Who makes freezer meals in bulk?

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

My good friend, Rachel, has turned me onto making freezer meals. I have to say I was both excited and skeptical about the idea. Rachel's recipes are tried and true freezer meals that she's been doing for several years. She makes about 15 recipes in one day. All from scratch and *mostly* healthy meals. I had to adjust some of the recipes for my taste because they were a little heavy on starch, sugars and canned soups-- I don't really care much for.

We did a cooking day about six weeks ago and I have to say that I was shocked that I liked everything.

Out of 15 recipes I got about 23 dinners!!! It was really great when I was in a pinch to pull out a bag or casserole and just heat and eat.

We are doing another cooking day next week and I have added some of my own recipes, and took out a few of hers.

We are making:

Spaghetti Sauce*
Chicken Packets
Chicken Tetrazini
Orange Chicken
Sweet and Sour Chicken
Coconut Chicken Strips*
Beef Enchiladas
Chicken Enchiladas*
Calico Beans
Bean Soup with Ham*

* means these are my recipes. I have frozen some of these before but some will be an experiement.

The really fun thing is we have some other friends and aquantinces who want us to make them some small freezer meals. So we are going to make extra for them, and we are getting paid for our time!

 

[Urban Chaos]

This is something I am totally wanting to try. I have been trying to double recipes and freeze half, but have not jumped into the cooking day thing. I would love for you, and others, to post your recipes.

Thats one of my issues, I can follow a recipe, but don't have much kitchen experience (my husband is typically the cook) . He dosnt use cook books, so I typically spend too much time looking up stuff online. Anyway, I look forward to learning from folk. Perhaps it will help make my Costco membership worthwhile.

 

[bigmike&nan]

I looked into being a private chef in an elite area of San Francisco about the time I graduated from the CCA. We had a "job book" of requests from restaurants, private clubs and private individuals. Most involved cooking for people with no salt, no sugar, low carb diets. I got to know a number of graduates that did private chef'ing and they would work at a client's home once or twice a week. The clients were very busy people that worked long unpredictable hours and wanted to come home and heat up something fast that was tasty and healthy. These private chefs would pre-make meals for the clients at home and pack them in Glad plastic microwave containers or small Pyrex style dishes. All the client had to do was take the dish out of the freezer, throw it in the oven go grab a shower and a martini and in 35 minutes dinner was ready. These private chefs also would bake and freeze small batches of scones, pastry and the like to be frozen and taken out the night before. In the morning a simple warm up in the toaster oven was all the product needed... I had a mechanic friend whose mother and sister always doted on him (Lebanese) - they were going back to the old country for a month, after a couple days of eating in restaurants he called me in desperation. I cooked off a beef roast, some chicken parts, made penne pasta, wild rice, some cooked red potatoes and a roasted pork loin - I made meals with the the items mixed and matched into nice meals and made about a dozen partially baked cast iron pan pizzas. I worked non-stop a whole day, charged him $250.00 which was mostly food costs. He loved it... He could take one for lunch and eat one for dinner. Herein a photo of my fridge at the end of that day's cooking.

 

[peeplessinNC]

There is a good book for Once A Month Cooking (as it is called or OAMC) by Debi Hough and she has a blog, plus a Frozen Assets Yahoo Group. Here is a link to her blog: http://frozenassets.wordpress.com/

There is a ton of recipes on Food.com for OAMC/Freeze Ahead Meals:

http://www.food.com/recipes/oamc-freezer-make-ahead

Sounds like you are ready to jump in! Maybe try preparing 4 family favorite recipes in one day to get your feet wet? Doing a whole month at a time could be daunting. It might be best to make recipes that you know your family will like before you experiment on them.

Remember to wear comfortable clothes and shoes, an apron, and have something to occupy your children (if you have any) - or better yet, get a sitter for the day!

 

[hisdaughter]

We used to have a few places that you could go to and make and take home. They were called Dinner Done, My Girlfriend's kitchen and I can't remember the name of the other. They were around for awhile but are now gone. Not sure why they didn't work, maybe cause so many people were like me, unsure of the concept..I try to cook extra meat and then use it the next night. Such as cool a chicken or two and one night we have chicken pot pie and the next night chicken salad. Good luck with the making meals ahead of time and freezing them. Have you searched for recipes online specifically for this? Have a blessed night

 

[BettyR]

My daughter and her husband are on a special diet because he has Crohn's disease. They can't eat any grains, sugar, and most canned vegetables are off the list because of extra stuff that is added during processing.

So their diet consists of fresh meats, eggs, butter, fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, nuts, honey and aged cheeses. They both work so my daughter cooks several meals on Sunday and packages them into serving sizes then sticks them in the frig. They both pack their lunches from these pre-prepared meals and when they get home at night they just pick a meat, match it with a veggie heat it up and eat. They usually have fruit, nuts and cheese for dessert. She also makes the most amazing Apple and Peach Crunch you have ever had using apples or peaches, honey and almond flour. This is what she usually takes with her to her office to have for her breakfast.

They get their meat from local farmers who raise pastured animals, they can't eat grocery store meats because processors shoot the meat full of stuff they can't have. What is so amazing is that they both work in offices where they don't get very much exercise and when they come home from work the main exercise they get is watching TV and snacking, but because they don't eat grains they are both very thin.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

I am loving this concept/thread

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

I can post some recipes here, I might even take some pics of the process.

 

[peeplessinNC]

One way to get ideas for OAMC is to take a look at the frozen foods section in your grocery store. If it's there, it is safe to freeze. The shorter the length of time your food is frozen, the better the quality it will be. A ziti casserole frozen for 9 months may not be as tasty as one frozen for only 3 months - won't make you sick, just won't be as appealing (maybe) or taste as good. Raw meat can be frozen for a much longer time - up to a year - without any depreciation of the quality, provided that it is double wrapped or bagged.

Other family favorite recipes:

chicken tettrazzini
baked ziti
chicken divan
mac and cheese
most soups
pizza crusts
pizza sauce
ready to bake pizza
bierocks and other stuffed bread items
mashed potatoes
pre-cooked french fried potatoes
chicken or beef pot pie (no cubed potatoes)
cooked rice
burritos
meatballs

Here is another link from a Google search on OAMC cooking:

http://www.ellenskitchen.com/bigpots/oamc/oamcprep.html

And here is a Ground Beef Plan from Kim Tilley; I've used several of her recipes, especially the meatball recipe:

http://www.fractured.net/article/oamc-hamburger-plan.html

 

[hispoptart]

I can post some recipes here, I might even take some pics of the process.

I know this is an old thread but I would love it if you would post some recipes.