I just got out of bed, currently I’m in my pjs waiting for my coffee to be ready to drink. I am about to start planning my next freezer meal frenzy and as I promised I’m bringing you along 🙂
Click here for the condensed pdf version of this article and get straight to work
First thing I do i
Create the menu – Plan what meals I will be wanting to eat and feed my family.
Here is my list of a week’s worth of dinner meals which I will be quadrupling so it’s enough for 4 weeks. – if your worried you and your family will get tired of having the same meals every week you can make another batch of a months worth of food using different recipes and alternate between them. Having 2 months worth of meals in the freezer is goals !
Meals I’m making this month:
1 Bolognese pasta
2 Arroz con pollo – a chicken and rice meal.
3 Chicken and veg soup to be served with couscous or rice
4 shepherds pie
5 vegetarian lasagna
6 hamburgers
7 schnitzels to be served with a side dish
Gather your recipes:
After picking out the meals I’ll be making it’s time to write a list of all the ingredients needed for each meal- for this I will need all my recipes in one place.
As a beginner if you don’t want to waste too much food I recommend making one meals worth of each recipe and seeing for yourself how they turn out. – each family is different and you want to make sure you are making things your family will actually eat and not freezing up a bunch of food which will all end up going to waste .
The Recepies I’ll be using :
1. Pasta Bolognese-
*you can alter this recipe to fit your family’s needs by scaling down the recipe or doubling, tripling etc.
*Another note – this recipe is pretty simple – I love the taste as is but you can add whatever you like to it – don’t hesitate. I’m pretty sure any kind of bolognese sauce can be frozen perfectly
I use :
4 bags of pasta – to be prepared on day of eating.
• 2 kilos of ground beef – 500 grms for each meal.
• 4 chopped onions – 1 for each meal.
• 12 Tbsp of tomato paste – 3 Tbs per meal.
• Sweetener of choice – according to taste.
• Oil for frying – (I use olive)
Seasoning:
• salt
• pepper
• Paprika
• Chicken soup powder or another type of broth or broth powder. (It’s just a flavor enhancer so not mandatory by all means.
Click here for the steps to make this recipe
2. Arroz con pollo – with a Mediterranean twist.
*this recipe uses 4 pieces of chicken – by piece I mean a leg and thigh connected. – adjust the recipe according to the amount your family will need .
• 4 large onions, chopped
• 16 garlic cloves halved
• 8 large carrots, peeled and cut into sticks
• 8 potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
• Olive oil, for frying
• 16 pieces of chicken
• 12 cups of boiling water
• 10 teaspoons of salt
• A little turmeric
• A little bit Hawaij for soup – an Arabic seasoning you can purchase or make – there are several recipes online I have yet to try any since hawaij is easy for me to source in Israel.
• A little red paprika
• 1 big Bunch of cilantro (leaves only).
• 4 cups of rice
Click here for the steps to making this recipe
3. Chicken and veg soup with couscous
With bags of chopped onions and garlic ready !
Just fry in oil, add water and seasonings and voila!
20 pieces of chicken – using 5 for each soup.
4 large onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
4 grated tomatoes (without the skin)
12 peeled and chopped garlic cloves
8 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
About 800 grams of peeled pumpkin cut into cubes (can be converted with 4 sweet potatoes or 4 small sweet potatoes)
8 small peeled carrots cut into circles
8 small zucchinis, roughly cut
4 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
8 cups of canned chickpeas
28 cups of boiling water
1 cup chopped celery leaves
2 cups chopped parsley leaves
4 bags of soup seasoning for couscous
Each bag contains: A heaping teaspoon of sweet paprika, 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric, 1/2 teaspoon of cumin (optional), a heaping teaspoon of soup powder, a heaping teaspoon of salt, a pinch of black pepper.
4. Shepherds pie :
MEAT FILLING:
• 8 tablespoons olive oil.
• 4 cup chopped yellow onion
• 2 kg ground beef
• 8 teaspoons dried parsley leaves
• 4 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
• 4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoon Barbecue sauce
• 8 garlic cloves -minced
• 8 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 8 tablespoons tomato paste
• 4 cup beef broth
• 4 cup frozen mixed peas & carrots*
• 2 cup frozen corn kernels
POTATO TOPPING:
• 7.5/8 lb. russet potatoes -about 8 large
POTATO TOPPING:
• 7.5/8 lb. russet potatoes -about 8 large potatoes peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 sticks of butter or butter substitute
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Click here for the steps to making this recipe
5. Lasagna
Ready to be baked 🙂
Lasagna:
Pyrex mold (20X29)
Ingredients:
48 pages of lasagna
Mix in bowl 1:
2,120 grams of crushed tomatoes
8 tablespoons of tomato paste,
12 tablespoons of olive oil,
2 cups of boiling water,
12 crushed garlic cloves,
4 flat teaspoons sugar,
4 teaspoons basil/dry oregano spice,
1/3 1 third of a teaspoon of salt
A little black pepper.
Mix in bowl 2:
1 kilo of white cheese
800 grams of grated yellow cheese,
400 grams of crumbled Bulgarian cheese.
Toppings to taste:
3 cups chopped green olives
4 cans of sliced mushrooms
2 cups of grated yellow cheese to spread on top (optional)
6. Hamburgers – 4 burgers per meal.
12 hamburger buns – from your freezer or you can buy these at the bakery on the day of making for extra freshness. They
16 frozen or fresh and ready to freeze hamburger patties. – I buy these ready made, you can make them if you’d like and add the ingredients here.
Or make them from:
•_
Ground beef –
• Seasoning –
• Topping of your choice- Pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, and any other toppings you like.
Or make them from:
•_ Ground beef –
• Seasoning –
• Topping of your choice- Pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, and any other toppings you like.
Sauce of your choice – ketchup/mayo/etc.
Click here for the steps to making this recipe
7. Schnitzel
•_ chicken breasts
• breadcrumbs
• salt
• Oil for deep frying or oil spray for oven baked schnitzels
Start writing…
Creat your ingredients list:
Make a list of the ingredients from all your chosen recipes
Prep plan part 1 – organize ingredients list and Create a shopping list.
Organize your list by adding together all the same ingredients from the different recipes. I like to color code them to get a Birds Eye view of my ingredients list and make it easier to add together.
Create another list of all the utensils you’ll need.
Add any of these that need to be purchased to your list
Congratulations! Now you have your shopping list !
Prep plan part 2 – creating instructions
Here you will Write down the steps and how you plan to execute your meal prep plan.
Shop !
We are ready !u
Play your favorite music, wear some comfy shoes, put out a snack and your favorite drink and get to work !
Happy freezing
Yours truly
Start writing…
Steps for bolognese sauce recipe.
1. Chop onions
2. Fry in olive oil till golden
3. Add seasonings and fry to bring out the flavor making sure not to burn
and let it crisp just a little while you stir.
4. Add the garlic and stir, add the tomato paste
5. Add water gradually until you get a creamy texture
6. Add a sweetener of choice to balance the acidity from the tomatoes – date syrup/honey/ sugar can work. – add and stir in gradually one Tosp at a time until you get the flavor you like, turn off.
7. In a second pan, brown the meat in some oil but don’t dry it out !
8. Add the browned meat to the other pot, pour the broth/water/soup powder mixed with
and let it crisp just a little while you stir.
5. Add water gradually until you get a creamy texture
6. Add a sweetener of choice to balance the acidity from the tomatoes – date syrup/honey/ sugar can work. – add and stir in gradually one Tosp at a time until you get the flavor you like, turn off.
7. In a second pan, brown the meat in some oil but don’t dry it out !
8. Add the browned meat to the other pot, pour the broth/water/soup powder mixed with water into the pot – adding a little bit at a time until you get the consistency you like.
9. Bring to a boil and turn off the stove .
10. Let it cool
11. Pour into ziplock bags, removing as much air as possible from your bag, zip it up and freeze.
Add a weekly shopping list for veggies you’ll need on cooking day.