Last month I made the following meals and here’s what I thought about them:
- Beef and Cabbage (my own ‘recipe’) – a tasty and simple concoction. I’m not sure how it would freeze… maybe after it’s baked? But we eat it pretty quickly once it’s cooked, so that’s sort of moot.
- Amazing Lentils and Kale from (allrecipes.com) – (what I said in the previous post) “It really is amazing. Easy to make and my carnivorous husband ate it and the leftovers readily. He did mention ham at some point, but it wasn’t too important to him. Serving it with rice or bread may have made it last longer, but it already fed us for three meals, so I’m cool with that.” Again, it did not get frozen. I’m not sure how well it would work if it was frozen pre- or post-cooking.
- Meatloaf with Rosemary Potatoes (from Baked in the South) Didn’t care for the taste, the loaf was squishy, and there was (relatively) significant preparation before freezing.
- Honey Sesame Chicken (from Baked in the South) Tasted alright, but not stellar. Loved how easy it was to bag, freeze, and cook. I may do this again, but change the seasonings.
- White Chicken Chili (from Baked in the South) Another one that only tasted alright. The husband liked it more than I did. Pre-cooking the chicken was a pain (says the super lazy girl).
- Beef Stroganoff (from Baked in the South) Bleh. I really didn’t care for this one, either, but the husband liked it.
- Thai Chicken Wings with Peanut Sauce (from Baked in the South) We ate it, but thought it could be a little more ‘thai’. Also, I’m not going to use drumsticks next time, maybe healthier chicken filets.
- Indian Chicken Curry (from Skinny Mom’s Kitchen) – (from my previous post) “although it was a “cook everything now and freeze your leftovers” type of meal it was pretty good. I felt there was way too much cinnamon in it and would have easily benefited from onions, peppers, and carrots too.”
- Salsa Chicken (for Quesadillas) (from Skinny Mom’s Kitchen) – Dude, shredding chicken is a pain! But it tasted alright in Quesadillas.
- Pho (which isn’t a freeze-ahead kind of meal, I just wanted to use some rice noodles and my husband loves Pho!) – I never made it. Didn’t find any marrow in the one store I asked at.
- Spinach and Feta Oven Omelet Breakfast Bagel Sandwich (from Skinny Mom’s Kitchen) pretty good. I still often chose cereal or pb&j over these, though.
- Blueberry and Banana smoothie packs as inspired (from Skinny Mom’s Kitchen) ended up making very large or two servings! Otherwise, same thing – cereal or pb&j trumped! I think because it was so big, you had to pound on the frozen lump to get it to break up enough for the blender to blend it.
What I learned:
- I preferred the “no prep other than chop and measure” and “open, pour, and heat” meals.
- I am incredibly lazy.
- Raw and frozen potatoes don’t cook very well. They turned black and had a grainy texture. I wonder if they would work better if submerged in a sauce?
- Frozen and reheated mashed potatoes do work well, though! At first, after the mashed potatoes were thawed, it looked watery and gross, but as soon as you heat it up it was fine!
Planning for this time!!
ON HAND:
- 3 lbs lentils
- 1 lb small red beans
- 1 lb brown rice
- 2 cups parsnips
- 1 cup beets
- 1 cup potatoes
- 3 carnival squash
- 1 lb cheddar cheese
- 1 bunch of kale
- 1 large cabbage
SALES:
- BOGO Free meat sale!
- Baby carrots
- Jackson sausages (digital coupon)
- Eating Right Meals (digital coupon)