I can't even imagine what your friend is going through. I will keep her in my prayers!
Here are a few freezer meals that I like to make:
Cheddar Beef Enchiladas
1 lb ground beef
1 envelope taco seasoning
1 cup water
2 cups cooked rice
1 can refried beans (16 oz.)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
10-12 flour tortillas (8 in.)
1 jar salsa (16 oz)
1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink, drain. Stir in taco seasoning and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer uncovered for 5 min. Stir in rice. Cook and stir until liquid is evaporated. Spread about 2 T of refried beans, 1/4 c beef mixture and 1 T cheese down center of each tortilla, roll up. Place seam down in 2 greased 13x9 baking dishes. Combine salsa and soup; pour down center of enchiladas. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover and freeze casseroles for up to 3 months. To use frozen casseroles: Thaw in refrigerator overnight. Cover and bake at 350 for 30 min. Uncover; bake 5-10 minutes longer or until heated through and cheese is melted.
Chicken Tetrazzini
12 oz. spaghetti
1 1/2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
1 1/2 c. monterey jack cheese, shredded
1 1/2 c. onion, diced
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
10 oz. milk
3 cups chicken, diced
Cook spaghetti until al dente, drain. Saute onions with cooking spray. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Divide into bags and freeze.
To Serve: Thaw and put in a baking dish. Bake uncovered at 350 until bubbly - about 30-40 minutes. Top with bread crumbs and more grated cheese.
Before my second child was born I made and froze quite a few meals to have after she was born. I searched the internet for "freezer meals" and found many sites with recipes. Hope this helps!
Cooking Light has a ton of freezable meal ideas if you follow this link:
http://www.cookinglight.com/cooking/mp/quickandeasy/whitepage/0,15829,1547544,00.html
I am sorry to her of your friends tragic situation. I pray everyday nothing ever happens to our family.
Alot of the ideas I had were posted.
But one thing I always do ahead is cook off hambuger and put in small freezer bags. I portion them to throw together tacos, sloppy joes, spaghetti. You simple nuke the frozen hamb. for a few minutes till thawed mix with can of manwhich, or add a package of taco mix. You could even have it completed with the mix and all they have to do is thaw and put on bread or bun,or tortilla.
I also cook off roast and chicken and shred and put in freezer bags. I sometimes mix the meat with BBQ sauce and put in freezer bags then all you do is thaw and put on bun. You can make the hashbrown casserole that is on the back of MR. DELLS hashbrowns. Have it preped and in pan and the can put that in oven to go with sandwiches.
I always freeze any left over soups and stews I have for those hurried days. You could also do beef and noodles or chicken and noodles.
I hope some of these ideas will help you. I like the idea someone gave about putting them on the plates, grab out of the freezer and ready to go with them. My prayers are with them.
I don't have any exact recipes, but I do often cook large amounts and freeze some for future meals. Here are the easiest and tastiest ones that I have done:
-Baked chicken with seasoning of seasoned salt, garlic powder and black pepper.
-Pork ribs marinated in Lawry's teryaki marinade and then baked at 350 for about an hour/hour and half.
-chicken breasts cooked the same way.
-premade turkey burgers are always quick and easy, you can buy them in the pack already shaped or make them yourself to add seasonings
-lasagna like everyone says freezes great and is much esier to make now with no-cook noodles, makes for alot of good servings
the good thing about all the meats is that all you need to do is put them in a dish in the oven b/c it will already be precooked which also makes it super tender. these all go great with rice, boil in bag is nice and easy .
another thing that might be easy for them is to buy 2 heads of romaine lettuce and whatever salad fixins you enjoy, tomatoes, cucumber, carrots...and chop and grate them. toss the salad, and put it into ziploc bags and they can have a quick lunch/side dish.
hope i helped a little... my prayers are with them, i understand a little - my little one was in the hospital for surgery after she was born. it's great to have good support!!!
terribly sad to hear of friends situation, i often get tired here and the one thing i seem to be able to whip together ( that freezes well to) is a pie. just puff pastry in the base of pie pan and then top with anyone of the recipes youve already been given like spagg sause, chicken and veg in white sauce with cheese, top with another puff pastry sheet and freeze.. take out of freezer to cook and simply place in the oven till pastry is golden ( just make sure the filling was precooked to avoid a raw center) hope all goes well.
After I posted and I worried about your finacial burden it would put on you. I had to help my sister out last year. Long story another thread needed for it. But I cooked for my family of 4 and her family of 5 to 6. So after awhile of helping it got costly. So I had some ideas for help. I would contact thier church or if they do not attend a church regularly. Contact a local one and ask if the womens group would help you out. Maybe each woman could prepare a dish to donate to the family. I am a mom of a girl scout and a former boy scout. So they are always looking for ways to help others. If you know of a local scout troop contact them and ask if they could help out that way also. I know if you were here our girls would jump right in and help. Just some thoughts for help.
Oh that poor little boy. He's in my thoughts and my prayers. I couldn't even start to imagine what they are going through. You are a really good person to be doing this for them. I'm sure food is the last thing on their minds. Well here's one of my favorite recipes. It's some really good comfort food. Although I doubt if there's anything that could comfort them right now.
Chicken and Dumplings
4 cups of water (approximately half a large pan of water)
1 ½ - 2 lbs of chicken breasts (or more if you like a lot of chicken in it)
1-2 Tablespoons of chicken soup base
2 cans of garlic flavored chicken broth or regular chicken broth
4 small cans of refrigerated biscuit dough (not the Grands biscuits)
2-3 spoonfuls of cornstarch to thicken
Salt and Pepper to taste
In large pan put water, soup base, chicken stock, and chicken. Boil until chicken is cooked completely through. Remove chicken from the pan and cut into small bite size pieces. Leave the water boiling on the stove. Take the cans of biscuit dough and tear or cut into small pieces. I take kitchen shears and cut them into 1/4's. It saves a lot of time doing it this way. I usually do this ahead of time while the chicken is cooking and just put the cut up pieces on a plate and put it in the refrigerator so they dont stick together as bad. In a small cup or bowl take the cornstarch and mix it cold water. Set aside. This is where you cannot leave the stove. If you do your pan will boil over once you start dropping in the biscuit dough. Take the pieces of dough and drop only a few in at a time. Stir after each time you drop the dough. It will start to look like too many dumplings are being added. Trust me its not. They float until they are cooked completely through. After you drop all of the biscuit dough in take your cornstarch mixture and pour a little in at a time until you get the right thickness. It should have a runny gravy-like consistency. If you want it thicker than that you can put more cornstarch in. Put the cut up chicken back in and finally add salt and pepper to taste.
There are a few variations to this recipe. You can use chicken parts instead of chicken breasts. I just use the breasts so I don't have to de-bone the chicken. You could also use only 3 cans of biscuit dough, but I personally like a lot of dumplings. If youre going to freeze it let it cool completely and put in a Ziploc bag or a container. It can be frozen for about 1-2 months. To reheat put back on the stove and heat on medium heat until warmed completely through. I don't recommend microwaving this when reheating because you always get cold spots and the dumplings get rubbery. Once its been refrigerated it will gel up quite a bit, but as soon as its heated it will go back to having a gravy-like consistency.
Here are a few other freezable dinner ideas that we make quite often: (Sorry I don't have an exact recipe for these, but if you want me to guide you through it you can email me and I'll help you as best as I can)
Potato Soup served with grilled cheese
Chicken Enchiladas (My DH's favorite)
Ravioli Lasagna
Chicken and Noodles (similar to the one above but made with frozen egg noodles)
Meatloaf
I hope this gives you some good ideas.
This is a very old family recipe.
Chicken Rivel Soup (This is a follow these directions rather than a recipe.)
1 chicken or pieces
Water to cover
Salt
Pepper
Bring to a boil and simmer till chicken is tender. Remove chicken to cool, skin and debone when cool enough to handle. Place broth in pan in refrigerator over night. Package chicken meat and store in refrigerator. Left over chicken, if any, may be used in other recipes. I think I use about 1/2 a chicken- maybe more maybe less.
Next day make soup.
Pan of chicken broth remove solid chicken fat
handful of rice (not minute) cup your hand and pour rice into it, when the rice is about to over flow your hand thats it.
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1 stalk celery, sliced
1 fist sized potato peeled and chopped
1 large egg
¾ cup flour
Chicken meat, as much as you think appropriate.
Salt
pepper- freshly ground is best
Bring the broth to a boil, reduce heat and simmer. Add rice, then carrot, then celery followed by the potato. Simmer 15 minutes. Adjust salt levels. Add as much chicken as you would like.
Make rivels (These are a Pennsylvania Dutch form of instant noodle.) Break egg into small bowl or large mug, do not break egg yolk yet, dump the flour on top and stir with fork until ¾ to 7/8 incorporated- there will still be floury bits and eggy bits, but it will be mostly egg dough.
Soup should be at a simmering boil, dump the rivel mixture into the soup, breaking up the clumps with your fork because these will puff as they cook and you do not want huge, under cooked rivels. Simmer for 15 minutes, check for salt and add fresh pepper.
Thank you so much everyone. There are so many different ideas here. I will keep you posted on his progress.
Melissa
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