There isn’t a magic dinner fairy. I hate to be the one to break this to you. It’s tantamount to explaining Santa, the Tooth Fairy, or the Easter Bunny, I know.
What if I gave you a way to make it slightly easier? I’ve rounded up 7 recipes from my archives that can be prepared ahead and frozen for the times you need them most. Common scenarios include: times when the boss has you working late and your kids need to start dinner, sick friends that need a home cooked meal, house projects that can’t be stopped to prep a whole meal, and so very many more.
Every one of these recipes has been tested by my family and has been deemed to be delicious enough to prepare again. None of them is egg foo yung. (If you missed that debacle, check out the link.)
The Recipes:
- Supper in a Bread Loaf: You don’t want to refreeze thawed bread dough. If you aren’t up for making your own dough before you freeze it, make the filling ahead of time and use a prepared dough (maybe pizza dough or biscuit dough?) to assemble quickly the day you are making.
- As long as you are browning ground beef, why not prepare enough to save some time when making Frazzalene? Just brown the beef, onions, and green pepper ahead of time and freeze in 1/2 pound bags until ready to use. Less time and fewer dishes.
- With bags of frozen ground beef (or turkey or chicken) you can also make Easy Beef and Noodle Skillet with the addition of 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1 TB Worchestershire sauce, 1 1/2 tsp dried herbs of your choice, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Pork Meatballs are a hit whenever they are served. Simply prepare recipe up to the point where the meatballs are browned, cool them and throw the into the freezer. When ready to prepare, throw them in a pan, top with the soup, cover and bake at 350° until hot.
- Sausage and Bean Casserole. This one even has instructions for making 2 pans at once. If you don’t like sausage, this one could easily be prepared with any other ground meat or lentils.
- Chuck Wagon Casserole. Prepare this rice based casserole and pour into a disposable pan to freeze (or just sit overnight in the fridge). When ready to use, top with cheese and bake at 350° until hot. If you put it in a bag instead of a pan, it could probably reheat in the crockpot while you do other things.
- Delicious Hot Dish. This casserole is pretty amazing. It’s an alternative to frozen lasagna. This one could easily be made vegetarian.
If you’ve tried any of these ideas and liked them, let me know! I love hearing what other people think of these old recipes.
Thanks for sharing this list of recipes that your enjoyed so much that you made them more than once. That’s a definite sign that they were tasty.