Image by your neighborhood librarian via Flickr

I LOVE Dinners Ready. If you haven’t heard of them, they’re a franchise store that allows you to come in and assemble meals that you take home and freeze or refrigerate, and then when you’re ready to eat, you cook them!  Simple!  It was also a fabulous way for me to cook meat for my meat-loving husband that didn’t require me to actually do more than plop it in a freezer bag!  This was great for me, a vegetarian!  I also liked that I could halve many of the recipes and make one vegetarian and the other with meat during the assembly process.

This prepare/freeze/cook method produces a superior product to the normal bulk cooking method where you cook huge batches of food and then freeze them with for a later reheating. This method may work great for a large family, or a family where the kids are in charge of reheating, but with just the two of us, we wanted something more.  Many bulk cooking recipes rely on cans of  Campbell’s soup, Stove Top stuffing, or some other processed food as a main ingredient.  We definitely want to stay away from that for health reasons.

Since sales are down at our store, we’re looking at ways to economize. No more $200 trips to Dinners Ready – I need to come up with an alternative that is inexpensive but still good.  I’ve been scouring the internet for free recipes and will share the links for those below. I’ve also found a few paid sites as well as books – I tried out several and found two worthy of buying – see below.

If you’re still curious about this method, view the video – 5 for the freezer – for a better idea of how it works. The dinners shown are more simplistic than the DinnersReady full meal kits, but I’m going to incorporate what I’ve learned from DinnersReady with the SavingDinner recipes.

Freezer cooking has become a fun thing for my mom and I to do.  The recipes with the * are ones we’ve tried and I’ve put notes with them about what we liked/disliked about them and any changes we made.

Enjoy

FREE ONLINE RECIPES

Breakfast:

• Breakfast Burritos – This doesn’t fit the method because the items are pre-cooked, but in this case there isn’t an alternative.  I’ll be making meat and meatless versions to satisfy both my husband and myself.
• Campfire Breakfast Sandwiches - From 30-day Gourmet – their version of a Mc Donald’s Breakfast
• Make Your own Instant Oatmeal:  From 30-day Gourmet

Entrees:

MEAT-FREE OR MEAT OF YOUR CHOICE

• Fried Rice – Add meat or TVP, “fake” chicken, etc to make it vegetarian. From 30-day Gourmet
• Make Ahead Chimichangas – This doesn’t fit the method because the items are pre-cooked, but in this case there isn’t an alternative.  I’ll be making meat and meatless versions to satisfy both my husband and myself.

BEEF

• Beef Bourguignon (Burgundy Beef Stew) – from Organized Home – not traditional stew; served over rice
• Beefy 3-Cheese Enchiladas - Some pre-cooking.
• Cowboy Stew – RecipeZaar.com
• Flank Steak Dry Rub – From MyRecipes.com
• Mini Meatballs - Martha Stewart Everyday Food
• Marinated Beef – RecipeZaar.com
• *Marinated Steak – I used Strip Steak and Red Wine Vinegar because it’s all I had on hand – the meat eaters in the hose RAVED about it!  Add the marinade, freeze, thaw, grill!
• Meatloaf with Rice Stuffing - from Organized Home
• Shepherd’s Pie – From Mom’s Budget
• Shepherd’s Pie – From RecipeZaar.com
• Stroganoff - From Mom’s Budget

CHICKEN

• Asian Chicken – From RecipeZaar.com
• Bacon Wrapped Chicken – From RecipeZaar.com
• Bacon Wrapped Garlic Chicken - From Mom’s Budget
• Baked Honey Mustard Chicken - From Mom’s Budget
• Chicken & Dumplings – From 30-day Gourmet
• Chicken A La King – From Mom’s Budget
• Chicken Alfredo – See Garlic Chicken Alfredo
• Chicken Cordon Bleu Roll – From 30-day Gourmet
• Chicken Fried Rice - From 30-day Gourmet
• Chicken Kiev - From Mom’s Budget
• Chicken Marsala – From Mom’s Budget
• Chicken Marinade – From Naomi Does Frugal
• Chicken Scampi - From Food Families – not a traditional freezer cooking recipe but easily adapted.
• Creamy Paprika Chicken – From 30-day Gourmet
• Dijon Chicken - From 30-day Gourmet
• Garlic Chicken Alfredo – Sauce, Chicken - made in two parts – From 30-day Gourmet
• Grilled Chicken Parmesan – From 30-day Gourmet
• Hoisin Chicken Marinade – From30-day Gourmet
• Honey Lime Chicken – From Mom’s Budget
• Layered Mexican Chicken Casserole – From 30-day Gourmet (I suggest tearing the flour tortillas and freezing them in a small bag placed inside the larger gallon bag and adding the cheese & onions in small bags as well – they freeze beautifully and then it’s a meal kit)
• Lemon Garlic Chicken – From Food Families – use recipe for Lemon Garlic Sauce – prebake breasts, freeze separately, sere together
• Mango-Cranberry Chicken – From Fix, Freeze & Feast
• Parmesan Chicken – made in two parts – Parmesan Seasoning Mix – From 30-day Gourmet
• Parsley Parmesan Chicken – From 30-day Gourmet
• Super-Easy Chicken Manicotti - serve family-style or ideas on how to freeze as singles
• Tequila Lime Chicken – From Fix, Freeze & Feast
• Teriyaki Chicken – Spark Recipes
• Teriyaki Chicken, Easy – From Mom’s Budget

PORK

• Basil-Balsamic Chops - From Fix, Freeze & Feast
• Dijon Pork Chops – From Mom’s Budget
• Honey Baked Pork Chops – From Frugal Mom

SAUCES & SIDES

• Alfredo Sauce – From 30-day Gourmet
• Basil Pesto - From Martha Steward Everyday Food – this is frozen in ice cube trays!  Includes a video.
• Mushroom Sauce – Food Families – canned mushrooms?  NEVER!  Use fresh :)
• Vegetable  Sauce – Food Families
• White Sauce for Freezer Cooking – from Organized Home
• White Sauce – Food Families

SEAFOOD

• Bourbon Glazed Salmon - From Cooking Light
• Parmesan Crusted Tilapia - From 30-day Gourmet

SOUP

• Potato & Corn Chowder – From 30-day Gourmet. I’ll make with vegetable stock & “fake” bacon for a vegetarian version.

VEGETABLES/VEGETARIAN

• Baked Beans - Mom’s Budget
• *Candied Carrots - Love these – made them with a jumbo bag of baby carrots from Costco – kept them full size. Looks and smells like caramel – keep whipping until the butter & brown sugar incorporate and keep the carrots warm – mine had cooled.
• Macaroni & Cheese – From Mom’s Budget
• Mashed Potatoes – From Mom’s Budget – A more traditional mashed with butter & milk
• *Mashed Potatoes -  From 30-day Gourmet.  These are DELICIOUS!  I added chives and garlic for a change of pace.  We used to buy these from Schwan’s and loved them.  A great side dish to have in the freezer.  Schwan’s freezes them in small blobs (about 1-1/2″ x 1-1/2″ ) so you can reheat just the amount you need.  You can do the same by piping them with a Ziplock storage bag (clip the corner) and dob them onto a baking sheet or use a small cookie scoop.  Place the sheet in the freezer until hard and then place the potato blobs in a quart or gallon ziplock.  Defrost & cook in saucepan – add milk if necessary.
• Roasted Red Potatoes - seasoned with Rosemary, Sage & Parsley
• Stuffed Potatoes - Russet potatoes filled with yummy goodness
• Vegetable Enchiladas – From Martha Steward Everyday Food

BREADS

• Garlic Bread – From Mom’s Budget - why didn’t I think of doing this? So simple, and since there are only two of us I’ll prepare it is our size servings.

Desserts

• Brown Sugar Cinnamon Coffee Cake – From 30-day Gourmet
• Freezer Cheesecake – From 30-day Gourmet
• Lemon Cheesecake Bars – From 30-day Gourmet

Books That May Have Additional Recipes

I checked out all of the books below from my local library. Only two (marked with an asterisk) are worthy of purchasing in my opinion.

• *The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet: A Month of Meals Made Easy – companion website and book.
• Fix, Freeze, Feast: More than 125 recipes to prepare in bulk and by the serving – This book also got great reviews on Amazon and has a companion website with several sample recipes which all fit the prepare * freeze * cook method.
• Holly Clegg’s Trim & Terrific Freezer Friendly Meals – This appears to be more of a bulk-cooking book, but the reviews on Amazon are great so I’m going to take a look at it and see if the recipes can be easily adapted.
• *on’t Panic – Dinner’s in the Freezer: Great-Tasting Meals You Can Make Ahead – This one has been likened to DreamDinners – another make-ahead franchise.  I’m very excited to get this one, but every copy in the library is out and reserved for some time.  The bad news is there are no pictures and no nutritional values.  I’m still looking forward to seeing the recipes.

I’ll be adding to this list as well as rating the recipes and suggesting changes or alternatives when necessary.

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• What’s the Deal With: TVP (fitsugar.com)
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• Good Recipe for a Crowd: Beer-Braised Short Ribs (thekitchn.com)
• One meal at a time? (canada.com)
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• How To: Always Be Prepared For Unexpected Guests (apartmenttherapy.com)
• Recipe: Vegetarian Guinness Stew (thekitchn.com)
• This Week’s Menu (momcooks.net)
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