Which is the best way to preserve your freezer meals in the freezer when cooking 30 days of meals at a time?

Question

I am a stay at home Dad and i was recently introduced to the idea of cooking 30 days of meals at a time to cut down on groceries and save the time of spending a daily amont of time just cooking meals

Answer 1

Well, there's a few things that you can do..... AIR is the enemy of the freezer/food so get the right supplies and packaging..

Put a liquid alcohol thermometer in your freezer and make sure it reads 0 degrees or less... Any more and you risk....FREEZER BURN!  

What you are cooking depends on how you store it.... Liquids can be stored in heavy-duty freezer bag.. Simply let cool pour in the bag carefully AND use a straw to suck all the air out/seal and leave plenty of toom for expansion... I double bag liquids and lay on bottom the of the freezer (the coldest part to freeze).... FLAT- be sure to label... Then you can STACK on the bottom!  

Store things that can freeze/thaw on the door... Since that's the warmest part of the fridge.  BREAD, NUTS things of that nature...

You can use heavy-duty freezer bags to freeze stews,soups, frozen fruits.... Just leave room for expansion so only fill 1/2 a freezer bag with liquids... *I lay mine on an aluminum sheet pan on the bottom of the my freezer for a few hours!  Then to reheat simply put in a crockpot or stovetop pan to reheat when thawed!  

You can also line a casserole dish with heavy duty alum. foil... Double it and FREEZE the casserole.... Lift it from the pan carefully and wrap it tightly, label and put back in freezer simply return to pan to reheat.... So,you don't have all your cooking pans in the freezer!  Or you can use heavy disposible pans and freeze items in those...

Label anything in the fridge and use it within a year.... I like to marinate chicken, beef, pork... etc.. and freeze it that way it keeps the meat from getting freezer burned AND when the meat(s) thaw there's no additional time to marinade....

Freeze unmarinated beef, chicken and pork induvidually- Put on a heavy duty alum. pan in the bottom of your freezer....Let it sit for 6 hours until frozen and then wrap with plastic wrap tight and a layer of foil tight... Store in labeled plastic bags...

I hope this helps and good luck with the meals....

Answer 2

Freezer burn is caused by air becoming trapped between the food and your packaging. If you're using zipper-type bags, try to squeeze out as much air as possible before freezing the dish. Some people swear by butcher paper and others think that investing in a vacuum sealer is the best way to freeze food. Remember that freezing will not improve foods, it will just keep them at their original freshness and quality. Freeze only top quality foods.

Here are some links to read at your leisure and you can decide-

http://www.stretcher.com/stories/05/05ap...

http://busycooks.about.com/library/lesso...

http://www.dinnersinthefreezer.com/

Answer 3

Put as many things as you can in large FREEZER bags.  The meals or food, such as stews, soups, vegetables, chili, freeze flat and take up less room in your freezer.  If you are making individual things like twice baked potatoes or enchiladas, freeze them an inch or so apart on a cookie sheet or pan and then put them in the ziplock bag.

And if you really want to you can wash the ziplock bags and reuse them.  Just make sure you get them very clean.  

I can't imagine how much work it would be to cook thirty days of meals all at once, but I know on the days I am making a pot or soup or stew, that I make a double batch or two recipes and enjoy being able to take it out of the freezer on one of those nights when I just can't cook.

Good Luck!

Answer 4

I would start by checking out some of these results:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1...

Answer 5

What I do is use tupperware containers (rather, the cheap knock-offs I get at the dollar store), portion the meals, and put them in the containers. That way, I don't need to reheat a bunch of stuff to make a complete meal, but just a single container. This works rather well...not something to necessarily do for months in advance, but 30 days will be fine.

You can try investing in a food saver (vacuum sealer), but why do that when these little tupperwares are so portable?

Hope this helps.

Answer 6

Tupperware has "Rock 'N Serve "containers just for that. You could go on ebay and maybe buy gently used containers.

"Make a Week's Meals in One Afternoon!



These popular containers take foods directly from the freezer or refrigerator right to the microwave for fast and easy reheating—perfect for leftovers or meals on-the-go. When it's time to reheat, simply open the rocker vent and microwave. The special vent lets steam escape and promotes even heating. The seal stays on so splatters stay in, while tiny feet on the bottom of the containers allow microwaves to totally surround the container."



Depending on the meal you could also use ziploc freezer bags.

Answer 7

Get a good book, Amazon has a lot to choose from, or visit your local bookstore, you would be surprised by the variety available. I prefer to use freezer zip bags. I put them in bags inside of square pans or corning ware until they are solid in the square shape, then take them out and they will stack neatly in your freezer for easy organizing. I don't have enough freezer space for once a month cooking, so I do once a week instead. There are also some great groups you can join on www.groups.yahoo.com ! They have great tips and recipes to share. Good luck and I hope this helps!