I made some Freezer Dump Meals this morning in about 30 minutes to stock up some for when after Fischer is born. That's called SURVIVAL, people. I plan on making more but I also know that taking a whole day to stock my freezer is not in my budget either for time, energy, or finances. So I'm just doing it a few things at a time.
I made 3 bags each of 2 recipes today. I've adapted 2 recipes that I know my family already loves and turned them into freezer dump (crock pot) meals. Here's what I made:
Italian Dump Chicken
I mixed up the following dry Italian dressing ingredients in a tupperware container:
In a bowl, I mixed 3 tablespoons of the above dry mixture and 1/3 c. of white vinegar. I then added one can of cream of chicken soup.
I put 3 unfrozen chicken breasts in a gallon ziplock and poured the mixture over it. I squished everything around to make sure the sauce coated the chicken and I stuck it in the freezer (I made 3 of these).
To Cook:
Put frozen bag in Fridge overnight to thaw and marinate. Dump the bag in your crock pot the next morning and add a block of cream cheese (I think it would still be good without the cream cheese, but I like the creaminess! I went ahead and bought the cream cheese and labeled the block so I knew not to use it for something else. They don't expire till October, otherwise I would have frozen them
). Cook 4-6 hours on high or 6-8 on high. Serve over cooked pasta of your choice.
Comfort Meatballs
***This recipe is an adaptation from The Pioneer Woman's Recipe, you can find it here or in her fabulous first cookbook. (Note: She has no idea who I am, but the cookbook is wonderful enough to tell everyone you know about.)***
The original recipe makes its own meatballs from scratch. That is something that is also not in my energy budget to do. So I buy frozen meatballs. The kind I got was from Target and they are actual "meat"balls. The only reason I got those over just plain ole Italian Meatballs was because they were about 50 cents cheaper.
So I mixed up the sauce (slightly altered from TPW because my husband doesn't like onions and I don't like tobasco)
1 c. ketchup
2 tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
3 tbsp. Vinegar
2 tbsp. Sugar
3 tbsp. Onion Powder
I opened the bag of frozen meatballs and switched them over to a gallon ziplock. Poured the sauce over them. Swished them around in the sauce and stuck them in the freezer. (Made 2 of these).
To Cook:
Put frozen bag in the Fridge overnight. Dump in your crock pot. You only need to heat these up. So they will only take a couple hours (if that) in your crock pot. You could easily heat them in the oven or on the stove in a saucepan. They are meant to be like meatloaf kind of meatballs, not like spaghetti meatballs.
I typically serve them with mashed potatoes and green beans. I plan on stocking up on some frozen, "steam in the bag" green beans, and some refrigerated mashed potatoes (pre-made) that I will store in the freezer labeled with Comfort Meatballs so I will know what meal to serve it with.
Both of these are favorites in this family's house and were SUPER easy to make into freezer meals. It took about 30 minutes for 6 meals. And about 15 minutes to blog about it.
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