I spent last weekend stocking my larder. I'm very intrigued (and impressed) by the idea of spending a couple of intense days cooking mass quantities of freezer friendly meals and stocking your freezer.
The idea is to stock up on the major, time consuming components of a meal so that during the hectic work week you can just pull something out of the freezer, add a salad and you have a nice meal with little effort.
Not everything freezes (or reheats to be totally accurate) well. So before I started assembling Coulibiac I did a little research and found some good online resources. Here are two links that I found very useful:
http://aturtleslifeforme.blogspot.com/2011/06/freezer-meals-on-cheap.html (cooking ahead and freezing tips)
http://joelens.blogspot.com/2007/01/freezer-friendlymake-ahead.html (freezer friendly meals)
I ended up making shredded chicken, chicken stock, taco meat, twice baked potatoes, pasta sauce, bean and cheese burritos (with home made refried beans – very easy) and chicken pesto stuffed shells.
I was careful to label each item so I wouldn't pull out mystery packages of food a year from now (something I actually just did this morning – lesson learned). Not only did I describe and date the item but I also included cooking instructions.
I also bought a book suggested by the first blogger listed above called "Don't Panic: Dinner's in the Freezer." I haven't had a chance to look through it but I'm hoping to spend another weekend cooking up more meals.
I'm also hoping to get my sisters together so we can do a big cooking session together. I've also heard of groups of women that each prepare a dish en masse and then share it with the others in the group. They keep one family sized serving for themselves and give one to each of the other women. So if you have five people in your group you end up with your own dish and four others that were prepared by the other members.
Do you have any freezer friend meals or tips? I will say the chicken and pesto stuffed shells are really good (you can find the recipe here) and that I made my burritos too big. Next on my list are enchiladas and lasagne.
The chicken and pesto shells look awesome! Can’t wait to try them! Another favorite of ours: Tacos in Pasta Shells. I don’t think I have frozen them but I have frozen the Italian ones (that you hated LOL). I don’t see why they wouldn’t freeze well. Not sure how to send the recipe here. I will email this comment too and you can let me know if you want the recipe.
We are trying SO Hard to not eat GMO foods, and are staying away from meat as best we can. So planning a meal each day is an endless frustration – much less stocking up for the future. How wonderful it would be to have a freezer full of lovely things already made and vegetables from the summer to eat during the cold months. (I live in Michigan!) Congratulations on your efforts so far!
Andrea, another book you might want to look into is: Fix, Freeze, Feast, I took it out of my library when it came out. Perhaps your library has it too.
Ginger, I’m with you. I’ve been trying for a more vegan lifestyle (because I feel and look better – not to mention losing weight). It isn’t easy when you have a husband that prefers meat. 🙂 However, I have some recipes that might help you (though my goal is to button down dinner planning better). Let me know if you are interested. Lisa – pnsy3@aol.com
Wow! Your freezer is stocked and ready! My cousin does that group meal thing. She has a bunch of homeschool mom friends and they all make huge meals and then they share with each other. She really likes it. Works for her and her family of six.