Cooking to freeze

QVCkitty1 · ‎05-23-2015

I just finished making a big pot of meatballs and sauce to freeze for later. It is so satisfying to know that it is ready for days that I don't want to cook or just have a yen for pasta. What food do you like to cook ahead and freeze ??

" You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts."
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OKPrincess · ‎03-10-2013

I mainly freeze ground beef w/dry onion soup which will be ready for hamburger stew or soup, manwich, tacos or additional pizza topping.

luvdoodles · ‎06-19-2010

I like to do meatballs too. Also soups and stews. I like them year round. All I have to do is reheat it and make a salad and maybe a few rolls.

wagirl · ‎03-09-2010

I like to marinate chicken, pork tenderloin and beef steaks for a day then pop into the freezer. I also freeze greens, spinach, kale, chard, collards, mustard and many others and use them in my smoothies in the morning. I buy huge bags, put them on big cookie sheets, then freeze them and put it all in big zip top bags. Can just grab a handful of this or that and toss it in my Vitamix.

shoptilyadropagain · ‎03-19-2014

Since I'm single, I do a lot of cooking and freezing (in individual portions) for later. I always do spaghetti sauce (no meatballs....hamburger is in the sauce), chili, taco soup, Southwest Chicken Tortilla soup, Chicken & rice casserole, pizza casserole, cubed steaks with gravy and many other things but those are my go to items. I'll pull something out the night before and I always have a salad chopped up & ready to go with it or else some cooked veggie. You can tell, I'm not a PBJ or microwave popcorn kind of gal!

Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, but Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.
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jlkz · ‎12-02-2013

Several times a year, I make 20+ pints of marinara sauce and freeze in pint Ziploc bags. Can be used for sauce, pizza topping and soups.

twice a year I make large batches of small sized meatballs which I bake in QVC special trays. Freeze several of them at a time in pint size Ziploc bags. The trays allow the meatball fat to drip into foil-lined larger trays. When done, chill the fat and discard in trash.

We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.
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Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

Homemade soups, a lot of them.

Lasagna

Enchiladas

And I bake a lot, sweet breads, cookies, coffee cakes etc. to freeze.

chickenbutt · ‎03-09-2010

Mine are pretty boring - mostly split pea soup, turkey chili, and sauces. Vacuum-sealing is invaluable here, as you can cool, then put them in the serving sizes you want, freeze, then pop out of the containers and vacuum seal. This way they stay good for years.

I also liked to make my lasagne and freeze that in squares. I make a 17x12" pan, so it's like a zillion servings. I haven't made one in a few years and really miss it. It was nice to just pull out one square to re-heat and have my awesome lasagne at any time.

About all I have left, since I haven't been cooking so much due to a variety of health challenges, is a couple of split pea soup servings and some turkey chili. I made these a few years ago and they are still pristine, since I vac-seal them. I highly recommend this way of freezer storing this sort of thing.

January121 · ‎03-21-2010

@jlkz wrote:
Several times a year, I make 20+ pints of marinara sauce and freeze in pint Ziploc bags. Can be used for sauce, pizza topping and soups.

twice a year I make large batches of small sized meatballs which I bake in QVC special trays. Freeze several of them at a time in pint size Ziploc bags. The trays allow the meatball fat to drip into foil-lined larger trays. When done, chill the fat and discard in trash.

@jlkz ..... hi .... you mentioned you bake the meatballs in “QVC special trays” .... this sounds like a great idea... can you tell me the name & possibly the # of the trays? ..... THANKS😀

x Hedge · ‎08-18-2016

I spent years cooking to freeze, not whole meals, but components. When I worked I'd cook to freeze every Sunday.

I'll make a years worth of rice in one day, then freeze it in one cup servings. I cook spaghetti and other pasta ahead of time too.

I'll clean, cut, and bag ready to use servings of kale, leeks and mirepoix. When tomatoes are harvested and there are too many at one time, I'll make tomato soup, then freeze it.

I started this after I saw a great deal on lamb chops, marked way down because their "date" was that day. I realized I could cook the whole package that day, then freeze for future meals. Guess I'd never thought of that before.