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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

5-Minute Freezer Meals

My Mom and I decided that it was time we stocked the freezer with ready-to-go meals. We use to do this all the time after we were inspired by My Girlfriends Kitchen (a place where you would go put meals together to take home and freeze - MGK is no longer in business). We thought it would be so easy to take our favorite recipes and make them into ready-to-go freezer meals. They are not pre-cooked meals that you would thaw and heat up. The meals are usually thawed and then cooked fresh but all of the prep work is done before hand making the process a lot quicker. In the next couple of months we will be doing meals that take a little more time because they will be made with ingredients from scratch and I will share those as well.

5-Minute Freezer Meals - Chicken Cordon Bleu and Beef Stew Complete Dinner Freezer Meals. They are called 5-minute freezer meals because they literally take 5 minutes to put together. The instructions for the freezer meals depend on your family's size and the amount of kits that you want to make. The Cordon Bleu freezer meal can be cooked from frozen when you are ready and the Beef Stew freezer meal can be cooked from frozen in a crock-pot.  


Chicken Cordon Bleu w/ Mashed Potatoes and Corn/Peas (4 kits for a family of 3 adults)
2 Boxes Tyson Cordon Bleu (6 per box, freezer section at Costco)
4 Packages Ore-Ida Steam n' Mash Potatoes (shown above, freezer section)
4 Packages McCormick Brown Gravy
2 Packages Frozen Peas
2 Packages Frozen Corn

Put three individually wrapped Cordon Bleu, 1 Package Ore-Ida Steam n' Mash Potatoes, 1 Package Gravy, and 1 Package of Peas or Corn in a gallon-sized freezer bag (yes, it all fits). Label outside with instructions on cooking the chicken. Freeze and enjoy any time. Cooking instructions found on all of the packaging. It can all be cooked from frozen. 

Cordon Bleu Freezer Meal


Beef Stew w/ Cornbread (4 kits, 1 batch of stew makes enough for 8 people at least)
4 1-pound packages of stew meat (I like to get it at the butcher shop so it's wrapped to freeze)
4 12-ounce packages frozen pearl onions (my favorite is Kroger brand)
4 12-ounce packages frozen carrots 
4 cans Italian Stewed Tomatoes
4 Bay Leaves
4 Packages Corn Bread Mix

Open can of stewed tomatoes and dump into a quart-sized freezer bag and seal (x4). Put one bay leaf in a snack baggy (x4). To make kits, put 1 pound stew meat, 1 package onions, 1 package carrots, 1 bag of stewed tomatoes, 1 bay leaf, and 1 package corn bread mix in a one-gallon freezer bag (again, it all fits). We even added 1 crock-pot liner to each kit. Write on bags to add 8-12 diced red potatoes, 1 1/2 cups water, and salt and pepper as well as the instructions below. 

All ingredients from the kits can be added into the crock-pot frozen. Add additional ingredients and cook on low for 8-9 hours. After 8-9 hours add 1/4 cup water mixed with 2 Tbsp flour to thicken (stir in and wait 15 minutes). While waiting for stew to thicken, mix and bake cornbread. Enjoy!

Beef Stew Freezer Meal

Note: The picture shown above says to add 2 cups of water. If frozen use 1 1/2 cups water because 2 cups will make it too watery. 

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