Freezable Dinner Ideas?

Question

What are some good meals that I can make ahead and freeze for later? I want to be able to pull them from the freezer, pop them in the oven and have a hot meal ready to eat. I bought some aluminum cake pans to store them in, the disposible square ones, and I'm already planning on a Chicken Pot Pie, Homemade Mac & Cheese, Lasagna and Stuffed Shells. Can you think of any others?

Answer 1

Your looking for casseroles......

AMISH CHICKEN CASSEROLE

8 oz broad egg noodles
1/2 cup butter
8 oz fresh mushrooms, slice
1/3 cup flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk
salt and pepper, to taste
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups cooked chicken, cut in cubes
generous pinch of rubbed sage

Cook noodles as directed on package. Melt butter and cook mushrooms in a large skillet until lightly browned. Stir in flour and blend in with a fork or slotted spoon. Stir in milk and broth and seasonings; whisk sauce constantly until thickened.
Combine sauce, noodles and chicken. Adjust seasonings to taste. Place in a 2 quart casserole dish. Sprinkle top with Parmesan cheese and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.

MEXICAN CASSEROLE

1 16 oz container sour cream
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
2 eggs
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 large onion, chopped
1 small can olives, chopped
1 small can chopped green chiles
1 cup cooked chicken, tuna, or turkey, chopped
1 8 oz pkg Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese, shredded


Mix together sour cream, cream cheese, eggs, cream of chicken soup, chopped onion, olives (optional), green chillies, chicken, tuna or turkey (add more than called for if desired).
Spread mixture evenly in a 9x13 pan glass or earthenware casserole dish.

Top with shredded cheese.

Cover and bake 1 hour 350 degrees. Can be frozen and cooked later or cooked and reheated.

A metal 9x13 pan takes longer to cook than a glass one, so bake it slightly longer if you use a metal pan.

Mixture should be set well when removed from oven.

BAKED ZITI CASSEROLE

16 ounces ziti pasta
1 pound Italian sausage links
2 medium carrots, cut into 1/2" slices
2 medium celery stalks, cut into 1/2" slices
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons flour
28 ounces tomatoes, canned, crushed
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon pepper
16 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
celery leaves, for garnish

In saucepot, prepare ziti macaroni as label directs for minimum cooking time and do not use salt in water. Drain ziti and return to saucepot.
Meanwhile, remove casings from Italian-sausage links. In 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat, cook sausage meat until well browned, stirring occasionally to break up sausage. With slotted spoon, remove sausage meat to bowl.

Preheat oven to 375 F;. In drippings remaining in skillet, over medium-high heat, cook carrots, celery, and onion, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are golden and almost tender.

In 2-cup measure or medium bowl, with fork, mix milk and flour until smooth; stir into vegetable mixture in skillet. Add crushed tomatoes, sugar, dried basil, and pepper; over high heat, heat to boiling. Reserve 1 cup shredded mozzarella for topping. Into cooked ziti in saucepot, stir vegetable mixture, sausage, and remaining mozzarella cheese. Spoon mixture into deep 3-quart casserole; sprinkle with reserved mozzarella cheese.

Bake casserole, covered, 15 to 20 minutes until cheese melts and mixture is hot and bubbly. Garnish with celery leaves. Makes 8 main-dish servings.

Serving Size: 8

PIZZA-FLAVORED CASSEROLE

8 oz. extra wide noodles
1 lb. ground beef
2 T. olive oil 1/2 c. chopped onion
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 (10 1/2 oz.) can tomato soup or sauce
1/2 c. water
1-2 oz. can mushrooms
3/4 c. sharp cheddar or mozzarella cheese

Butter a casserole. Boil noodles according to package directions, cutting boiling time in half. Place noodles in casserole and cover with soup, water, and mushrooms. Brown ground beef, onion and garlic in olive oil adding herbs at last minute. Add to tomato and noodle mixture and mix in lightly. Cover all with cheese, topping off with a few spoons of tomato soup. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and dots of butter if desired. Bake in 350 degree oven for 40 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned on top. Serves 1-2.

MOMMA KATY'S ENCHILADA CASSEROLE

1 lb hamburger meat
2 cans Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce (mild is great)
2 small cans green chopped chilis
12 corn tortillas
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 small white onion
2 cups of shredded cheese of your choice

PreHeat Oven at 375 degrees. Brown hamburger meat, drain off fat. While browning meat, cut tortillas into one inch squares then mix with ALL ingredients except the cheese. When burger is done, mix with the other ingredients and fill a 9x13 glass casserole dish. Spread cheese evenly over mixture cover with tin foil and bake for 45 mins. Make sure the tinfoil is domed over the dish or cheese will stick to foil upon removal. Wonderful topped with sour cream or hot sauce or just plain. Serves about 6-8

PIEROGI CASSEROLE

1 package (8 ounce) wide noodles
3 medium chopped sauted onions in 1/2 pound butter
1/4 pound sharp or cheddar cheese
7 potatoes

Cook noodles 8 minutes. Saute onions in butter. Prepare potatoes as mashed potatoes. Melt cheese in potatoes. Spread potatoes in a casserole dish. Cover potatoes with noodles. Pour onions in butter over entire top. Bake 15 minutes at 375.
Note: Not a diet dish!

HAM, SCALLOPED POTATO & LEEK CASSEROLE

4 cups thinly sliced, pared potatoes
2 cups cooked ham, chopped
1 leek, cleaned and thinly sliced
1 cup sliced onion (1 medium onion)
2 tbsp. flour
1 tsp. diced parsley
1 tsp. diced chives
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
2-3 tbsp. butter (cut into 8-10 dots)
1 1/2 cups scalded milk
paprika and parsley for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375°F.
Grease a 2 qt. covered casserole dish. Parboil potato slices over medium heat in unsalted water for 5 minutes. Strain and replace water with cold water to stop cooking process.

In a small bowl, blend together flour, parsley, chives salt and pepper. Strain potatoes.

In the greased casserole dish, create multiple layers of potatoes, onion slices, ham and sprinkling of the dry ingredients in each layer. Dot each layer with some butter, reserving enough potatoes and butter for the top layer.

Sprinkle top with paprika and parsley.

Cover casserole and bake in 375°F oven for 45 minutes covered, then 15 minutes uncovered.

Serves 4-6

Curried!! For a spicy twist add ½ teaspoon curry to dry ingredients and omit the chives and paprika!

BEST EVER HAMBURG CASSEROLE

1 lb. hamburg
2-3 large cans tomatoes
3-4 onions
4-5 potatoes

Pack hamburg on bottom of pot or casserole dish. Slice onions and put rings on top of hamburg. Slice potatoes as you would for scalloped potatoes, put this on top of onions. Salt and pepper as you go along. Add tomatoes, crushed by hand along with juice. Add a can of water when you are near top for added juice. Put the onions, potatoes and tomaotes to top of pot or dish. Rice may be added to this if desired. Bake at 350. Stick a fork in potatoes, when they are done, serve. This is a wonderful recipe my dad made up and it's real tasty. I hope you like it.

Answer 2

You can freeze just about anything you want. Avoid things with chunks of potato (gets mealy), creams will seperate, but will be fine when heated and stirred well. No cream cheese unless mixed in wellwith something. Corn starch based instead of flour based sauces work better. Can't freeze anything w/ a lot of mayo. I freeze a lot of items in canning jars. You can reuse lids and rings for freezing. ALWAYS leave at LEAST an inch of head room for food to expand or your jars will explode. Not a fun clean up. I think it was easier to tell you what to avoid, vs what you can freeze. PS. I have learned that if you freeze stuffed green peppers raw, then put into the crock-pot STILL FROZEN and pour your tomato soup/sauce over top, they retain their shapes wonderfully. So make a huge batch and portion out.

Answer 3

homemade tv dinners can be good. alot healthier then store boughten. make up a bunch of chicken pork or whatever your preference is, some veggies, and maybe add some of your homemade mac and cheese. bake some baking powder biscuits or refrigerator rolls and you have yourself a meal. another favourite of mine is homemade burritos. make them all up, add the cheese, roll them up and freeze on a baking sheet. when theyre frozen you can take them off and store them in a bag, pop them in an oven when you want them. soups and stews and spaghetti are also good. make a double or triple batch the next time you make some and store extras in the freezer.

Answer 4

Stuffed peppers work well in the freezer - you can also make just about any kind of stew or casserole and freeze it. Just stop right before the final baking process in the recipe.

Answer 5

this isnt a meal but more like a side, for like mac n cheese... my mom makes alot of stewed tomatoes nd stores them in the freezer. and always come out really good.

Answer 6

Chicken and noodles would be good. Also, chicken tetrizinni. You can look on the tasteofhome.com and also foodnetwork.com. Giada has a great recipe for chicken tetrizinni. =)

Answer 7

Chicken tetrazinni is great for the freezer.
Poppy seed chicken is also a fave.

Answer 8

hello there..
i think u should variety meal.. such as 5-10 types of dish.. so that u will not got boring.

here is the list of url that u can refer..

http://www.recipezaar.com/cookbook.php?bookid=28772
http://www.recipelink.com/rcpmenus.html
http://www.dvo.com/newsletter/monthly/2003/march/index.html

enjoy n have fun!!!

Answer 9

they are already made for you in the freezer section they are called tv dinners