Freezer Meals

I've been meaning to do a serious day of freezer meal preparation, but have put it off for some time. However, my friend, Josie, is due with her second child in April so it seemed like a good time to make us both some food. I had intended to do this for Josie during her first pregnancy, but I was mid pregnancy myself and I could barely cook for myself. Instead I bought her some groceries. This time I was determined to make her food. I reviewed my cookbooks, recipes I've found on blogs, Pinterest, and other sites and decided to make the following.

Chicken Spaghetti
Tortilla Soup
Sloppy Joe's
Heinz 57 Meatloaf
Barbecued Pulled Pork
Red Bean and Sausage Soup
Allspice Muffins
Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Muffins
Jambalaya

Yes, I realize that list is a little long. It is a lot of food, but I had some extra days off recently so I thought I could tackle it. My only real obstacle was not having enough rice to make the jambalaya after going to the store twice. Jesse picked some up a couple days after I finished most of the cooking so I was finally able to complete that one as well.

Some of the above recipes I've made before, but the tortilla soup, pulled pork, and muffins were new recipes. It's hard deciding what to cook for others because apparently not everyone likes what I like. I know Josie is a meat and rice kind of gal (I lived with her for 9 years and she made rice with every meal) and she informed me that her husband, Rob, is a meat and potatoes kind of guy so that helped me decide on a few items.

Once I decided which meals to make I wrote down all the ingredients I needed to purchase and made sure to double them. I then organized them by category (meat, produce, dairy...) and listed them in the order they are stocked in the grocery story. This made the trip go so much faster especially since I was shopping with a 2 year old.

As I mentioned I had some extra time off to tackle this so overall the planning, shopping and cooking took place over 5 days (not all day long each day), but I certainly could have completed this over 2 days.

Day 1: Planned food and created grocery list

Day 2: Went grocery shopping and completed some cooking

Day 3 and 4: Cooked. Day three I spent the most time cooking

Day 5: Finally made the jambalaya

Chicken Spaghetti 
(print recipe)
I got this recipe off of It's All Happening, a blog written by a co-worker. She has some great information about meal planning and freezer meals that are certainly worth checking out. We've made this recipe a number of times and it has always been a hit for the entire family. I made a few alterations to the original recipe. For example, I just cooked up chicken breasts, and used chicken broth from a box. Also, I can't do onions so I eliminated that from mine, but included it in Josie's (which I did in most of these recipes). Also, we love mushrooms so we added that to the mix. The recipe as is has always been too much for us to eat so I typically divide it into two baking dishes and pop one in the freezer for later.

Tortilla Soup 
(print recipe)
So this one was pulled out of USA Weekend. I've actually been finding a number of good recipes there. As I mentioned earlier this was the first time I made this recipe... and the first time I've made tortilla soup ever. Besides not being able to find canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce at the first grocery store I went to this was a pretty easy and fast dish to make. When I originally couldn't find the chipotle peppers I thought I might have to skip that ingredient, but that would have been a huge mistake as it gives the soup a nice smokey flavor... and quite a bit of heat. If I make it again I might cut down on the chipotle peppers a little though as it was a little too hot for me.

Sloppy Joe's 
This was really as basic as you can get. Cook up a pound of ground beef; add can of sloppy joe mix. Done. And I might add, this one received the most excitement when I explained to Josie and Rob what I made for them.

Heinz 57 Meatloaf
(print recipe)
I came across this recipe so long ago that I can't remember where it came from. I turn to it whenever I want to make a tasty, easy meal like meatloaf. I often add mushrooms, and red or green peppers to get some more veggies in there as well. This is definitely my favorite meatloaf recipe.

Barbecued Pulled Pork 
(print recipe)
This was another new one, I think. I got this recipe out of a cookbook my mother in law gave me (Favorite Brand Name: One-Dish Cookbook, Slow Cooker Cookbook, Casseroles Cookbook). I made pulled pork once before, but was completely unsuccessful. To this day I have no idea what the problem was, but am so happy to have this turn out. The meat was tender and pretty much shredded without much assistance. I only made one batch of this as I was hesitant it would work out. All in all this was pretty good, but a little sweet for my taste. I'm not sure if it was the BBQ sauce I selected or if I would enjoy a different recipe without as much brown sugar. If you have a good recipe for this or a BBQ sauce suggestion I would love to hear it.


Red Bean Soup with Sausage
(print recipe)
I found this recipe in the same cookbook as the Barbecued Pulled Pork and have made it three different times. The actual recipe name is Red Bean Soup with Andouille Sausage, but each time I've made it with a different sausage. The first time I made it I asked my husband to get andouille sausage at the store, but he came home with something else (chorizo?). I wish I could remember what it was because it was my favorite version. The other times I made it with andouille and then with a beef smoked sausage. Both times were good, but just not as flavorful. I've also added rice to this soup to make it heartier. I'm not a huge soup fan as I never feel full after a bowl so this helped it act more as a meal for me. Oh, and I should admit that I totally cheat on this one and used canned red beans and have yet to add the ham hock. Maybe next time.

Allspice Muffins 
(print recipe)
I've tried a number of muffin recipes from Annie's Eats, but this one and the next listed were the ones I've made most recently. This one happened to be my hubby's favorite so it is likely to get made again.


Peanut butter and chocolate chip muffins
(print recipe)
I actually made this with soy nut butter. Good, but I was hoping they would be a little moister - not sure if it was because of the soy nut butter or what. Regardless, they were tasty and most were eaten so I had to make sure I set some aside for my friend.

Jambalaya 
(print recipe) 
My friend, Liza, suggested this recipe to me. She has 4 kids and a hubby, and all have some dietary restrictions. I figured this would be a hit as I only had to feed three people and only one of those has dietary issues. This is the second time I've made it and turns out it is a nice solid and yummy meal; although, I think I might add some of those chipotle peppers in adobo sauce to spice it up a little more next time.

Once completed I added all items to my freezer food chart (I actually created mine in Excel, but didn't know how to load it so I've now created it in Google docs to share).

I created the chart since food has been known to get lost in our little freezer in the past. Plus, I now don't have to move everything around in the freezer just to see what I have. I simply check the list posted on the side of the fridge and mark off items once removed from the fridge.

So there you have it. This was a little time consuming, but will save on time in the long run so it was certainly well worth it. So much so that I am tempted to buy a stand alone freezer so I can prep even more food.