Help- cooked foods/meals that freeze well?

[disneyaddict]

Hi,
I need help. We are visiting my nephews (17 and 19) this weekend in another state: their father (my husband''s brother) moved out of state and left the boys on their own while the youngest finishes high school. The boys don't cook, and when I talked with them last night, I told them I would make some stuff they can just take out of the freezer and microwave, along with cookies and brownies. I can cook almost anything, but we never freeze anything like that, so I need your suggestions for recipes, plus tips on how to actually freeze the food. I have done some research, but you guys always have such great practical advice, so I am hoping you can tell me how long food can keep in the freezer, etc.They will eat anything, but are partial to Italian and Mexican.
Any help or ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks, Diane

[BrattyMeg]

Enchiladas, Burritos, and Lasagna both freeze/bake well Does it have to be microwaveable or can they pop it in the oven? I freeze mine fully cooked but just pop it in the oven to melt the cheese/defrost

A lot of soups freeze pretty well too if they like soup. This is my current fave LASAGNA SOUP

here's a couple posts on make ahead meals
http://annies-eats.com/2011/03/28/st...e-ahead-meals/

http://joelens.blogspot.com/2007/01/...ake-ahead.html (lots of great links on this one)

[MissKim]

Make some freezer bags full of taco meat. That's super easy and they can make tacos or nachos or quesadillas or taco salad with it.

Meatballs, maybe? They could put them in a slow cooker (if they have one) and pour some barbecue sauce on them when they leave in the morning and then come home to hot meatballs.

Along those lines, mini meatloaves.

I'm a big fan of just browning a ton of ground beef and freezing it in serving size portions. Can be thrown into Hamburger Helper, pasta sauce, etc. I almost always have browned ground beef in my freezer.

[Darcy Baldwin]

K - just about everything freezes, unless it's heavy in dairy as a sauce (it can separate), is heavily reliant on mayo, or pasta that isn't completely covered in sauce.

You can freeze cookies already cooked, but my preferred method is to make either slice n bake cookies, freeze them in rolls wrapped in freezer/wax paper, then in freezer zip top bags, or to do drop cookies, flash freeze them (where you put them out to freeze in singles on a cookie sheet), then store them in airtight containers and cook on demand. Brownies are best done individually (don't cook til done, leave it a little on the underdone side), and then warmed in the microwave.

Big thing about storing - make sure there is NO air. Air is what kills freezer food (that and things not being fully cooled before freezing). I use a lot of zip top bags with the air sucked out if I'm not using my food saver. I wrap with freezer paper/wax paper if it's something that might go into the microwave for heating.

Make up a big batch of taco meat, chicken taco meat, and freeze it in meal-sized servings that they can just put out the night before to thaw, heat and serve! You can even freeze cheese portions to go with it so they always have it.

I do burrito guts and freeze those individually, then reheat in the microwave, transfer to a wrapper and we have a meal.

You can do a trick by lining a standard casserole dish in foil, filling it with whatever food you're going to freeze ( I don't do it with tomato based products), cook it, let it cool, freeze it, then pop out the freezer wrapped product, wrap well, then throw it back in the freezer. When it's time to reheat, just put it back into the same sized casserole dish, allow it to thaw overnight, put it on the counter to come to room temp before baking (especially if you're using glass), then reheating in the oven. You could use loaf pans and give the boys a few to reheat their casserole type dishes in (King Ranch Chicken is great for this).

You can make lasagna ahead of time as long as you cover everything thoroughly in sauce. Baked zitti is one I do a lot and store in zip top bags in the freezer - just make sure everything is fully coated in sauce.

[liriel]

I often make and freeze Lasagne, Stuffed shells, Beef Stew, Chili, Meatballs and homemade spaghetti sauce, Chicken spaghetti pie ( recipe here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2...icken_spaghet/ ). For the chicken spaghetti I get a rotisserie chicken from the store to make it easier. I can pm you any recipes if you need them. The lasagne, chicken spaghetti, and shells I just boil noodles, put together and then cover with a layer of press and seal wrap and then a layer of tin foil and then pop into the freezer. The stew and chili I make in the crock pot and then put them into smaller containers, let them cool a bit then put them in the freezer. Hope that gives you some ideas!

[tanyiadeskins]

you got lots of great ideas already...but dont forget breakfast. you can make and freeze waffles, pancakes, breakfast burritos, etc

[disneyaddict]

Thank you guys, I am going to cook all day tomorrow since we are leaving Saturday morning. I did not even think about breakfast foods.

A couple more questions:
What's your favorite enchilada sauce recipe? I can't make any mole with nuts, so I am looking for a good sauce recipe. Also, favorite burrito meat recipe.

Any other favorite make ahead recipes, vegetables, main dishes, sweets, etc. I would love to have any of your actual recipes.

[Darcy Baldwin]

Originally Posted by tanyiadeskins

you got lots of great ideas already...but dont forget breakfast. you can make and freeze waffles, pancakes, breakfast burritos, etc

HAHA! As my kitchen can attest to with a bajillion pancakes laid out everywhere cooling so that I can freeze them

[disneyaddict]

Originally Posted by liriel

I often make and freeze Lasagne, Stuffed shells, Beef Stew, Chili, Meatballs and homemade spaghetti sauce, Chicken spaghetti pie ( recipe here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2...icken_spaghet/ ). For the chicken spaghetti I get a rotisserie chicken from the store to make it easier. I can pm you any recipes if you need them. The lasagne, chicken spaghetti, and shells I just boil noodles, put together and then cover with a layer of press and seal wrap and then a layer of tin foil and then pop into the freezer. The stew and chili I make in the crock pot and then put them into smaller containers, let them cool a bit then put them in the freezer. Hope that gives you some ideas!

I would love the recipes, but I think you are one post short of receiving (or sending?) a pm.

[Darcy Baldwin]

Basically - anything you cook now, you can freeze, for the most part. Keeping the air out, keeping pasta covered, not using something relying heavily on mayo or sour cream are the big things that don't work well. OH! And label EVERYTHING!

Oh, another...eggs. I just find that eggs, alone, don't freeze well. We do breakfast burritos and quiche, and it's about the only way I freeze eggs anymore.