Freezer Meals

One of the most important preparations for baby boy's arrival was preparing some food for our family to eat so I wouldn't have to worry about Sophie eating right after having her brother.  It's normal for family and friends to bring over meals, but since Sophie's food has to be prepared in such a particular way and with so much care, I don't really want people bringing over foods that I wouldn't feel safe feeding her.  I have very few people I have watched and spoken to about the particular way to prepare safe foods for her, so there are not many people I would feel safe feeding her their cooking.  (It's nothing personal!  Just a sensitive child and an uncomfortable situation for me!)

I had planned it out for about a month to decide what I wanted to make, testing recipes that I thought we might like best to make sure I wouldn't waste money freezing food we wouldn't eat.  For the last month, I have been preparing the freezer meals.  Ideally, making them all in one day and getting them out of the way would have been the way to go instead of dragging it out.  I didn't do this, though, because for one, I can't stand that long before my back and feet give out on me, and two, because that seemed like more work having to try to do it all in one day with Sophie.  So, I would make meals for dinner that I wanted to freeze, but make a double or triple batch and freeze the rest while we also ate it for dinner.  I did this over the span of about 4 weeks to help get it all in there slowly and to allow enough time after eating them to want them again.  We can't eat the same foods right back to back usually without feeling burnt out on it.

The result?  A freezer so packed with food that I can barely fit groceries in it that we are currently needing until I need the freezer meals!  I usually buy large packages of meat and freeze them, but there is so little room in my freezer, after buying groceries today I couldn't put all the meat in there so I had to leave it in the refrigerator.  That meat will need to be cooked first!

Wondering what in the world you make freezer meals out of for a family that must eat dinner without gluten, corn, dairy, or egg?  Here's the run-down of what I have in there ready to go:

Prep and freeze meals (requiring no cooking prior to freezing, but will need sides to complete the meals):

• Freezer Friendly Marinated Chicken - x2 (Better with thighs instead of chicken breast)
• Crispy Seasoned Chicken - x2 (I make without the cumin or oregano)
• Garlic Cheddar Chicken
• Hamburger patties for burgers (I know it sounds too simple to consider a freezer meal, but patties already made saves a step for me when I'll be exhausted and will cook quickly on the stove so I count it as a freezer meal.)
• Chicken and Broccoli Stir-fry (substituting tapioca starch for the corn starch called for)
• Salisbury Steak patties.  The recipe calls it Cube Steaks, but after trying it on cube steaks I was not liking it.  Tried it with ground meat and loved it, so now it's my salisbury steak recipe. (Only made the patties but since I use 2 lbs of meat to allow a lot of leftovers with this particular family favorite, it takes a bit to make those in preparation. Also, I substitute tapioca starch instead of rice flour or corn starch.  Could use rice flour and still be ok, but I like the tapioca myself and know it works great.)
• Beef & Tater Bites, but used with ground turkey instead so maybe call them Turkey & Tater Bites as a friend from church dubbed them one night.  :)
• Spice Roasted Chicken, Carrots, and Potatoes (I make it without the onions or parsnips and instead add bite-sized potatoes. I only froze the chicken to this one and will add the carrots and potatoes for cooking.)

Heat and eat meals:

• Black Bean Taco Soup (I make without the corn or the diced tomatoes as it already has plenty from the stewed tomatoes.  I also use a homemade taco seasoning mix since all I have seen have either gluten or corn in them.)
• Hamburger Helper (Made with ground turkey instead of ground beef, whatever GF noodles I have on hand, and substituting water for the beef stock. Will add the pasta at cooking time instead of freezing with the rest.)
• Fried Rice to serve with Freezer Friendly Marinated Chicken above (Make sure soy sauce is GF if needed.  Many changes made to this one: I cook a handful of broccoli in a small amount of water on the stove until it is tender, not the way the recipe calls for it. I do not use red pepper jelly. I use 1/2 t ground ginger instead of fresh. I use 3-4 carrots instead of 1 as we like carrots. Only 2 cups of cooked rice used as the 3 cups called is too much. I do not add the scallions it says to for serving.)
• Goulash (Froze without the noodles. Again, changes or clarifications: 1 can of stewed tomatoes instead of 1 qt. I do not use the paprika called for. Only use 1/2 t chili powder not the 1 T it calls for.  I use 1 t dried minced garlic instead of fresh. No tomato paste. Add 3/4 - 1.5 cups water, depending on what is needed for the noodles to cook.)
• Chicken and Rice Soup (Made with about 1 c chicken broth and 3-4 cups of water instead of 7 cups of chicken broth depending on how soupy we want it. Substitute 1 t ground mustard instead of dijon mustard as it usually has corn in it.)

Other:

• Cooked plain chicken, about 1 meal size for anything needing cooked chicken already 
• Cooked ground turkey, 1 lb
• Refried Beans - Recipe already makes enough for 2 meals, but only froze enough for 1 meal and 3 smaller portions for Sophie)
• Spaghetti sauce with meat - x2 plus 6 smaller portions for Sophie
• Quinoa Banana Muffins - in case we need a quick breakfast or snack (I used brown rice flour, tapioca flour, and guar gum.  Make sure vanilla is GF if needed.)
• GF Pizza Crusts for individual pizzas for Sophie.  Recipe already calls for it to be divided into 4 smaller pizzas for better cooking, so I just cooked 1 when I made the dough then froze the other 3 for later. 

There are several meals that will still need some kitchen time to make listed, but at least they are started and should allow for a shorter time to cook.  All ingredients are checked for gluten to make sure they are all gluten-free for Sophie.  Chicken broth, noodles, and soy sauce are things I just know now and only buy as GF as some have gluten in them.  If you don't need to sub out gluten or any of the other things Sophie can't eat, don't bother!  Just use what suits your family!  These are all good enough to eat without having to eat gluten-, dairy-, egg-, and corn-free.

If you have any questions about any of these, let me know!!  If you try any of them, let me know as well to see if you did anything different or just how you liked it!