Pinterest Thursday - Freezer Meals

I've been planning to make freezer meals for a few months now. I also knew I didn't want to start until October though so that the meals would still be good when Chicken Nugget is born. This morning, I decided it was time to tackle a few freezer meals. I loved this pin because it had a bunch of chicken recipes and I had a lot of chicken in the freezer! I love it when I don't have to go shopping but can still make a bunch of food for later. 

I made two recipes today - World's Best Chicken and Black Bean Corn Chicken. It took me about 30 minutes total to make enough for 5 meals but I had all the ingredients at home so I didn't have to go shopping. I'd add on another 30 minutes if I had to go to the grocery store. 

I gathered my ingredients, labeled my bags with the recipe name and cooking instructions (I like to double bag in case of bag breakage) and got to work. Both of these recipes are ones where you just gather, chop and dump your ingredients into the bags for later. I did notice that the ingredients for the Black Bean Corn Chicken did not list cilantro though the photo in the post shows it. I did not have any cilantro at home so I skipped it but you might want to add a 1/4 of a cup to each of your freezer bags for more flavor. 

My chicken breasts were already frozen so I separated the recipe into three bags instead of two as it was easier to separate the chicken that way. Also my family of three is not going to consume four chicken breasts at one meal, especially if Scott remains vegetarian. 

I also decided to chop up some onions and freeze them. I was chatting with a Twitter buddy who just had her second child and she advised me to chop up fresh vegetables and freeze them now for meals later. I am not one to ignore sound advice. I'm doing my big Costco shopping trip this weekend and I plan to buy an extra bag of onions to chop in the food processor and freeze. Frozen onions are great! You can throw them right into your pan and start sauteing immediately. They are a wee bit wetter than fresh onions which means you might need to cook them a little longer. 

I'm pretty pleased with this pin. I got five delicious meals out of it and a good start on my "Fill the Freezer before Chicken Nugget" comes plan. 

Here are the recipes I used for easy access: 

Black Bean Corn Chicken 

6-8 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
4 Tbs Olive Oil  
2+ Limes, juiced (I like a little more lime then the recipe calls for)  
1 large bag of Frozen Corn (or two smaller bags)  
4 minced Garlic Cloves  
1 finely Chopped Red Onion  
2 cans of Black Beans, drained and rinsed  
2 tsp Cumin or Chipotle powder  

edit: 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Salt and Pepper to taste  

Take ingredients and split everything into two containers. Mix bag by shaking, seal, label and put in the freezer. Cooking instructions: Cook in Crockpot on Low for 8 hours or High for 4 hours. Serve with hot tortillas and dress with sour cream, guacamole, and/or cheese.

World's Best Chicken 

4-6 Chicken Thighs

1/2 cup Dijon Mustard

1/4 cup Maple Syrup

1 Tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar

2 tsp. Rosemary 

Salt & Pepper

Trim fat off your chicken thighs. Dump all ingredients into your freezer bags. When ready to use, thaw bag just enough to dump into crock-pot. Cook on low for 8 hours. Serve with rice.