I am seeking input :) I'm going to be adding in frozen, prepared entrees to my product line>>

M

michelle

Well-known member
to sell at the Farmer's Market and other locations (senior's residences, online ordering, etc). My initial thoughts went to things like lasagne, curries on rice, ratatouille, chicken/eggplant parmesan.........the obvious kind of choices. Does anyone have any interesting ideas that immediately come to mind? Not necessarily casserole-y type dishes, but complete meals, that just need to be popped in the oven/microwave.

Thanks so much for any input!! smileys/smile.gif

 
That is a tough product to tackle. There have been very few frozen, prepared entrees

I would buy a second time. I recall a Weight Watcher frozen spaghetti entree that was very good, and I kept it in the freezer for quick, easy lunches for me. A few others that we bought years ago are no longer worthy of buying in this day and age.
I have searched for a really good Margharita Pizza forever, and have found none I would buy a second time. The sauce lacks punch and the ingredients are skimpy. Just recently, I tried a Mac and Cheese that I ended up throwing out. They seem to lack a lot of flavor, and the quality of the food seems poor.

I wish you luck with this because if you hit on something really great, you will please a lot of us who are still looking. Maybe starting very small and sticking to high quality, and REAL food is the secret.

 
Speaking to Karen's point, you are making "homemade" items so they have

a great chance of being delicious--not at all like the commercial frozen foods o:).
I think twice baked potatoes that have some protein in them like chopped ham or Italian sausage could be good. I freeze them all the time to have on hand for a main dish to serve with a salad and a roll. Butter and sour cream. Add chopped broccoli or spinach and if using the really large potatoes, it's a great meal. The amount they charge in the food to go deli counter or frozen is astounding to me!!
I think pizza would be a hard sell with all that are on the market.
Chicken pot pie? With a puff pastry crust?
How about a short rib serving with carrots and turnips. I think potatoes in a broth type "gravy" do not freeze well--they get mealy so I would stir away from that addition.
Soups? I will put a recipe for sausage corn chowder at the end of this. It is a winner whenever I serve it and have given the recipe countless times.
Pulled pork with a BBQ sauce packet?

Sausage Corn Chowder
1# bulk sausage, browned and drained
1 diced onion (about a cup)
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 can of water
1 14-15 oz. creamed corn (white is especially nice because of the small kernels which would be nice if selling it)
1 14-15 oz. can whole kernel corn
3 TBS dried basil (this is correct-
Good big sprinkle of black pepper
Cook all this together for about 45 minutes. Add 1 small can of evaporated milk (5 oz.).

This is good served with a fruit salad and cornbread.
The cornbread might be another item you could sell frozen.

 
This will be just one other product stream for me, with the hopes of building it - the fact that it'

it's not perishable makes it a perfect product (relative to baking). Enchiladas is another one I thought of - both vegetarian and meat. I've been doing european-style flatbread pizzas for about 6 years now, so i've already got that covered.

We had a chef at the market selling these products for about a year prior to him opening his restaurant. He focused on using local ingredients wherever possible, which people love. He probably sold about $2k worth of product every saturday! smileys/smile.gif

 
One thing that comes to mind is a line of Mexican items.

There is a lady at the market who does very well with a very meh product. I bought her cabbage rolls and ended throwing them out, but she does very well here in St. Joe.
They call her the Enchilada Lady.
She has frozen Mexican products and a couple odd ones thrown in. She does extremely well with her line of foods.

I would also look at frozen soups with perhaps some kind of frozen bread item to go with it.

Chicken and noodles, beef and noodles, cabbage rolls, meatloaf, meatballs, mashed potatoes, etc. all comfort food is good. People who don't cook for themselves anymore crave homey kinds of foods, especially when they are well done.

Let me think on it more. Great idea, Michelle!

http://enchiladalady.com/Order_Menu.html

 
thanks Dawn smileys/smile.gif i am already doing soups, but yes, enchiladas is something i thought would be great.

they freeze so well - thanks for the input, and feel free to add more! smileys/smile.gif

 
thanks Mo - that sounds really good smileys/smile.gif i can't do pot pies, as there's already a vendor whose major

revenue comes from about a dozen varieties of them.

 
Lasagna? Maybe especially a vegetable one? Manicotti? There's a FC

recipe for ziti (I use penne) with Italian sausage, ricotta, tomatoes and mozzarella that is delicious.

 
Here are a few more.

pasta meal.
I wanted to provide sauce options (frozen), protein options (frozen) and dried or fresh pasta options. If you would be able to get frozen fresh pasta, that would make it a complete freezable meal.
I found quite a few sauces that could be frozen in bags or plastic containers. The same goes with protein. I didn't get as far as the pasta.
Sauces:
Marinara
Meat Sauce (Italian tomato sauce)
Artichoke and Olive
Red Clam Sauce
Pasta Puttanesca
Vodka Sauce
Tuna and Caper Sauce
Spicy Tomato

Protein:
Ground Beef mixture
Shredded Beef
Shredded Chicken
Seafood (shrimp, fish, clams, mixture)
Seasoned Tofu
Clams

Pasta:
Ravioli
Tortellini
Fresh pasta

Lasagnas:
Use eggroll wrappers for the pasta sheets
Seafood
Vegetarian
Meat
Italian Sausage

Gluten free:
Lasagna using zucchini slices for pasta
Lasagna using eggplant slices for pasta

 
Very nice website. Your product line looks awesome and those pink macaroons

are amazing, I can only imagine how they taste.

 
loaded stuffed potatoes with any kinds of meats: steak tips or pork medallions or bbq ribs. easy

to heat and a treat that I don't make that often. I mean meats served on the side, not stuffed in the potato

 
I suggested it above, but I put the meat in the potatoes--ham, Italian

sausage, usually. Have even done crab. Steak could work also. Using one of the really large potatoes, a half makes a good meal served with a salad.
They are good as sides also sans the meat.

 
thanks everyone for the great input - it's always fun to try out something different, keeps things>>

interesting! Scones and macarons are my two main products, with granola, hummus, soups, rice pudding, pizzas, other baking thrown in. Our market is going to start increasing the mandatory number of markets each week a vendor must attend, hence, i am looking for more non-perishable products, and ones that don't have to been done right before each market, like baking.

 
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