I stocked up our freezer to the brim with freezer meals in anticipation of the early newborn days.
And guess what? Most if them were gross. Things just didn't re-heat the way I wanted them to even though I followed all the directions. Everything was dry/freezer burned/unappetizing.
The saving grace was that my aunt and uncle gifted us a ton of Omaha Steak goodies: meats, sides, desserts, etc. And that stuff was all amazing.
honeydew / 7504 posts
Some of it turned out great. Other stuff not so much, like the soups. I think for soups, you have to fill containers to the brim. And I would wait to add any pasta/rice to the soups until I'm ready to eat them. I froze a stew with pasta in it, and all the pasta created a lot of air pockets, so there was a lot of ice crystals, and once it thawed, there was NO flavor because the ice melted and diluted everything. But my chili froze well (I filled those containers completely, so no freezer burn or ice formed) and the Skinnytaste lasagna rolls froze well, too! I didn't try any casseroles, though.
honeydew / 7303 posts
I actually never got around to making any. I wish I would've! I would have rather eaten dry freezer food than go grocery shopping with a 1 week old which I had to do!
bananas / 9899 posts
I did find that some meals just can't be frozen. Most of them turned out great though!
pomegranate / 3452 posts
Our chili, ravioli and pierogi were awesome. And we just had some frozen waffles this morning that held up well. So far I'm pleased!
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
You know what, I am not surprised...my freezer stuff never turns out well either.
pineapple / 12793 posts
The ones I made turned out pretty good, but the ones my sister left for us were awesome....she's a prof chef though 
grapefruit / 4903 posts
They all came out great, though all were things I'd made and frozen before, so there weren't any surprises.
honeydew / 7091 posts
Mine turned out well, but I didn't freeze the whole meal. I made 3 things:
1. Chili meat. Cooked ground beef and added in onions, carrots, kidney beans, peppers, and all the spices. Froze in ziplock bags, pushed all the air out. To eat, I added it to tomato juice, can of diced tomatoes, frozen corn and some more spices. Takes all of 5 minutes to heat up.
2. Taco meat. Cooked ground beef and chicken (separately) with onions, peppers, carrots,pinto beans, salsa and spices. Froze it in ziplock bags and pushed all the air out. To eat it added it to salsa with frozen corn. Once defrosted I added it to a taco shell with toppings (cheese, lettuce, fresh tomatoes, avocado, etc)
3. Spaghetti meat. Cooked ground beef and chicken (separately) with onions, peppers, carrots, black beans and spices. Froze it in ziplock bags and pushed all the air out. To eat it added it to spaghetti sauce and cooked noodles. Meat & sauce is heated up by time noodles are cooked.
Everything tasted great, and fresh, and I'm definitely needing to do this again!
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
How disappointing! DH doesn't love frozen meals so we didn't have too many, plus both of our parents are local so we literally had meals brought to us for LO's first three months of life.
wonderful grape / 20453 posts
So far, mine have turned out fine! I plastic bagged and foil wrapped everything. DH will make rice or pasta to go when whatever I made. The muffins are good, too, and great for mornings before we have time for real breakfast!
honeydew / 7589 posts
It's all awesome. I was really careful with how I wrapped things, etc. Nothing is freezer burned, and so far everything has turned out really good.
squash / 13199 posts
@highwire: I didnt do freezer meals for this very reason because this has happened to me before. thankfully we got a lot of food from my mom and MIL
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
I wish I had my foodsaver, with that thing I am confident I would have better results.
watermelon / 14206 posts
We didn't have any. We relied on my mom and MIL to provide us food, and had take out for the days in between.
pomelo / 5524 posts
Ours froze pretty well, but we did things that I knew from experience froze well.
pomegranate / 3895 posts
I haven't eaten mine yet (because baby is being stubborn and refuses to be born!), but I have cooked and frozen a lot of food previously and have never run into issues. If it's wrapped properly and is food that's conducive to freezing it should still be good. Freezer burn takes months to occur if food is wrapped properly.
I think part of it also depends on how you defrost. I always just take it out of the freezer and let it thaw overnight in the fridge, or cook straight from frozen (in the cases of things like lasagna) but I know that defrosting in the microwave can really mess up taste and texture.
persimmon / 1479 posts
Ours turned out really good. Stuffed shells and quiche were the best. Chili was really good too. It was a huge help having a meal to jut thaw and heatwithout much effort!
cantaloupe / 6669 posts
I did Once A Month Mom Paleo a while back, and at first I really enjoyed the meals, but the longer they were in the freezer, the yuckier they were. We have three or four left, and I might throw them out, as much as I hate to waste. I also think the recipes were all fairly similar (meat stews) and that has not sounded good to me for a while.
wonderful grape / 20453 posts
@swurlygirl, yeah I froze lots of muffins! I put them in a BIG freezer ziplock bag in a row and sucked ALL the air out so they were pseudo shrink wrapped. Thawed them on the counter and they taste fresh. I only froze a dozen at a time
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
My mom froze lots of soups and korean food for me and it was all super yummy!
She's coming next week and we're cooking up a storm and freezing a ton of food again!
pomelo / 5073 posts
When you guys make your freezer meals, do you cook it completely and then let cool down and put it in the freezer or do you assemble it and then cook it when ready.
pear / 1570 posts
I had pretty great luck with mine. I only froze what I already knew defrosted well - I had some epic fails in the past!
coconut / 8079 posts
@JenniMac I usually cook it completely, let it cool & then put it in the freezer. I do things like spaghetti sauce, taco meat, chicken cooked in crockpot, soups & chilis etc. that reheat well.
GOLD / wonderful olive / 19030 posts
Most of mine were fine, but DH complained about the lack of flavor, so some of it must have been lost in the freeze. It was great during the time, and I still like to have a couple on hand!
persimmon / 1081 posts
I found muffin batter freezes well. You put liners in the pan, distribute the batter, then freeze instead of bake. Then take out the individual liners and put them in a ziploc bag. When you want some muffins, you bake just as many as you want.
pomegranate / 3872 posts
i ended up only making a ton of tomato sauce and meatballs and they were good. I had grand plans of a month worth of frozen meals. Then time caught up with me and I remembered I don't even really like frozen stuff. I went to whole foods and the Italian market and got frozen stuff and thaf worked out well. My mom brought us a lot of fresh meals in tbe first few weeks too.
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