Tons of Freezer Meal Ideas

Summer freezer cooking is SO much easier than doing it for the colder months!  It’s basically just a bunch of marinades and then you grill everything!  If you aren’t feeling up to making your own marinades, you can still buy a bulk package of meat, split it up between freezer bags and just add some pre-bottled marinades!  It’s still cheaper, your meal is prepared ahead of time and letting the meat marinate as it thaws will make it much more tender and flavorful!

This latest session of cooking took me about 4 hours and I got 46 meals out of it!! This is only about half of what I made today!!

 

Some of our favorites are:
Tomato Basil Soup
Sesame Chicken
Balsamic Roasted Chicken Thighs
Parmesan Garlic Chicken
Buttermilk Herb Chicken
Pesto Chicken
Cranberry Chicken
Dijon Pork Roast
Bourbon Brown Sugar Pork Chops
Hamburgers
Teriyaki anything!

If I have leftover carrots or onions when I’m done, I just freeze them in 1/2 cup increments and pull them out whenever I need them!

I didn’t get to it today, but I often will make huge batches of 40 or so waffles and freeze them so the kids can pull them out on a weekday morning!  All ends from the bread loaf get frozen for bread crumbs.  And I live by Chocolate World, so if I have time, I’ll stop in and buy their bags of day old cookies cheap and then freeze them for cheesecake crusts or crumb coatings.  I also try to always have some cooked sausage (w/peppers, onions and carrots) frozen that can be pulled out on the weekend for omelets or a quiche.

If I’m making casseroles or meatloaf, I line the pan with plastic wrap and then fill the pan.  Put the whole thing in the freezer and once it’s frozen solid, pop the plastic wrapped food out of the pan, put it in a freezer bag and now you still have your pan to use in the meantime.  Just remember, when it’s time to use it, take the plastic wrap off while it’s still a frozen block and put it back in the pan to thaw!

I also found some other deals that I won’t even do anything with until it’s serving day!

Not including these “ready-to-go” meats up above, I prepared 46 meal starters for us for the summer!  We have leftovers from nearly every meal, so this will actually get us much more than just the 46 meals. Add in these prepared meats above, the nights we’re away, cook-outs, etc… and I don’t really have to cook until about Sept.!  And trust me, the hubster loves this too!  If he gets home before me, dinner is thawing in the fridge with directions right on the bag. He plops it on the grill, throws the bag away and dinner is served with no mess to clean up afterwards!