S.B.
Here's a copy of a post I made about this a while back. Feel free to let me know if you want my specific recipes.
I do this all the time! Before our daughter was born I made a bunch of extra stuff up ahead of time and put it in our deep freeze..it has been a sanity and life saver! I always have a few things in the freezer for those nights I just don't want to cook!
Getting things packaged right is key to freezing things for longer periods of time. I have a vacuum sealer, but for many of the items I freeze, the sealer won't work. It's not good for larger items or liquids. And you can freeze something like a soup and then vacuum seal it, I don't recommend it...I have had bad outcomes. Before freezing anything, make sure it it is completely cool, this helps prevent ice crystals from forming.
Many soups freeze well. I made up a chicken cheese corn chowder, chicken noodle and spinach sausage. Chili also does well in the freezer. I put them in ziplock bags. I placed the bags in 2 qt juice pitchers and fill them with the soup. I put the pitchers in the freezer and when they were frozen solid, I removed the bags from the pitchers and stored them in the freezer. Putting them in the pitcher helped me with portions and they stored well in my deep freeze.
Baked ziti and lasagna, both do well in the freezer. The recipes I have make large batches, so I split them and got two meals out of each one.(http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Ziti-I/Detail.aspx) (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Worlds-Best-Lasagna/Detail.a... I store these in disposable pans.I wrap in saran wrap (really wrap...all the way around) and then put tin foil over the top. The night I cook it, I reuse the tinfoil...putting tinfoil over the top will help it heat through without browning the cheese. And often I do wash the toss away pan to reuse for another time (but not when things are insane)
Pot pies freeze well. I find these are easy to make in large batches. I make these a dozen or so at a time. They are my go to food when I don't feel like cooking. they cook better thawed, but more than once I have baked them frozen. It obviously takes a little longer, but if you keep it covered with tin foil, the crust doesn't get overly brown or burned.
I bought a variety of frozen veggies at Sam's to have on hand as side dishes. I also bought some frozen blackened Salmon from Sam's as well. It is surprisingly good for a packaged food.
I have my husband grill up a variety of meats when he has time. Then I vacuum sealed them and froze them, but a ziplock bag would also work. They are definitely better fresh, but with this much chaos, who notices the difference really? These are easy to microwave or reheat on the stove top. I have noticed that pouring a little broth over the meat helps them reheat better, they don't get overly dried out.
Lumpia and egg rolls can also be made ahead of time and frozen. It helps to wrap them in wax paper before putting them in baggies. Fried rice, which can be served as a side or main dish, does well too - although if I am going to add shrimp I do that the night we are going to eat it, I don't freeze it with shrimp. Red beans and rice does well, but make sure to add a little water when you go to reheat it. I store all of these in ziplock bags (vacuum bag have a tendency to rip the egg rolls apart a little bit). reheat these in the microwave usually.
Meatballs for spaghetti and sandwiches can be frozen too. We make our own spaghetti sauce and I have that in our freezer as well. I usually cook up the sauce and then reheat the meatballs by dropping them in the sauce to cook.
I tried to freeze a spinach quiche, but it didn't do well in the freezer, it got a bit grainy.
I also make up dinner rolls, garlic bread and bread bowls and froze them. You just want to bake them for about half the time, let them cool completely and then freeze. They store well in ziplock bags. When it comes time to heat them up, you can throw them in the oven frozen and cook for the remaining time.
Hope this helps!
