Any favorite low carb freezer meals or ideas? Let’s fill the freezer!

Any freezer favorites to share? Meals or favorite items? Freezer tips? Things that you tried to freeze, but texture or taste was off?

Because, I got my big freezer and I’m thrilled. I love it! I bought a set of souper cubes, see link if new to you, expensive but decent price, via Costco online (currently out of stock).

So, I’ve been heavily scouring the internet for low carb freezer meals and…the pickings are slim. Sure, lasagna and its carb heavy friends are all over the freezer meals world. My issue? I’m not a casserole type person. I’m not an instant/crock pot dump and go type person. I’m not a fan of those type of meals and neither is my waistline. My plate tends to have recognizable distinct portions of food and types on it. Rice and friends like quinoa are not a staples in my diet. I was a meat and potatoes kid who morphed into a meat and vegetables kid given I try to cut back on starchy carbs. Plus, everyone I know is practically diabetic now. (A friend fell going to the bathroom one night and split the top of her head open 7 inches! They determined it was a diabetic sugar spike that hit hours later causing her to faint.) Shes a frequent visitor, so want to be mindful to have meals on hand I know she can eat. Plus, healthy for me!

So, I’m planning to make/freeze individual portions of pulled port, meatloaf, soups/stews, mashed cauliflower, lemon juice/zest, berries for smoothies, and stocked a selection of frozen veggies in there, plus two whole chickens ready to roast.

What would you add?

I am loving Pati Jinich's recipes and this is a favorite. It makes about 4 meals for the 2 of us. I serve them with rice, pasta or just wrap up in tortillas.

Meatballs in Guajillo Sauce

Adapted from Meatballs in Guajillo Sauce - Pati Jinich

Servings: 6 to 8

INGREDIENTS

6 guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded
2 pounds tomatillos, husked and rinsed
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher or coarse sea salt, divided, or to taste
2 tablespoons canola or safflower oil
1 1/4 cups finely chopped onion, divided
2 pounds ground turkey breast
1/2 cup unseasoned breadcrumbs
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 cups chicken broth
2 sprigs of fresh epazote, or cilantro sprigs, or substitute 4 dried leaves

STEPS

1) Heat a casserole over medium-high heat. Once hot, toast the guajillo chiles, turning often, until toasted deeply browned and you can smell the chile fumes, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatillos and garlic, cover with water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until the tomatillos are thoroughly cooked, their color has changed from a bright green to olive, and the guajillos have plumped up and rehydrated, about 12 minutes. Remove from the heat.

2) Using a slotted spoon, transfer the tomatillos, garlic, chiles and 1/2 cup cooking liquid to a blender. Allow to cool slightly, add 1 teaspoon salt and puree until completely smooth. Drain the water from the casserole or soup pot, rinse and dry, and return to the stove.

3) Add the oil and heat over medium heat. Once hot, add 1 cup of the chopped onion and cook until tender and the edges have just begun to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatillo puree, cover partially as the thick sauce will splash and splutter, and simmer for about 7 to 8 minutes, until the sauce has thickened and darkened.

4) Meanwhile combine the ground turkey with the breadcrumbs, egg, remaining 1/4 cup onion, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Mix together well.

5) When the tomatillo puree has cooked down stir in the broth, scraping the bottom and sides of the casserole to incorporate any sauce sticking to the bottom and sides of the pan.

6) Place the ground turkey mixture and a small bowl of water next to the casserole. Wet your hands, and start shaping the turkey into approximately 1 1/2-inch balls. Gently drop the balls into the sauce as you form them. When all the meatballs have been added to the sauce, add the sprigs of epazote or cilantro and simmer over medium heat, uncovered, for 35 minutes. Serve.

BTW - I got the Aldi version of the Souper cubes for a fraction of the price. Got one of each size (three sizes I think) at Aldi back before Christmas last year - one set for my daughter who had been talking about ordering the Souper Cubes, and one set for me. They aren't as heavy duty but they work great. I think they were less than $5 each so a great deal. She is really using hers a lot! She is trying to eat more healthy and lose weight. She is trying to make her own things like protein bars and such and makes them in these and they pop right out. She also uses them to freeze portions for her meals to take to work. I know this sounds crazy, but this restaurant back in my hometown made the best breaded veal cutlets and gravy. So they would fix me a bunch of the cutlets and just do a light fry on them and pack me up a couple quarts of the gravy. I can't explain it but that gravy was incredible. Back then, before Souper Cubes, I used my DeMarle silicone muffin tray to freeze portions of the gravy - probably about 1/2 cup size portions. I would microwave it and whisk it and it would pull right back to the original texture. They have since closed and since both of my parents are now gone, I really have no reason to go back. I loved going back and eating at all the old places but now there are only a couple left. On my last night there back in January as I went down to close on the sale of their house, I went to my old favorite Italian place. Still owned by the same people but my veal piccata was no longer on the menu, only chicken piccata and it wasn't the same. I cried all the way there and all the way back to the hotel. I picked the wrong place to enjoy my last meal back home.

I don't really have any recipes per see but I had been using a silicone muffin pan until I got the Aldi Souper Cubes. So it was basically the same concept except the cubes stack better and were deliberately made in different sized cup portions. So this is really tips and ideas. But I use them for all sorts of leftovers. I have found that unless you are going to use it up very quickly or vacuum pack them, shredded meats dry out easily and get freezer burn, so I make sure to use a sauce or a weakened stock/broth to pack them. With something like the carnitas or a roast, I use the cooking liquid. With chicken, chicken stock. With pulled pork, I go a couple of different ways. One is using the thicker types of bbq sauce thinned down with a little water or stock so that I can drain some of it off and it's not so much heavy sauce. Or I use a vinegar based sauce, which we prefer, and some weak chicken stock. I cook whole shoulders so it lasts a while and I was throwing out as much as we used because it would dry out in the freezer.

Freeze portions of pulled chicken in sauces - tetrazini, mushroom wine, etc. Cream sauces can break a little but if it's just for me, I don't care. Sometimes a brisk stirring will fix it since it's hard to whisk with the meat already in it.
My husband loves the famous buffalo chicken dip and eats it like a casserole so I do that one in portions
Carnitas
Fajitas
I also make Dawn's creamy chicken enchiladas by mixing everything but the tortillas together and making it into portions. Then I can just thaw that and put it in a tortilla (use the low carb ones) and heat with some cheese on top. Or you could freeze the sauce in portions and thaw it to top them.
Almost any chili or soup, except ones that might have a thickened or cream base in them.
Some cream soups, as long as they are cream and don't have chunks of anything, usually freeze and then when thawed, whisked, will come right back to the right texture.
I make and freeze portions of sauces that might take some time to cook and reduce since you can easily use a rotisserie chicken or quickly sear off a cutlet or such and top them with a sauce.
I probably use my cubes to freeze that one leftover portion of vegetables more than anything. Then I have a quick side or I can pull out a bunch and throw together for a soup - no waste especially when it was good fresh vegetables from the farmers market at their peak season.
I also do that with fruit when it's cheap and in season or if I have some about to go bad. You can mix with a little lightly sweetened freshly whipped cream and maybe some chopped nuts or coconut. I made these and sent them frozen in my husband's lunch and by lunch they were partially thawed and perfect if you remember the old frozen salads like we made in my childhood.

mariadnoca said:

Any freezer favorites to share? Meals or favorite items? Freezer tips? Things that you tried to freeze, but texture or taste was off?

Because, I got my big freezer and I’m thrilled. I love it! I bought a set of souper cubes, see link if new to you, expensive but decent price, via Costco online (currently out of stock).

So, I’ve been heavily scouring the internet for low carb freezer meals and…the pickings are slim. Sure, lasagna and its carb heavy friends are all over the freezer meals world. My issue? I’m not a casserole type person. I’m not an instant/crock pot dump and go type person. I’m not a fan of those type of meals and neither is my waistline. My plate tends to have recognizable distinct portions of food and types on it. Rice and friends like quinoa are not a staples in my diet. I was a meat and potatoes kid who morphed into a meat and vegetables kid given I try to cut back on starchy carbs. Plus, everyone I know is practically diabetic now. (A friend fell going to the bathroom one night and split the top of her head open 7 inches! They determined it was a diabetic sugar spike that hit hours later causing her to faint.) Shes a frequent visitor, so want to be mindful to have meals on hand I know she can eat. Plus, healthy for me!

So, I’m planning to make/freeze individual portions of pulled port, meatloaf, soups/stews, mashed cauliflower, lemon juice/zest, berries for smoothies, and stocked a selection of frozen veggies in there, plus two whole chickens ready to roast.

What would you add?

All Souper Cubes Products

Discover the convenience of meal prepping with our Souper Cubes products. Shop our selection of delicious meal prep solutions and find the perfect fit for you.

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I used to make this Giada recipe for my Dad. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/roman-style-chicken-recipe-1945439. Freezes really well. A few commenters on FN complained it was soupy, but when splitting between a few freezer containers, I appreciated the extra sauce. Add artichoke hearts, more spices, garlic etc to taste. Enjoy!

monj said:

I used to make this Giada recipe for my Dad. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/roman-style-chicken-recipe-1945439. Freezes really well. A few commenters on FN complained it was soupy, but when splitting between a few freezer containers, I appreciated the extra sauce. Add artichoke hearts, more spices, garlic etc to taste. Enjoy!

Click to expand...

I was able to find the recipe here.
Roman-Style Chicken Reminds me of puttanesca.

Gee...I was expecting to see the first of your fabulous cakes now that you have a freezer to put the layers in ahead of time.
I'm a stew kind of gal, so I doubt I'll be able to add much to this.

These are great, all ideas and tips welcome! And yes, many of my favorite soups have cream in them. I was an afraid after reading, no dairy! to try freezing them, but a simple smooth one like tomato sounds like it might work. I’ve read both, don’t freeze dairy — and freezing cream, milk and buttercream are fine, so don’t know what to think.

We don’t have an Aldi out here, shoot!, but I’m thinking of these cubes as an investment. I just bought the 2 T size, w 1 T marks, because the shape is better than ice cubes. Once bagged it will all lay flat. I just froze some bacon grease and once the Meyer lemons ripen in November, I‘ll juice and zest a bunch.

The first thing I used the freezer for was for cake layers! I always try to freeze before icing. I’m purposely leaving the top shelf empty for flash freezing and cake layers. Is stew without carrots and potatoes just soup?

I can already see I’m going to need freezer organizers, but not sure which style. This blog post shows three styles they’ve used, but I don’t think I’ll be able to freeze everything flat enough for their latest version, drawers.

My favorite tomato bisque uses cream...I just freeze it without the cream...and then add it when heated for serving. No issues doing it that way.

marilynfl said:

My favorite tomato bisque uses cream...I just freeze it without the cream...and then add it when heated for serving. No issues doing it that way.

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Thats what I’d planned to do, but my issue is I don’t always have cream in the fridge. You think I could just freeze the cream separately?

Yes...if you're just going to heat it up in the soup
No...if you plan on whipping it as a dessert topping. It separates after freezing, but will be fine if heated. I can do that when I make my caramel, since I bring the thawed cream to a simmer. But it wouldn't work if I wanted to use it as a whipped topping for pie.

mariadnoca said:

These are great, all ideas and tips welcome! And yes, many of my favorite soups have cream in them. I was an afraid after reading, no dairy! to try freezing them, but a simple smooth one like tomato sounds like it might work. I’ve read both, don’t freeze dairy — and freezing cream, milk and buttercream are fine, so don’t know what to think.

We don’t have an Aldi out here, shoot!, but I’m thinking of these cubes as an investment. I just bought the 2 T size, w 1 T marks, because the shape is better than ice cubes. Once bagged it will all lay flat. I just froze some bacon grease and once the Meyer lemons ripen in November, I‘ll juice and zest a bunch.

The first thing I used the freezer for was for cake layers! I always try to freeze before icing. I’m purposely leaving the top shelf empty for flash freezing and cake layers. Is stew without carrots and potatoes just soup?

I can already see I’m going to need freezer organizers, but not sure which style. This blog post shows three styles they’ve used, but I don’t think I’ll be able to freeze everything flat enough for their latest version, drawers.

31 Things You Didn't Know You Can Freeze.

25 things you probably didn't know you can freeze. Can you freeze eggs? Yes. Can you freeze milk? Yes. Save money and time by freezing these 25 things.

www.theartofdoingstuff.com

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Did you get an upright or chest freezer? I have used different things to organize. I use the plastic shoe boxes with and without lids. Laying bags on sheet pans to freeze them then putting in the boxes or baskets is then easier. If you have stores like Dollar Tree, Five Below and such, they have cheap plastic boxes but Walmarts are also really cheap. The freezer can make them brittle but most hold up pretty well and are cheap so if you replace one every few years it's not a big deal. If you are using the Souper Cubes, after they are frozen, wrap tightly in a little plastic wrap then stack in one of the boxes and use a lid to seal it. They will hold pretty well that way if you aren't holding them for long periods of time and that way you can really maximize your space. I also use cheap plastic baskets of different sizes. Another thing that works are the shelf dividers - you slip the bottom over the shelf and it has upright flat pieces that are sort of like bookends and hold things in place sort of like books. I have an upright freezer so most of these work for them but not necessarily for chest freezers. But I grew up with chest freezers and before all the organizers. We used wire freezer baskets which they still make and they sell on Amazon. Mom had a chest freezer so I used those and the plastic boxes with the lids to organize her freezer.