Batch cooking for stocking freezer: bison chili, bacon and chicken meals

[user 4021]

Good morning, everyone. I hope you are all doing well today. As a person who only cooks for myself, I batch cook and make freezer meals or just cook items up so that I can easily add them to dishes later on.

Today I am batch cooking bison chili, getting cooked bacon in the freezer for easy breakfasts and making some chicken and green bean meals. I was given some green beans and had some extra that I needed to get in the freezer, so I am going to cook some chicken and green bean meals today. Cooking for one person is not easy so when I cook, I always put meals in the freezer. No food waste and saves time and money.

Do you guys stock your freezers with precooked meals for those days when life is busy?

 

[Caribou]

Back when I was singleI I used to cook once a week. I tried to keep a few things in the freezer so that I didn't have to eat the same thing everyday. I had a bunch of single serving size CorningWare casserole dishes. These could go straight from the freezer to the oven or microwave.

 

[Peanut]

I have cfs, a debilitating illness. For years I kept peanut butter and crackers on my end table for when a frozen tv dinner or a sandwich was too complicated for a foggy mind. There are many days when I don’t have the energy or brain power to even scramble an egg.

My biggest problem – I never learned to cook. I had a job with bizarre hours, example, for a time I lived in california but worked in europe. Sort of silly to stock a fridge or pantry when you spend 300 days a year on the road.

By trial and error I started learning to cook about 5 or 6 years ago, no teacher. I’ve been trying to freeze precooked single serve meals for about a year. Mostly chili, brunswick stew. I’ve been freezing meats like chops, wings, burger etc in single cook portions for several years. I have a vacuum sealer which makes it fairly easy and lengthens time meats can be frozen without burning. It has some kind of attachment for soups in containers, haven’t figured out how to use it.

Oh, have you tried freezing stirfry meals? I make excellent fried rice/cabbage. (my hot n sour soup is better than the restaurants in town). I have no idea how to freeze any of it.

So, I’m eager to see how you manage precooked meals. If you have recipes post away! Please don’t leave out details, no matter small. Engineers like details.

 

[Wingnut]

I almost always cook in batches, but I don't necessarily stock the freezer unless I have more leftovers than I can eat in 2-3 days. Nothing wrong with batch cooking, it saves time in the long run. Funny thing, I make these huge pots of my custom homemade hot & spicy chicken burrito mix, but I like burritos so much that I work my way through the pot while it's still in the fridge. I'll gradually downsize the container I'm using to store it, but I hardly ever freeze the mix, lol. I can eat hot & spicy chicken burritos loaded with fresh-cooked hot peppers, onions, vine-ripened tomatoes & meat chunks for days on end... my deluxe burritos have melted shredded cheese plus mix on the inside of a fresh flour tortilla, guac & sour cream on top, and I usually drizzle a little habanero sauce atop everything as a garnish. Fresh cilantro or cilantro salsa is also good in the mix. These burritos are eaten with fork, knife & spoon, they'd be too messy to eat by hand. Every so often, I make homemade carne asada burrito mix, but those batches are usually smaller and I go through them in 1-2 days... carne asada and guac inside a flour tortilla with melted cheese, which can be eaten by hand unless I want sour cream on top.

Foods that DO occasionally get frozen due to the large batch quantity: homemade soups & stews, homemade pasta sauce with chunks of meat & veggies, etc.

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

I do for things that freeze/thaw without loosing too much flavour/texture.

Beef stew, grilled hamburgers, lasagna....that type of stuff all in individual portions for rainy days.

We also eat the same stuff for up to four days in a row. I spent my whole childhood eating the same meal every single day, so I got over food fatigue a long time ago. I'm just thankful there is good food to put on the table.

For me, no matter how you deal with it, large batch cooking saves time and money and reduces waste.

 

[snappy1]

Do you guys stock your freezers with precooked meals for those days when life is busy?

I pressure can soups, beans w/ meat and anything leftover that I can put in a jar. Pints, usually. If the freezer goes out and/ or no electric, I am still good and can eat it without heating if necessary.

I try to cook no more than once or twice at the most a week. We eat leftovers a few days and freeze one container, then pressure can the rest. I do 3 or 4 pounds of beans at a time, so large batches.

 

[Caribou]

Lasagna
fry a couple pounds of ground beef, with a large chopped onion, and garlic. when that is cooked I add a jar of spaghetti sauce. You can make your own but I'm lazy these days.

In a 9X13 (or larger) put a thin layer of sauce, then a layer of mozzarella the dots of ricotta, then a layer of uncooked lasagna noodles. Repeat layers till pan is near full. Top with sauce, mozzarella and sprinkle with parmesan. Bake at 350℉ till brown. Let it sit for ten minutes and then serve.

After it cools I cut it in appropriate size squares for my Tupperware, I use blue tape to label and date it, and stick it in one area of the freezer. Keeping all my fast meals in one area makes it easier to find something.

 

[Weedygarden]

I've been doing this for much of my adult life. You can buy the deli type containers online in packages of 25 sets. I've been using those for many years. I used to purchase them at restaurant supply places, but haven't seen any in a while. You can also buy rectangular, black plastic to go containers with snap on clear lids. I only started using those a little more than a year ago. Labeling them with contents and date is important.

There are a few advantages of cooking and eating this way. There is less cleaning up to do, and probably less fuel needed for cooking, depending upon what fuel you cook with. When life hits you in a way that you are not ready for a meal, you can open the freezer (or jar) and you can eat with little effort, time, or mess.

Snappy1, you have the right idea, to can some meals. Yes, if the power goes out, you will still be able to eat good home cooked meals.

 

[Pearl]

I cook and freeze stuff I can use for many meals. I'll cook and freeze taco meat, chicken and beef fajita meat, hamburger patties (can be used for burgers or hamburger steaks with gravy), and I'll slice and freeze peppers and onions! I'll also cook and freeze chicken strips, we can use them for sandwiches or in a meal.

 

[Caribou]

Another favourite is:

Barely cover the bottom of the slow cooker with water. Dredge 10 chicken thighs in flour, cut up one large onion, add one can of mushrooms, sprinkle with garlic. I let that cook for about 6 hours. I put two thighs into a small Tupperware container and freeze and eat two pieces for my dinner.

The next morning I pull the bones from the last 6 thighs, put the pot back in the slow cooker and add, I can each of five different beans, corn, crushed tomatoes, mixed vegetables, potatoes, cream of chicken soup, a quart of chicken stock, at least half a pound of barley, a little more garlic, pepper sometimes, bouillon to taste. If I use pearled barley 6 hours is plenty. If I use whole barley it takes 8 hours to soften the hulls to my satisfaction. I can eat for a week of this pot but usually I put a large plastic container in the freezer and only eat for three or four days.

I never put salt in soup, stew, or gravy. Bouillon adds plenty of salt plus flavour.

 

[Weedygarden]

Another favourite is:

Barely cover the bottom of the slow cooker with water. Dredge 10 chicken thighs in flour, cut up one large onion, add one can of mushrooms, sprinkle with garlic. I let that cook for about 6 hours. I put two thighs into a small Tupperware container and freeze and eat two pieces for my dinner.

The next morning I pull the bones from the last 6 thighs, put the pot back in the slow cooker and add, I can each of five different beans, corn, crushed tomatoes, mixed vegetables, potatoes, cream of chicken soup, a quart of chicken stock, at least half a pound of barley, a little more garlic, pepper sometimes, bouillon to taste. If I use pearled barley 6 hours is plenty. If I use whole barley it takes 8 hours to soften the hulls to my satisfaction. I can eat for a week of this pot but usually I put a large plastic container in the freezer and only eat for three or four days.

I never put salt in soup, stew, or gravy. Bouillon adds plenty of salt plus flavour.

Those bones from the thighs can be saved, frozen, and used in making broth or stock.

 

[Caribou]

Those bones from the thighs can be saved, frozen, and used in making broth or stock.

Good point, I'll leave them in till after the stew is done from now on.

 

[Haertig]

I prefer vacuum sealing things I put in the freezer. When it's a liquid thing (which you cannot vacuum seal in a bag - it gets sucked up into the mechanism), I put portions in small plastic containers - the Nosa Yogurt ones are a good individual serving size. And the Glad square plastic sandwich containers are a good size for two portions. Any container will do. I freeze the cooked liquidy stuff in those containers Then the next day I remove the frozen "hockey puck" from the plastic container (a little warm water from the faucet on the outside of the containers helps if it's stuck), drop it into a vacuum sealer bag, and vacuum seal away. Pick the container you initially freeze the stuff in so that it creates something that will fit inside the vacuum sealer bag you are targeting.

Things last a lot longer in the freezer for me if they are vacuum sealed in good quality bags. Much better than in a plastic container where it's packaged with some included air. Later you can drop the whole sealed bag in boiling water to reheat it. That takes kind of a long time. So often times I just cut the bag open and drop the contents into a bowl and microwave it to have it faster. It depends on what's in the bag thought, some things don't microwave well.

 

[Weedygarden]

Things last a lot longer in the freezer for me if they are vacuum sealed in good quality bags.

This is true. When people buy a quarter of beef, half a hog, or other quantity of meat, it is much better for it to be vacuum sealed than to be wrapped in freezer paper.

 

[Amish Heart]

Since we retired, we eat dinner leftovers usually at lunchtime, or I make something else out of it for another evening. I also have been freeze drying leftover meals instead of freezing them.

 

[user 4021]

I have cfs, a debilitating illness. For years I kept peanut butter and crackers on my end table for when a frozen tv dinner or a sandwich was too complicated for a foggy mind. There are many days when I don’t have the energy or brain power to even scramble an egg.

My biggest problem – I never learned to cook. I had a job with bizarre hours, example, for a time I lived in california but worked in europe. Sort of silly to stock a fridge or pantry when you spend 300 days a year on the road.

By trial and error I started learning to cook about 5 or 6 years ago, no teacher. I’ve been trying to freeze precooked single serve meals for about a year. Mostly chili, brunswick stew. I’ve been freezing meats like chops, wings, burger etc in single cook portions for several years. I have a vacuum sealer which makes it fairly easy and lengthens time meats can be frozen without burning. It has some kind of attachment for soups in containers, haven’t figured out how to use it.

Oh, have you tried freezing stirfry meals? I make excellent fried rice/cabbage. (my hot n sour soup is better than the restaurants in town). I have no idea how to freeze any of it.

So, I’m eager to see how you manage precooked meals. If you have recipes post away! Please don’t leave out details, no matter small. Engineers like details.

Hi good morning, I will try to get a recipe or two on here Sunday or one day next week. Sorry it is going to take so long but I was able to get extra work this week. I hope you have a great day.