

[kindlekitten]

I've got pinto beans cooking for chili, will Brown the meat later, I need to get off my leg for awhile. I might start the spaghetti sauce at the same time

[PeterT]

Also see http://fabulesslyfrugal.com/freezer-...es-master-list for some more ideas.

[Darqref]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

I've got pinto beans cooking for chili, will Brown the meat later, I need to get off my leg for awhile. I might start the spaghetti sauce at the same time

Try pulled pork. Look for "The Ultimate Cheater Pulled Pork recipe" (pork in crockpot, bottled smoke, lots of rub on seasonings.)

When it's done, divide up portions for easy defrost. Goes great on sandwiches, or on top of baked potato. save some of the broth, but skim off the fat. Add your choice of bbq sauce.

(and pork has been cheap on the other side of the Sound for a couple of weeks, so it's economical. I use country style ribs, but you can easily cut up a big roast too.)

[kindlekitten]

Well I made seven quarts of Tex mex chili and three and a half quarts of spaghetti sauce today. Tomorrow I'll make two meatloafs. I need to dig through the freezer and dispose of some stuff that is freezer burned and I'm just avoiding, but I need the room. Next I think will be"Navajo green chili", pork, green chillies and tomatillos. Then a minestrone and a white bean soup. After that I think I'm done. I'll get a bag of salad greens the one or two times I can get out a week, will stock up on some more frozen fruit to go with yogurt and maybe apples to snack on with peanut butter. As much as I'd love to stockpile some potato chips, I'd best not go down that road

[FizzyWater]

If you like to eat food over rice, my brother told me his partner cooks up a big pot of brown rice the way they like it. He uses a 1 cup measure and tips it carefully onto a cookie sheet that he puts in the freezer. Once the 1 cup "lumps" are frozen, he can use his seal-a-meal (or regular freezer bags) to seal up the rice for later.

When I was freezing things, I used to buy frozen brown rice from Trader Joes (too lazy to use my brother's trick back then). I'd put a cup of rice, a cup or two of mixed veggies, and a frozen sausage (if I remember, it was a specific brand of garlic-chicken flavored sausage) into a freezer container. When I cooked it, the sausage would ooze its drippings into the rice and veggies, so it didn't need a sauce. (SO you can't go with the low-fat stuff for this )

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

If you like to eat food over rice, my brother told me his partner cooks up a big pot of brown rice the way they like it. He uses a 1 cup measure and tips it carefully onto a cookie sheet that he puts in the freezer. Once the 1 cup "lumps" are frozen, he can use his seal-a-meal (or regular freezer bags) to seal up the rice for later.

You can just put the hot rice right into freezer bags, flatten it out and it will freeze flat. I do it all the time. Most Indian food will freeze well and if there is one somewhere in your area you could just get a lot of takeout and freeze it. In my area they usually pack it in plastic containers that can just go right into the freezer.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

You can just put the hot rice right into freezer bags, flatten it out and it will freeze flat. I do it all the time. Most Indian food will freeze well and if there is one somewhere in your area you could just get a lot of takeout and freeze it. In my area they usually pack it in plastic containers that can just go right into the freezer.

I remember - the reason he does it this way is because he has one of those vacuum pack Seal-A-Meal's. The rice has to be frozen first or you get a big mess!

[speakingtohe]

Spaghetti and lasagna freeze well. And Chicken pot pies.
Here is my easy ingredients lasagna recipe.
1 lb. ground beef
1 small can tomato sauce 8 oz
1 small can tomato paste 6 oz.
1 container cottage cheese 8 or 16 oz. depending on how much you like cottage cheese (can be omitted if you hate cottage cheese)
1 onion
garlic ? if you like it
lasagna noodles
8 oz. Mozzarella cheese.
1 can mushroom pieces (or 1 cup water if you don't like mushrooms.)
Brown beef and onions and garlic
add tomato sauce and paste and mushrooms and simmer till smooth and starting to thicken.
1 layer meat sauce
1 layer dry noodles
1 layer cottage cheese (I add some parmesan and salt and pepper to it)
1 layer dry noodles
1 layer meat sauce
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes
Check with a fork that the noodles are cooked
Topped with reasonable thick slices mozzarella
Put back in oven with oven turned off till cheese is melted.
Makes 4 good sized portions and pretty foolproof.

Even more foolproof and almost delicious as homemade are
http://www.thegrocerygirls.com/stouf...eat-sauce.html

Helen

[Lin2412]

I love this thread! And thanks Helen for the recipe. I'm going to add that along with the Spaghetti Bolognese (with special secret ingredient of red wine that I learned from Bilbo) on my recipe notes. I will always look for desserts and something sweet though, so wherever I go there must be chocolate.

[speakingtohe]

Ummm... Chocolate.
I actually bought too much chocolate this year. Impossible you say, but you are not taking into account the massive amounts of Lindtor and Russell Stover Chocolate available for a dime on the dollar after Christmas.

Luckily I get tired of chocolate pretty fast but then get over that in a week or so. Then get tired again.

Helen

[Quexos]

Nothing. Whatever I would have to eat for a whole month I would end up hating and I don't want to hate the food I love cause what would I eat then?

[cromag]

When I want to stock up I make beef stew in the crock pot, but without potatoes, and freeze the portions. When I want to eat I microwave a potato and have the stew with it. That avoids the problem of frozen potatoes that disappear when you thaw them.