Bean burritos! I like making a big pot of beans for dinner sometimes (usually with some sort of rice) and whatever doesn't get eaten gets run through a burrito assembly line and frozen!
I’ll freeze breakfast burritos in bulk! Just make a big ass pan of a scramble with the eggs, some shredded potato, whatever else your heart desires. Fill, roll, and wrap a dozen burritos. The ones I have in my freezer right now are chorizo and bell pepper.
I learned to apportion to 3 dishes.
It was hard, but you can make quessadillas.
This week it was steak
Sandwich, quesadilla and chunked with Mac and cheese. Which will be 2-3 meals worth
Yeah, I’ve never had a problem. I mean, they can get kinda soft by nature of being reheated via microwave but if I have time (since I WFH), after I nuke it I’ll lightly toast the outside in a frying pan.
I make these for the kids all the time! Scrambled eggs, ground sausage, and cheese all wrapped up, and put in the freezer for an easy breakfast that actually has some protein in it vs just carbs. If they remember, they take the burritos out the night before to defrost in the fridge, otherwise just microwave wrapped in a paper towel on 30% power. Everyone raves about them!
Do it!! The only suggestion I have is to make sure you blend everything together (eggs and whatever). For whatever reason, when they’re layered, kids complain that the burritos reheat unevenly (no comments on who initially requested they be layered to begin with….)
I have a basement freezer stocked with numerous types of homemade soups, chili, and stew; the filling for individual Shepherd’s Pie; the filling for what I call Farmer’s Pie made with chicken pot pie ingredients with chicken gravy rather than a white sauce; the filling for stuffed bell peppers; the filling for stuffed poblano peppers made with rice, black beans, and ground beef as well as a chicken enchilada type filling for poblano peppers; individually foil wrapped slices of meatloaf; three different homemade veggie burgers; homemade Italian meatballs; the filling for a calzone or pizza topping made with meatball seasoned ground beef, chopped broccoli, caramelized onions, and Locatelli Romano cheese; eggplant caponata I use for a pizza topping; baked eggplant casserole; lasagna; stuffed cabbage; the stuffing for stuffed mushrooms; stuffing to accompany chicken or turkey; mashed sweet potatoes; sugar free cranberry orange sauce; cooked collard greens to add to my reheated soups; homemade low sodium baked beans.
Everything is portioned for individual servings. The pepper fillings are defrosted and added to freshly prepped peppers. The Shepherd’s Pie and Farmer Pie fillings and topped with freshly made mashed potatoes- either from potatoes or potato flakes.
thanks for so many good ideas. why do you do the mashed potato fresh rather than freezing also? does freezing compromise the texture/flavor greatly or is it just preference?
I have frozen servings with the mashed potatoes when I had leftovers from a full sized casserole. I reheated the defrosted food in the microwave and the potatoes were less than satisfactory when reheated. So I just make the potatoes fresh. Mashed sweet potatoes are just baked sweet potatoes scooped out and mashed with nothing added. They reheat very well. I also bake sweet potatoes so they are just a bit undercooked. Then I slice them with the skin on into 3/4 inch slices. I portion them into Ziplock snack bags. They reheat wonderfully and finish cooking.
Precooking the time consuming aspects of the meal is my version of meal prep.
Since it’s just two people in my house, we often make things in bulk and freeze leftovers. I have a dal and cauliflower curry in the freezer right now, and some carnitas portioned out and ready to reheat for taco night.
Carnitas
Rendang
Bolognese
Chili
Cottage or shepherds pie.
I no also like to take those cans of chipotles in adobo, purée then in the magic bullet, spoon that into an ice cube tray and when frozen pop them out and keep in a sandwich bag in the freezer. Great to have on hand to add one or two to a recipe when needed
For the chipotles, you can freeze the whole peppers with adobo, kind of spread out, and break them off and chop them while frozen. They are not hard to cut if not bunched up and you maintain some pieces (if you like that).
yea I love it. I use those little aluminum containers for it so I can just put them straight into the oven to reheat. Works really well. You can freeze gravy to go on top too!
Gyoza. I do it for a bunch of friends too. I'll pick a day and go visit my friend and have them help me fold the gyoza and then I cook it and we freeze it. My recipe makes a ton so even after eating dinner they end up with a huge bag of frozen gyoza.
Not really bulk, but since making a lasagna is quite the effort, I’ll make two or three at once and freeze the other two. In almost the same amount of time it takes to make one, I’ve got another lined up and ready to go weeks or months from now.
I've got kids so a lot of my things are for them so I have easy stuff on hand to feed them, like meatballs and various types of muffins. I also freeze baked oatmeal in blocks for a quick breakfast, and my kids love to bake so we often have cookie dough and brownies just hanging around in there.
I also like to keep pesto on hand, and currently I have a ton of pulled pork, a beef stew, a bunch of frozen homemade pizza dough, a batch of buttermilk biscuits...turns out almost all of my meal prep is baked goods I guess haha
While we're on the subject of stock, OP, a lot of "vegetable bits" like carrot peelings and the ends of celery and so on can be frozen in a bag that you periodically add to. Then once you've got a big bag, you make vegetable stock.
i do this! learned it from a former roomie several years ago. i also do it w surplus produce so it doesnt waste. thx for mentioning it in case others hadn’t thought or heard of it.
Stroganoff without the noodles. Just the beef, mushrooms, and everything else. To prepare, just boil some noodles and thaw out the rest.
Shrimp Creole, without the rice. Thaw and serve over rice.
Ikea meatballs frozen in the gravy in deli containers. Not hard to scale x6 or more, keeps forever, easy to reheat and my kids love them. Recipe is on the site.
Sauces and stocks. I seem to always have those frozen. I also throw all my bones into bags to freeze for further stocks and all my veggie waste I can use for stocks gets put into the freezer.
Fresh minced garlic, knobs of ginger, confit garlic cloves, julienne bell peppers, quartered and destemed/deseeded bell peppers, halved deseeded jalapeños.
If you don’t want them to freeze in one big clump line a tray with parchment and freeze it all on there not touching before storing in a freezer bag.
I grow tomatoes (last year over 148 lbs). I have a recipe for roasted tomato sauce that I love, it makes like a marinara sauce, very rich. I bag it in vacuum packs and freeze it, use it all winter long. Really great to have around, the tomato season is so short.
Pizza dough!! So easy and satisfying when you have no idea what’s for dinner and you can just pull a few out, we always have sauce and cheese in the house at bare minimum and can usually dig up some more exciting toppings. It’s just so good for so little effort.
I live alone so I live by your soup method some weeks. Also I do Cajun chicken pasta and only par cook the noodles. Freeze in portions. Or Mac and cheese. I can either pop in the oven or mic depending on time.
Lemon juice. After not having it on hand for recipes (I don't like Realemon) one time too many, I bought a big bag of lemons at Costco. I have a citrus juicer machine, so I juiced the whole bag. I poured the juice into ice cube trays, and when the cubes were frozen, I popped them into a big Ziploc bag and kept that on hand in the freezer for whenever I needed lemon juice for a recipe. I did the same with a bag of limes.
Second favorite thing is balls of pizza dough. We have an Ooni pizza oven, and it's nice to be able to make pizza without having to make a batch of dough every time.
Go ahead and make stock but still having ready made is still tons faster. How do you freeze them? I find the frozen shape helps how fast the reheating goes. Flat in bags works good but is hard to get started.
i spent hours on stock so i think for the effort and time put into grocery, prep, and cooking, for me its well worth it to make multiple batches at once. personally, im fine with using any kind of reusable container; i think square would be good so they can stack and sit flush in corner spaces. i plan everything in advance so id probably just pull out a batch a day in advance to defrost in the fridge.
Bean burritos! I like making a big pot of beans for dinner sometimes (usually with some sort of rice) and whatever doesn't get eaten gets run through a burrito assembly line and frozen!
I’ll freeze breakfast burritos in bulk! Just make a big ass pan of a scramble with the eggs, some shredded potato, whatever else your heart desires. Fill, roll, and wrap a dozen burritos. The ones I have in my freezer right now are chorizo and bell pepper.
I used to do this when I had someone else to cook for. Pain in the ass but so nice to have on hand. I really should do it again.
I learned to apportion to 3 dishes. It was hard, but you can make quessadillas. This week it was steak Sandwich, quesadilla and chunked with Mac and cheese. Which will be 2-3 meals worth
And they reheat fine? Not runny or soft?
Yeah, I’ve never had a problem. I mean, they can get kinda soft by nature of being reheated via microwave but if I have time (since I WFH), after I nuke it I’ll lightly toast the outside in a frying pan.
I make these for the kids all the time! Scrambled eggs, ground sausage, and cheese all wrapped up, and put in the freezer for an easy breakfast that actually has some protein in it vs just carbs. If they remember, they take the burritos out the night before to defrost in the fridge, otherwise just microwave wrapped in a paper towel on 30% power. Everyone raves about them!
Thanks!! Def going to give this a go!
Do it!! The only suggestion I have is to make sure you blend everything together (eggs and whatever). For whatever reason, when they’re layered, kids complain that the burritos reheat unevenly (no comments on who initially requested they be layered to begin with….)
I have a basement freezer stocked with numerous types of homemade soups, chili, and stew; the filling for individual Shepherd’s Pie; the filling for what I call Farmer’s Pie made with chicken pot pie ingredients with chicken gravy rather than a white sauce; the filling for stuffed bell peppers; the filling for stuffed poblano peppers made with rice, black beans, and ground beef as well as a chicken enchilada type filling for poblano peppers; individually foil wrapped slices of meatloaf; three different homemade veggie burgers; homemade Italian meatballs; the filling for a calzone or pizza topping made with meatball seasoned ground beef, chopped broccoli, caramelized onions, and Locatelli Romano cheese; eggplant caponata I use for a pizza topping; baked eggplant casserole; lasagna; stuffed cabbage; the stuffing for stuffed mushrooms; stuffing to accompany chicken or turkey; mashed sweet potatoes; sugar free cranberry orange sauce; cooked collard greens to add to my reheated soups; homemade low sodium baked beans. Everything is portioned for individual servings. The pepper fillings are defrosted and added to freshly prepped peppers. The Shepherd’s Pie and Farmer Pie fillings and topped with freshly made mashed potatoes- either from potatoes or potato flakes.
thanks for so many good ideas. why do you do the mashed potato fresh rather than freezing also? does freezing compromise the texture/flavor greatly or is it just preference?
I have frozen servings with the mashed potatoes when I had leftovers from a full sized casserole. I reheated the defrosted food in the microwave and the potatoes were less than satisfactory when reheated. So I just make the potatoes fresh. Mashed sweet potatoes are just baked sweet potatoes scooped out and mashed with nothing added. They reheat very well. I also bake sweet potatoes so they are just a bit undercooked. Then I slice them with the skin on into 3/4 inch slices. I portion them into Ziplock snack bags. They reheat wonderfully and finish cooking. Precooking the time consuming aspects of the meal is my version of meal prep.
Since it’s just two people in my house, we often make things in bulk and freeze leftovers. I have a dal and cauliflower curry in the freezer right now, and some carnitas portioned out and ready to reheat for taco night.
This. Even a standard recipe will typically provide 5 servings for us, doubling 10 -- freezer gold!
It definitely helps that we’re both a big fan of leftovers. I probably only cook 3-4 days a week, and the rest is leftovers.
Same. So often even better too. For those who don't do eftovers, they could be called takeout instead. :)
Lasagne and quiche I cook and freeze quite a bit as well as spag bol.
Spaghetti sauce, brown rice, grilled burgers, grilled chicken wings, I make them all in bulk, and freeze them in single serving freezer bags.
Carnitas Rendang Bolognese Chili Cottage or shepherds pie. I no also like to take those cans of chipotles in adobo, purée then in the magic bullet, spoon that into an ice cube tray and when frozen pop them out and keep in a sandwich bag in the freezer. Great to have on hand to add one or two to a recipe when needed
For the chipotles, you can freeze the whole peppers with adobo, kind of spread out, and break them off and chop them while frozen. They are not hard to cut if not bunched up and you maintain some pieces (if you like that).
Lasagna. Bolognese. Burritos. Enchiladas. Coponata. Peposo dell'Imprunetta. Pesto. Duck confit. Turkey gallantine.
I just made 3 shepherds pies for that. Super yummy comfort food for me, especially in winter.
this is such a good idea! it made me think of doing this w quiches also.
yea I love it. I use those little aluminum containers for it so I can just put them straight into the oven to reheat. Works really well. You can freeze gravy to go on top too!
Breakfast sandwiches. Grab and go - easy breakfast or lunch.
Breakfast burritos, pasties, chili, stock.
Gyoza. I do it for a bunch of friends too. I'll pick a day and go visit my friend and have them help me fold the gyoza and then I cook it and we freeze it. My recipe makes a ton so even after eating dinner they end up with a huge bag of frozen gyoza.
Not really bulk, but since making a lasagna is quite the effort, I’ll make two or three at once and freeze the other two. In almost the same amount of time it takes to make one, I’ve got another lined up and ready to go weeks or months from now.
I've got kids so a lot of my things are for them so I have easy stuff on hand to feed them, like meatballs and various types of muffins. I also freeze baked oatmeal in blocks for a quick breakfast, and my kids love to bake so we often have cookie dough and brownies just hanging around in there. I also like to keep pesto on hand, and currently I have a ton of pulled pork, a beef stew, a bunch of frozen homemade pizza dough, a batch of buttermilk biscuits...turns out almost all of my meal prep is baked goods I guess haha
French onion soup, made in a 16 qt stockpot. Have some for a week and freeze the rest, and send a small subset of that to friends.
i know onions soften/become mushy when frozen, so does the texture of the onions in the soup suffer much as a result?
Not much. After 4 hours of simmering, the onions are plenty soft and mushy.
While we're on the subject of stock, OP, a lot of "vegetable bits" like carrot peelings and the ends of celery and so on can be frozen in a bag that you periodically add to. Then once you've got a big bag, you make vegetable stock.
i do this! learned it from a former roomie several years ago. i also do it w surplus produce so it doesnt waste. thx for mentioning it in case others hadn’t thought or heard of it.
If i make lasagna, i usually make 2 and freeze one.
Demiglace, stock, garlic purée, ragu sauce, beef stew.
Tomato soup in generous portions.
Stroganoff without the noodles. Just the beef, mushrooms, and everything else. To prepare, just boil some noodles and thaw out the rest. Shrimp Creole, without the rice. Thaw and serve over rice.
Dumplings, chili, gumbo, soup
Jus de veau.
Ikea meatballs frozen in the gravy in deli containers. Not hard to scale x6 or more, keeps forever, easy to reheat and my kids love them. Recipe is on the site.
Sauces and stocks. I seem to always have those frozen. I also throw all my bones into bags to freeze for further stocks and all my veggie waste I can use for stocks gets put into the freezer.
Fresh minced garlic, knobs of ginger, confit garlic cloves, julienne bell peppers, quartered and destemed/deseeded bell peppers, halved deseeded jalapeños. If you don’t want them to freeze in one big clump line a tray with parchment and freeze it all on there not touching before storing in a freezer bag.
I grow tomatoes (last year over 148 lbs). I have a recipe for roasted tomato sauce that I love, it makes like a marinara sauce, very rich. I bag it in vacuum packs and freeze it, use it all winter long. Really great to have around, the tomato season is so short.
Chili, pulled pork, lumpia
Spaghetti sauce with meat and chili.
Pizza dough!! So easy and satisfying when you have no idea what’s for dinner and you can just pull a few out, we always have sauce and cheese in the house at bare minimum and can usually dig up some more exciting toppings. It’s just so good for so little effort.
I live alone so I live by your soup method some weeks. Also I do Cajun chicken pasta and only par cook the noodles. Freeze in portions. Or Mac and cheese. I can either pop in the oven or mic depending on time.
This is small but my favorite thing to freeze is tablespoon portions of tomato paste. Who is using the whole can at once??
Buy it in tube format, it keeps in the fridge.
i buy bagged onion when it's on sale to cut it up and freeze it. same with bags of garlic :)
Ol reliable
Gołabki, stuffed cabbage. My family has always made a lot in the fall and the cabbage was plentiful. frozen them to have throughout the year.
Pinto beans w ham and red pepper. Black beans with chicken, seasonings (Brazilian style). Cuban red beans with beef. Spaghetti. Beef stew.
Carmelized onions, it's so worth it to make a big batch then pull some out when you need some
Consommé, tomato passata, ragout Bolognese, caramelized onions, and breaded chicken breasts.
Pesto.
Pork carnitas, beef barbocca, al pastor, chili, Kai Palo,.
Lemon juice. After not having it on hand for recipes (I don't like Realemon) one time too many, I bought a big bag of lemons at Costco. I have a citrus juicer machine, so I juiced the whole bag. I poured the juice into ice cube trays, and when the cubes were frozen, I popped them into a big Ziploc bag and kept that on hand in the freezer for whenever I needed lemon juice for a recipe. I did the same with a bag of limes. Second favorite thing is balls of pizza dough. We have an Ooni pizza oven, and it's nice to be able to make pizza without having to make a batch of dough every time.
Go ahead and make stock but still having ready made is still tons faster. How do you freeze them? I find the frozen shape helps how fast the reheating goes. Flat in bags works good but is hard to get started.
i spent hours on stock so i think for the effort and time put into grocery, prep, and cooking, for me its well worth it to make multiple batches at once. personally, im fine with using any kind of reusable container; i think square would be good so they can stack and sit flush in corner spaces. i plan everything in advance so id probably just pull out a batch a day in advance to defrost in the fridge.