(Non-)Fast Food
 

With my busy schedule, I'm always on the lookout for quick eats. However, I don't really want the crap served at a drive-thru, and I'm honestly getting really tired of the processed frozen or self-stable crap (even canned goods, like soup).

So, I'm looking to spend a few hours every weekend to "process" (read: cook) and portion wrap my own convenience foods for the freezer.

Do any of you have good ideas for foods that freeze well either prepped or pre-cooked?

I've been thinking of making tamales. And, I've done various soups, chili, pinto beans, and pasta sauce. However, I'm looking for more of a variety.

Also, has anyone had success with freezing raw potatoes? I've tried, and they always turn quickly. I'd very much like to slice up a bunch with my mandolin to have ready-made au gratin dishes and such. Would they need to be cooked before freezing maybe?

And, no, I haven't seen nor read "Food, Inc.", but I know what makes me feel like crap and what doesn't. That said, I'd like to work to keep processed junk to a minimum. This "revelation" came from my attempt to eat a crappy instant "gourmet" noodle bowl at lunch today. I'm still feeling gross. I'm just done with it all. I've been moving towards this point for awhile, but that bowl finally stuck a fork in it.

So, any recipes or ideas/tips?

First - if you haven't already, invest in a FoodSaver vacuum sealer. They make freezing individual portions easy and protect against freezer burn longer than the ziploc system or plain ziploc bags.

I cook full recipes for myself and freeze leftovers.

Lasagna freezes well in individual servings.

I also freeze shredded chicken breasts made in the crock pot for quick to assemble Mexican meals - I like this recipe.

It's not frozen but sandwiches and salads are fast if you portion out the meat/cheese/ingredients. I also like Lean Cuisine spa cuisines. They seem less processed than regular lean cuisines. Same with Trader Joe's frozen stuff.

Very cool! Totally didn't think about that, because I've noticed that Ziploc'd stuff usually lasts only a couple months before it's burned. I'll add that to my shopping list.

I found some lasagna buried in the back of the freezer. It's about a year old and was fine. Same with raw meat - take it out of the package first. Costco has the best deal, usually. Machine + a ton of cut your own size bags.

I got a foodsaver for christmas, it works great!

I freeze soup or stock, stews, chili, pasta sauce, etc. in a plastic container that I can also re-heat it in (ziplock/glad type), then remove it from the container and seal it in a foodsaver bag (it's a lot easier to seal a solid). Then all I have to do is remove it from the bag and place it in the plastic container to cook it in the microwave. Or you can put it in a sauce pot to re-heat if you like.

Also, to freeze potatos:

Boil water and take off heat.

cut potatos and place in hot water right away before they turn brown.

After a 2-3 minutes put in ice water to stop cooking.

Drain well and pat dry, then vacuume seal.

If doing this with shreaded potatos place them in a collander and lower them in the hot water then transfer them in the colander to the ice cold water.

Blanching removes the chemicals that oxidize and change the color, the hot water kills the enzymes, and vacuume sealing keeps it from freezer burning.

One way to do this is to maximize the what you cook on the weekend. I'll cook 2 chickens on the weekend and use the meat in several dishes during the week. You can make pasta sauce and use it for pasta one night, pizza another, and meatball sandwiches another.

Pork Roast or Beef Roast cooked in a Slow Cooker, shred leftovers, then freeze.

Meatloaf, make double, then freeze one.

Brown ground beef, portion out, then freeze.

Making the chickens ahead of time is always a great idea, shred or cube for future.

We use a Food Saver also, you can pick one up at Target. Don't get the cheapest one though, you'll just end up buying another later that is better anyways.

I usually just make huge base salads then add in different ingredients every day - or I used to when I cooked more.

Make a huge pot of refried beans and have that handy.

But lock it up securely if you know Kevy is coming over! :eek:

I like a recipe I got from Weight Watchers called layered Mexican chicken

Ingredients

2 pound uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast
30 oz canned black beans, rinsed and drained
3 cup fat-free sour cream
2 cup shredded reduced-fat Monterey Jack cheese, or Mexican-style cheese blend (I buy the pre-shredded in the bag kind)
8 oz chopped green chilies, two 4-oz cans
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp black pepper
12 medium corn tortilla, cut into 2-inch strips
1 cup salsa, mild, medium or hot

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat a lasagna pan with cooking spray.

2. Place chicken in medium saucepan and fill with enough cold water just to cover chicken. Set pan over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes; drain. When chicken is cool enough to handle, cut into 1-inch pieces.

3. Transfer chicken to a large bowl and add beans, sour cream, 1 cup of shredded cheese, chilies, cumin, and pepper; mix well and set aside.

4. Arrange half of tortillas in bottom of prepared lasagna pan, overlapping pieces to cover surface. Top tortillas with half of chicken mixture, layer with remaining tortillas and then top with remaining chicken mixture. Sprinkle with remaining cup of cheese.

5. Bake until filling is bubbly and cheese is melted, about 30 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing into 12 pieces. Serve with salsa on the side.

I've been using recipes from the Hungry Girl cookbook. Most are super easy and she tends to use a lot of the same base ingreidents so you can use the same stuff for multiple recipes. She also has a website

I have freezer safe small pyrex dishes with rubber tops. When I make lasagna or enchelladas I make small individual portions and freeze. Then I can take them out, put in a cold oven, turn on the heat and cook a fresh dinner. I also make extra stuffing at Thanksgiving and freeze in them and then freeze the turkey seperate.

I also got a lot of good information out of the Eat This not That books.

If you get a vacuum sealer, you can enter the cool world of Sous Vide cooking. I don't know any good links for it (my brother is the one who's into sous vide) but a quick search did produce this thorough (if dry) page on the topic.

Basically, you season and vacuum-seal your food, place it in a water bath just a degree above the desired doneness temperature, and because it's sealed in a bag with its own juices and no air, you can cook it at that temperature for an insane amount of time without it drying out or overcooking. Then freeze the cooked food, and when you're ready to eat, pull it out, unseal, and heat it up in a more traditional way (but quicker because it just needs to be warmed up to a pleasing temperature).

Sous Vide cooking sounds interesting, but keeping a steak in a warm water bath for 24 hours is both scary and inconvienant. But I could imagine the texture and juciness would be quite remarkable.

* Note-(I hope everyone keeps in mind I'm on vicodin for my surgery, so anything odd I say and any spelling errors-more than usual- can be chocked up to that)*

How much does a "real" foodsaver (ie sunbeam, I assume) cost over in the USA. They're AU$220 here for the machine alone. Lessee, that's currently US$196 according to Google. :eek: Do you save enough to warrant that sort of outlay?

Apparently there is a brand called Food Saver and on Amazon and they range from US$75 to US$650.

I don't know if this is a good brand or not though

I have this Foodsaver branded vacuum sealer. I bought it at Costco for about $100 (as a Costco bundle it came with a bunch of bags and bag storage/cutter thing). It's about 5 years old now and it works just fine. I couldn't tell the difference between the fancier models and this one. It also seals 'Foodsaver' canisters where I store pasta and dried beans/lentils.

As a side note, I read the reviews from the link and haven't had any of the issues those people are experiencing with the canisters.

All of the FoodSaver canisters have cracked on me. The only plastic container that hasn't is the Quick Marinator.

I love my Foodsaver. It allows me to buy in bulk when items are cheap and seal them up into the portion sizes I choose. The new ones are even made to stand up and work, so they take up less space on the counter. I buy the rolls of make your own size bags. I find them more economical than the precut bags.

I just found a cookbook at the library called Don't Panic More Dinner's in the Freezer, it's pretty neat. I assume there is a first one too!

I agree with everyone so far, cook a roast and portion it out or cook an extra chicken. You can also precook hamburger and freze in portions you'll use later.

I've been known to cook an over full of potatos and make twice baked potatos and freeze them for later. Also a kitchen full of french bread pizzas, then freeze for later use.

Since I don't have a Costco, I don't really buy enough in bulk to make a Foodsaver worthwhile, but I can see how it would help save on meat costs. Also, do those canisters help with the notorious CA ant problem?

I don't buy my meat at Costco, but I'll stock up when it's cheap at Ralph's. I also use it to protect leftovers. I can only eat so much leftover lasagna before I'm sick of it.

I don't have an ant problem (knock wood) so I can't tell you how much they help or don't help. I keep most of my food in a Macgyvered metal-shelf pantry off the ground. The sugar and flour I do have is in Ziploc bags or Tupperware. I've tried to use the canisters for flour and sugar but the granules get stuck and prevent it from sealing.

My biggest problem is actual freezer space. My fridge is "cabinet depth" to fit in the allowed space. This means I loose something like 8 cubic feet of fridge/freezer space compared to the same "regular" model. Of course I didn't know this till the fridge was in place.

The fridge space is fine. I can't put a whole costco pizza box in it (it's not deep enough) but for the most part it works out. Freezer on the other hand doesn't hold a ton. So can't stock up on a lot of stuff as there just isn't room for it.

We have the same problem with our kitchen fridge....that's why we have a second one in the converted garage. Before the garage was converted we had one in there. We needed the extra freezer/fridge for meat and drinks.

Yeah, that's my other problem. The crappy freezer space that I have in the appliance that came with my apartment doesn't even have a shelf, so I have to try to pile things on top of one another to use all the space.

I would never have room for frozen food in my freezer. The freezer belongs to the frozen raw food for the dogs (with some ice cream on the side for Chris).

Can you buy a couple stand alone cabinet shelves from Bed Bath and Beyond? I have a couple of these in my cabinets and they would fit in my freezer with room under and on top.

Steph I had a similiar issue in my last apartment and I got a couple of stackable baskets that fit in. Worked great for meats and such that aren't stackable shapes.

My freezer is full of stuff that we will never eat. I need to clean it out and make better use of the space. Another project for me later on...

1) Make big pot of chicken soup.
2) Have bowl of soup.
3) Cover.
4) Refrigerate.
5) Repeat steps 2-4 for several days, scraping fat and reheating soup first if preferred.

Ah, good one! I love the pot-of-soup-in-the-fridge, because it tastes better over time.

With the exception of noodle type soups. While tatsing ok, I hate how the broth gets soaked up by the noodles. But I solved that by cooking the noodles seperate, then adding them to the bowl of soup just before warming. I also might add shreded cheese and fresh cut basil from my garden for Tuscin soups. Yum!

Susan likes to make large batches of items and freeze them. Freezer space used to be an issue, but we purchased a small freezer and keep it outside on our patio. It is about the same size as dorm refrigerator and if I recall correctly it only cost between $150-$200. It has been a great investment for us.

Hopefully those two items never get confused :yammy:

I know there was advice against cheap vacuum sealers, but I felt I should mention that I saw one today at Big Lots for $22.

You food-savers are lucky! The hubby won't eat leftovers, so I don't freeze much.

I tend to do the Trader Joe's non-processed food divided out over 5 days for eating while I'm at work. It has to be fast (assembled in 1 min or less) because I'm working nonstop and long hours these days. I do end up eating the same thing every day for a week (except for dinners) but I don't mind because I don't have time to really think about food right now, alas!

9:30 AM arrival - one nonfat TJ's Greek Honey yogurt, a handful of berries

12:00 PM 5 min break or mid-meeting - TJ's lo-carb tortilla with free-range turkey or chicken, alfalfa sprouts, cherry tomatoes, a laughing cow wedge. With 1/5 of a bag of crunchy veggies and 1 tb of either hummus or fat free tzatziki.

3:00 PM 5 min break or mid-meeting - 1/5 of whatever veggie salad I've made this week (I can't eat greens because of my blood thinner, so it's sometimes a cucumber-based salad with a little couscous, or corn and bean cilantro salad, or roasted beet salad, or fennel salad, or purple cabbage and carrot slaw.) Plus 1 serving of fruit.

6:30 PM - to fight the munchies before I can get home to dinner. 12 almonds, 4 dried berries or cherries, 1 square of dark chocolate.

I'm a veggie monster these days!

Sounds delicious to me.

Greek Honey yogurt really sounds good, how is it?

The problem with super inexpensive vacuum sealers is their seal isn't very good and air gets in.

You know, I'd really like the recipe for these... :cool:

I'll post them from home tonight, LB! :)