Adams Media - Freezer Meals: 50 Essential Recipes for Todays Busy Cook

Avon, Massachusetts Why spend another moment staring into the freezer at frozen hamburger meat or chicken, trying desperately to decide what to cook for dinner? Family dinners, once trending toward obsolete, are now becoming popular as the economy forces more families to eat at home. Here, youll learn a variety of methods for filling your freezers with delicious meals. Once you do start freezer cooking and train yourself to think of cooking through the eyes of your freezer, youll be amazed at the endless ideas and opportunities youll encounter. Because you have a recipe for seasoning, cooking, and freezing ground beef in bulk, you can take advantage of sales and buy meat in large quantities. Putting together a chicken meal for the freezer can be as simple as putting chicken breasts in the bottom of a freezer bag, whipping up a marinade to pour over the chicken, and freezing it. With freezer cooking you can be as simple or elaborate as you want to be, but one thing is for certain: You will start to think differently, shop differently, and live differently.

These 50 recipes, along with methods for freezing all types of meals, will help you on your way to eating better and saving more time! If youd like to explore freezer cooking in more detail, check out The Everything Freezer Meals Cookbook, available in both print (ISBN 978-1-4405-0612-3) and eBook (ISBN 978-1-4405-0613-0) formats.

Properly freezing your meals is a major factor in whether a frozen meal tastes fantastic, or whether it comes out freezer burned. Each recipe in this cookbook has a suggested method of freezing. When you are ready to package your meal for the freezer, remove as much air as possible and provide sufficient protection from the freezer. This will guard your food from freezer burn. Freezer Bag Method Use either gallon- or quart-sized freezer bags to freeze meals.

This method is often used with meals that contain a marinade, soup, gravy, or sauce. Wait until the food has cooled before adding it to the bag since putting hot food into a freezer bag can compromise the strength of the bag. In addition, putting hot food directly in the freezer raises the temperature of your freezer and makes it work too hard. Before sealing the bag, remove as much air as possible. Casserole Method This method of freezing is perfect for when you make meals in a casserole dish but do not want to tie up your dish in the freezer. The idea is to flash freeze the casserole in the shape of the pan so the pan doesnt need to stay in the freezer.

Before adding food, line your casserole dish with aluminum foil, and on top of the aluminum foil layer add a layer of plastic wrap. Leave enough foil and plastic wrap hanging over the edges of the dish to completely cover and seal the dish. Add your food to the dish, wrap it tightly with the wrap and foil, and place the entire dish in the freezer. After several hours, remove the dish from the freezer, take the frozen, wrapped casserole out of the dish, and place the casserole back in the freezer. Your casserole is now frozen in the shape of the dish. When you are ready to defrost or reheat the meal, unwrap the frozen casserole by removing the foil and plastic wrap.

Place the frozen casserole in the same dish used when freezing, and defrost or cook. Plastic Wrap Method Use this method for food items that do not fit into a freezer bag. The plastic wrap method is the best choice when freezing a loaf of bread. To use this method, completely wrap your food item with plastic wrap so no part of the food is directly exposed to the freezer. Because plastic wrap does not always stick as well as it should, use tape to secure the seams. Tupperware Method Tupperware and other sturdy plastic containers come in all shapes and sizes and are a great choice for freezing a variety of foods.

The drawback is these containers take up a lot of space in your freezer, and can stain when used for spaghetti sauce, chili, and other tomato-based foods. Make sure you leave space at the top and dont fill these plastic containers to the rim. Because food expands as it freezes, if you dont leave space, the top could pop off exposing your food to the freezer. Flash Freezing Method Flash freezing is a method used to freeze food items individually. Meatballs are a good example of when to use flash freezing. Once meatballs are formed, place them on a baking sheet that has been lined with wax paper and put the baking sheet in the freezer.

Once the meatballs are frozen (12 hours), transfer them to a freezer bag. When you are ready to cook, remove as many individually frozen meatballs as needed. Label with Name, Date, and Instructions Always label your food before putting it in the freezer. It may be easy to tell what youre freezing before you put it in the freezer, but everything looks the same once frozen. By putting the date on your food, you know at a glance how long it has been in the freezer. Although long-term freezing will not affect the safety of your meals, it will affect the quality and taste of your meals.

Take the time to write out the reheating instructions and attach them to the frozen meal; that way another family member can do the reheating or you can give the dish to someone in need. How to Cook a Freezer Meal Now that you have a freezer full of meals, it is time to reap the benefits of your labor! For health reasons, it is extremely important you follow proper defrosting procedures. Each recipe has instructions for reheating your meals, and these are different for each recipe. Some meals can go directly into the oven frozen, and others need to be defrosted first. Look for the NO DEFROSTING NEEDED! indication to see which recipes dont need to be defrosted first. How to Safely Defrost Your Meals Growing up, you may have watched your mother take meat out of the freezer and set it on the counter all day to defrost.

While you have lived to tell the story, it is not safe practice to defrost meals this way. The safest way to defrost meals is in the refrigerator. The drawback is you need nearly 24 hours in the refrigerator to defrost some foods. Another option for safely defrosting is the microwave. Most microwaves have a defrost button to help you get the right setting. A third option is to defrost in cold water.

Cheese and Bacon Potato Skins NO DEFROSTING NEEDED! Serves 8

Ingredients 8 large potatoes 1 stick salted butter or margarine pound bacon 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese Freezing Day Bake potatoes in a 400F oven for 1 hour. Let cool completely. Cut potatoes lengthwise into quarters. Carve out the inside of each of the potato quarters and discard. In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Once melted, brush on the inside and outside of each potato quarters.

In skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon, turning frequently, 1015 minutes until crispy. Crumble into small pieces. Top each potato quarter with grated Cheddar cheese and bacon. Flash freeze then transfer to freezer bag. Reheating Instructions Place frozen potato skins on a baking sheet and bake at 450F for 1525 minutes. Love Your Skins Crunchy? If you like your potato skins extra crunchy, scoop out the potatoes and then rub both the inside and outside with canola oil.