Sharla

Make Ahead Freezer Smoothie Bags

These make ahead freezer smoothie bags can be made using all kinds of fruits and vegetables. It’s fun to try different combinations. My kids love having these in the freezer.

These freezer smoothie bags can be made in all kinds of delicious fruit and vegetable combinations. On this particular day, the smoothie bags that we assembled had the following combinations:

kiwi, apple, avocado
kiwi, apple, banana, spinach
mango, pineapple, banana
blackberry, raspberry, blueberry
blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, roasted beets (we found we needed to add honey to this one)

Here are two sample recipes for freezer smoothie bags:

1 cup blueberries
1 cup strawberries, sliced
1 cup bananas, sliced

Divide the blueberries, strawberries and bananas up into medium sized resealable freezer bags. Remove excess air, seal and freeze. To serve, add 2 cups of milk or fruit juice and blend in a blender or with a hand blender. Pour into glasses.

1 cup frozen mango cubes
1 cup pineapple, chunked
1/2 cup spinach
1/2 cup avocado, cubed

Divide the mangos, pineapple, spinach, and avocado into other medium sized resealable bags. Remove excess air, seal and freeze. To serve, add 2 cups of milk or fruit juice and blend in a blender or with a hand blender. Pour into glasses.

To make the smoothie bags, you can use fresh or frozen fruits or vegetables or a combination of both. Other ideas of what to include in the freezer smoothie bags include strawberries, cranberries, peaches, grapes, kale, broccoli, clementines, oranges, cantaloupe, and honeydew melon.

You can also freeze yogourt by pouring it into an ice cube tray and freezing and then popping a few of the frozen yogourt cubes into your smoothie bags.

The possibilities for variety with this are endless! This makes it easy to personalize and create smoothie bags that you and your family will love. You basically just need to stick to a ratio of 3 cups of any fruit/veggie combo and then when blending, add 2 cups of liquid.

You can add in chia seeds, hemp seeds or flaxseed for added nutrients. If you or your kids like it, you can also toss in some unsweetened coconut in the bags.

When serving smoothies for breakfast, you can make it a more complete meal by topping with granola such as our freezer granola.

Make Ahead Freezer Smoothie Bags

These make ahead freezer smoothie bags can be made using all kinds of fruits and vegetables. It's fun to try different combinations.

Ingredients

1 cup blueberries
1 cup strawberries sliced
1 cup bananas sliced
1 cup frozen mango cubes
1 cup pineapple chunked
1/2 cup spinach
1/2 cup avocado cubed

Instructions

Recipe 1:

Divide the blueberries, strawberries and bananas up into medium sized resealable freezer bags.
Remove excess air, seal and freeze.
To serve, add 2 cups of milk or fruit juice and blend in a blender or with a hand blender.
Pour into glasses.

Recipe 2:

Divide the mangos, pineapple, spinach, and avocado into other medium sized resealable bags.
Remove excess air, seal and freeze.
To serve, add 2 cups of milk or fruit juice and blend in a blender or with a hand blender.
Pour into glasses.

Recipe Notes

More smoothie combinations:

• kiwi, apple, avocado • kiwi, apple, banana, spinach • mango, pineapple, banana • blackberry, raspberry, blueberry • blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, roasted beets (we found we needed to add honey to this one)

These freezer smoothie bags are one of the recipes included in our Breakfast Freezer Meal Plan along with other recipes, shopping lists, prep lists, and printable labels.

Sausage and Peppers Freezer Meal

By Sharla

This sausage and peppers freezer meal recipe came about the same way some of our others have. We invented it using what we had left at the end of our freezer meal assembly day. We took some extra vegetables that were already prepped, onions and peppers and combined it with some other ingredients we had on hand.

I had accidentally bought too much sausage because of a miscalculation on my part so we actually invented three different recipes using sausage and what we had left of other ingredients. Sometimes the best freezer meal recipes come about that way!

This recipe can either be served over rice or rolled in a flour or corn tortilla and eaten as a wrap.

Sausage and Peppers Freezer Meal Recipe:

1 lb. of Italian sausage (see directions for preparing it below)
1/2 a yellow pepper, sliced
1/2 a red pepper, sliced
1 onion, chopped or sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 tsp. cajun seasoning
14 oz. can diced tomatoes

You can use mild or spicy sausage depending on your family’s preference. Remove the sausage from the casing and slice. I prefer to actually squeeze out sausage meatballs and flatten them a bit with my fingers to slicing. It is a messier method, but it is easier to remove the casing this way.

Fry the sausage slices in a frying pan over medium-high heat until lightly browned on both sides. Alternately, you can place the raw sausage “meatballs” in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven.

Blot the cooked sausage slices on a paper towel to remove some of the grease.

To assemble this meal, place the cooked sausage pieces in a large resealable freezer bag. Add the sliced peppers, onion, minced garlic, cajun seasoning, and the can of diced tomatoes.

Remove the excess air from the bag, seal and freeze.

On the day of cooking, thaw the sausage and peppers freezer meal. Cook in a skillet over medium-high heat until heated through. Serve over rice or in a wrap.

This recipe is gluten free and keto friendly if served on cauliflower rice. You can even make cauliflower rice ahead and freeze.

Can you freeze cooked Italian sausage?

You can absolutely freeze Italian sausage. If you freeze raw Italian sausage, it has a tendency to get freezer burnt quite quickly even if it is packaged well. By cooking the sausage first, it will keep much longer in the freezer.

To freeze ground Italian sausage, brown it first in a skillet. Be sure to drain it to remove the extra grease. Measure out 1 or 2 cup portions into medium sized resealable freezer bags or add the cooked ground sausage to freezer meal recipes and freeze.

Make meatballs out of Italian sausage by squeezing chunks out of the casing and laying them in a single layer on a baking sheet. Cook at 350° until the outside is brown and they are no longer pink inside. Blot the excess grease before adding them to a resealable freezer bag or into a freezer meal recipe and freeze.

Sausage and Peppers Freezer Meal

This recipe can either be served over rice or rolled in a flour or corn tortilla and eaten as a wrap.

Ingredients

1 lb. of Italian sausage see directions for preparing it below
1/2 a yellow pepper sliced
1/2 a red pepper sliced
1 onion chopped or sliced
2 cloves garlic minced
1-2 tsp. cajun seasoning
14 oz. can diced tomatoes

Instructions

Remove the sausage from the casing and slice.
I prefer to actually squeeze out sausage meatballs and flatten them a bit with my fingers to slicing. It is a messier method, but it is easier to remove the casing this way.
Fry the sausage slices in a frying pan over medium-high heat until lightly browned on both sides.
Blot the cooked sausage slices on a paper towel to remove some of the grease.
To assemble this meal, place the cooked sausage pieces in a large resealable freezer bag.
Add the sliced peppers, onion, minced garlic, cajun seasoning, and the can of diced tomatoes.
Remove the excess air from the bag, seal and freeze.
On the day of cooking, thaw the sausage and peppers freezer meal.
Cook in a skillet over medium-high heat until heated through.
Serve over rice or in a wrap.

Recipe Notes

You can use mild or spicy sausage depending on your family's preference.

The Quick Start Guide to Freezer Meals

By Sharla

Have you wanted to try making freezer meals but not known where to start? The quick start guide to freezer meals is here to help! Freezer meals are the smartest thing I have ever done to save myself time, money and sanity. I love not having to decide what to make for supper every day.

In this quick start guide to freezer meals, you will find everything you need to try this method of cooking and see if it’s right for your family. I thought the easiest way to explain this would be to answer some of the most common questions I get about freezer meals.

How should I start?

Planning out a full day of freezer meals is daunting. Even doing a one hour mini session could be too overwhelming for some. My suggestion for those who want to try their hand and freezer meals but not jump in headfirst is simple. Take a few of your family’s favourite recipes that would freeze well and double them. Eat one for supper that night and freeze the other. After a week, you’ll have supper for the next week.

My guess is that after experiencing that second week of being able to eat ready-made meals without having to do any cooking, you’ll be ready to jump into making large batches of freezer meals in no time!

What recipes work best?

If you are wanting to use your own recipes, there are some that adapt well to being frozen. Things such as chili, taco meat, spaghetti sauce, lasagna, sloppy joes, chicken with marinades, soups, and casseroles are all examples of recipes that double easily and freeze well.

Once you are ready to branch out beyond your own recipes, you can find new ones to try in our freezer friendly recipes or dive right into our freezer meal plans that include shopping lists and printable labels.

Here are a few recipes that I recommend starting with:

The Best Ever Freezer Meal Spaghetti Sauce

Make Ahead Beef Fajitas

BBQ Shredded Chicken

Freezer to Crock Pot Chicken Taco Soup

Sloppy Joes Freezer Meal

Pizza Casserole

Pinto Tortilla Soup

What can I freeze?

Many foods can be frozen. Not all foods freeze and reheat well, mostly due to texture issues. There are some adaptations that can be made to account for this. One example is that milk inside a freezer meal recipe does not reheat well but a substitute of evaporated milk or a high fat cream can be used in its place. You can read a more comprehensive explanation of what freezes well here or you can download this free cheatsheet about what freezes, what doesn’t and how to make adjustments in recipes.

What containers should I use?

My preference for freezer meal containers is using large resealable freezer bags because I find that I can fit the most in my freezer that way. Some people use aluminum foil pans so that the container can go directly in the oven. I find I can’t find nearly as many of those in my freezer and I don’t like the garbage it creates.

Some people are concerned about storing food in plastic. Alternatives include glassware, silicone containers, and mason jars. The freezer bags that I use are BPA-free and safe for using with food for freezing.

What supplies do I need?

If you are just doubling your usual recipes, the only supplies you will need are what you would normally use plus the storage containers. If you are planning an actual freezer meal session or full day, you will need large bowls, measuring spoons, measuring cups, knives, sharpies, resealable freezer bags, and a can opener. I highly suggest that you invest in an electric can opener. It saves a lot of time but also it saves your wrists. I wish I had bought mine sooner. It has been a worthwhile investment for freezer meal assembly.

There are a few other things that are not necessary to have but do make things easier. Labels are great as you can fit a lot more information on them such as the cooking instructions and even serving suggestions. A Sharpie works for labelling until you get to the point of printing out labels. A mandolin or food processor speed up the time spent prepping vegetables such as onions and peppers but are not a requirement. Knives will do the trick but are not as fast.

I don’t think it’s necessary to invest in those contraptions that hold your freezer bags up. It works just as well to place your freezer bag inside a plastic juice jug or container and fold the top of the bag over it.

How long do freezer meals keep?

The general rule of thumb is that you can store your meals in the freezer for 3-6 months. Removing the excess air from the bags will help prevent freezer burn and make the meals last longer.

Starting by doubling some of your tried and true recipes and freezing them. I think you’ll find that the freedom that comes with having meals ready to go every day will be life-changing. That may sound extreme, but take it from me, a busy mom of 7, truly life changing!

Filling your freezer really is as simple as that. This guide to freezer meals will hopefully give you what you need to gain a bit of confidence and give it a try for yourself. Let me know how it goes!

Droolworthy BBQ Shredded Chicken Freezer Meal with Garlic Mayo

By Sharla

This BBQ Shredded Chicken Freezer Meal recipe has always been delicious, but when my friend Christie introduced me to serving it with garlic mayo, it levelled up to droolworthy status! Seriously, this tastes amazing.

Droolworthy BBQ Shredded Chicken with garlic mayo freezer meal

Admittedly, it is messy to eat, but you won’t mind having drips of garlic mayo mixed with BBQ sauce and minced onions running down your wrists because it is so worth it!

BBQ Shredded Chicken Freezer Meal Recipe:

3-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 8-10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
3/4 cup finely minced onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 bottle of barbeque sauce or 425 mL of your own homemade BBQ sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

To put this freezer meal together, place the chicken, minced onion, minced garlic, barbeque sauce, and apple cider vinegar in a large resealable bag. Remove excess air and seal.

On the day you want to serve this, take it out of the freezer and allow it to thaw. Cook it in the crock pot on low for 3-5 hours. Shred when done and serve in on buns on top of garlic mayo. You can also serve this shredded BBQ chicken on nachos or in tacos.

I’ve brought this with us camping, had it on a lazy Sunday afternoon and served it to company. You just really can’t go wrong when something tastes this good.

Droolworthy BBQ Shredded Chicken Freezer Meal with Garlic

Admittedly, it is messy to eat, but you won't mind having drips of garlic mayo mixed with BBQ sauce and minced onions running down your wrists because it is so worth it!

Ingredients

3-5 boneless skinless chicken breasts or 8-10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
3/4 cup finely minced onion
4 cloves garlic minced
1 bottle of barbeque sauce or 425 mL of your own homemade BBQ sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

Instructions

Place the chicken, minced onion, minced garlic, barbeque sauce, and apple cider vinegar in a large resealable bag.
Remove excess air and seal.
On the day you want to serve this, take it out of the freezer and allow it to thaw.
Cook it in the crock pot on low for 3-5 hours.
Shred.
Serve in on buns on top of garlic mayo. You can also serve this shredded BBQ chicken on nachos or in tacos.

Garlic Mayo Recipe:

1/2 cup mayo
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
dash of salt and pepper

Mix together all the ingredients and serve on buns before topping with the shredded BBQ chicken. If there’s any leftover, you can store it in the fridge in an airtight container. We never have any leftover though because it is lick-the-bowl good (or so I’ve heard)!

Garlic Mayo Recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cup mayo
4 cloves garlic minced
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
dash of salt and pepper

Instructions

Mix together all the ingredients.
Serve on buns before topping with the shredded BBQ chicken.
If there's any leftover, you can store it in the fridge in an airtight container.

This droolworthy BBQ Shredded Chicken recipe is included in the More Family Favourites Freezer Meal Plan along with other family friendly recipes, shopping lists and printable labels.

What Freezes Well, What Doesn’t and How to Adapt Recipes

By Sharla

Whether you are new to making freezer meals or not, you may wonder what freezes well and what doesn’t. I’ve created this reference to help you determine not only what freezes, but also how to best freeze it. I’m also including some tips on adapting freezer meal recipes if the ingredients required don’t freeze well.

What freezes well and how to best freeze it I’ve also created a cheatsheet for you to print out as an easy reference to remember what freezes well.

Butter, margarine – Freezes well.

Milk in a jug – Freezes well.

Milk – Doesn’t freeze well in recipes, however recipes that call for milk can be adapted easily for the freezer by using evaporated milk or heavy cream in its place.

Sour Cream – The texture changes when frozen, but it holds up well when in cooking or baking.

Yogourt – The texture changes considerably when frozen, but it is still fine for using in smoothies. You can freeze in ice cube trays and add to resealable freezer bags to put into smoothies.

Cheese – Shred it first and seal well before freezing.

Cream Cheese – The texture changes when frozen as it is, but when mixed in a recipe it is fine.

Cottage Cheese – Freezes well within a recipe.

Custards – Do not freeze well.

Eggs (raw) – They need to be taken out of the shell first and mixed with a bit of salt or they will be rubbery.

Eggs (cooked) – Scrambled or cooked eggs freeze well, but hard boiled eggs get rubbery.

Ground meats including wild game – Package and seal well to prevent freezer burn.

Beef – Package and seal well to prevent freezer burn.

Chicken – Package and seal well to prevent freezer burn. Chicken freezer burns easily unless it is in a marinade or within a freezer meal recipe.

Pork – Package and seal well to prevent freezer burn.

Seafood – Package and seal well to prevent freezer burn.

Luncheon Meat – Package and seal well to prevent freezer burn.

Melons, lime, lemon, grapefruit – Do not freeze well.

Fruit juices including lemon, lime and grapefruit juice – Freeze well on their own or within recipes.

Oranges – Do not freeze well, but segmented orange sections do freeze well within recipes.

Grapes – Can only be frozen if you are planning to eat them frozen.

Apples and pears – Core, peel and slice, then place in lemon juice in re-sealable freezer bag to keep from browning for use in future baking.

Peaches – Peel, pit and slice peaches and place in resealable freezer bag for use in future baking.

Berries – All berries freeze well.

Cucumbers, lettuce, sprouts, and radishes – Do not freeze on their own or in recipes.

Celery, peppers and onions – Do not freeze well on their own, but work well within recipes.

Mushrooms – Can be frozen if sauteed first or if used in recipes.

Potatoes – Do not freeze well unless already frozen. Frozen hash browns and tater tots work well within recipes.

*A note about vegetables: Vegetables such as broccoli, peppers, asparagus, green beans, brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, peas, spinach, zucchini, freeze better when blanched first.

Herbs – Freeze in ice cube tray with small amount of water and once frozen, place in resealable freezer bag.

Nuts – Freeze fine if sealed well in a resealable freezer bag.

Baking chips – Seal in resealable freezer bag.

Bread – Freezes well.

Loaves such as zucchini loaf or banana bread – Freezes well.

Buns – Plastic wrap before putting in freezer bag to prevent freezer burn.

Cooking or brownies – Package and seal well to prevent freezer burn.

Cookie dough – Place pre-formed balls on cookie sheet in freezer until frozen and then place in a resealable bag and put back in freezer.

Pizza dough – Freezes well.

Pie dough – Freezes well.

Waffles and pancakes – Place on cookie sheet flat in freezer until frozen and then place in a resealable bag and put back in freezer or place wax or parchment paper in between.

Waffle, pancake and muffin batter – Freezes well.

Muffins – Freeze well.

Pasta – Freezes if cooked to al dente (slightly undercooked).

Rice – Freezes best if slightly undercooked.

Broths and Soup – Freeze well.

Sauces – Most freeze well, but some that have a thickener such as flour or cornstarch will separate.

Wine – Pour leftover white or red wine into an ice cube tray and then place frozen cubes in a resealable bag to be added to soups or sauces. It adds depth to dishes such as pasta sauces and chili.