I mentioned last week that I was going to make some freezer meals, and I finally got around to it yesterday. When it happened to be 90 degrees and sunny. I’m a great planner. I planned five meals: baked ziti, enchiladas, manicotti, lasagna rolls, and stuffed shells. Mac loves pasta, so I made dishes that he would eat if he’s on his own for dinner. I found these different shaped tin foil pans at At Home. They were around 50 cents a pan (compared to about 33 cents per pan at the Dollar Tree).
I wrote out the ingredients for each dish on a piece of paper and paired them with the correct pans to keep things separate. Because of how hot this made the kitchen, we worked for about an hour and decided to make the shells and lasagna rolls sometime this week.
Non-food supplies:
Tin foil pans (one per serving)
Tin foil sheets
Sharpie
Food supplies:
Enchiladas – 5 enchiladas per 8 inch round pan (2 pans)
1 pound of ground beef
1 package of tortillas (10 8 inch round)
1 can of enchilada sauce
1 cup of peppers and onions
2 cups of shredded cheese
Manicotti – 4 filled manicotti per loaf pan (3 pans)
1 pound of ground beef
1 package of manicotti shells
1 large jar of marinara sauce
16 ounces of ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning
1 cup of shredded cheese
Baked ziti – 4 mini loaf pans and one large round pan
1 pound of ground beef
1 pound box of ziti
1 large jar of marinara
1/2 cup of ricotta cheese
1 cup of shredded cheese
Lasagna rolls
1 box of traditional lasagna noodles
1 large jar of marinara sauce
8 ounces of sliced fresh mozzarella cheese
1 package of large deli pepperoni
1 cup of ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning
1 cup of shredded cheese
Stuffed shells
1 box of jumbo shells
1 large jar of marinara sauce
2 cups of ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning
1 cup of shredded cheese
Our process:
1. Brown beef and cook pasta.
2. Prep food in pans (but don’t bake).
3. Cover with a sheet of tin foil.
4. Write cooking instructions on lid (included in the packs I bought).
5. Top with plastic lid.
6. Cool and place in freezer.
I absolutely love making freezer meals! Since Kyle spends a ridiculous amount of time in the field it helps me out.
All of these sound awesome! I’ll have to remember this once I’m moved and settled and doing major cooking again. Seems like it would be a great time saver.
Sounds yummy! I’ve never made freezer meals before, but they always seem so handy. I will have to give this a try when we get settled in our new place.
Once we get a deep freezer this will be happening in our house. An hour really isn’t that bad to prep them.