Best Freezer Cooking Recipes

By | January 15, 2013

The day is here! I am finally spilling the details, yes more details, about my freezer cooking adventure.

That’s what I’m calling it now. An adventure. Because I feel so very accomplished and brilliant when I thumb through my index of pre-cooked meals awaiting me in the freezer.

Sigh.

I had my doubts, you know. At first I was certain that the mess and hassle would not be worth it. But then I powered through it and made most of the meals in one day. We’ve worked our way through one week of food and hardly made a dent in our freezer! Oh, and Matt is totally thrilled with all the food so far!

Many of you asked for the menu plan and recipes, so I have decided to start a weekly post about the food situation. At least for now, while I’m still in the honeymoon stage with my freezer. Today I am going to share the meals we had last week, where you can find the recipes, and then one of my VERY OWN CREATIONS.

Um, the coolest thing ever? My recipe was Matt’s favorite dish of the week. Yipee!

Anywho, so if you guys are cool with that little change-up on the blog, I’ll try and be as helpful as I can by sharing the little knowledge I glean along the way.

 

freezer cooking recipes

While I don’t consider myself an expert homemaker or cook, I feel very passionate about making things easier on myself, and other moms, for that matter. It’s just been a week, but these are the measurable improvements I’ve seen thus far:

  1. My family is eating pretty decent food every night of the week. At home.
  2. I’m not stressed AT ALL about cooking every night. It is seriously SO easy to throw something in the crockpot or oven, toss a salad, and call it good.
  3. Having such a huge portion of my “housework” completed has made me more proficient in keeping up with everything else. This week, my house and laundry were under control. For once. It’s like being in high school and finishing your math homework in study hall. Just having the math done gives you such a sense of accomplishment and power. Everything else is a breeze to finish. That’s how I think of this freezer cooking adventure. I’m freed up.
Here is what our menu looked like last week. Complete with chevron. Cause, you know, I’ve got my stuff together now.
Best Freezer Cooking Recipes
 You can find the recipes that I used this past week in the links below:
Taco Soup {I didn’t technically have this as a freezer meal, but if you cook up some taco meat ahead of time the rest is just dumping ingredients in the crockpot}
Buffalo Chicken Tacos {This recipe serves them as a sandwich. We added fresh cilantro and red onion and served it with a tortilla. BOMB tacos!}
And now, my crowning achievement: my very own recipe.
taco freezer meal
But wait! I should probably preface this with a disclosure. I cannot claim true originality. I mean, if you take a look at the Taco Soup recipe you will see where I found my “inspiration.”
It’s WAY good with cilantro, red onion, and sour cream. Holy moly it’s good. I kind of just combined it all and made it into a dip with chips.
:::Slurp:::
Best Freezer Cooking Recipes
Matt really likes it as a burrito.
Best Freezer Cooking Recipes
It is an extremely versatile food to make. You can put it in burritos, tacos, quesadillas, use it as a base for taco soup, taco salad–whatever! Beyond being versatile, it’s also the perfect item to keep in the freezer.
I made a huge batch and then portioned 3/4 cup servings in sandwich bags. Lay them flat, and you can fill your freezer with single servings for all sorts of meals. Like I said, my husband went nuts over this stuff and had it every day for lunch.
Now listen up, I want you guys to try this, ok? I went to all the trouble of taking nice photos and using my recipe plugin so the least you could do in return is try it. And then come back and tell me how wonderful it is. Because even if you think it’s gross, I wanna hear that it was delicious and life altering.
HillJean’s Beef and Black Bean Freezer Mix

This savory beef and bean mix is the perfect base for tacos, burritos, enchiladas, salad, or soup! It freezes beautifully and can be portioned off for easy single-serving meals.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. Hamburger meat
  • 2 cans of black beans, drained
  • 1 green bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 4.5 oz. can of green chili peppers
  • 1 package of Ranch mix
  • 1 package of taco seasoning
  • 1 red onion and cilantro, for garnish

Instructions

  1. In a large skillet brown hamburger meat; drain the fat.
  2. Sprinkle taco seasoning with 1/4 cup of water (according to directions on package).
  3. Simmer for five minutes.
  4. Pour black beans, chopped bell pepper, chili peppers, and ranch mix into the meat mixture. Stir until blended.
  5. Simmer for five minutes.
  6. After it is cooled, place 1/2-3/4 cup servings in Ziplock sandwich bags. Press and lay flat for easy storage in the freezer. Mix can be thawed overnight in the fridge, or under tepid water in the sink. Heat over stovetop or in the microwave until hot. Serve in tortillas with favorite toppings.

http://thehilljean.com/2013/01/best-freezer-recipes.html

That’s all, folks! Tune in next week for more recipes and tales from the freezer…
P.S. Ok, who wants to try freezer cooking now? Huh? Have a convinced anyone yet? Come forth!

11 thoughts on “Best Freezer Cooking Recipes

  1. Kathy at kissing the frog

    Looks awesome! I am impressed. I definitely need to do more meal planning. I pinned this so I will remember when I need it. Thanks!!

    Reply
  2. Ashley

    I’ve spent the day deciding to try freezer cooking and stumbled across your blog via Pinterest. I’m positive that the beef & black bean mix will be a hit at our house, but I’m not sure how many servings your recipe will make. A pound of beef isn’t that much in my mind. (Or maybe we just eat too much LOL!) Thanks!

    Reply
    1. hillary

      I actually doubled this one for the freezer, so one lb. would just be a one-dinner sort of thing.

      Reply
  3. Amanda

    Haha you totally convinced it. And your recipe is a “picadillo” of sorts. I will definitely try it you can consider yourself proud, you’ve inspired me.

    Reply
  4. Mothering From Scratch

    {Melinda} I am seriously so jealous. Dinner is the most stressful part of my day. What to make? When to make it (everyone’s schedules are crazy), cleanup craziness, the list goes on. I THINK you may have convinced me to give this a try. I’m going to a conference next month and that may be a good time to give this a shot. I could premake meals and everyone could eat like little kings and a queen while I’m gone. (And if they don’t like what I made, I won’t be there to hear about it!) ????

    Reply
    1. hillary

      Excellent idea! And you’ll ensure that they don’t eat a bunch of pizza and junk food while you’re away ????

      Reply
  5. Chris Carter

    Pretty darn BRILLIANT you are my friend!!! It all looks AMAZING!!! Totally gonna work on doing this tiny little project….lol Saving this post for the recipes to refer to when I get to it. ????

    Reply
  6. Kim@Co-Pilot Mom

    Wow! That is awesome. (I especially like the part about how you said you felt freed-up. Cool!) And I think your beef and bean mixture – along with all of the other meals – sounds great. I am going to give it a try!

    Reply

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