freezing meals for emergencies

**winner** · 11-05-2008, 07:02 PM

Hello there,
I was organizing my freezer and decided to share with you some of my tips about freezing meals.
Once a month I spend a few hours by preparing and freezing meals.
I make my own meat sauce, garlic butter. When bread is on sale I buy slice in half, spread garlic butter sprinkle cheese, then wrap in foil. When running out of cash, here I have a meal of spagetti, meat sauce and garlic bread.
I make my own burgers, freeze them, the pack them adding a hot dog as well. So when BBQ, a person can have a hot dog and a burger.
Make my own meatballs, chinise potstickers.
For weekend breakfasts I have my trays for two of bacon, sausages, hashbrown patties. Having portions prepacked saves lots of time.
During the summer for a dollar I was bying a big bag of fruits and vegetables. Variety fruits I cubed and froze in bags for smoothies. Blanched vegetable and freeze for soups, stews. Red peper I was grilling, then rmoving the skin and seed and froze as well. Is also good for spreads, bruschetas, pizza, or add in any sauce, aroma is great.
I bought recently a pasta maker, let me tell you what an investment! To buy a tray of linguinni is almost $4.00. I made the dough and froze, then when I need just take out thaw and roll my pasta.
I hope it helps.

**madhen** · 11-05-2008, 07:16 PM

Some great tips! Now we know why they call you "winner."

I have been doing a lot of OAMC lately. I package each serving up in a single-serving baggie, then, after they are all frozen, I put all those baggies into one big baggie that is labeled, so I can keep track of whether I'm running low on anything.

I've also got a pantry recently filled with canned produce, which makes me feel a bit more comfortable as the "lean" months approach!

I wasn't good about buying fruit this summer, but hope to remedy that next year. Right now, I'm trying to concentrate on winter fruits (apples, citrus, etc.). I have the ingredients for marmalade, so I'll probably make some of that this weekend and add that to my "jar" stock.

I've thought about buying a pasta machine, but the whole process looks so complicated, that I've resisted. Is it fairly easy to do?

**peanut** · 11-05-2008, 09:06 PM

Thanks for the idea of freezing homemade pasta! I have a machine given to me that I haven't used yet. time to get it out and make some whole wheat pasta. That stuff is getting expensive now!

Jean

**Momof3girls** · 11-05-2008, 09:21 PM

Oh, I had never thought of freezing homemade pasta either!
Thanks for the tips!

**winner** · 11-06-2008, 10:48 AM

Hi,
I did read your tips on this site and I am very inspired with your tips as well. Kepps me in line. My problem I live in the condo and not too much space for cans, but I do have enough to keep me going for 3 months.

**ellebee** · 11-06-2008, 06:32 PM

Great ideas! Do you have a good recipe for the potstickers? My family loves them but I've never made homemade!

**AuntSissy** · 11-07-2008, 04:53 PM

Originally Posted by ellebee

Great ideas! Do you have a good recipe for the potstickers? My family loves them but I've never made homemade!

I've tried this recipe (but used ground turkey or ground beef instead of pork):

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/pots...otstickers.htm

It was a success - - and much easier than it looks. They also freeze well...

Enjoy!
Anna

**madhen** · 11-07-2008, 05:25 PM

If you buy the Azumaya potsticker skins, they also have a recipe on the back of the package. I've used that recipe many times, and I've substituted turkey and/or tofu for the pork, with tasty results!

**MomToTwoBoys** · 11-07-2008, 07:37 PM

My big question is this:

What do you store your spaghetti sauces and other things in when you freeze them?

I'd love to start making big batches of food and freeze some of it for when we're low on groceries, but I have nothing in mind when it comes to what containers to put these things in.

**Trishagirl** · 11-07-2008, 08:33 PM

Thanks for the tips, once in a while I'll make and extra meal and then freeze it to have on hand when I don't want to cook.

**madhen** · 11-07-2008, 11:51 PM

I put a lot of things in those cheap plastic sandwich bags you can buy in the 100-count boxes. Lately, I've been putting almost everything in those, including split pea soup! Then, when they've frozen, I put all the bags of that item into one big freezer bag and label it, so I can easily check to see if I am running low. I also have some cheap single-serving containers that I use.

**winner** · 11-08-2008, 09:58 AM

Hi there,
I freeze in plastic containers, square ones (tapperware or ziplock). A friend of mine was moving so I got tons of them. Fruits and vegetables I freeze in plastic bags.

**Thrifty Mom** · 11-08-2008, 11:50 AM

I use cottage cheese containers and plastic peanut butter jars to freeze soups. It's not the most practical use of freezer space, but that's what I have. My mom used to use the square freezer containers, line it with a plastic bag, in those days they were closed with a twisty tie. Then once frozen, she pulled out the bag & used the square container again. That way everything was square & fit nicely in the freezer. I don't do that because when I use bags, I make them as flat as possible so they thaw fast. This month I have frozen vegetable soup, chili, sloppy joe in meal size portions. Today I am cutting up ham & will freeze in meal size portions & I am going to try to make scalloped potatoes & ham. Instead of making it in one big pan, I divy it up into three smaller casseroles & freeze two for later. I also have an unbaked meat loaf in the freezer, in a bag, ready to toss in the oven some Sunday morning for dinner after church. DH makes the meat loaf & he's getting into the habit of making two so we always have one in the freezer. He makes one mess for two meals.Actually we get more meals than that because we use leftover meat loaf & leftover baked potatoes to make hash.

**monkeywrangler71** · 11-08-2008, 12:44 PM

I use bags to freeze sauces. It takes a lot less space and is much cheaper if you don't already have containers. My bags are open at the end, I fold them over and tape them closed. That way I can lay them with the open end up so they don't leak before they freeze. When I want the sauce I run it under hot water and slide it out into the pot. A zipper bag doesn't slide as easily and usually rips while opening.

I get milk in bags which are perfect for freezing, but I know that most people here don't have that option.

**MomToTwoBoys** · 11-08-2008, 01:14 PM

Thank you all so much for the container suggestions. My big problem was that I'm always afraid of something spilling once I put it into the container, so I may go ahead and use the yogurt containers and the bag liner inside the plastic freezer container for that. It's just a safety thing for me. Alot of stuff sometimes flies right out of my freezer.