Freezer Cooking Reviews

I am three days into my freezer cooking {I decided to stick to one name} adventure and loving the benefits so far! I don't miss the 5 o'clock what's for dinner??? rush. I don't miss looking up pizza coupons. I definitely don't miss looking over my bank statement adding up how much money was spent on said pizza 'deals' because I was unprepared. Each morning I scan my freezer inventory list pick a winner and put it in the fridge to thaw. Then I update my meal count {if that meal was doubled or split for storage}and go on with my day. Simple enough right? Here's what our week of dinners looked {& tasted} like.

Monday: Tortilla Soup, cooked in the crock-pot that day. We enjoyed dinner and I froze leftovers for two more meals. {One meal was sent along to one of my husband's coworkers a couple days later} Definitely have a meal ready to go for the evening of your big cooking day(s). You'll be more than done with chopping, measuring, stirring, cooking and storing that you'll just want to eat {barely} and manage one last clean up - or delegate that task!

Tuesday: Sloppy Joe Pitas, thawed out, reheated & served in warmed pita bread halves. This was a hit with the husband and children. Had I not split the meal for storage we would have had leftovers for the next day. As it was we ran out of pitas before running out of the filling and the husband made himself a third serving using a tortilla and there was still enough left to save for a single lunch serving.

Wednesday: Mandarin Orange Chicken, thawed out, reheated & served over chow mien noodles. This was not such a big hit with anyone. We still ate it because that was dinner - everything else was still frozen! ;) But the husband said he wouldn't want it on the list again. Too bad we have leftovers and another meal in the freezer huh? Next time I'll try serving it over rice. The chow mien noodles were rinsed in cold water and the whole meal ended up cold so it may not have been the recipe. We'll see.

Thursday: Mac & Cheese, set out to thaw...didn't quite thaw in time...learned a lesson. Casseroles need to thaw longer than other meals. This Mac & Cheese recipe was served casserole style. Eventually it was heated but was also pretty dry. Which was really disappointing with how good it smelled when I made it. We have a small amount of leftovers and another meal so I'll give it a better shot next time. Maybe add a little milk to make it creamier when it's reheated?
Friday: Pineapple Chicken, This one came out okay, needs some tweaking - not sure what, but something. I think it was more creamy than I would have preferred. It's worth giving another try.
Saturday: Chicken Enchiladas, I took this out a little later in the morning than I should have but was able to get it thawed & cooked in time for dinner at a decent time. Next time I'll use regular chicken instead of ground. I think any enchilada recipe would work fine for freezer cooking, just make sure that it's wrapped well.
Sunday: Dr. Pepper Spaghetti, So I realized that this should have been put into a 13x9 pan and frozen (or two smaller dishes), then thawed & reheated in the oven...like a casserole. I'm sure on my day of marathon cooking I had a reason for putting the servings into two big freezer bags instead...or I just messed up. We'll go with the former k? I think next time I'll skip this spaghetti casserole and just go with a baked ziti casserole, then make & freeze meatballs for spaghetti another night. Boiling noodles & heating up sauce (unless I make my own to freeze) doesn't really take that long. As for the recipe itself, mediocre at best. I had to look over the recipe again to see if there was tomato sauce, there was but no signs of it now. And it's pretty dry. This will not be a repeat. Baked ziti is going to be a much better substitute.


Well I have some new meals that I can review next week along with planning my menu for the next round. I hope my experience will be helpful in your own freezer cooking ventures and save you some frustration along the way. I'm sure I'll find more kinks to work out as I go along, but maybe before baby makes her appearance I'll have most of them worked out. One can hope. ;)

One change I'll definitely make is thawing out a meal the night before rather than the morning of, just to make sure it's thawed completely and I know that it being in the fridge won't hurt anything. I also want to use more recipes that I already know and love. Trying out new recipes is fun but it is quite the gamble when it's a week plus of new recipes and all of your dinner food is frozen.