Batch Freezer Cooking

This post is for Lisa.  And will be LONG.  But if anyone else is interested, feel free to use.  And if you have any questions, feel free to ask away!!

What will follow is a timeframe for a weekend of freezer meal cooking my Mom and I did last winter.  What worked for us, may need to be adjusted for you but it's a great starting point I think!  I didn't include a shopping list because some people may have some stuff on hand.  But, you can run down the recipes and quick do your own.  It's not hard. 

A couple of notes: 

When you grocery shop, if you do all the same recipes, check the crazy giant bulk canisters of stuff.  You know at the end of the aisle you never look at??  The industrial sized stuff? Yeah, that.  You use a LOT of tomato juice and stuff, so just add it all up and see if that makes $$ sense.

We portion and freeze everything flat in Ziploc freezer bags.  They take up less space and because they're flat, thaw out super quick.  You can do what you'd like, but this way is great.  Just write on it what it is, how much and quick cooking instructions and you're set!

I left our timeline on there to give you an idea of how long it all took.  Yours may vary.

The recipes listed are SINGLE BATCH (thank you for asking that Lisa!!).  If you'd like to double, triple, etc - you need to make that adjustment on your own.


Freezer Meals

Day 1 Menu: Stew x 2, potatoes x 2, pepper steak x 2, roasts x 4, beef gravy, sloppy joes x 2


(Start 8:45am) Roasts in to cook
Potatoes peeled and put on to boil (do this during the browning of meats)
Brown Stew Meat
Brown Pepper Steak Meat
Onions and Peppers chopped
Start Stew Veggies/Pepper Steak onto Simmer
Simmer Stew/Mash & Finish Potatoes
(11:45) Lunch break
Package Pepper Steak
Start Sloppy Joes/ Sloppy Joes start to simmer
Sloppy Joes Finish/roasts out/gravy start
(2:45) Package Sloppy Joes
Package Roasts
Package Gravy
(5:30) Package Stew

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Finished Portions:
Potatoes – 1 serving = 3/4c.                       
6 – 3 serv. bags; 6 – 6 serv. bags

Pepper Steak – 1 serving = 1c.                    
4 – 2 serv. bags; 4 – 1.5 serv. bags

Sloppy Joes - 1 serving = 1c.                      
2 – 1 serv. bags; 4 – 3 serv. bags

Roasts –                                                       
6 – 1.5 pound bags

Gravy –                                                       
4 – 3c. bags; 2 – 2c. bags

Stew –                                                         
8 – 4c. bags; 15 – 3c. bags



Day 2 Menu: Spaghetti Sauce x 4, pasties x 3, chili x 4, turkey breasts x 4, turkey gravy


(8:45 Start) Put turkey breasts in oven
Brown Spaghetti Meat/Start prepping pasty veggies
Brown Chili Meat
Brown Pasty meat/mix spaghetti sauce
(10:45) Put together chili and start in crockpot
Package pasties (done around Noon)
Turkey out/Gravy start
Package Turkey/Gravy/Spag Sauce/Chili as it finishes

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~
Finished Portions:

Pasties – 1 serving = 1/2 c.                        
8 – 1c. bags; 13 – 2c. bags

Chili - 1 serving = 1/2c.                             
4 – 4.5c. bags; 2 – 3c. bags

Spaghetti Sauce -                                        
10 – 2.5c. bags; 12 – 4c. bags

Turkey                                                         
(New this next time so no stats!)

Gravy                                                          
(New this year so no stats!)


THE RECIPES:

Oven Roast
Place roasts in oven (frozen or fresh), uncovered at 375 degrees for approx an hour or until the outside of the roast is browned.

Reduce heat to 325 degrees, add water to ½ way up the side of the roast (add carrots and peeled potatoes if desired as well). Cover. Cook all day/6 hours until done.


Roast Gravy
Strain remaining cooking liquid and put in large stockpot. Mix 1/2c. flour and 1c. water and add slowly to cooking liquid until desired thickness is achieved. You can also add jars of Heinz Homestyle gravy to stretch the quantity.


Fancy Mashed Potatoes

5 lb. white potatoes
2 – 3oz. packages of cream cheese, softened
1 c. sour cream
1 tsp onion salt
1 tsp salt
1 stick margarine
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp garlic powder

Boil and mash potatoes. Mix with remaining ingredients and beat with mixer until smooth.

To prepare: Put in baking dish and dot with butter. Cook at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.


Beef Stew

1 lb stew meat
Brown gravy mix
Frozen peas
Onions
Potatoes
Cabbage, sliced thin
Carrots
Rutabaga
1 can tomato soup

Chop veggies to bite size and place in large stock pot. Add water to cover vegetables. Bring to a boil and simmer all day.


Chinese Pepper Steak

1 lb. round steak
2 large green peppers, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 can beef consumme
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp corn starch
2 TBSP water

Cut steak into bite sized pieces. Brown in a deep electric skillet. Season to taste and add onion and green peppers. Add consumme and simmer for 1 hour. Combine corn starch, soy sauce and water to make a paste. Add to meat mixture and stir until thickened. Serve over rice or chow mein noodles.


Sloppy Joes

2 lb. ground beef
1 c. ketchup
1 Tbsp yellow mustard
1 big onion, chopped fine
4 stalks of celery, chopped fine
1 can tomato soup
1 scant can water
1 Tbsp Worchestershire Sauce

Cook ground beef in deep electric skillet or stock pot. Add all remaining ingredients and simmer for 1 hour.


Oven Turkey Breasts

Place turkey breasts in oven (frozen or fresh), uncovered at 375 degrees for approx an hour or until the skin is browned.

Reduce heat to 325 degrees, add water to ½ way up the side of the breasts. Cover. Cook all day/6 hours until done.


Roast Turkey Gravy
Strain remaining cooking liquid and put in large stockpot. Mix 1/2c. flour and 1c. water and add slowly to cooking liquid until desired thickness is achieved. You can also add jars of Heinz Homestyle gravy to stretch the quantity.

 
Ginette’s Spaghetti Sauce

2 lb. ground beef
5 cloves garlic
1 small onion

Cut garlic and onion fine and brown slowly with ground beef, salt and pepper in a large stockpot until beef is cooked.

Add:
1 quart tomato juice
4 – 15oz cans of tomato sauce
3 large cans tomato paste
1 scant can of water
Salt and pepper to taste
3 bay leaves
Simmer all day stirring frequently.


Crockpot Chili

1 lb. ground beef
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 quart tomato juice
¼ tsp chili powder
1 can kidney beans
1 can Hormel chili
1 can cream of celery soup

Brown ground beef and onion. Combine all ingredients to crockpot and cook on low 8-10 hours.


Pasty Filling

1 pound ground beef, cooked and drained
4 carrots
4 potatoes
4 stalks of celery
1 rutabaga
1 medium onion
Salt and pepper

Chop all veggies into evenly sized, small diced pieces. Mix with cooked ground beef.

To Prepare:  Put desired amount of mix in pie crust. Cover with 2nd crust (slit the top in a few places). Cook 45 minutes at 350 degrees or until crust is brown. You can also make individual pasties by folding over one crust for individual pasty. (think calzone)  We just freeze up the mix to do meal by meal, but you could prebake individual pasties to freeze as well.

Finding my groove...

School's been back in session for a week.

Cue the angelic chorus, "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLELUIA!!"

This week has been me attempting to get back in a groove of some sort.  The more organized I am, the better this house runs.  Both Mark and I have a natural tendancy towards sloth and anything I can do to ward that off is a GOOD THING.

The biggest attempt at organizing?  I made my meal plan out for the entire month of September.  Yes, yes I did.  All the suppers, all of Holland's breakfasts (same thing for one week at a time), and all of Holland's school lunches/snacks (again, same thing for one week at a time).  So far, it's working beautifully!!

I tried to get a good mix of main ingredient (so we don't have chicken four nights in a row) as well as recipes that can be pushed off if things come up.  A perfect example of this is today's Mexican Polenta Bake.  Nothing in it is perishable so it can wait until tomorrow - or even next week - if it needed to.  As it is, it's just waiting until lunch tomorrow, but still.  It also takes into consideration things already on the radar like early soccer games or Girl Scouts after school.  Those days get crock pot or soup meals.  Fast and easy.

Thursday after work, I look at my calendar and start the grocery list for the meals/snacks/lunches.  Then, I add to that the other random things we might need like milk or lunch staples for Mark and me.  The only thing missing is a catagorized shopping list - broken down row by row according to the store I always shop it - and the whole thing would be perfect.  Friday morning is errand morning so the groceries get purchased then and we're all set for the next week.

An extra benefit is that it gives me the weekend to do any cooking needed for the week.  Last week it was three batches of muffin, a whole army of mini cupcakes and homemade ranch dressing.  This week will be mini quiches and bagels.

I haven't had time to put up recipes from the past two weeks, but here are some things I've learned:

• Turns out, Phyllo Dough and Puff Pastry aren't the same thing.  Whoops!  Now we all know.
• Sometimes recipes look not so awesome but end up being amazing.  Look for me to post the Corn, Bacon and Potato Chowder recipe soon to prove that.
• I don't like scrambled eggs, but love fritattas.  Apparently what I do like is super overcooked eggs.
• What started as a winning recipe can sometimes turn into something that no one likes.  Interesting.
• Taking a cold lunch has made all the difference to the little kid.  She gets that extra 10 minutes she used to spend in the lunch line to settle down and eat.  And has come home with a completely empty lunchbox every day for the past week.  Maybe cutting her sandwich into a butterfly shape helps.  :)

So that's that for this Sunday morning.  I promise I'll try to get more recipes up in the next few weeks.  I've run across some really good ones that I'm excited to share!