Top 3 Favorite Freezer Meals

Many have asked for it and now it's here! My freezer meal recipes :) Don't feel obligated or frightened by any of these meals. You can make each meal to match your lifestyle and taste buds. Some of these make-ahead meals are SUPER easy to put together and some are quite intense but totally worth it on those days you have zero minutes to get dinner ready.  In this post you'll find instructions for:
1. Lasagna
2. Pot Stickers
3. Hamburger Soup


Lasagna
Makes: 4-5 Lasagnas & Serves: 4 each
I used the 2.5lb aluminium pans from Dollar Tree. You can buy 3/$1

Ingredients:

Meat Marinara (see below)

Ricotta Cheese (largest tub)

1 large egg

1/2 Tablespoon ground black pepper

1 cup grated Parmesan

Lasagna noodles (1 box made all of mine & I DO NOT cook them)

Shredded mozzarella cheese 

In a small bowl mix together the ricotta, egg, pepper and Parmesan until thoroughly combined.

Start with the meat sauce. Next add noodles and top it off with the ricotta mixture. Continue this pattern until you've reached the top of your pan (typically 3 layers). Make sure you add a good amount of mozzarella cheese on the very top layer. Cover with cardboard top & label "Lasagna ~ 45 min ~ 375 ~ (date)". Very important to set aside to cool before putting in freezer...I learned this the hard way.

When you’re ready to cook, take off the top, cover with aluminum foil and bake for 35 minutes at 375 degrees, take off aluminum and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until top is lightly browned and bubbly.

Add some broccoli and garlic bread and you’ve got a meal in just a few minutes!

Meat Marinara 

3 pounds ground beef, cooked and strained

1 medium onion, diced finely

4 cloves of garlic, minced

4 large cans of tomatoes

1 12 oz. can tomato paste

1 huge (the double size) jar of good store bought marinara or make your own using tomato sauce

1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning

1 Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

Salt to taste (1 1/2 Tablespoons or so)

Pepper to taste (3/4 of a tablespoon)

To the ground beef, add in the garlic and onions and let cook until onions are soft. Add in the rest of the ingredients and cook for 45 minutes or so on medium heat, until flavors are combined.

Pot Stickers
Makes 4-5 meals & Serves:4 (12-15 pot stickers per meal)

Disclaimer: this is by far our most favorite freezer meal EVER! It is so stinkin' delicious and so easy to throw in the oven for dinner. Here is the BUT... preparing these meals is messy, dangerous and time consuming. Don't let that scare you away though. These are amaze-balls!

Filling:

2lbs ground meat (pork or beef)
2 cups (or half) a head of cabbage
4 Shredded carrots
1 onion
2 stalks for minced celery
1/4 c Soy Sauce
4 TBLS sesame oil
2 TBLS corn starch

Dough:
6 cups flour
2 cups water

Put flour and half of the water in a bowl and stir with a fork. Slowly add in more water, a TBSP at a time. Once it is stiff enough, knead. Keep adding water until it is smooth, but not sticky. You might not use all of the water.

- Cover with a damp towel and let sit for 30 minutes to relax the gluten.

- Cut into chunks and roll into 3-4 inch discs.

- Place roughly 1 TBSP of filling in the center and shape into a pouch.

- Heat oil in a pan over high heat. Place potstickers in pan and fry until the bottoms are nice and browned.

- Shielding your face with the lid (seriously, this is when you put on long sleeves, two oven mitts and ski mask!), pour in some water (1/2 a cup or so) and cover immediately. Lower heat to medium low and cook for 6 minutes.

I have a gas stove so when I make these, flames are coming up all sides of my pan! Not sure how it reacts with electric stove. If anybody makes these on their electric, let me know how it goes. 

Let the pot stickers cool completely then put into a freezer bag. On the day you want to eat them you can take them out a couple of hours before cooking OR right before. The cook time will just be a bit longer if they are still frozen when placed in the oven. 

Thawed pot stickers: 15 minutes @ 350
Frozen pot stickers: 25-30 minutes @ 350

Add rice and you're done! The best part is the hidden veggies inside the pot stickers :) I can easily fool hubby and kiddos to eat carrots, cabbage and celery! Buwahaha!

Hamburger Soup

Makes 4 bags & serves: 4

Ingredients:
3lbs ground beef (cooked)
10 potatoes (cubed and quickly blanched)
16 carrots (chopped)
Celery (chopped)
4 cans of tomatoes
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
6-8 cups of beef or chicken broth 

After you've chopped, cubed and diced everything you'll want to slightly cook the potatoes & veggies. This is also known as blanching. Freezing potatoes can either go really good or terribly wrong. DON'T freeze raw potatoes. I could give you a scientific explanation as to why but it's easier to say, "I'm smart so do what I say" :) 

Once all the potatoes, carrots, celery have had time to blanch in boiling water for 5 minutes, add the remaining ingredients and let it all cook together for 15-20ish minutes. You don't want to add too much broth...just enough to cook your meat and veggies together. If you have to much broth it won't fit in your freezer bags. On the day of cooking, you'll add broth to the crocpot. 

Separate soup into freezer bags and let it cool completely before putting in your freezer. To cook, pull out in the morning and slide it into crocpot on low for 4-6 hours. Remember to add 2-3 cups of fresh broth!