Are there any frozen meals that you don't bake when defrosted??!
Are there any frozen meals that you don't bake when defrosted??
I'm looking around for some meals to freeze for when my baby is born in August, but I'm finding mostly casseroles, etc. that you bake in the oven. These aren't bad, but since it will be August (and super hot out), I'm wondering if there's anything I can make ahead that you don't have to turn the oven on for... thanks~
Answers:
i am just going to throw some ideas out here, i hope it helps you!
i make a bunch of meatballs mix with whatever seasonings you like, shape freeze uncooked, easy to pull out fry just enough to brown then throw into the crockpot with either a sweet n sour sauce (rice as a side dish), or a gravy (mashed potatoes), or a tomato sauce (spaghetti or any kind of pasta you like) ... the meatballs finish cooking in the crockpot & few hours later supper is ready & all you have to do is worry about the side dish
or if you want it even easier you could pre-cook the meatballs even freeze it in gravy or tomato sauce & put the whole concoction into the crockpot to heat up without heating the house ... i have never tried freezing a sweet & sour sauce so i don't know how it would turn out..
you could also freeze up batches of tomato sauce to add to chicken or with your meatballs, or hamburger, for a variety of dishes
mix up your favorite meatloaf recipe & freeze into something that will allow you to place the frozen uncooked meatloaf into the crockpot, click of a button & supper is cooking! ;-)
meatsauce (for spaghetti) & chili are also great to make ahead & freeze ..
i buy fresh pieces of chicken whatever your prefer, my kids like drumsticks for example, for seasoning i buy a wet rub & rub all over the chicken, freeze in ziploc bags in the quantity i would need for a single meal, then take out the morning of & when time to cook place on the bbq - the chicken is so tasty & the cook time seems minimal since you pre-seasoned it way before hand
**i forgot to add that i have put the chicken in a foil type pan wrapped with lots of foil & left the chicken to cook on the bbq, this works great since it needs minimal supervision & leaves you free to do other things while its cooking, last 5-10minutes of cooking remove the chicken from the pan & put the grill brush with bbq sauce & you still get enough bbq'ed flavour as if you stood there bbq-ing it the whole time ;-) lol**
chicken, beef, or turkey stock is a great way to make a quick meal using it for soup, stew all of which can be cooked on the stove top or in the crockpot...
if i think of anything else i will add to this.... congrats on the baby to be! good luck & God bless you both! :-)
*tip* trying googling these keywords.. 'Once a Month Cooking Plans' or 'Once a Month Cooking Recipes' i found quite a few ideas here, but too many too post & a lot of the ideas depend on your personal taste etc :-)
i don't know how many people are in your family ... but my Mom uses a convection toaster oven in the summer which doesn't heat up the house as much as a regular oven would. the amount you can fit in there of course is less, but works great for my parents since its only the 2 of them