For a while I’ve been making what I call “heat and eat” meals. It’s always when I’m cooking something fairly easy to freeze, I double it and package it so that I can freeze it, then heat it and eat it.
Mostly I started doing this because when I go to MO, I don’t want to go out to eat but I also will never have a super well stocked pantry there. So, I just put it all together here, freeze it, grab 8 or 10 of these meals, put them in the cooler and take them to MO with me.
I had never intended to keep these long term so mostly the food is just in zipper bags so, since I don’t know when I’ll get to go to MO again, I’ve decided to start eating them. Thankfully, Monday I took this one out of the freezer because yesterday we worked in the garden all day and we were tired!
This one is Chicken Marbella. This is a recipe I’ve made for years! If you click the link, you’ll see that it has prunes and capers – things I probably wouldn’t have in MO. I thought I had taken a picture after I opened the bag but I didn’t. The seasoned chicken was in one bag. The marinade ingredients were in another bag, the brown sugar was in a third bag. On the instructions, I underlined “white wine” which means . . bring from home!
I cut the bag open, placed the chicken in a baking dish, poured the marinade around it and left it in the fridge all day yesterday. Then after we worked in the garden, I took the dish out of the fridge, sprinkled the brown sugar over it. Then I poured the wine around it.
It was a good day to drink a little of the wine. Another good thing . . I got that cork out all by myself . . which I usually don’t even try to do.
After baking for an hour . . delicious!
I think I’m going to do more of this kind of “prepping meals”.
Kathy Henderson says
My husband and I do this a lot. We both work full time so on the weekend (in normal times) we make a big batch of something, then pack it into individual servings and freeze. We like to make things like Shepherd’s Pie or lasagna and we pack them into the small foil loaf pans. One pan is a good one-person portion for us. We freeze them overnight like that, then put the whole thing in a vacuum pack bag and vacuum seal it. DH has a long commute and I can pop the frozen pan in a medium oven for about an hour and then dinner is ready when he gets home!
Thanks Judy for your blog. i’ve been checking in daily since Chad was in high school! I don’t comment much, but I really do appreciate your blog. Popping in and seeing your posts makes like feel normal in this very strange time.
Kathy in California
Judy Laquidara says
Oh, goodness. You remember those crazy years that I try to forget! 🙂
Teri says
That looks really tasty! Nice to have a glass of wine with it!
Susan Nixon says
I have some things made up. With the boys, if I make a 4 lb. pork or pot roast and pull the meat, it’s in the frig about three days and gone, so I don’t try to make meals with it, just leave it. Saves me work, since the crock pot does a great job of the cooking. Did you know that two beef bullion cubes in a pint of water makes a wonderful thing to cook a 4 lb. pork tenderloin in? Oh my gosh that was so good!