<p>My son moved out and is happily living in his first apartment. He loves the life and freedom, but finds that cooking for himself after a day of work is not fun. No kidding! I’d like to give him some freezer meals but I’m stuck for ideas. I’m thinking chili, meatballs, sloppy joes. There has to be something better that I’m missing. No food issues or allergies, but he does usually eat healthy - or try anyway.</p>
<p>Suggestions?</p>
<p>Chili (I always have frozen chili in my freezer–it’s what’s thawing for today’s lunch)
Pasta sauce that’s a bit watery over barely cooked noodles (that made sound awful, but it reheats to non-watery sauce over perfectly-cooked pasta)
Soups (again, if you make a noodle soup, don’t cook the noodles much)</p>
<p>I sometimes go look through the frozen meals at the grocery store to get ideas. </p>
<p>soups, spaghetti sauce, eggplant parmesan, lasagna, meatloaf, burritos…are some of the meals I freeze.
Google or Pinterest have oodles of suggestions…</p>
<p>Get him a cast iron skillet. In 15 mins or so he can make a delicious skillet meal that is healthy too.
<p>He can eat as is, or boil some pasta or rice as a carb to go under the stir fry. Make enough for two nights or for dinner and a take to work lunch.
He can buy meat already chopped to small portions at the store and buy pre-packaged cut veggies in the produce dept if time is more important than cost. </p>
<p>Oh, just realized YOU are going to prepare the meals and freeze them for him?? He does need to realize that cooking a meal after work can be done in 20 mins or less. Ready made pastas. </p>
<p>Last time I visited my D I grilled some marinated bones less/skin on chicken breasts and sliced them almost all the way through. Froze it in plastic wrap plus a ziplock freezer bag. She was able to take them out in the am and use it on salads, burritos.she felt they tasted good with no loss of texture. She will also precook lentils and quinoa and freeze. Also frozen vegetables from the freezer section of the grocery store are good.
For my kid in the same situation the hardest part of the meal is getting enough protein. </p>
<p>You can buy costco sized bag of mixed frozen veggies and he can just add it to whatever protein he wants. I liked haung frozen bag of boneless, skinless chicken thighs and would microwave one until it was soft enough to slice and then slice it and stir fry with the frozen veggies and season to taste. Very quick and easy meals. </p>
<p>Our kids love potstickers which they boil with ramen and eat as a quick meal as well. They are at costco and many other markets. </p>
<p>DD couldn’t live without her crock pot. Cooks on the weekend has a fresh yummy dinner one night and leftovers frozen in single servings for later in the week. Favorite is putting a whole chicken in, supported on aluminum foil balls (can use potatoes) for a roasted fall off the bone chicken ready for anything. </p>
<p>My wife teaches and prefers to make meals in advance because she gets so tired. Things like lasagna, mac & cheese, chicken thighs roasted with vegetables (or whatever you like). Pretty much anything you make in quantity and eat as leftovers. All these can be made and reheated. They can also be portioned for freezing. </p>
<p>I buy meat in bigger packages and then put them individually in bags. I buy 500 quart sized plastic bags at Gordon Food Service. Some chicken breasts are plain, some have marinade (usually just teriyaki sauce or bottled salad dressing). I can take a breast out in the morning and that night throw it in the oven. Sometimes I’ll bread it, sometimes put bbq sauce or buffalo chicken wing sauce on and bake. There are bags of rice if he doesn’t want to mess making rice or how hard is it to make rice really. </p>
<p>When I buy ground beef, I’ll fry it up with onion and garlic and package in one cup sizes. Throw together chili or spaghetti or sloppy joes. I also have bread and buns in the freezer. Make garlic bread. </p>
<p>The key is not being too tired to cook but having things to cook. If you do a little planning it makes everything so much easier. It may not be gourmet but it gets eaten. I also think a big container of plastic bags is key too. Leftovers, extra bread, even fruit. I’ll cup up strawberries and throw those in a bag and freeze. My meat market had bags of peeled frozen fruit. I can thaw peaches or even apple slices. Put a bit of sugar and cinnamon on and throw in the oven with my chicken. I’ll even put frozen vegetables in the oven with a little bit of olive oil and maybe some lemon pepper and cook that. </p>
<p>I also try to eat healthier (pretty much no processed foods or even frozen dinners), and I have 0 interest in cooking - nor do I have time. What I do, and what has worked for me is just picking out veggies, “proteins,” etc. that require little to no prep time and no pot/pan scrubbing after, like asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, eggplant, etc. For most of them, I just boil/steam, so it takes less than 10 minutes and no complicated prep. Eggplant is a bit more complicated with cutting it up, etc., but then you just pop it in the oven for 25 minutes. For proteins (I am a pescatarian, trying to become a full vegetarian), I just buy canned organic lentils, chick peas, green peas, grilling cheese or Indian paneer cheese, etc (occasionally, I will buy canned oysters or tuna filets in olive oil). All these things can just be heated or even eaten at room temperature. Then, I have fresh veggies, like radishes or tomatoes or kim chi.</p>
<p>It may not be for everyone, but even for someone who has zero interest or time for cooking, you can make meals in under 10 minutes that are healthy!</p>
<p>Freeze ground beef into patties. Fry up some ground beef, mix with jarred spaghetti sauce, pour over pasta. Serve with salad.</p>
<p>Broil another frozen patty and have a hamburger. Add some sort of veggie and maybe a microwaved baked potato.</p>
<p>Get a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, throw a sweet potato and some spinach in the microwave, and call it dinner.</p>
<p>Tear a portion of the chicken into small pieces, throw over rice made with a chicken bouillon cube, and throw in some steamed broccoli. Use some sort of Asian sauce over it all. Maybe some dry roasted peanuts for a little crunch too.</p>
<p>Don’t know if he likes ethnic foods but Tandoori Chef makes an excellent line of frozen Indian entrees - they are all natural and very tasty. All the meals are around 360 calories. Little high in sodium but for once a week it is a good choice for those looking to cut down on prep. Pair it with their naan that also comes frozen and your son would be good to go. </p>
<p>I made this for dinner tonight and will be freezing some for my college girl.</p>
<p><a href=“Slow Cooker Moroccan Chickpea and Turkey Stew”>Slow Cooker Moroccan Chickpea and Turkey Stew;
<p>Soups that you make yourself and freeze are soooo much better than anything in a can that I would make different soups and freeze them in quart size containers for your son. He can supplement the soup with a salad and or fish/meat, but even if he doesn’t he’ll have something good. Here’s a start for ideas on different soups to make:
<a href=“http://www.cookinglight.com/food/top-rated-recipes/best-soup-recipes”>http://www.cookinglight.com/food/top-rated-recipes/best-soup-recipes</a></p>
<p>I made five servings of soup today by boiling the carcass of a roasting chicken with onions, carrots, celery, bay leaves, and salt. I strain it through a sieve to make sure I get out all the tiny bones and the icky bits. Popped it in the freezer in Rubbermaid containers and we’ll have it if/when one of us gets a cold this winter. </p>
<p>I make mac and cheese for my Mom and freeze them in meal size portions. Another easy freeze meal is meatloaf made in cupcake muffin tins. One rounded meatloaf muffin is a good size portion. I make them with a combo of turkey and beef and add an olive in each one. Beef stew freezes in small portions too. Whenever I make soup, I often freeze half of it in two cup portions, as it sounds like many of us do. I’m also a fan of rotisserie chickens. Now that it’s just my husband and I, I’ll get one of these and we’ll eat the parts we like for one meal, and I’ll pick off the meat and freeze the rest. Perfect for a quick stir fry, chicken taco, etc. </p>
<p>H brings wonderful lunches frozen every day to work and microwaves them.
He cooks extra for dinner, freezes every part of it in about 4"x6" containers- think TV dinners but he makes them. They usually contain all parts- the meat, veggie, starch. If he has extra pasta for instance, he puts in a partially filled container on a special freezer shelf to complete later. Forget fish it smells bad at the office microwave. Spaghetti with meat sauce does extremely well frozen. We never put left overs in the refrigerator. He does this about 2 times a week or just on weekends.
Tired- your could just cook a little extra and bring him some frozen meals from your dinners.</p>
<p>As an empty nester, I tire of cooking and then eating the same thing 4 nights or so in a row. I love things that I can make and freeze half. One thing at this time of year is taco soup. Brown & drain 1 lb. of ground beef. Add the following: 1 package of taco seasoning mix, 1 package ranch dressing mix, 1 can undrained pinto beans, 1 can undrained diced tomatoes, 1 can undrained corn, and 1 small can ( like 2-3 ounces) of mild chiles (make sure they are mild unless you want to light your mouth on fire!). I made this Halloween night and froze enough for 2 servings, got 3 servings out of what I didn’t freeze. Make corn muffins with a box of Jiffy corn bread mix and add some honey to the batter before baking. Cook in cupcake/muffin liners for easy clean up. Freeze half of corn muffins to go with frozen soup in a few weeks. Easy and good!</p>
<p>Don’t be afraid of store bought frozen dinners. The options today are healthier than when we kids. Even a pot n and then won’t kill him.</p>
<p>For home made options, try things like lasagna, eggplant parmesan, chicken cutlets, pea soup. I like to make/freeze egg casserole, but that may have too much overlap with egg dishes easy to make on the fly. The simplest egg dish - put one egg in custard dish or mug and microwave 30 seconds. </p>
<p>Trader Joes: inexpensive (take from the back for the freshest stuff) fresh fruits, salads (premade), eggplant for one…frozen chicken tenders, fresh cheeses, hummas, cereals, juices, milk, coffee and tea, desserts…</p>