Freezer Meals 1/19

One of my very best friends just had a sweet baby boy! So a few weeks ago I went to see her and help fill her freezer with goodness so she would have one less thing to worry about after he arrived. We live hours apart from each other now and like us she and her husband also live a few hours away from family and an abundance of close friends. As a nice bonus both of our moms were able to come on this fun girls weekend. This really was just an excuse for us to get together and celebrate this new baby!

I have been doing freezer meals for years so this only took me a half hour to plan everything out. She sent me the meals she wanted to do and a few of these recipes so things would be made the way her family likes it. It did take about an hour and half to shop for, but it always takes longer when you’re at a store you’ve never been to. When we went to cook it took us less than 4 hours and that included a lunch break where we all sat down. We spent right around $180 for 16 meals (that will have left overs) and about 50 sausage balls. This price also includes a couple of gifts we had to buy big sister since I had made a few things for baby brother.

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Here is what we made:

• Sausage balls
• Taco shells
• Poppy seed chicken
• Zucchini lasagna
• White chicken chili
• Meatloaf
• Chicken divan
• Roast

*Each of the recipes have already been doubled.

Chicken Divan:

• 2 lbs broccoli
• 2lbs cooked chicken cubed
• 3 cups shredded cheddar
• 1 c milk
• 1½ cups sour cream
• 2 10.5 oz can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1 t garlic, onion, pepper
• ½ t seasoning salt

Topping:

• 6 T panko bread crumbs
• 2 T melted butter
•  

Divide all ingredients in half and into two aluminum pans. Mix together ingredients and spread out in pan. Cover with aluminum foil and label. When ready to cook melt 1 tablespoon of butter and mix with 3 tablespoons of bread crumbs. Sprinkle mixture over casserole. Bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes

Roast:

• 4 cans of cream of mushroom soup
• 2 Roasts
• 2pkg dry onion soup mix

Place half of each ingredient into a gallon size bag. Label bag. When ready to cook dump all contents of bag into crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Try adding carrots and potatoes to crock pot. (You can also freeze these but the potatoes will brown more while cooking. Still tasty but doesn’t look as good.)

Meatloaf:

• 3lbs ground beef
• 2 egg
• 8oz tomato sauce
• 1 medium onion
• 2c bread crumbs

sauce:

• 8oz tomato sauce
• 1 c water
• 4T brown sugar
• 4T vinegar
• 2T mustard

Mix all loaf ingredients together and form them into loaf pan. Cover with aluminum foil and label. When ready to bake mix together sauce and pour half over loaf then bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and pour other half of sauce over loaf and continue baking for a half hour.

White Chicken Chili:

• 2lb chicken breast
• 1 large onion
• 2t garlic powder
• 2T oil
• 4 cans(15oz each) great northern beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 14 oz can chicken broth
• 2 4oz cans chopped green chilies
• 2t salt
• 2t ground cumin
• 2t dried oregano
• 1 t pepper
• ½ t cayenne pepper
• 2 c (8oz) sour cream
• 1 c heavy whipping cream

Saute onions and garlic in oil for about 3 minutes. Divide all ingredients in half except sour cream and whipping cream and place in two gallon size bags. Label bags. When ready to cook place all contents of bag into crock pot and cook on low 6-8 hours. Before serving stir in sour cream and whipping cream.

Poppy seed Chicken:

• 10 Chicken breasts (3-4lbs)
• 1 26oz can of cream of chicken
• 16oz sour cream
• 2 sticks of butter
• 2 sleeves of Ritz crackers

Boil chicken and cube. In 9×13 pan add chicken, cream of chicken soup, and sour cream. Mix well. In a ziplock bag mix together butter and crackers. Freeze. When ready to use let thaw then place cracker mixture on top of chicken mixture and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Taco Shells:

• 2lbs of ground beef
• 2 envelops of taco seasoning
• 1½ c water
• 1½  boxes of jumbo pasta shells
• Optional: Salsa and shredded cheese

Brown ground beef and mix in taco seasoning. Stuff mixture into pasta shells and place into aluminum pan and freeze. When ready to use let thaw and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. If desired top with cheese and let bake 5 more minutes then pour salsa over and serve.

Lasagna:

• 2lbs ground beef
• 3 zucchinis
• 1 large jar pasta sauce
• 8 c mozzarella
• 2 c parmesan
• 1 large can crushed tomatoes
• 1 ½ c skim ricotta

Brown ground beef then add in pasta sauce and crushed tomatoes. Slice zucchini into long thin strips. Place thin layer of sauce mixture on bottom of two aluminum pans. Then layer in this order: zucchini slices, then spread ricotta on zucchini, sauce mixture, mozzarella. Continue this layering leaving mozzarella mixture as the top layer. Then sprinkle parmesan over the top. Cover with aluminum foil and label. When ready to cook bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Sausage balls:

• 1LB Ground sausage
• 3C Bisquick
• 4C Grated sharp cheddar cheese

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well with your fingers or a stand mixer. The mixture will be very crumbly. Form into 1 inch balls, squeezing the mixture so it holds together. Then place into quart size bags. We put 10-15 in each bag. When ready to cook place the frozen balls on the baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Shopping List

Go through your supplies at home and make your own list based on what you already have. Since we were doing this as a gift I did not want to use up my friend’s personal supply. However, I didn’t mind using things like spices from her kitchen. We also were smart about it and although I bought milk for our meals we used the older milk she already had in her fridge first. This list will end up being different for each person of course.

These are the storage supplies you will need for your freezer meals. This is exactly how many you need for the meals but I always like to have a couple extra aluminum pans and gallon bags. When you start doubling meals 1+1 sometimes equals 3 and it is nice to have that extra pan ready for it. That is how we ended up with a couple extra meals.

• 7-10 quart size freezer bags
• 6 9x13in aluminum pans
• 4 gallon size freezer bags (any brand)
• 2 aluminum loaf pans
• Aluminum foil

I have split the rest of the shopping list into what I get from a regular grocery store and what I get at a bulk store (I shop at Sams club) If you haven’t tried the online ordering and pick up many stores now offer you might give it a shot since this will be a large shopping trip. This is everything else you will need:

Regular grocery store list:

• 1lb ground sausage
• 8 c grated cheddar cheese
• 2 evelops taco seasoning
• 2 boxes jumbo pasta shells (you will have extra of these but many will break so you need two boxes)
• 2 jars salsa
• 2 eggs
• 1 26oz cream of chicken
• 40oz sour cream (8oz will be used later when the meal is ready to be eaten)
• 3 sticks butter
• 2 sleeves of ritz crackers
• 4 large zucchini
• 1 large jar pasta sauce
• 8 c mozzarella
• 2 c parmesan
• 1 large can crushed tomatoes
• 1 ½ c skim ricotta
• 2 large onions
• 4 cans (15oz) norther beans
• 2 can (28oz) chicken broth
• 4 cans (8oz) chopped green chiles
• 1c heavy whipping cream
• 16 oz tomato sauce
• 2 pkg dry onion soup mix
• 1c milk whole or 2%
• 3 c bisquick
• 3c panko bread crumbs
• 2 T oil
• 4 T brown sugar
• 4 T vinegar
• 2 T mustard
• seasoning salt
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Ground cumin
• Dried oregano
• Cayenne pepper
• Pepper and salt
• Crockpot liners

Sam’s Club list:

• 7lbs ground beef (I bought an 8lb package but if I had been at home I would have just bought the 10lb tube of 90/10)
• 24 breasts/8lbs chicken breasts (I bought the ten pound bag)
• 2 roasts
• 6 cans cream of mushroom( I think they come in an 8 pack)
• 3lbs frozen broccoli (I bought the 5 pound bag so she would have extra)
• aluminum pans

The Game Plan:

1. Brown 4lbs beef then divide in half and add taco seasoning to 2lbs, and lasagna ingredients to 2lbs.
2. Boil noodles for taco shells.
3. Boil 5lbs chicken- dice
4. Slice zucchini and make lasagna
5. Make taco shells
6. Make poppy seed chicken
7. Make chicken divan
8. Make roast, chicken chili, meatloaf, sausage balls