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that one time that i made ten million freezer meals, part two I howsweeteats.com

Here’s an update on all the freezer meals I made before I had a little babe. If you want to see the original post with all the details, click here. If you don’t feel like it, here’s a mini synopsis: I usually loathe leftovers and freezer meals because I’m a brat and want only fresh food. But I had a wacky moment while 9 months pregnant and decided to make a ton of stuff to stock the freezer – if not for me or us, then even just for Eddie for lunches.

Do I think it was worth it? Mostly yes. My exact thoughts on the meals I made are below. Occasionally, I’d think a meal really tasted like “freezer” if that makes sense. Sort of how if you find a (still wrapped) granola bar in the bottom of your purse, it tastes like “purse.” You get me?

I do suggest putting out reminders for yourself if you want the meal on a certain day – most things did NOT defrost in a matter of hours and really needed almost a full day. Some nights, Eddie just ended up cooking something for us or himself from his bachelor days. I really didn’t cook one single dinner for sixish weeks? Maybe I made one. I can’t remember.

As a note, we do still have some meals left. We didn’t get through everything yet, but we pretty much made it through at least one serving of everything.

To make a long story longer: yes I’d do it again.

here’s the rundown:

Spicy beer braised chicken enchiladas: as much as we adore enchiladas, this recipe didn’t freeze super well and was fairly dry. I’m saying that it’s due to my homemade enchilada sauce recipe, which is completely AWESOME but also slightly thick. I probably should have attempted to thin the sauce out before freezing or add double the sauce?

Lightened up beef enchiladas: ditto on the above, just not quite as dry as the chicken.

Pioneer Woman’s chicken spaghetti: so far this was Eddie’s favorite meal. I wish I would have separated it into even more manageable portions though – maybe six?

Smoky white bean chicken chili: definitely my favorite savory freezer meal. I love this, but that is no secret. We reheated it for dinner and then I killed it for lunch over a few days time.

Regular chili: perfect for freezing – Eddie ate it for dinner one night then split it into lunches for that week.

Mother Lovett’s bean soup: this freezes wonderfully and Eddie did the same as he did with the chili: eat it for dinner and split into lunch portions. I had a very small portion the first night because I was like, um, WHY did I make a soup full of beans with a newborn?? Thankfully Max hasn’t had any dietary issues but I still wanted to play it safe.

Butternut squash lasagna: favorite, favorite! The recipe is from my book and I love. It was also so delicious to pull out after not having squash for awhile – felt like such a treat.

Roasted vegetable lasagna: this was awesome. Would you want the recipe or is it too overdone on the internets?

4 batches of whole wheat pizza dough: we’ve only used one of these so far but I’m busting out another tonight! This dough froze great.

Chicken pot pie: this was one of the meals that tasted a little like “freezer” to me, but hey I might be crazy. It wasn’t as deliciously saucy as it is when it comes straight from the oven, but it was still pretty darn good. Eddie loved it.

Saucy pulled pork: I busted this out for tostadas and we ate sandwiches for dayssss. So good.

Make ahead freezer meatballs: these were FAB. I took them straight out of the freezer and threw them in the crockpot on the morning of New Year’s Eve with two cans of marinara. They cooked all day and we had meatball subs at night. If I had to do it all over again, I would have doubled the recipe and the single recipe makes a ton! Eddie loved this so much that he came home the next week with pounds of ground turkey and beef and made them again. This is also from Seriously Delish.

Taco meat: totally wish I would have quadrupled this. We eat tacos a LOT – in many different forms – and on lettuce it’s the best lunch ever. On the same note though, it doesn’t take that long to make this to begin with. I think it was the first meal I made once back in the kitchen.

Banana bread: I’ve only pulled out two (out of four) loaves so far, one being in the middle of the night and come the next morning, man that was an excellent idea. These were still delicious but I definitely prefer freshly baked banana bread. They also didn’t seem to hold up after a day or so – they got very mushy after they sat for another 24 hours.

Pumpkin banilla bread with chocolate chips: this recipe is out of the book and is still currently sitting in the freezer! Maybe I’ll bust it out today.

Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon rolls: it’s a given, but these are always a great idea. We pulled out a batch on Christmas morning which I completely butchered because the oven wasn’t hot enough, and Eddie and I ate the scraps. We then made one more pan and devoured those too. So we still have bunches left.

Chocolate chip cookie dough: BEST FREAKING IDEA EVER. If you’ve read my posts anywhere, at all, then you know I’m still pulling out cookies to bake at night. I actually wish I would have started earlier and made, like, six times this recipe. Yes, I’m serious.

So that’s that! Your thoughts on freezer meals?

P.S. the above photo is Pioneer Woman’s pot roast – not a freezer meal – and it is INSANE. highly recommended.