Simplify Your Life With Freezer Meals!
Back to school? Distance learning?
New plans & this new lifestyle we are adjusting to during this pandemic have everyone’s lives turned upside down. Add in military life and WOAH! Slow down! We were thinking about this and came up with some ideas to help simplify your life.
We all know planning a menu out is the best way to keep up with a hectic schedule, but you’re still cooking every day! Solution? Freezer meals! Cook in bulk one day and get the family involved with the prep & clean-up!
It makes it much easier to manage a schedule to give them the much-needed structure they need!
We did some research into what foods freeze well and which ones don’t. Here are some tips!
- Stay away from freezing fried foods like pre-made chicken fingers. You can however use an air fryer to crisp them up from frozen, just be sure to undercook the meat and let cool completely before freezing.
- ALWAYS let everything COOL entirely before freezing!
- When making pasta dishes, be sure to slightly undercook the pasta or else it will be soggy and mushy when you defrost it.
- Stay away from fresh tomatoes
- Rice tends to get mushy as well, but you can add it after you defrost say a creamy broccoli chicken dish, top with cheese and breadcrumbs, and then bake though! Make the rice ahead of time and store it in the fridge, again undercook it a bit.
- If a recipe calls to top with cheese, always add the cheese right before cooking it. It dries out and isn’t “cheesy” after freezing due to the moisture in it freezing up.
- Thaw your food the night before. So pull out what you want to use for each meal the day before. After breakfast, pull out tomorrow’s breakfast, and so on. You can use the defrost setting on your microwave as a quick & easy method. Low and slow though, don’t overheat!
- You can cook from frozen as well, just know that you’ll need to almost double the cook time more or less, depending on the dish.
- Invest in a good glass dish with a tight seal for a quick in and out! And have the kids help with the dishes too!
Ok! Onto to the good stuff! Here are some recipes to try out using all of your favorite brands found in your local commissary!
BREAKFAST
LUNCH & DINNER
Beefy Broccoli Cheddar Burritos
Cheddar Broccoli Beef Enchiladas
White Cheddar Broccoli Rice Casserole
Tuscan Past With Sausage Escarole & White Beans
