Mini Sessions for Singles  

By: Libby Buttler

Several of you have expressed interest in freezing for small families/singles. I'm going to describe what I usually do. This will work for larger families too, you just won't get as many meals. I prefer to cook in mini sessions built around one type of food. I usually choose based on what is already in my cooked meal inventory, what uncooked meat is in the freezer that I need to use, or what is on sale at the store that week.
  1. Plan. I spend more time planning than I actually do cooking.
  2. Take stock of what you have on hand and then choose your recipes and make your grocery list.
  3. Organize your pre-prep (chopping onions only once, shredding all the cheese at once, etc.)
  4. Cook
  5. Package.
Once I've decided on a meat, I go to my recipe files and computer program to select four to five recipes using that meat. I'll use ground beef as an example. I will select my recipes to be somewhat different from one another. You do not want a freezer full of taco/Mexican flavored dishes all at the same time - or at least I don't. You'll get tired of the monotony really soon!!! Anyway, I might pick two that call for browned ground beef, one made into meatballs and one made into a meatloaf. It is also a good idea not to have all the recipes call for baking space in your mini session or to have them all take stove-top space (unless you are only doing four recipes - one per burner). If you don't already have a bit of a freezer stockpile, I wouldn't recommend trying all new recipes. Do two tried and true and two new, but you could end up with a bunch of food that you don't really like. Be sure to note on your recipes any changes that you made ( so you can repeat a success) and make notes on the day you serve as to how you did it and how well it was liked. This will help in the future as you begin to collect more and more freezer recipes.

I then make a preparation list that would look something like this:

Clear off the kitchen counters. Assemble all the spices and canned goods that you'll need. Tape your recipes up on the cabinet doors along with the preparation list. Do all the chopping, shredding, bread crumb making, etc. and get that out of the way. You can even do ahead if you want. Then proceed to make your four recipes. If most of them make six servings, that's a total of twenty-four single servings or 12 servings for two. I will admit that most of my portions are probably 1 1/2 to 2 in reality, but I can stand to eat leftovers once - just not all week!!! This usually only takes about two hours unless you have to bake for 1 1/2 hours or so. Even at that, you can use the baking time to do clean-up and start to package all the other things.

As you finish your recipes place in the refrigerator to cool or begin to package (this will depend a little on how much attention the still cooking dishes demand). I use a variety of types of packaging, but the most common are the mini loaf pans (both foil and metal - baker's secret - that I found on practically a give away sale after the holidays one year) and the square rigid freezer containers (plastic) that they sell at Big Lots, Meijer, Wal-Mart, just about everywhere. They come in pint, 1 1/2 pint and quart sizes. I use mostly the pint size.

I keep a notebook of all the recipes of things that I have in the freezer with the recipes protected by plastic sleeves. I use this to refer to when reheating as to whether to add cheese the last ten minutes of baking or a crumb topping.

Final preparation

Well, the best thing to do is to always take out the dish you want the night before and thaw in the refrigerator. I seldom remember to do this, and sometimes, if I have done this I forget, end up eating out, or change my mind. In this case, I just thaw in the microwave. The rigid plastic goes straight in. One minute on medium high heat, and three or four minutes on defrost. Then I either transfer to a saucepan or to a small casserole dish (open "au gratin" type or Corning makes some covered mini casseroles). These can then either be finished in the microwave or in the oven. If it's a casserole like tetrazzini, you may have to do some more thawing in the microwave to squish it down into the casserole dish. The metal and foil pans can be thawed overnight, or in some cases cooked from frozen (but this takes a long time). If you need to thaw in a hurry, remove from the pan - use the warm burner trick again. Place in a small oval casserole or "au gratin" dish sprayed with non-stick coating. Thaw in the microwave - about 8 minutes or more on defrost cycle. As it thaws, you can press down into the dish without losing the layers of the dish. Transfer to the oven to bake. If you planned ahead and thawed in the loaf pan, you can just bake in that pan.

If you do this three weeks in a row using different meats, you'll have a freezer full of a wide variety of foods. I've done as many as seven different dishes without too much of a problem (that takes closer to four hours). Think chicken session, ground beef session, pork session, ham session, soup session, beef session. Before you know it, your freezer will be very full!!! Mine is, and I know that I could never go back to cooking every night.

Big Casseroles

What to do about BIG casseroles? Well, you can do that too. Specifically, lasagna, but you can do other things too. Prepare and bake until almost done. If recipe calls to add cheese or topping the last 10 minutes or so of cooking, just cook up to that point. Remove the casserole from the oven. Let set about 15 minutes and then refrigerate for at least an hour. This should allow the dish to set up enough so that you can cut into portions and remove to a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer and freeze at least 2 hours or even overnight. Remove from the freezer and wrap, label, and return to the freezer. Thaw and reheat as for above loaf pan recipes.

TV Dinners

Some of my favorite meals are too much trouble to make just one or two servings, so I prepare the meals in quantities of four to six servings and freeze the leftovers into homemade TV dinners. I'd be the first one to admit that they are not as good as freshly cooked, but they certainly are handy after a hectic day.

These do take a lot of room in the freezer, but I like to keep at least two different kinds on hand. For packaging, the best thing that I have found is a round plastic divided dish with cover. I've found some made by Tucker at Big Lots or the Dollar Store for $1.00 each. Oh, don't get the rectangular ones. Two trips through the dishwasher, and the lids are difficult to get on securely and the corners cracked (same brand). Anchor Hocking also makes some that are currently $6.99 for four.

My TV dinners contain the main dish, a starch (potato, rice or macaroni and cheese -- I do not freeze cooked noodles), and a vegetable. When preparing, I always try to do enough of the starch to include with the entree. I do not always cook enough of the vegetable. After portioning into the container, I then add frozen vegetables straight from the freezer (usually peas or mixed vegetables, but sometimes green beans). I place a small pat of butter on top of the frozen vegetables and sometimes sprinkle with a little herb seasoning (such as Mrs. Dash). Cover and place in the freezer. Don't forget to label. Most of my dishes are not see-through! I use freezer tape on the top, but I'm going to try to remember the next time to see if I can't remember to label the side before putting the food in. That will make it easier to just look into the freezer and see what my choices are.

Thawing and reheating: Well, I never thaw these ahead of time, though they would probably heat better if I did. These are my "emergency" meals. Place the covered dish in the microwave and cook on high for about 6 to 7 minutes. I then transfer the food to a dinner plate and often cut the meat into two pieces, stir a bit and finish heating on medium high for 2 minutes or so.

Sessions

Below I am including some of my sessions. These are things that I almost always try to keep in the freezer. You can click on the Session Heading or the recipe name to see the recipes. Use the back button on your browser OR click on the dingbat to return to this list. If you decide to get really busy and have a huge session, this is what I' d suggest (Note that I've included at least one night a week to cook or go out).

Week 1

  1. Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Peas (makes 1 TV dinner extra)
  2. Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole, Carrots, Tossed Salad
  3. Bean Vegetable Chowder, Cornbread
  4. Spaghetti, Tossed Salad, Garlic Bread
  5. COOK -- Hamburger Steak w/ Rice and Gravy, Green Beans (Cook 6 make 5 TV dinners)
  6. Taco Bake, Corn, Tossed Salad

Week 2

  1. Burger - Carrot Casserole with Noodles, Green Beans or Peas
  2. Chicken with Stuffing, Broccoli
  3. Taco Soup with Tortilla Chips
  4. Chicken with Sausage over Pasta, Tossed Salad
  5. COOK -- Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes, Veggie (cook four, make 3 TV dinners)
  6. Ham and Potato Casserole, Peas or Carrots, Tossed Salad

Week 3

  1. Italian Beef, Noodles, Italian Mixed Vegetables
  2. Country Bean Soup, Fresh veggies, Cornbread
  3. Meat Loaf - from TV dinner
  4. Poulet de France, Peas, Tossed salad or fresh veggies
  5. Spaghetti, Tossed Salad, Garlic Bread

Week 4

  1. Hamburger Steak TV dinner
  2. Taco Bake, Corn, Tossed salad or slaw
  3. Chicken with Stuffing, peas or green beans, fruit.
  4. Burger - Carrot Casserole with Noodles, Tossed Salad
  5. Taco Soup with Tortilla Chips
  6. COOK -- Pork with Limas, Mashed Potatoes, Fresh Veggies (makes 3 extra TV Dinners)
You'll still have another month's worth of meals in the freezer. I can get about 60 of the pint rigid containers and/or mini loaf pans in the top shelf of my refrigerator freezer with no problem. That leaves the bottom shelf for frozen veggies, shredded cheese, chopped peppers, breakfast burritos, and ice cream.

If you continue to cook even one night a week ending up with TV dinners or Other frozen meals, you'll never really have to have another session. Just remember to keep a good inventory of what is in the freezer and rotate to use the things that have been there the longest.

In the summer rather than focus on soups, I do more marinated meats to either cook on the grill or in the oven. I also keep taco flavored ground beef to use for tacos or taco salad. Taco beef is also good to make a hurried enchilada or burrito. Chicken and beef, cut into strips and flavored with fajita seasonings are also good summer additions. I usually package together with some strips of peppers (both red and green) and onion strips. They can be reheated quickly for fajitas or a fajita salad.

Author : Libby Buttler, November 1999

Formatted by Desiree Diverse-Diaz, November 1999

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