Freezer Cooking: The Lazy Girl’s Way

Freezer cooking (also known as Once A Month Cooking-OAMC) is when you cook meals in advance and then freeze them for future use. Many people will cook 2 weeks to one month’s worth of meals in a single session and freeze them. That is a lot of work, especially when you have two young children around and no babysitter.

But I still do a modified version of freezer cooking. Once a week or so, I cook a double batch of a meal that freezes well. Then, obviously, I freeze the second batch to eat later. It is great, in one night I make 2 nights worth of food, and usually 4 nights (because of leftovers). Freezer cooking is like having a take-out dinner right in your freezer—all you have to do is throw a salad together and you have a great dinner. And once you have done this for a few weeks, you will have a variety of dishes to choose from. Also this is great if you have a small freezer (like I do). I typically have 3 or 4 frozen dinners–that only takes up about 1/2 of my freezer space.

Here are a few things that I make to freeze.
Lasagna
Meatballs (I love meatballs in barbeque sauce or you can serve them as the standard spaghetti and meatballs)
Chicken Tetrazini (use precooked chicken from the deli to make this super easy)Packaging

Tips for Frozen Meals
You may be intimidated the first few times you cook homemade frozen food (I know that I was). But don’t let it scare you. The biggest thing to remember is to freeze it in a container that you can cook the food in (the Gladware oven safe products are GREAT). Or freeze it in a container that is easy to remove the food from (Ziploc bags are great for sauces and soups).

Freezing Casseroles
When I am planning on freezing a casserole, I don’t cook it before freezing. I assemble it in an oven safe dish, cover it, and freeze it. Then on the day I am ready to cook it, I simply place the dish in the oven. Typically I cook it at 350. And it usually takes about an hour to 1.5 hours to cook.

Freezing Sauces/Soups
Freezing pasta sauces/soups is supper easy. Let the sauce/soup cool completely. Pour it into a Ziploc freezer bag. Lay it flat in the freezer and freeze. When I am ready to eat it, I thaw it in the microwave for a minute or two (just enough to loosen it up so that it will come out of the bag easily) and then I place it in a pan on the stove. Set the stove to medium low heat. It will thaw and then you can raise the stove temperature to reheat the sauce/soup. Or you could just place the frozen item in the fridge about 10-12 hours in advance and let it thaw there, and then just reheat on the stove.