Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Frozen Assets – Part 4: Store It Up – Bowls

This week we begin the second half of our Frozen Assets series. As a quick recap, in the first half of this series, we talked about ways the Diva family leverages their freezer to use up fruits, veggies, and breads. Now, we will shift to how we store meals and meal prep items for lunches on the go and meals in minutes.

Part 4: Store It Up – Bowls

Today, I’d like to share some tips for storing individual bowl meals that are hearty, tasty, and take mere minutes to prepare.
Bowl meals are great to take to work for lunch, and certainly more economical than eating out.

Anyone remember the blue Ziploc Tabletops from about five years ago? If you are a seasoned deal spinner, you may recall that these blue plastic covered bowls, similar to Rubbermaid containers, were a fabulous deal when they first came out. The Diva family uses these to store our bowl meals in the freezer. Basically, any plastic food storage container with a tight lid will work.

Here are the Diva family favorites:

White Bean Chicken Chili – We make a huge batch of this in the crockpot. Save a few bowls for a meal, and package the rest in bowls for the freezer. To save time and energy, we cook a 3 pound bag of boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the crockpot the day before, and then shred and use half of the chicken to make the chicken chili in the crockpot the next day.

Mommy Diva’s White Bean Chicken Chili
1 – 2 large jars of salsa
8 oz shredded Monterrey jack cheese
2 lbs cooked, shredded chicken (or turkey)
2 cans Great Northern beans – do not drain
Chili powder, garlic, spices to your taste

Mix everything together in crockpot, and cook on high for 3 - 4 hours.


Spaghetti & Meatballs – Prepare the spaghetti whichever way your family prefers. The only modification for the freezer is to add extra sauce so that the noodles do not dry out when reheating.

Seafood Chowder – Did you know that you can freeze milk-based soup? It may not look too attractive upon reheating, but once you stir it up well, it reverts back to thick, appetizing chowder. Click
HERE for my favorite recipe. We substitute shrimp for the crawfish.

Chicken Wild Rice Soup – Here in Minnesota, there’s nothing more comforting than a steaming bowl of wild rice soup. Click HERE for my starter recipe. In addition, I add garlic, carrots, and mushrooms, and I let it simmer until it thickens.

Up Next: Frozen meals that take the guess-work out of dinner.

1 comment:

Lindy said...

Thanks for posting those recipes. They all look great! I'm going to write the ingredients down and try a couple of those out!

I love to fix soups for supper in the winter. My family would probably appreciate something new! :)