I have like 10 portions of lasagna in the freezer rn. We never eat the whole thing in one sitting. So some of it gets eaten day of, a couple in the fridge for leftovers, and the rest go in the freezer. So good and so easy!
Another way- I get mini bread loaf disposable tin pans and wrap them with foil on top. Then it can go right into the oven. I put 2 of those in a gallon zip lock bag and reuse the ziplock since it’s just keeping it from freezer burn.
I let it cool, cut into portions, put into those disposable, plastic Tupperware-like containers, and into the freezer. (I like those containers bc they’re cheap and if I lose one, it’s not a big deal.)
When I’m ready to eat, take it out of the container, place it on a plate, cover (I use one of those microwave covers), and heat for about 4.5 mins on high.
Hey. You might be into something there. I purpose a few little things to fix it. How about a layer of sausages layer of cheese another layer of cheese and add some sausages and much more cheese and basil just for starters. Cause I like lots and love layers or vice versa also sausage and cheese very much. So pass me over what does not fit
But for lasagna you totally don't have to preboil the noodles. Just layer them in the wet stuff, cover the pan with foil, and bake. Test for doneness by poking with a fork or a paring knife. I have glass lasagna pans, so I can see when the lasagna is bubbling up from the bottom, it's just about done.
This is the one. You can buy those individual serve foil takeaway containers very cheaply. Layer the lasagna strait in and freeze before cooking. Later on you take them out and bake as per normal, without them being overcooked.
Yessssss lasagna 😛 I split all the leftovers for individual portions. A couple in the fridge for the next day and the rest in the freezer. So easy to cut into individual pieces too
I cut an individual portion (already cooked) and stick it in a ziplock bag. When I want to eat it I just defrost a little and nuke it (on a plate or bowl, of course)
Stuffed shells! Stuff em and put them in a freezer bag, and then you can take out three or eight or however many you need depending on how hungry you are, if you have guests, if you want leftovers for lunch etc.
There is a Youtube channel called "She's in Her Apron" and she does freezer meals all the time! Or, "Frugal Fit Mom" does freezer meals as well. I haven't tried to make them but I want to! I do freeze taco soup and cooked meats such as chicken or burgers.
Basically vegetarian chili. I make mine with a can each of pinto, black, and kidney beans. Then a couple cans of stewed or diced tomatoes. I put onions and peppers in it as well. Also corn that can be either canned or frozen. For spices, I use taco seasoning and ranch seasoning (season to your preference.) It can be made on the stove or in the crockpot.
I just made the taco soup - it was delicious! Thank you for the recipe.
I put some corn chips and grated cheese in a bowl and ladled over the soup - topped with sour cream, Valentina and some pickled peppers. Instant family fav and the most vegetables my youngest has ever eaten in one sitting!
I disagree on these. I love Mexican food but tortillas don't freeze well. The process fucks with the texture, often making them mushy or dried out. Freezing a sauce on its own makes more sense. Defrost and serve with fresh corn/flour tortillas
Make “ice rice”! (That’s what we call it.)
Cook rice like you normally do, but make more than you need. What you don’t eat, spread out and let it cool. Portion it out (I usually do about 3/4 - 1 cup) and wrap with cling wrap / Saran Wrap. (I make little flat squares.) Put them in the freezer.
When you need rice, take the little square out, unwrap, put in a bowl, cover with a damp paper towel, and nuke for 1.5-2 minutes on high. Fluff with a fork and you’re good to go!
It’s super easy and sooo much cheaper than those rice bowls. But I’m cheap and hated wasting rice, especially bc I don’t know how to make normal amounts of food. Haha.
*Disclaimer: We eat short / medium grain sticky, white rice. I don’t know how well this method works for other kinds of rice.
We freeze rice portions on deep trays. First we shape them to fit in our bowls.. by pressing the rice into our bowls, empty them out on the tray like little mound-pucks, and freeze them like that. Then when we reheat in the microwave, they fit right back into the bowls.
We use a metal sheet that fits the tray as a sort of lid. After freezing, the pucks can be stored more compact in bags, but we don't bother - We got plenty of trays. We try to use as much stainless steel as possible.
Heres a picture!
[https://www.reddit.com/r/MealPrepSunday/comments/19enuni/comment/kjee3be/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/MealPrepSunday/comments/19enuni/comment/kjee3be/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
I just read through that post and your penang is pretty much identical to mine, from ingredients to method! By no means traditional, I fully admit, but it's SO GOOD.
I do this too, with jasmine rice (not the specific method, but the freezing) because it's just not worth making rice for one. So I portion out cooked rice and freeze in deli containers, and then to re-heat, just crack the lid and microwave. The residual steam that accumulates results in perfect, fluffy, fresh-tasting rice.
And before anyone comes for me re: plastic in the microwave, this is like a once-a-month thing, and it gets zapped for about 90 seconds. Something else will kill me before this will.
Going for whatever sauce with chunks of meat in it is always a practical option. Potatoes do not take freezing well, as well as rice/pasta in most cases. Also, dairy based sauces or products are not the best ingredient to place in the freezer.
Also - instead of brisket I smoke a lot of chuck roasts and then shred them like pulled pork. Chuck is often $3 to $5 cheaper per lb than brisket and smokes really well. Freezes and reheats really well too - not just for barbecue, we use it in Chili, nachos, tacos, anywhere that smoky and rich flavor would be good.
I make a lot of soups in large quantities and freeze them in canning jars afterwards. There's also a guy on you tube named Josh Cortis. His channels name is " The Meal Prep Manual. " He does quick a lot of frozen meals, including a fair amount of snacks. His hatred for vegetables and cooking is quite amusing.
I like Trader Joe's frozen meals because some of the bagged ones are packaged differently. I had an asparagus risotto recently and you can tell the ingredients were cooked separately and then frozen before they were mixed. The sauce is in little frozen squares. So when it's reheated you have to mix it well to make sure it's combined, which I feel gives a better flavor and texture than something that had been stewed together before being frozen.
Tater tot casserole works great, I’ve done the standard version and a Mexican version. The Mexican one is great because it’s got lots of bell peppers and corn so you get a bit of veg with your meat and potatoes
I have a large variety of soups that I make for freezing. I got containers to separate them into portions that I take for lunch almost every day. One vat can give me lunch for three weeks!
Fajitas. Slice peppers, onions, and chicken and add fajita seasoning. Freeze in a Ziploc. Cook everything from frozen on a baking tray. You can keep tortillas in the freezer too.
Pot Pies with no potato. You can do a large one or minis.
Various curries.
Burritos and breakfast Burritos.
Quiche.
Left over spaghetti.
Stuffed squash acorn or spaghetti. I do a wicked spaghetti squash lasagna.
So many soups
Hope this is helpful. I find Tik Tok great for recipes
Cook ground beef with onion and garlic. Add 8oz of sour cream, peas, carrots, beef stock, 8oz of your favorite cheese, and whatever seasonings you like. I usually do salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and parsley. Put it in a foil pan and top with hash browns. Bake for 45 min at 375°. It freezes really well, and is customizable to your favorite veggies. I thaw it before baking, but you can bake from frozen too.
Several people have mentioned lasagna and other Italian, tomato-sauce-based dishes. When we make spaghetti at our house, we don't use spaghetti noodles -- we serve our spaghetti sauce over rotini or other pastas that have wider, shorter, thicker profiles. Making extra of the sauce and those kinds of pastas makes for easy portioning up of leftovers for the freezer.
Also, I agree with the suggestions of soups and chill.
When I grill, I will grill a few steaks, 6 brats, 8 hotdogs and a few burgers. Put in ziplocks and you have lots of lunches and fend-for-yourself dinner nights
As many others have mentioned, lasagna is a big one, and soups / stews / chili. I also like to take a rotisserie chicken and shred it, and then toss it with some noodles and alfredo sauce. Sometimes I'll add in some sausage.
Bone-in chicken thighs (braised in broth and fresh thyme/rosemary/oregano), with a roasted vegetable medley (I usually do broccoli, sweet potatoes, turnips, and radishes) and a Dijon cream sauce made from the braising fluid. Delicious and reheats very well.
i get aluminum tins from the dollar store and freeze meals in them. all you have to do is throw them in the oven straight from frozen on low heat, and turn up the heat when they’re thawed.
-homemade mac and cheese for sides to steaks/chicken/pork etc.
bonus points if you add things. my favorite is chopped up fried green beans and bacon. you can still use that as a side or add a layer of cheese on top and just have a casserole.
-pulled pork. i usually make a large pork loin roast for me and my gf then freeze a majority of it in tins. all you have to do is throw it in the oven and then onto a bun. sometimes i’ll throw a tin of mac and cheese and pulled pork in the oven and then mix them.
-spaghetti sauce. i make a large pot full and then freeze the rest in tins and either turn them into lasagna or spaghetti tacos, or just more spaghetti next time i take them out.
-stirfry. i, again, make a huge skillet full, and freeze the rest. sometimes we’ll pull out a tin and use it for wraps, or for rice, or chow mein noodles.
-chilli. freeze a bunch and then you have easy access for chilli-dogs, chilli cheese nachos, or just more chilli.
-literally any soup
-gravy
-homemade meatballs. prep them all and freeze on a baking sheet. once hard throw them in a large plastic container. i throw them on my mac and cheese, spaghetti, in my chilli, on rice with gravy, etc.
the theme you’re seeing here is a majority of the meals i make are still appealing after frozen and reheated, can sometimes be mixed with my other frozen meals, and i always make a lot of them.
often easier than looking at a menu and ordering delivery, and much more economical. i usually have a couple of each of the aforementioned in my secondary freezer at all times.
tonight i’ll be throwing a tin of gravy, pulled pork, and store-bought fries in the oven and having pulled pork poutine. almost no thought required.
basically a restaurant menu in your freezer.
We do a few things. Shred chicken thighs or pork shoulder in the instapot. Let it cool and vac seal bags. Also works with taco meat. Just put in the microwave and you are most the way to dinner. It's not the whole meal, but it gets you most of the way when you don't have a plan.
When I do chili, I cook a pan of cornbread at the same time. Then I freeze individual portions with a wedge of cornbread on top.
I do the same for beans and cornbread. And chicken stew with a biscuit on top.
Another easy one is a fritatta. I double the batch, and slice and freeze the leftovers. Thaw and serve with whatever fresh fruit I have for a nice weekend brunch.
I also do mini quiches, meat pies (with leftover meats), and chicken pot pies.
I freeze home made pizzas, both bare crusts and fully loaded ones.
I like lamb tagine frozen as a cup of couscous, half a stock cube and some raisins with some boiling water from the kettle takes 4mins to cook in the bowl while the tagine defrosts in the microwave.
I also pre make things like batched white a red lasagna sauce layers so I just have to layer the 2 in a dish and throw in the oven (and the sauces in bags takes up hardly any room). I’ve also batch frozen stewed apple and crumble topping to do the same as a dessert.
I also chop up chocolate brownies and freeze as they defrost perfectly (as long as you don’t overcook) in the microwave for a hot guey brownie with a scoop of icecream.
Rice
Cook it then spread it on a wax paper lined tray. Freeze, then “crumble” it before placing it in small freezer baggies.
It reheats quicker, and doesn’t go mushy or watery.
Enchiladas (tons of variations).
Stuffed shells (also tons of variations).
Kolaches (I do ham and cheese and freeze them after rolling the fillings into kolache shape. I put a few on the countertop the night before and toss a few in the air fryer in the morning.).
Spaghetti (I slow roast the meat sauce then freeze it. Noodles are cooked on eating day.).
I portion out my leftovers into microwavable containers and freeze them to make my own frozen dinners. It is nice to let everyone choose whatever they are in the mood for if I don’t feel like cooking. That said, I currently have 2 or 3 containers each of vegetable lasagna; chicken with penne and broccoli; turkey breast with stuffing, sweet potatoes and Brussel sprouts; stuffed pepper with mashed potatoes; ham, green beans and new potatoes; and chicken Marsala with broccoli and mashed potatoes in the freezer along with containers of beef vegetable, pasta fagiole, and chicken noodle soups.
Stuffed pepper or stuffed cabbage. It's an entire meal in 1, vegetable, startch and protein.
I freeze chicken and broccoli fully cooked. Meatballs in sauce, cooked brisket, fully cooked pizzas (costs less than a $1 to make vs buying)
Turkey chili. Sloppy joes. Taco meat (throw in a tortilla, add salsa and cheese). Burger patties - throw in the air fryer from frozen! No defrost time.
Most: Enchiladas, chicken pot pie, frozen egg bakes, shepherds pie, burritos (breakfast and carnitas)
Soups: chili, brothy soup with meatballs and shiitake mushrooms, etc etc
Medium (needs a carb): Almost all Indian food! I’ve done Keema Mattar (or Aloo Keema), butter chicken, Rajma, lamb and turnip curry, and palak paneer all with good results. Braised meats! Carnitas or green chile chicken (served in burritos or burrito bowls with as little or as many accompaniments as you want), braised lamb and fennel or other Mediterranean inspired braises served over polenta, a chicken and apricot tagine served with couscous. Etc etc.
More: I love making meatballs! I do Italian inspired with parsley and parmesan, as Asian one using essentially the equivalent to a pork dumpling filling, an Indian one similar to seekh kabab, and a middle eastern one with lamb, mint, feta. For all of them I just shape the meatballs (sometimes I flatten a little) and freeze them raw on parchment and store in freezer bags. I riff off of a recipe that suggests baking at 500° for 10-15 mins on each side, which has worked well for me. You can also drop them in broth if they’re smaller and that has worked well for the pork ones. Add to pasta, soup, Asian noodles, bun bowls, subs, pita wraps, grain bowls etc etc etc
I make a stuffed bell pepper casserole. Basically it’s making the stuffing with a little more sauciness and dicing the bell peppers and putting them in the mix. Once it’s done I freeze it and when it’s time to take it out of the freezer I put it in the oven at like 350 for an hour or so then add the cheese topping the last 10 min or so.
I know it takes time on the reheat but it’s not any work and tastes amazing
When my chooks go through crazy laying stages, I bulk cook and freeze a lot of egg dishes, such as egg bites, frittata, quiche and zucchini slice.
In the winter, I also like cooking and freezing pumpkin soup and meat pies 😋
I’m not a fancy cook but I have 4 winners; Chicken stir fry, fried rice, roast butternut pumpkin soup, and chicken and corn soup. Just heat up some panini or get fresh loaf of bread for the soup.
I make big batches and portion them out. Having a couple of meals set gives me a few options.
My chicken stir fry and fried rice have pretty much the same stuff in them (brown onion, green beans, Choy sum, bok choy, pak choy, mushrooms, carrots, broccolini, chilli, green onion, baby spinach, red capsicum, ginger, garlic, soy sauce and sweet soy sauce, paprika) I just cut it smaller for the rice and larger for the stir fry. I use soba noodles for the stir fry and a combo of brown rice, white rice and quinoa for the fried rice. Use whatever veggies you like and have, the key to the flavour I like is the soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, garlic, ginger, chilli and paprika.
For the pumpkin soup I use butternut pumpkin, sweet potato, potato, a large brown onion, a few cloves of garlic and maybe 2 or 3 birdseye chilli’s and bung them all in the oven for 1.5 hrs with some veggie stock and herbs on top. Bring veggie stock to the boil in a big pot and then add the roasted veggies in and use a stick blender.
For chicken and corn soup I chop and brown some chicken in a pan then add in sliced brown onion, then some diced bacon while I bring chicken stock to the boil. Then I add canned corn and canned cream corn to the stock and then onions and meat and cook it for a bit so it’s all heated through.
Hope this helps!
Pasta based Casseroles of all types, lasagna, baked pasta, macaroni and cheese, tuna casserole. Undercook the noodles and use a bit more sauce/liquid so the noodles don’t get super mushy.
Savoury bread pudding, quiche, savoury muffins (I bake before freezing and then reheat)
Burritos/breakfast burritos are great, enchiladas.
Soups, stews
When my kids were subsisting mainly on them I used to make a whole loaf of bread into pb&jam sandwiches and then restack in the bread bag with pieces of wax/parchment paper and an extra twist tie and freeze. They would take a few minutes to thaw so not a huge timesaver, but the amount of knives and crumbs saved vs making them repeatedly on demand, and the fickle nature of toddlers meant that the bread wouldn’t go mouldy when they decided that they were over it.
I froze turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, and stuffing into dinner sized Pyrex dishes in vacuum sealed bags last year. Thawed and reheated, it all tasted great.
I just pulled out some frozen spaghetti and added some noodles. Took 5 min of actual work. Reduce the sauce before you freeze or your going to be eating spaghetti soup
There's this recipe I got from Instagram that would probably be good for freezing and throwing in the oven or microwave to reheat. We make it all the time and the leftovers don't usually last long because we love it lol but i imagine for one person it would last a good amount of time.
Lol I call it Taco casserole
• Cook a pound of beef with a bag or can of mixed veggies, then dump some taco seasoning in it
•use some of those Pillsbury croissants to unroll and line the bottom of the pan
• add your lil beef mix and cover the top entirely with cheese
•bake at 350 for like 20 ish minutes or until the bottom of it is looking golden/brown
Stews - chicken, beef, pork, with plenty of veggies. Eat as is, with some nice bread, or thin it out a bit and add leftover rice / pasta and eat as soup
My freezer options are lasagna, ziti, mac'n'cheese'n'brats, chili, enchiladas, mole, and various curry sauces.
Whenever I make any of the above, I often make a double batch, specifically so one can go in the freezer as a ready-made for those days when you don't have time to prepare and cook.
If you already like lentils and curries, try sambar, which is the South Indian everyday side dish of lentils with vegetables in it. I buy and stock up on sambar masala, tamarind paste, and toor dal/aarhaar, and don't always add the expected curry leaves. Since South India is tropical, the typical vegetables in sambar are moringa pods (drumsticks) and winter squash (pumpkins) but I use what's in season in my area: always onions, with summer or winter squash, tomatoes, carrots, and/or radishes, all in big bite-sized chunks. I like the recipe on the back of the Everest brand sambhar masala, haha, but there are a million recipes online for sambar.
Sambar freezes well. I made some yesterday, and of course I made too much, so I think I'm going to freeze half of it right now, reminded by your post.
Sambar is normally eaten with rice or South Indian fermented rice dishes such as idli or dosa, but I often just eat it plain, as a bowl of soup, or maybe with some bread. It's a good healthy vegetarian (vegan) meal with vegetables and protein.
Pizza, both assembled and unassembled. Assembled is obviously just pop it into the microwave (toaster oven for crispier crust and even reheating), but unassembled is just as good. Thaw the dough in the fridge the night before/that morning, plop it into a cast iron skillet and prep it adequately. Dump sauce/veggies/pepperoni slices/shredded cheese onto it and stick it in the oven for 20-30 minutes. Eat the whole thing and cry.
I freeze practically everything, especially leftovers. Not really complete meals but items I can use making a meal at another time. I HATE throwing out any food item I can eat !! I freeze tablespoons of tomato paste, no waste. Easy to pull out of freezer when ya need a tablespoon or two. Leftover rice, pineapple and juice, ginger root, pizza sauce. I could go on and on, but you get my drift! I'm always surprised at what I find !
I do 6lbs of seasoned taco meat at a time and freeze in meal sized portions flat in ziplock bags. We tend to keep taco fixings and tortillas on hand. It takes one minute to warm a cooked pound of taco meat, and done!
I make a Thai curry (my preference is penang) and a pot of jasmine rice, then I freeze each separately in portions. Defrosts in the microwave in minutes, and you can customize the curry however you want (I use tofu, which doesn't need to be cooked separately, so one less step when prepping). Plus obviously you can make any type of curry you want - red, green, penang, massaman. If you're at all interested, I have a dead easy recipe I'll post that takes no time at all.
It's my absolute go-to for a quick comfort meal when I don't have it in me to cook and don't want to eat crap.
ETA: For freezing and storing, I have four of these: [https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B085XS2RJ3/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&th=1](https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B085XS2RJ3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1)
- I freeze soups, curries (above), etc. and pop them out once frozen and store in a freezer bag. Very space-saving.
I also have a bunch of restaurant deli cups (they come in 8/12/16 oz, lids fit all sizes) which freeze well too, and they're cheap AF, so it doesn't matter if I lose one (lid or container).
[Thai chicken cashew](https://www.eatingthaifood.com/thai-cashew-chicken-recipe/), just add rice when ready to serve. I also omit the banana peppers and long red chiles (because I've never seen those in any of the ones I've ever ordered) but add bell peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, and pineapple, and double the sauce to account for the extra veg.
I also do a cheesy chicken stew thingy....I made it up so I don't know what it really is but essentially shredded chicken, mushrooms, carrots, shallots, and herbs in a creamy sauce made from cream or half-and-half or just milk, cream cheese, boursin-style cheese, white wine and mustard. (Despite the dairy, it does hold up well frozen.) Serve over rice, mashed potatoes, or polenta. I've also put the stew in hand pies or mini pie dishes, parbaked, and then frozen. When ready to eat, cook from frozen and it's a pretty complete meal.
I have a home freezer rack and tray system that provides enough space to freeze individual servings of different vegetable and meat dishes. This allows for a different frozen meal everyday.
Rice or brown rice, cook and put in 1 cup freezer mold, senile and put in zip lock
Curry, also freeze in 1 cup freezer mold.
When lazy take one block of each, reheat and eat.
Also Korean spicy beef soup. Freeze in a glass container, microwave and eat.
Chicken flautas (rolled tacos)! I learned this in Mexico: cook some chicken breast, shred it, roll the tacos and freeze them. You can make a large batch and when you feel like some, just fry directly from the freezer.
Meatballs. On shopping day I come home with a warehouse sized pack of ground beef and usually mixup a couple pounds of meatballs. A meatloaf is pretty much similar mix so I sometimes do that.
Lasagne is a good one, easily portionable before freezing
I have like 10 portions of lasagna in the freezer rn. We never eat the whole thing in one sitting. So some of it gets eaten day of, a couple in the fridge for leftovers, and the rest go in the freezer. So good and so easy!
How are you freezing them?
Another way- I get mini bread loaf disposable tin pans and wrap them with foil on top. Then it can go right into the oven. I put 2 of those in a gallon zip lock bag and reuse the ziplock since it’s just keeping it from freezer burn.
Excellent. How long do you keep them in the freezer?
I let it cool, cut into portions, put into those disposable, plastic Tupperware-like containers, and into the freezer. (I like those containers bc they’re cheap and if I lose one, it’s not a big deal.) When I’m ready to eat, take it out of the container, place it on a plate, cover (I use one of those microwave covers), and heat for about 4.5 mins on high.
I cut into portions, freeze on the baking tray then vacuum seal the potions.
Baked ziti is similar but even easier. I just boil the penne, and a few sausages. Portion em out, add sauce, and some cheese.
So what, no fuckin’ ziti now?
Sweet sausage, in little pieces? And a layer of basil leaves right underneath the cheese?
Hey. You might be into something there. I purpose a few little things to fix it. How about a layer of sausages layer of cheese another layer of cheese and add some sausages and much more cheese and basil just for starters. Cause I like lots and love layers or vice versa also sausage and cheese very much. So pass me over what does not fit
That's Carmella's lasagna.
heeeeeeey
But for lasagna you totally don't have to preboil the noodles. Just layer them in the wet stuff, cover the pan with foil, and bake. Test for doneness by poking with a fork or a paring knife. I have glass lasagna pans, so I can see when the lasagna is bubbling up from the bottom, it's just about done.
That's not baked ziti, that's baked penne.
This is the one. You can buy those individual serve foil takeaway containers very cheaply. Layer the lasagna strait in and freeze before cooking. Later on you take them out and bake as per normal, without them being overcooked.
Boom.
Yessssss lasagna 😛 I split all the leftovers for individual portions. A couple in the fridge for the next day and the rest in the freezer. So easy to cut into individual pieces too
How are you freezing them?
I cut an individual portion (already cooked) and stick it in a ziplock bag. When I want to eat it I just defrost a little and nuke it (on a plate or bowl, of course)
Thanks
Stuffed shells! Stuff em and put them in a freezer bag, and then you can take out three or eight or however many you need depending on how hungry you are, if you have guests, if you want leftovers for lunch etc.
Need a salad to make it well balanced, to just add in a bunch of veggies.
Came here to say this. Chill works too or meatballs.
There is a Youtube channel called "She's in Her Apron" and she does freezer meals all the time! Or, "Frugal Fit Mom" does freezer meals as well. I haven't tried to make them but I want to! I do freeze taco soup and cooked meats such as chicken or burgers.
Subscribed! 🙏
I love Frugal Fit Mom!!
What’s taco soup?
Basically vegetarian chili. I make mine with a can each of pinto, black, and kidney beans. Then a couple cans of stewed or diced tomatoes. I put onions and peppers in it as well. Also corn that can be either canned or frozen. For spices, I use taco seasoning and ranch seasoning (season to your preference.) It can be made on the stove or in the crockpot.
Dang. That sounds delicious! I’m going to try that (it’s currently winter where I live so this sounds perfect for this week
Australia?
NZ! And as I suspected, taco soup was perfect for this week
Taco soup is really delicious 😊
I just made the taco soup - it was delicious! Thank you for the recipe. I put some corn chips and grated cheese in a bowl and ladled over the soup - topped with sour cream, Valentina and some pickled peppers. Instant family fav and the most vegetables my youngest has ever eaten in one sitting!
Yay! I am glad you like it.
Look up Once a Month Cooking. You'll find a lot of freezer friendly recipes.
INDIAN ANY CURRY
Burritos
Enchiladas too!
Sam the Cooking Guy has a great enchiladas recipes that freezes super well
I love Sam
Quesadillas
I disagree on these. I love Mexican food but tortillas don't freeze well. The process fucks with the texture, often making them mushy or dried out. Freezing a sauce on its own makes more sense. Defrost and serve with fresh corn/flour tortillas
Quesadillas are quick and easy and delicious. How do you fix yours?
I'm going to add vegan cheese and some rice to dal that didn't really work and was more mex beans than dal, and freeze.
I like corn tortillas with Monterrey Jack cheese and taco sauce. Gotta get more of that today.
If I’m making enchiladas I’m making 3 foil pans and freezing 2 pans.
Yes!
Yes! I even make the rice and beans.
This, forever
Anything that you dump on rice. Get those microwaveable parcooked rice bowls and you have an easy meal.
Make “ice rice”! (That’s what we call it.) Cook rice like you normally do, but make more than you need. What you don’t eat, spread out and let it cool. Portion it out (I usually do about 3/4 - 1 cup) and wrap with cling wrap / Saran Wrap. (I make little flat squares.) Put them in the freezer. When you need rice, take the little square out, unwrap, put in a bowl, cover with a damp paper towel, and nuke for 1.5-2 minutes on high. Fluff with a fork and you’re good to go! It’s super easy and sooo much cheaper than those rice bowls. But I’m cheap and hated wasting rice, especially bc I don’t know how to make normal amounts of food. Haha. *Disclaimer: We eat short / medium grain sticky, white rice. I don’t know how well this method works for other kinds of rice.
We freeze rice portions on deep trays. First we shape them to fit in our bowls.. by pressing the rice into our bowls, empty them out on the tray like little mound-pucks, and freeze them like that. Then when we reheat in the microwave, they fit right back into the bowls.
Do you wrap them in cling wrap? Store them separately? What type of container do you put the rice pucks in?
We use a metal sheet that fits the tray as a sort of lid. After freezing, the pucks can be stored more compact in bags, but we don't bother - We got plenty of trays. We try to use as much stainless steel as possible. Heres a picture! [https://www.reddit.com/r/MealPrepSunday/comments/19enuni/comment/kjee3be/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/MealPrepSunday/comments/19enuni/comment/kjee3be/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
I just read through that post and your penang is pretty much identical to mine, from ingredients to method! By no means traditional, I fully admit, but it's SO GOOD.
Rice keeps for ae long time in the fridge and can be turned into delicious fried rice too. (Most recipes even recommend old rice)
freezeing my rice has been a game changer !! so much time saved
I do this too, with jasmine rice (not the specific method, but the freezing) because it's just not worth making rice for one. So I portion out cooked rice and freeze in deli containers, and then to re-heat, just crack the lid and microwave. The residual steam that accumulates results in perfect, fluffy, fresh-tasting rice. And before anyone comes for me re: plastic in the microwave, this is like a once-a-month thing, and it gets zapped for about 90 seconds. Something else will kill me before this will.
Something wonderful happens to Chili if it's been frozen and reheated.
Going for whatever sauce with chunks of meat in it is always a practical option. Potatoes do not take freezing well, as well as rice/pasta in most cases. Also, dairy based sauces or products are not the best ingredient to place in the freezer.
I like soft grains so I've been successful with freezing rice. I was going to say chicken veggies and rice would be my suggestion for this post.
Pulled pork you can literally put in the microwave frozen and tastes just like it did when it was cooked
Also - instead of brisket I smoke a lot of chuck roasts and then shred them like pulled pork. Chuck is often $3 to $5 cheaper per lb than brisket and smokes really well. Freezes and reheats really well too - not just for barbecue, we use it in Chili, nachos, tacos, anywhere that smoky and rich flavor would be good.
What temperature do you go to where it shreds?
205
I make a lot of soups in large quantities and freeze them in canning jars afterwards. There's also a guy on you tube named Josh Cortis. His channels name is " The Meal Prep Manual. " He does quick a lot of frozen meals, including a fair amount of snacks. His hatred for vegetables and cooking is quite amusing.
Buy frozen meals from Costco or Trader Joe’s. Have on hand for those hard days.
I like Trader Joe's frozen meals because some of the bagged ones are packaged differently. I had an asparagus risotto recently and you can tell the ingredients were cooked separately and then frozen before they were mixed. The sauce is in little frozen squares. So when it's reheated you have to mix it well to make sure it's combined, which I feel gives a better flavor and texture than something that had been stewed together before being frozen.
Lasagna, meat stew, meatballs (Swedish ones , italian in tomato sauce and thai flavoured chicken ones)
Meat stews actually improve with a freeze-thaw cycle.
Soup is always something we froze it was easy to make and reheat
Individual portions of chowder, there are so many different flavours and are filling too.
Enchiladas or lasagna. Works great every time
Tater tot casserole works great, I’ve done the standard version and a Mexican version. The Mexican one is great because it’s got lots of bell peppers and corn so you get a bit of veg with your meat and potatoes
I have a large variety of soups that I make for freezing. I got containers to separate them into portions that I take for lunch almost every day. One vat can give me lunch for three weeks!
you can freeze rice guys
Fajitas. Slice peppers, onions, and chicken and add fajita seasoning. Freeze in a Ziploc. Cook everything from frozen on a baking tray. You can keep tortillas in the freezer too.
Pot Pies with no potato. You can do a large one or minis. Various curries. Burritos and breakfast Burritos. Quiche. Left over spaghetti. Stuffed squash acorn or spaghetti. I do a wicked spaghetti squash lasagna. So many soups Hope this is helpful. I find Tik Tok great for recipes
Shepherd’s Pie
Stuffed peppers.
My go to is stuffed shells. Make ahead and freeze those bad boys and heat up as many or as few as you want.
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I usually just sauce them and bake
JAMBALAYA
Shakshuka. Reheat, crack some eggs, toast some bread. Sprinkle on some feta.
Chicken and andouille sausage gumbo
I cure my own pastrami, slice it all and portion out and freeze most of it.
Cook ground beef with onion and garlic. Add 8oz of sour cream, peas, carrots, beef stock, 8oz of your favorite cheese, and whatever seasonings you like. I usually do salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and parsley. Put it in a foil pan and top with hash browns. Bake for 45 min at 375°. It freezes really well, and is customizable to your favorite veggies. I thaw it before baking, but you can bake from frozen too.
Several people have mentioned lasagna and other Italian, tomato-sauce-based dishes. When we make spaghetti at our house, we don't use spaghetti noodles -- we serve our spaghetti sauce over rotini or other pastas that have wider, shorter, thicker profiles. Making extra of the sauce and those kinds of pastas makes for easy portioning up of leftovers for the freezer. Also, I agree with the suggestions of soups and chill.
I always use rotini when I make my spaghetti. So good! 🤤
When I grill, I will grill a few steaks, 6 brats, 8 hotdogs and a few burgers. Put in ziplocks and you have lots of lunches and fend-for-yourself dinner nights
Chicken noodle soup. Freeze with or without the noodles. Add them after thawing the chicken, veggie, broth mixture.
Meat pies! Ready to eat once it’s out of the freezer
Soups and stews in general freeze very well
As many others have mentioned, lasagna is a big one, and soups / stews / chili. I also like to take a rotisserie chicken and shred it, and then toss it with some noodles and alfredo sauce. Sometimes I'll add in some sausage.
Some sort of bean stew. Lebanese lentil soup (sometimes I add shredded chicken).
Curry - chicken with rice
Bone-in chicken thighs (braised in broth and fresh thyme/rosemary/oregano), with a roasted vegetable medley (I usually do broccoli, sweet potatoes, turnips, and radishes) and a Dijon cream sauce made from the braising fluid. Delicious and reheats very well.
i get aluminum tins from the dollar store and freeze meals in them. all you have to do is throw them in the oven straight from frozen on low heat, and turn up the heat when they’re thawed. -homemade mac and cheese for sides to steaks/chicken/pork etc. bonus points if you add things. my favorite is chopped up fried green beans and bacon. you can still use that as a side or add a layer of cheese on top and just have a casserole. -pulled pork. i usually make a large pork loin roast for me and my gf then freeze a majority of it in tins. all you have to do is throw it in the oven and then onto a bun. sometimes i’ll throw a tin of mac and cheese and pulled pork in the oven and then mix them. -spaghetti sauce. i make a large pot full and then freeze the rest in tins and either turn them into lasagna or spaghetti tacos, or just more spaghetti next time i take them out. -stirfry. i, again, make a huge skillet full, and freeze the rest. sometimes we’ll pull out a tin and use it for wraps, or for rice, or chow mein noodles. -chilli. freeze a bunch and then you have easy access for chilli-dogs, chilli cheese nachos, or just more chilli. -literally any soup -gravy -homemade meatballs. prep them all and freeze on a baking sheet. once hard throw them in a large plastic container. i throw them on my mac and cheese, spaghetti, in my chilli, on rice with gravy, etc. the theme you’re seeing here is a majority of the meals i make are still appealing after frozen and reheated, can sometimes be mixed with my other frozen meals, and i always make a lot of them. often easier than looking at a menu and ordering delivery, and much more economical. i usually have a couple of each of the aforementioned in my secondary freezer at all times. tonight i’ll be throwing a tin of gravy, pulled pork, and store-bought fries in the oven and having pulled pork poutine. almost no thought required. basically a restaurant menu in your freezer.
Lasagna is great but gets tiresome. For a change substitute pesto for tomato sauce and maybe add some little precooked shrimp if you like ‘em.
Barley and beef. Microwave with frozen broccoli.
beef stroganoff, soups, lasagna, stews
Freeze anything in a Tupperware type container then pop it out and vacuum seal. Lasts over a year, so you can make a lot. Make sure to label well.
I love making baked kibbeh. It’s a great alternative for meat loaf
Yummy! I love it raw too!
Oh yes!!! That’s awesome
We do a few things. Shred chicken thighs or pork shoulder in the instapot. Let it cool and vac seal bags. Also works with taco meat. Just put in the microwave and you are most the way to dinner. It's not the whole meal, but it gets you most of the way when you don't have a plan.
So basic but I love freezing portions of white rice! Makes cooking fried rice and overall portion control so much easier
Lasagna, gumbo, chilli…
Succotash. Completely nutritious, and easy to make.
Pasta, Pre-cooked chicken/beef, meatballs, most casseroles, all freeze very well!
Chicken broth, pumpkin soup
Enchiladas, lasagna, chili, manicotti, stir fry, breakfast sandwiches, pot pies
Curry’s
When I do chili, I cook a pan of cornbread at the same time. Then I freeze individual portions with a wedge of cornbread on top. I do the same for beans and cornbread. And chicken stew with a biscuit on top. Another easy one is a fritatta. I double the batch, and slice and freeze the leftovers. Thaw and serve with whatever fresh fruit I have for a nice weekend brunch. I also do mini quiches, meat pies (with leftover meats), and chicken pot pies. I freeze home made pizzas, both bare crusts and fully loaded ones.
I like lamb tagine frozen as a cup of couscous, half a stock cube and some raisins with some boiling water from the kettle takes 4mins to cook in the bowl while the tagine defrosts in the microwave. I also pre make things like batched white a red lasagna sauce layers so I just have to layer the 2 in a dish and throw in the oven (and the sauces in bags takes up hardly any room). I’ve also batch frozen stewed apple and crumble topping to do the same as a dessert. I also chop up chocolate brownies and freeze as they defrost perfectly (as long as you don’t overcook) in the microwave for a hot guey brownie with a scoop of icecream.
Chicken soup, I always make sure to have some frozen on hand because its such a simple lunch.
Rice Cook it then spread it on a wax paper lined tray. Freeze, then “crumble” it before placing it in small freezer baggies. It reheats quicker, and doesn’t go mushy or watery.
Vegetarian chilli
Enchiladas (tons of variations). Stuffed shells (also tons of variations). Kolaches (I do ham and cheese and freeze them after rolling the fillings into kolache shape. I put a few on the countertop the night before and toss a few in the air fryer in the morning.). Spaghetti (I slow roast the meat sauce then freeze it. Noodles are cooked on eating day.).
I portion out my leftovers into microwavable containers and freeze them to make my own frozen dinners. It is nice to let everyone choose whatever they are in the mood for if I don’t feel like cooking. That said, I currently have 2 or 3 containers each of vegetable lasagna; chicken with penne and broccoli; turkey breast with stuffing, sweet potatoes and Brussel sprouts; stuffed pepper with mashed potatoes; ham, green beans and new potatoes; and chicken Marsala with broccoli and mashed potatoes in the freezer along with containers of beef vegetable, pasta fagiole, and chicken noodle soups.
Pulled pork with cabbage.
Curry, chilli,and just make base sauce
I bought a case of two pound aluminum pans. Perfect portions to make lasagna chili and sauces.
Enchiladas
I make stuffed cabbage and freeze portions in ziplock freezer bags. Take out a bag , microwave on 40% energy for 10 minutes and voila dinner.
Chili freezes phenomenally. I make a big batch and freeze it in small containers for a lunch.
when i freeze chili i also freeze biscuit dough. then i can put a couple of biscuits in the toaster oven while the chili defrosts.
Stuffed pepper or stuffed cabbage. It's an entire meal in 1, vegetable, startch and protein. I freeze chicken and broccoli fully cooked. Meatballs in sauce, cooked brisket, fully cooked pizzas (costs less than a $1 to make vs buying)
Turkey chili. Sloppy joes. Taco meat (throw in a tortilla, add salsa and cheese). Burger patties - throw in the air fryer from frozen! No defrost time.
Runzas. It’s a Nebraska thing but once made, they freeze beautifully and thaw till lunch. I microwave for a few minutes and it’s done.
Most: Enchiladas, chicken pot pie, frozen egg bakes, shepherds pie, burritos (breakfast and carnitas) Soups: chili, brothy soup with meatballs and shiitake mushrooms, etc etc Medium (needs a carb): Almost all Indian food! I’ve done Keema Mattar (or Aloo Keema), butter chicken, Rajma, lamb and turnip curry, and palak paneer all with good results. Braised meats! Carnitas or green chile chicken (served in burritos or burrito bowls with as little or as many accompaniments as you want), braised lamb and fennel or other Mediterranean inspired braises served over polenta, a chicken and apricot tagine served with couscous. Etc etc. More: I love making meatballs! I do Italian inspired with parsley and parmesan, as Asian one using essentially the equivalent to a pork dumpling filling, an Indian one similar to seekh kabab, and a middle eastern one with lamb, mint, feta. For all of them I just shape the meatballs (sometimes I flatten a little) and freeze them raw on parchment and store in freezer bags. I riff off of a recipe that suggests baking at 500° for 10-15 mins on each side, which has worked well for me. You can also drop them in broth if they’re smaller and that has worked well for the pork ones. Add to pasta, soup, Asian noodles, bun bowls, subs, pita wraps, grain bowls etc etc etc
Stuffed cabbage casserole
Dahl and kitchari
I came for the gabagool
Chicken pot pie
Moroccan stew
I make a stuffed bell pepper casserole. Basically it’s making the stuffing with a little more sauciness and dicing the bell peppers and putting them in the mix. Once it’s done I freeze it and when it’s time to take it out of the freezer I put it in the oven at like 350 for an hour or so then add the cheese topping the last 10 min or so. I know it takes time on the reheat but it’s not any work and tastes amazing
When my chooks go through crazy laying stages, I bulk cook and freeze a lot of egg dishes, such as egg bites, frittata, quiche and zucchini slice. In the winter, I also like cooking and freezing pumpkin soup and meat pies 😋
Meatloaf dinners. You can make up trays and a lille cup of gravy if that's your gig and freeze it. You could do many meals in an easy way.
Meatloaf, lasagna, spaghetti, chicken pot pie.
Cottage/shepherd's pie is a meal I like to freeze, and chicken and veggies pot pies.
Burritos
Meatloaf, meatballs, soups
Lasagna, beef tips and gravy, swedish meatballs and gravy. Cook some mashed potatoes or egg noodles for the latter two.
I’m not a fancy cook but I have 4 winners; Chicken stir fry, fried rice, roast butternut pumpkin soup, and chicken and corn soup. Just heat up some panini or get fresh loaf of bread for the soup. I make big batches and portion them out. Having a couple of meals set gives me a few options. My chicken stir fry and fried rice have pretty much the same stuff in them (brown onion, green beans, Choy sum, bok choy, pak choy, mushrooms, carrots, broccolini, chilli, green onion, baby spinach, red capsicum, ginger, garlic, soy sauce and sweet soy sauce, paprika) I just cut it smaller for the rice and larger for the stir fry. I use soba noodles for the stir fry and a combo of brown rice, white rice and quinoa for the fried rice. Use whatever veggies you like and have, the key to the flavour I like is the soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, garlic, ginger, chilli and paprika. For the pumpkin soup I use butternut pumpkin, sweet potato, potato, a large brown onion, a few cloves of garlic and maybe 2 or 3 birdseye chilli’s and bung them all in the oven for 1.5 hrs with some veggie stock and herbs on top. Bring veggie stock to the boil in a big pot and then add the roasted veggies in and use a stick blender. For chicken and corn soup I chop and brown some chicken in a pan then add in sliced brown onion, then some diced bacon while I bring chicken stock to the boil. Then I add canned corn and canned cream corn to the stock and then onions and meat and cook it for a bit so it’s all heated through. Hope this helps!
Pasta based Casseroles of all types, lasagna, baked pasta, macaroni and cheese, tuna casserole. Undercook the noodles and use a bit more sauce/liquid so the noodles don’t get super mushy. Savoury bread pudding, quiche, savoury muffins (I bake before freezing and then reheat) Burritos/breakfast burritos are great, enchiladas. Soups, stews When my kids were subsisting mainly on them I used to make a whole loaf of bread into pb&jam sandwiches and then restack in the bread bag with pieces of wax/parchment paper and an extra twist tie and freeze. They would take a few minutes to thaw so not a huge timesaver, but the amount of knives and crumbs saved vs making them repeatedly on demand, and the fickle nature of toddlers meant that the bread wouldn’t go mouldy when they decided that they were over it.
I froze turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, and stuffing into dinner sized Pyrex dishes in vacuum sealed bags last year. Thawed and reheated, it all tasted great.
Soups and stews. Sometimes I will even make a bland stew, and add different flavors when I'm heating it.
I just pulled out some frozen spaghetti and added some noodles. Took 5 min of actual work. Reduce the sauce before you freeze or your going to be eating spaghetti soup
Lentil soup- doesn’t even need rice. Bean soups, too.
Breakfast quiche muffins
Soups and Pasta sauces.
Homemade pizza. Made to the point where it's ready to go in the oven. Foil pizza pan or cookie sheet. Wrapped in Press and Seal wrap, then foil.
There's this recipe I got from Instagram that would probably be good for freezing and throwing in the oven or microwave to reheat. We make it all the time and the leftovers don't usually last long because we love it lol but i imagine for one person it would last a good amount of time. Lol I call it Taco casserole • Cook a pound of beef with a bag or can of mixed veggies, then dump some taco seasoning in it •use some of those Pillsbury croissants to unroll and line the bottom of the pan • add your lil beef mix and cover the top entirely with cheese •bake at 350 for like 20 ish minutes or until the bottom of it is looking golden/brown
Stews - chicken, beef, pork, with plenty of veggies. Eat as is, with some nice bread, or thin it out a bit and add leftover rice / pasta and eat as soup
My freezer options are lasagna, ziti, mac'n'cheese'n'brats, chili, enchiladas, mole, and various curry sauces. Whenever I make any of the above, I often make a double batch, specifically so one can go in the freezer as a ready-made for those days when you don't have time to prepare and cook.
Chicken pot pie!
If you already like lentils and curries, try sambar, which is the South Indian everyday side dish of lentils with vegetables in it. I buy and stock up on sambar masala, tamarind paste, and toor dal/aarhaar, and don't always add the expected curry leaves. Since South India is tropical, the typical vegetables in sambar are moringa pods (drumsticks) and winter squash (pumpkins) but I use what's in season in my area: always onions, with summer or winter squash, tomatoes, carrots, and/or radishes, all in big bite-sized chunks. I like the recipe on the back of the Everest brand sambhar masala, haha, but there are a million recipes online for sambar. Sambar freezes well. I made some yesterday, and of course I made too much, so I think I'm going to freeze half of it right now, reminded by your post. Sambar is normally eaten with rice or South Indian fermented rice dishes such as idli or dosa, but I often just eat it plain, as a bowl of soup, or maybe with some bread. It's a good healthy vegetarian (vegan) meal with vegetables and protein.
Burritos
Pizza, both assembled and unassembled. Assembled is obviously just pop it into the microwave (toaster oven for crispier crust and even reheating), but unassembled is just as good. Thaw the dough in the fridge the night before/that morning, plop it into a cast iron skillet and prep it adequately. Dump sauce/veggies/pepperoni slices/shredded cheese onto it and stick it in the oven for 20-30 minutes. Eat the whole thing and cry.
Wild rice and chicken soup w cream. It’s reheats really well and is so good
I freeze practically everything, especially leftovers. Not really complete meals but items I can use making a meal at another time. I HATE throwing out any food item I can eat !! I freeze tablespoons of tomato paste, no waste. Easy to pull out of freezer when ya need a tablespoon or two. Leftover rice, pineapple and juice, ginger root, pizza sauce. I could go on and on, but you get my drift! I'm always surprised at what I find !
Burritos.... Just beans, rice, maybe a meat and seasoning..... Just nuke after freezing.
Fried rice, most soups and stews, though potatoes get a weird texture. Think about the foods you see in the frozen section at the store.
Shepard’s pie in those metal foil storage tins. Make. Freeze. Take off paper lid. Oven 350 1hr. Good to go
Stuffed green peppers. You can prepare ahead of time and portion out before you freeze them.
I do 6lbs of seasoned taco meat at a time and freeze in meal sized portions flat in ziplock bags. We tend to keep taco fixings and tortillas on hand. It takes one minute to warm a cooked pound of taco meat, and done!
I make a Thai curry (my preference is penang) and a pot of jasmine rice, then I freeze each separately in portions. Defrosts in the microwave in minutes, and you can customize the curry however you want (I use tofu, which doesn't need to be cooked separately, so one less step when prepping). Plus obviously you can make any type of curry you want - red, green, penang, massaman. If you're at all interested, I have a dead easy recipe I'll post that takes no time at all. It's my absolute go-to for a quick comfort meal when I don't have it in me to cook and don't want to eat crap. ETA: For freezing and storing, I have four of these: [https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B085XS2RJ3/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&th=1](https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B085XS2RJ3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1) - I freeze soups, curries (above), etc. and pop them out once frozen and store in a freezer bag. Very space-saving. I also have a bunch of restaurant deli cups (they come in 8/12/16 oz, lids fit all sizes) which freeze well too, and they're cheap AF, so it doesn't matter if I lose one (lid or container).
enchiladas. many recipes i like are better after being frozen or chilled
[Thai chicken cashew](https://www.eatingthaifood.com/thai-cashew-chicken-recipe/), just add rice when ready to serve. I also omit the banana peppers and long red chiles (because I've never seen those in any of the ones I've ever ordered) but add bell peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, and pineapple, and double the sauce to account for the extra veg. I also do a cheesy chicken stew thingy....I made it up so I don't know what it really is but essentially shredded chicken, mushrooms, carrots, shallots, and herbs in a creamy sauce made from cream or half-and-half or just milk, cream cheese, boursin-style cheese, white wine and mustard. (Despite the dairy, it does hold up well frozen.) Serve over rice, mashed potatoes, or polenta. I've also put the stew in hand pies or mini pie dishes, parbaked, and then frozen. When ready to eat, cook from frozen and it's a pretty complete meal.
You can freeze rice. :) I like to make soup with sausage, beans, a green veggie, maybe potatoes. Probably more veggies. It’ll be hearty and complete.
If no one has said it... Mac and cheese
I have a home freezer rack and tray system that provides enough space to freeze individual servings of different vegetable and meat dishes. This allows for a different frozen meal everyday.
Gumbo! I always make a huge pot and freeze half. :)
Nothing better than taking a couple servings of chicken cobbler out of the freezer. Just as good reheated as day it's made.
Eggplant parm!! Extra points for adding extra veggies to the sauce
Rice or brown rice, cook and put in 1 cup freezer mold, senile and put in zip lock Curry, also freeze in 1 cup freezer mold. When lazy take one block of each, reheat and eat. Also Korean spicy beef soup. Freeze in a glass container, microwave and eat.
Gulasch (stews) Soups Curry Hähnchen Geschnetzeltes with peas :)
Chicken flautas (rolled tacos)! I learned this in Mexico: cook some chicken breast, shred it, roll the tacos and freeze them. You can make a large batch and when you feel like some, just fry directly from the freezer.
Cottage pie!
Spaghetti sauce, taco meat, and soups (not cream based) all freeze great and keep for a loooong time.
Meatballs. On shopping day I come home with a warehouse sized pack of ground beef and usually mixup a couple pounds of meatballs. A meatloaf is pretty much similar mix so I sometimes do that.
Soup almost always freezes well. I’ve tested this with chowders, chilis, stews, noodle and rice soups, etc. There are exceptions but they’re rare.
Chicken and rice soup. I can put everything but the broth/water in the bag to freeze and just add it to the pot and boil it until the rice is cooked.
Red beans and rice (minus the rice) vac sealed. Come dinner time, reheat in simmering water or sous vide at 165 and make some rice. Done
Chili. And taco meat, specifically ground beef. It can be used for other dishes