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Tag Archive: 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer

May 14, 2012 | Crystal Paine

4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Week #3 Freezer-Friendly Dinners + Shopping List

Are you ready for another week of filling your freezer? This week, we’re tackling dinners.

Here’s my plan for making Freezer-Friendly Dinners this week. Remember that you are more than welcome to substitute any or all of the recipes listed to make this what best fits with your budget and family’s preferences:

Freezer-Friendly Dinner Recipes

Tuesday — Double Recipe of Barbecued Meatballs
Wednesday — Double Recipe of Lasagna Casserole
Thursday — Double Recipe of Pizza Dough
Friday — Double Recipe of Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole
Monday – Double Recipe of Italian Chicken

Grocery List

(I rounded up on the amounts needed, just to be safe. You probably have many of these items already on hand. You’ll want to double-check that you have the correct amounts, though.)

5 pounds ground beef
5 cups flour
6 eggs
2 cups milk (I’m using milk instead of evaporated milk in the Barbecued Meatballs)
2 cups quick oats or old-fashioned oats
4 onions
2 cups ketchup
1 jar spaghetti sauce
2 15-oz. cans diced tomatoes
16 ounces of dry pasta (we prefer rotini pasta, but any kind will work)
2 bottles of Italian Dressing (or your favorite homemade Italian Dressing)
12 chicken breasts (boneless/skinless or bone-in — can also substitute two whole chickens, if you prefer)
Chicken (enough for 4 cups chopped chicken)
3 bags of frozen broccoli (or 8 cups fresh chopped broccoli florets)
4 cups cottage cheese or ricotta cheese (we prefer cottage cheese and it’s typically much cheaper — especially if you can find it marked down!)
16 oz. mozzarella cheese
16 oz. cheddar cheese
2 cans cream of chicken soup (or make your own cream soup)
2 cans cream of mushroom soup (or make your own cream soup)
Liquid Smoke, optional
5 cups uncooked brown rice (or white rice)

Staple Ingredients

Salt/Pepper
Chili Powder
Garlic Powder
Parsley
Yeast
Oil
Sugar

Freezer Storage Items Needed

Foil
Plastic Wrap
10-12 large ziptop freezer bags
2-4 glass or aluminum pans (to freeze Lasagna Casserole in, and Barbecued Meatballs, if you prefer.)
Something to label packages with (marker to write on bags, labels, and/or tape)

Click on the “Print This” tab at the top of the list to generate a printer-friendly list. (If you’re reading via email or a feed reader, you may need to click through to the post to print the list.)

38 Comments
May 12, 2012 | Crystal Paine

Freezer-Friendly Ham & Cheese Pockets

These are SO delicious and the recipe is SO simple! These are great to make ahead of time and stick in the freezer for quick lunches.

Today’s recipe is one that was one of our favorite law school recipes. I haven’t made it since the law school days and had all but forgotten about it until I saw Amy’s recipe for Ham & Cheese Pockets.

Since our budget was so tight when Jesse was in law school, I only made this recipe when I was able to find ham on some amazing closeout price. Every once in awhile, Dillon’s would have it marked down to $0.49 to $0.99 for the small packages of thin-sliced lunchmeat.

I usually had a coupon to pair with this deal, so I rarely paid over $0.50 per package of lunchmeat. I could stretch one package to 5-6 Ham & Cheese Pockets and they were a special treat since we didn’t eat a lot of meat during that season of life.

At any rate, since we have more wiggle room in our grocery budget these days, I splurged on thick-cut ham this time around, and these turned out SO good. I can’t believe it’s been such a long time since I’ve made this recipe. It’s definitely something I want to make more often now that I remembered about it! 🙂

Freezer-Friendly Ham & Cheese Pockets

Dough:

  • 3 cups flour
  • 4 Tablespoons dry milk
  • 3 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 Tablespoons yeast
  • 1 cup warm water

Filling:

  • Sliced ham
  • Shredded or sliced cheese

To make dough in bread machine: Add ingredients in the bread machine in the order listed and run on the dough cycle. Check about halfway through to see if you need to add a little extra water or flour to make a soft dough.

To make dough by hand: Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in salt, sugar, and dry milk. Add flour and stir until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Dump dough onto a floured surface and knead for around 5 minutes, until a soft dough forms. Add a little more flour, if needed.

To make Ham & Cheese Pockets: Divide dough into 10-14 balls. Roll each ball into a rectangle. Put ham and cheese on half of the rectangle. Fold dough over and pinch sides to seal tightly.

Bake Pockets on a greased cookie sheet at 350-degrees for 15-18 minutes, until lightly browned.

To freeze: Let cool completely. Freeze in airtight ziptop freezer bags for up to 2-3 months.

To serve: Remove desired number of pizza pockets from the freezer and warm them individually in the microwave for about two minutes or until heated through. Or, warm on a cookie sheet in a 350-degrees oven for 20 minutes, or until heated through.


104 Comments
May 10, 2012 | Crystal Paine

4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Homemade Pizza Pockets (Day 8)

These Pizza Pockets, inspired by Amy’s Finer Things and Pocket Change Gourmet, turned out beautifully today!

I doubled our family’s favorite homemade pizza dough recipe for the dough.

Then I cut the dough into pieces.

And rolled those dough pieces into balls.

Next, I flattened the balls with the rolling pin.

When I turned my back someone was making some artistic designs on my rolled-out dough. 🙂

Then, I dolloped a little of the filling on.

Sprinkled the filling with cheese

And sealed up the edges with my fingertips.

Ready to go into the oven.

The end result — so yummy and delicious! And my whole family agreed with me that this recipe is a definite keeper.

Freezer-Friendly Pizza Pockets

Dough:

  • 2 Tablespoons active dry yeast
  • 2 cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees F.)
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 4 Tablespoons oil (I used olive oil.)
  • 5 cups flour (I used unbleached, but I think half white, half whole-wheat would also work well.)

Filling:

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 1 1/2 cup pasta sauce or pizza sauce
  • 2-3 cups shredded cheese (I used mozzarella, but I think cheddar or a mixture of cheese would work well, too.)
  • Other optional filling ingredients: diced black olives, pepperoni, diced green pepper, and/or diced mushrooms

To make dough: Mix yeast into warm water until dissolved. Add sugar, salt, oil, and flour. Mix well and dump onto a floured surface and knead for 3-5 minutes.

To make filling (I browned this while mixing up the dough): Brown ground beef with onion (and green pepper, if desired). Drain. Add pasta sauce and mix together. Add other optional filling ingredients, if desired.

To make Pizza Pockets: Divide dough into 15-20 pieces. Roll pieces into balls. Flatten balls into circles with rolling pin. Dollop a few tablespoons of filling onto dough circle and sprinkle with cheese. Fold over and seal tightly.

Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 500 degrees for 10-15 minutes until browned.

To freeze: Cool completely and store in an airtight ziptop freezer bag for up to 2-3 months.

To serve: Remove desired number of pizza pockets from the freezer and warm them individually in the microwave for about two minutes or until heated throw. Or, warm on a cookie sheet in a 350-degrees oven for 20 minutes, or until heated through.

Recipe inspired by Amy’s Finer Things and Pocket Change Gourmet.

Did you do any freezer cooking today? If so, I’d love to see the results of your efforts! Link up your blog posts below or tell us about your success in the comments.

 

100 Comments
May 9, 2012 | Crystal Paine

4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Brown Bag Burritos (Day 7)

If your family loves burritos, you need to try this recipe. It’s one of my husband’s favorite grab-and-go foods!

We’ve made it time and again since I first discovered it on Amy’s blog.

What I like best about this recipe is that, not only is it filling, but it’s also fast. You can have a piping hot burrito in less than two minutes — straight from the freezer. It’s perfect for those times when my husband wants a late-night snack or some hot for lunch on the weekends.

These are little too much on the spicy side for my liking (keep in mind that I’m also the girl who likes extra mild salsa!), but my husband loves these. In fact, he was so excited I was making them again this week.

Freezer-Friendly Brown Bag Burritos

Makes 20 burritos

  • 2 pounds ground beef
  • 2 cans refried beans (you can make your own refried beans)
  • 2 cans enchilada sauce (you can make your own enchilada sauce)
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/3 cup diced onion (you can also use dried or minced onion)
  • 1 taco seasoning packet (Amy’s recipe calls for 1 Tablespoon chili powder, 1 Tablespoon garlic powder, and 1 teaspoon salt. I used the taco seasoning packet instead because that’s what I already had on hand and I didn’t have any chili powder on hand.)
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
  • 20 burrito-sized flour tortillas (you can make your own tortillas)

Brown ground beef with onions. Drain and add all remaining ingredients except tortillas (and cheese, if you want to sprinkle the cheese on instead).

Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Spoon 1/4-cup of the meat mixture onto a tortilla, sprinkle with cheese (if you didn’t melt cheese into the mixture when you simmered it). Fold sides in and roll up tightly.

To freeze: Wrap each burrito in a paper towel and then in a foil square. (I skip the paper towel part since we don’t buy paper towels.) Put burritos in two airtight ziptop freezer bags and store in the freezer for 2-3 months.

To serve: Pull out desired number of burritos. Remove foil (you can save the foil and reuse it the next time you make brown bag burritos!) and heat a single burrito in the microwave for about a minute or leave the foil on and heat one or more burritos in a preheated 350-degree oven for 30 minutes or until heated through.

These can be eaten plain or served with lettuce, cheese, salsa, and/or sour cream.

Recipe adapted from Amy’s Finer Things. Posted with permission.

Did you do any freezer cooking today? If so, I’d love to see the results of your efforts! Link up your blog posts below or tell us about your success in the comments.


115 Comments
May 8, 2012 | Crystal Paine

Freezer-Friendly Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches

Freezer-Friendly Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches

So, I’ve shared lots of really simple, no-brainer tips here over the years, but I think this might qualify as just about the most basic of ideas I’ve ever shared.

In fact, I doubt I even need to do a post about it, since I could probably just put a picture and say, “I made peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for the freezer today. The end.”

And that would about sum it up. But that would also probably be the most boring post I’ve ever written, too. So I’ll try to expand a bit on this basic of basic ideas, for those who would like a few more details. 🙂

I first happened upon the idea of freezing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches when Jesse was in law school and we were eating a LOT of PB&J. I usually packed one or two sandwiches in his lunch each day and since he often had to leave for school early in the morning, I’d try to have as much stuff prepped ahead of time so that I could just take 20 seconds to pull it all out and put it in the lunch pail.

While it doesn’t really take long to make PB&J, when your time is really crunched in the morning, it can help speed things up a little bit. Plus, I’ve also found it’s so nice to have sandwiches at the ready if you end up needing to leave to go somewhere unexpectedly and no one has eaten any lunch yet.

I listened to The Little Big Things today while making PB&J in an assembly-line fashion. {The audiobook has some good things in it, but the crass language is driving me batty! Honestly, that’s a “little big thing” to me!}

I ended up having to break out a new jar of jelly and peanut butter about halfway through. And Jesse got home about this time and he sat at the kitchen table and told me about his day while I finished up the sandwiches. Multi-tasking at its finest! 🙂

The end result: A big pile of sandwiches! I cut the sandwiches in halves, put them in individual baggies, and then put the baggies in large ziptop bags.

Freezer-Friendly Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches

  • Bread
  • Peanut Butter
  • Jelly

Make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

To freeze: Cut and put in baggies (if desired) and store in airtight freezer ziptop bags in the freezer for 4-6 weeks.

To thaw: Stick frozen sandwiches in sack lunches in the morning and they will be thawed by lunch time. Or, you can be weird like me and eat them straight from the freezer. 🙂 You can also warm them in the oven or microwave if you like your sandwiches warmed.

121 Comments
May 7, 2012 | Crystal Paine

4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Homemade Baking Mix (Day 5)

Homemade-Baking-Mix

After a busy weekend, I seemed to take forever to get going this morning — even though I got up early.

I finally got the Homemade Baking Mix made tonight at 7:45 p.m.

{Notice anything wrong with this picture? Maybe that I somehow am a month behind?! I noticed that after I’d taken the picture! :)}

And tomorrow we move onto freezer-friendly lunches. I think those are going to be a bit more time-intensive to make, but they are going to be so nice to have in the freezer that it will be every bit worth it!

Homemade Baking Mix

  • 10 cups flour
  • 8 Tablespoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cream of tartar (I didn’t have any of this so I just left it out. We’ll see if it works okay without it!)
  • 1 1/4 cup powdered milk
  • 1 Tablespoon salt
  • 1/4 cup sugar or raw sugar
  • 2 1/4 cup coconut oil or shortening

Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Cut in shortening or cold coconut oil until you have fine crumbs.

To freeze: Store in an airtight container or freezer bags in the freezer for up to two months.

To use: Use the Homemade Baking Mix straight from the freezer in place of Bisquick. Or, use this to make our family’s favorite Cinnamon Roll Biscuits. For other recipe ideas, check out a similar Homemade Baking Mix recipe from Kitchen Simplicity.

Homemade Cinnamon Roll Biscuits  — you can whip these up in a matter of minutes using the Homemade Baking Mix!

Did you do any freezer cooking today? If so, I’d love to see the results of your efforts! Link up your blog posts below or tell us about your success in the comments.

65 Comments