Passionate Homemaking

It is that time of year! Time to revamp and reorganize my menu plan with a new monthly menu plan for the spring and summer. I have definitely grown tired of our winter meals (all those yummy root vegetables have been growing old to my taste!) and eager to begin eating those lighter meals for the summer. I absolutely love just making two menu plans for the year, one for fall/winter, and one for spring/summer. Why do I like monthly menu planning?

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Welcome to our Nutritious Freezer Meal Carnival! So glad you could join us! Today we are joining forces in providing a selection of meals that are easily freezable to simplify your homemaking and time in the kitchen.

TO start off, here is a book recommendation if you are new to the world of freezer cooking, you may want to check out The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet: A Month of Meals Made Easy. This resource comes highly recommended by one of our readers with tips and ideas on making freezer meals.

Freezing Methods

There are several options for freezer containers.

1. One suggestion is to layer your baking pan with aluminum foil, and then fill with your contents. Once frozen, you can simply remove from the pan and slide the frozen contents into a freezer ziploc bag or another container of some sort (vacuumed sealed packages is an option here for extended freezer time). This will reduce the amount of space required for storage in the freezer.

2. Disposable aluminum pans are reasonably cheap, especially if you find them at your local dollar store. You can often find a pack of three for just $1. These are especially nice when you are making a meal as a gift for someone else (then they don’t have to worry about returning your pan). Cover your pan with aluminum foil followed by completely wrapping with freezer paper to avoid freezer burn. Freezer paper is necessary if you are planning on freezing for a longer length of time (more than a week), otherwise it can be skipped.

3. If you desire to avoid aluminum or disposable products, I would highly recommend investing in some glass pyrex containers with the plastic lids. These are very reasonably priced and are easy to freeze. They stack very easily as well. Costco sells a similar set for a great price as well.

4. At our house, I like to multiply pretty much every dish I make, but most commonly with casseroles. I will multiply the recipe to make one dish for the evening meal and freeze the other. This is a wonderful way to simplify and have a meal ready on hand for a busy day. I use pyrex glassware for these purposes or glass canning jars for such freezing purposes.

Now on to the recipes…

Here are our family favorite recipes that freeze extremely well. With each recipe, you will find basic instructions on how to freeze it. One requires pre-baking (as marked), but most freezer recipes can simply be assembled, frozen, and then removed from the freezer and baked. Overall, both methods work well.

Main Dishes

Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken Divan

Chicken & Dumplings (requires pre-baking)

Homemade Pizza Crust & Spaghetti Sauce – I often make 4 pizza crusts at a time, using one for the evening meal and freezing the other three portions of dough. I also make a large batch of spaghetti sauce at a time and freeze in small glass jars for topping our pizzas. To keep things simple we don’t use a special pizza sauce, as the spaghetti sauce has a ton of flavor. I make a large batch not only for pizza but also to serve for spaghetti.

Chicken Curry- you can layer in a pan with brown rice or simply freeze the curry sauce on it’s own!

Shepherd’s Pie- one of my all time favorite freezer meals!

Soups

I have had great success freezing all my soup recipes. I simply cook as instructed in the recipe, allow to cool completely and then place in Ziploc bags or as I prefer, put into quart size or half gallon size glass jars. Make sure to allow at least 1 inch for breathing room.

Garden Chowder – despite the combination of multiple vegetables in this soup, it freezes just fine after being cooked.

Chili & Cornbread -I will often multiply and freeze both the prepared chili and baked cornbread for a future meal. We love chili topped with cheese on nitrate free hot dogs! A yummy high protein lunch!

Stocks

I like to make a large batch of chicken stock at a time and freeze in smaller quantities. I recommend freezing this in large Ziploc freezer bags. Glass jars just have not worked for me. They break too easily as the stock expands.

Desserts

I often like to prepare a batch of cookie dough for the freezer. This is a wonderful way to be prepared for last minute or unexpected guests. Simply pull the dough out of the freezer and bake! Yum! Our favorite recipe is the Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies….they are not healthy but are a delicious special treat, easy to make and great for company. Ice Cream is another dessert that can be made ahead and frozen. Try our Coconut Ice Cream or Peanut Butter Ice Cream.

Further Resources

Foods that Do Not Freeze Well

30 Day Gourmet Online Cooking Resource

Resources for Freezer Cooking

Now it is your turn…Please share your favorite freezer meal recipes and provide the link to your direct post with the recipe. Make sure to include a return link to this post! If you don’t have a blog, share your favorite recipe in the comments below!

Do you have any tips to share for freezer cooking?

This is a hearty creamy veg­etable soup that has been a favorite in our family for many years! It is a perfect meal for a cold winter evening and a great way to use those seasonal winter vegetables! You can mix and match the vegis as to what you may have on hand. This recipe was formally published here but has been revised and updated. A wonderful accompaniment to soaked spelt biscuits (which you can also make with any variety of flour) topped with butter and honey! Yum!

1/2 chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup butter
1 cup each diced potato, celery, cau­li­flower, carrot and broc­coli
3 cups water
3 chicken bouil­lon cubes (or just 3 cups of chicken broth to replace water and bouil­lon)
1 tea­spoon salt
3 garlic cloves or 1-2 tsp of garlic powder
1/4 tea­spoon pepper
1/2 cup flour or arrowroot powder
2 cups milk
1 Tbls minced fresh pars­ley
1/8-1/4 tsp of each the following spices: paprika, coriander, ground mustard (increase as desired)
2-3 cups shred­ded ched­dar cheese (can be adjusted as desired, as I rarely use more than 2 cups of cheese)

In a Dutch oven or large pot, saute green pepper, onion and butter until tender. Add veg­eta­bles, water, bouil­lon, salt and pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 min­utes or until the veg­eta­bles are tender. Com­bine flour and milk until smooth; stir into pan. Allow to thicken at a low temperature. Add the pars­ley and other spices. Just before serv­ing, stir in the cheese until melted. Yield: 6-8 servings. This chowder freezes very well also! Just allow room for expansion.

Yum! This was the first time I have explored with making my own homemade tomato soup and it was delightful! I had a pile of tomatoes from the last pick of my garden and what better way to use them but to prepare a luscious tomato soup for our family!

Come on in and I will share with you my creation…

4 cups tomatoes, diced or pureed in the blender (approximately 8 small tomatoes) – I used part of my canned tomatoes and it worked great!
1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced or a combination of cloves and garlic powder
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp sea salt or garlic salt
1 Tbsp dry basil (or fresh if you have it!)
dash of pepper
2-3 tsp rapadura or other natural sweetener

Saute onion and garlic in a little coconut oil till tender and translucent. Add tomatoes and chicken broth and cook over medium heat for approximately 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly before transferring carefully to a blender. Puree until smooth. Return to pot and add the remaining ingredients to your taste. Delightful with a dalop of sour cream on the top!

It’s supper easy and delicious…I can’t imagine going back to the store bought varieties now!

Soups are a fall favorite! Here are a few others to try: Spicy Lentil Soup, Chili & Garden Chowder – all of which can be made without meat and thus very frugal, whole and nutritious!

This recipe is being shared as a part of Nourishing Fall Recipes Carnival & Kitchen Tip Tuesday!

Here is my winter monthly menu plan! It works great to post it on the fridge, so it is easily viewable. It helps me to look it over each morning so I can get a head start on dinner preparations. I don’t always stick strictly to it, as flexibility is always needed as plans change, but it is a helpful guideline to have. From my monthly menu plan, I made a monthly shopping list of ingredients needed for the recipes. So I have one menu plan and one shopping list. Have you realized by now how much I love simplicity!

For pointers on making a monthly menu plan, visit here.

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