Individual Serving Freezer Meals in Loaf Pans | Meal Prep for One or Two
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ก.พ. 2023
- Make individual serving freezer meals in loaf pans for easy lunches or dinners. These are perfect for college students, seniors, or anyone in between!
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I did this for my mother (who lives alone and hates to cook) once for her birthday when I had no idea what to get her. Now she asks me when I’m doing them again. She loves it.
Aw! That's so great! We have a few other videos on individual portions to check out if you want a few more ideas (if you plan on doing them again).
I did the lasagna version but instead of the lasagna noodles I thinly sliced zucchini salt, pepper them and lightly crushed them in a frying pan. I use that instead of the noodles it came out, so delicious so light and anyone who is a vegetarian or on a keto diet will love it.
Great idea!
Love that idea! I'm not a vegetarian but I LOVE veggies with meals.
This was great. Yes individual meals may take more time up front but believe me, your future self will thank you after a long day at work! And if it is 2 servings, I have dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow
I don't know how well this would freeze but I thought I would share how I learned to make meatloaf. When I was young it was ground beef, ketchup, chopped onions (chopped fine), saltine crackers (crushed), egg(s), salt, black pepper and a splash of milk. All mixed together and then coated with a mixture of ketchup with chopped onions (chopped fine), salt, black pepper and a couple of shakes of tabasco sauce.
Later she switched the ketchup out for (garden blend) spaghetti sauce. However what was different from how other's made their meatloaf I found out later. Is that we always cooked this like a roast. Meaning Russel potatoes (needs to be Russel) where peeled and split in half, yellow onions quartered and a head of cabbage cut in half or quartered around the meatloaf and coated with the tomato/spaghetti sauce. When everything was done it was a one pan meal with a side of home made biscuits.
I admit I thought the spaghetti sauce in the meatloaf made it taste better and moister but still prefer to use ketchup mix for the top of the loaf. On a side note if the meatloaf cooks before the potatoes and cabbage are done, remove the loaf and let the rest continue to cook in the drippings. I hope anyone who tries this enjoys it and it may take a time or two to adjust the seasoning to your own liking.
I will definitely try this. I do remember making meatloaf with saltines rather than bread crumbs, but haven't done it in ages.
I bought a set of square individual foil pans with lids and made 3 weeks of meals for a friend postpartum. The size was perfect and saved a lot of room in the fridge
That's a great idea! You're a good friend!
I would love to see some of these cooked, see what they look like done ready to serve.
Really great ideas! I like it for many different reasons. Great for picky eaters, diets ,Keto, Vegans and or so I can have the foods I crave that the rest of my family isn't crazy about. Also good for smaller portion -less waste. And take alongs for outings. I like it for many reasons. Also Amazon sells reusable BPA Free plastic freezer to Microwave containers in every size imaginable. (If you are trying to stay away from Aluminum)I love that you two laugh and joke and tell stories! It makes you both lovable!!
With the meatloaf and the lasagna one all you need to do is make them right away cook them cut them up into singular things and then put them in different containers and then they already have it right there made or like you said before you could TV dinner out of all the meals and put the potatoes and their vegetables are stopped and then I'll just pop it in the microwave thank you girls you work so well together God bless you all!🎉
That is a totally great option! I love it!
For dorms. In US you can buy small freezers. Quick search found several if the school allows them. Basically the size of a mini fridge that is all freezer.
Nice! That's good to hear. My niece and nephew (twins) are going to Uni in the fall and they will be too far away for me to give them freezer meals, but it's good to know that if they are in dorms, they'll have options.
“Look squirrel”. Lol. I love you two
😂
I have been meal prepping for one for a long time now. Smaller tins are also available on Amazon. I found ones that fit in my air fryer and it is a perfect way to cook individual meals without using a big oven. Thanks for these fun ideas.
I want to do this! What temperature do you typically set the air fryer on? 350*? Are you using round or rectangular?
@@cyana5867 I use small rectangular pans and the temp depends on the food. If I am making a mini meatloaf I use the recipe temperature and I check for doneness at about half the regular recipe time. If I am reheating food only then I usually do 350 for 10 to 15 minutes. My pans are quite small so it doesn't take long.
@@debbiejohnson7368 Thanks for the info. I got an air fryer for Christmas and love the chicken wings/ potatoes crisping. But for individual meals - what a great idea! Appreciate you sharing.
Oh my goodness. I really didn't think of doing these in my air fryer! But of course you could!! Great idea!
could you help with the link for Amazon ones?
So, today. spent several hours prepping and cooking Sloppy Joes. I had a pound of ground beef left over, so I thought to myself, "what would the freezer ladies do? and the answer was...they would cook the extra meat and freeze it for another recipe! Thanks ladies for giving me the answer!!! LOL
I love this so much!!!
I have a kumquat tree so I just grab them whenever I want. Love them.
Jealous!!
I'm surely thinking of these lil' space savers to take camping. I can't wait for your next post!🙌
Thank you for this individual serving video. I have been cooking for my mom because she needs at least one good meal a day. I had one suggestion that I do for her, I use a muffin tin to freeze mini meatloaves and then I pop two into a quart freezer bag with instructions on reheating and what sides I have prepped for her to use for a complete meal. Just another way and easy for microwaving later. Thanks again 😀
It's wonderful that you do that for her Laine. I'm sure it helps so much for her to have those meals.
Laine what are your reheating instructions? How to avoid drying the food out horribly?
I’m so excited to see this video. It hasn’t even started and I know I’m going to love it
I love this! I plan on making individual meals for my oldest once he moves out. It won't add any additional costs since I batch cook food anyways
My daughter is in college and has a small fridge/freezer and a microwave. This would be great for her. I live right down the road so she could store most at home and take a few at a time for her tiny space.
Wonderful!
I do a lot of meal prep on my channel just for my husband and I. Dollar Tree has smaller tins with covers that are the perfect size for 1 to 2 portions.
Northgirl Gone South is that your channel name also?
@@countycalling yes
For the Meatloaf Muffins, I'd love to see a tomato gravy recipe to go with them. I loved the Banquet Meatloaf TV Dinners as a kid, and the best part was the tomato gravy. I also loved the meatloaf TV dinners by Boston Market, with the brown gravy, so recipes for both brown & tomato gravies to go with your meatloaf freezer meals would be nice.
My mom used to make a tomato and onion sauce to put on meatloaf. I didn't appreciate it as a kid but I would now!
The college part if use the mini loaf pans you can put a few in thier mini fridge for the week
I have not one but two air fryers, and I don't love either one! Both are Ninjas. One is more like a toaster over but its primarily an air fryer. It flips up so it takes up less space, but it takes almost as long to cook stuff as my oven where I can fit twice as much food, so it only gets used to heat up breakfast burritos. The other air fryer is multifunction too and is also a smokeless indoor grill. Sadly it doesn't hold enough food either so I have to cook in batches or just use it for the protein or the side, but not both. My instant pot stayed in its box for three years but I finally got over the fear after watching a ton of Six Sisters vids here on YT. Now I use it at least once a week!!! I can make 8 huge chicken breasts in it in 8 minutes, reuse the broth I cooked it in, and shred the meat right in the pot with my hand mixer. Then I freeze it in 1lb increments to be added to meals for our home version of "fast food". Another way to make single serving meat loaves is to prep the meat like you did but them form them into mini loaves laid out on a sheet pan. Freeze them individually then bag them up and the kids or seniors can grab one or two depending on their appetite and pop them in the microwave. No worries about them having to drain off the grease then. And making them on a sheet pan means they won't soak up all the grease that usually has no where to go in a loaf pan. These have been great for my 21 year old son to have before or after work when he can't eat with the family. College dorms really vary!!! Some don't allow anything you could cook with, but allow them in shared spaces. Others allow microwaves but not airfryers or toasters. Some are called quads where 4 people share something like an apartment... 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, shared living room and kitchen. All of the ones we looked at let you have a fridge and almost all mini-fridges have freezer space, but not much. Super cute that a 13 year old boy wants to be in the Freezer Meal club! I will say that most colleges have great food these days... chain fast food places right on campus, multiple restaurants/cafeterias, and plenty of coffee shops! All the ones we toured required freshmen to have the meal plan to make sure they eat, and all the events they really wanted students to attend would have free or cheap food. Example: Need all students to attend a sexual harassment lecture? Free bagels and donuts for all who attend!!! 🙄 One school we toured talked *so much* about how great their food was (had a full international food court that puts Disney's Epcot Center to shame) that I had to pointedly ask them if the kids learned anything or if they just attend that college to eat! Was told it does help if your kid is a foodie. LOL
You have got a great system there! I have a question about all these great places to eat on campus - are they part of the meal plan? Is the food subsidized? Or is it all full price?
@@FreezerMeals101 Late to respond, but on the meal plans... depends on the school. Some lump it in with tuition, others charge a meal plan rate. 1 we looked at had a very low cost meal plan that worked so the kids could eat all they wanted from the 3 cafeterias on the campus, but the fast food joints and Starbucks were excluded so they had to pay for that themselves. An incentive to keep them eating healthier, yet provide those choices on campus so they had fewer reasons to leave campus and get into trouble elsewhere. At the cafeteria, they only had to show their student pass which had a bar code that got scanned to verify the meal plan.
I'm sitting hotel pool side...while the kids swim...garden plan dreaming... writing out varieties to "hopefully" grow this season! ( cuz I'm one of those scratch made people...lol... sometimes...) lol
One winter I flew to Florida to visit my parents. We visited a pick your own orange grove and lugged back a bag of citrus on the plane. When I got home I made a kumquat marmalade/jam and canned it. It was so delicious.
What a lovely memory!
You guys are so much fun! I even loved the kumquat segway.
I love these ideas. It's only my husband and I, so I cut recipes down a lot. I've made lasagna in small tins like that. Thank you for all the great ideas. By the way, I made the Beef and Broccoli sheet pan tonight. It is so good! I diced potatoes and added some carrots to it too. Man, that is a good meal!
Yesss! Thank you ladies 💕
You both are such fun to watch "all from just mentioning the Kumquat!" OMG 🤣Congrats on 5000 freezer meals Wow! And just to add I have had to adopt a gluten-free lifestyle so finding Walmart's Great Value brand gluten-free Cream of Chicken and Cream of Mushroom Soup has been fabulous! I am so excited to make some of the yummier comfort meals for the freezer now, and it's so much easier than making it homemade! Thought it might help when making meals for those who need to be gluten-free, especially if they aren't feeling well! Such a nice gift 😃
That's a great tip on the gluten free cream of soups. Thank you for sharing that!
Been a while since was in college but we could have a small refrigerator/freezer in dorm rm. Small microwave, very very simple like toaster and hot pot.
So, have refrigerator meals were small in no since might fit pint ice cream.
My mom loved to eat kumquats! I haven’t seen them in our stores here in Spokane WA though.
We like making a salad sandwich with a slice of leftover meatloaf in it. Ideas for different ways to switch up leftovers is a dying skill. Could you maybe work on a section in the club to help people share ideas and learn how to make leftovers great again? 😂😊
We have a great video where Sharla shows how she makes soup from leftovers to stretch a dollar. She's great at it!
There's tins of good that can be made in muffin pans. Cook and freeze pop out and put in freezer bags. Pull out of bag what you when ready leave the rest in. I did this to prepare for my surgery worked well. Soups, meatloaf, eggs. I have seen Spegetti and other items.
Great ideas! Thank you.
Hello from Albania. I enjoy your videos so much!
Thank you Eiram!
Kids had sliced jicama in their lunches in El paso! ( needs some tajin on them) it's like an apple and a potato had a baby! Kids will ONLY eat it with tajin...if no tajin...no jicama for them! Lol
OK... now I have to go google tajin so thank you for that. lol
@@FreezerMeals101 its soooo weird... but sooo good! On savory AND SWEET!
You could put a layer of mashed potatoes on top of the meatloaf
I love Kumquats so much; I bought a Kumquat tree online. It lives outside until it below 50 degrees. Then it comes inside at a sunny window. It has a name and is part of this family.
So cool! What's its name? I'm curious now?
I love your sessions. Not only I have learned so much about freezing ideas, techniques, and recipes, but also your interaction with one another, I enjoy your chit-chats.
I am sorry for asking, but how tall are you ladies?
I would like to learn how to freeze with a Mediterranean diet. I'm clueless about where to start.
Sharla here: I don't think I've ever asked Christie how tall she is! I'm 5 feet. She's a fair bit taller than me as most people are. And you're in luck! We have a recent Mediterranean diet freezer meals video: th-cam.com/video/sRZ6Y5O-API/w-d-xo.html
I put mine in quart size ziplock bags. Works great!
Totally! These ones are layered, so we wanted to make use of the tin foil loaf pans, but most of our individual meals go into quart bags. Makes for much more room in your freezer!
I also love Kumquats!
you two are mad adorable
Okay, this is my background while I work. The math part of this is just to funny.
My daughter is in college, she has a fridge and freezer, toaster oven, hot plate and a microwave in her room.
OK! This could work for her! Thanks for watching!
Can paper labels on tin foil survive in oven, air fryer or does it start on fire? You can use tin foil in air fryer and instant pot also.
I don't know if I'd be brave enough to put a label in the air fryer, but I have put it in the oven. It turns black or dark brown so to potential is there for it to maybe flame up, but I have never had that happen.
College kids lol my DD is a college student, she has a small mini fridge with that small separate freezer up top, which is bigger than some mini fridges 😂😂 but she lives in a suite style so she has a private room, with a shared common space with 3 other students..so they have a full size fridge in their kitchen, but it’s shared by all 4 of them.
What I do for my DD is when I cook a meal at home, knowing it’s something she would like, and it’s something that freezes well, I place a serving or two of it inside a quart bag… label them, then freeze them, I keep a gallon freezer bag going of other quart baggies that I have in the freezer for her, so after the quart baggies freeze, I add to the gallon bag
Once the gallon bag is full which is usually 4/6 baggies, pending what’s in them. I just pack them up for her to take back to school, we live only 2 hours from the college so this works for her.. she usually will take 2 gallon bags full back each time she is home every other weekend or so…
The other thing we do is freeze dried meal in a jar/ bag.. we have a home freeze dryer, so we also freeze dry either ingredients/staple foods and or meals
So she usually has 10/15 of these meals that is just add water and heat, usually all less than 20 minutes..
example
1/2 cup of freeze dried hamburger
1/4 cup of instant noodles like ramen or angel hair
Or you can cook noodles then freeze dry them as well
1/4 cup of a veggie, freeze dried peas, or broccoli etc
Add 2T of freeze dried cheddar cheese
1T of instant milk
1tsp of dried butter
Place inside a pint mason jar, and vacuum seal, or inside a quart Mylar bag add oxygen absorber and seal..
when ready to eat, add contents from jar into pot add 1 cup of water bring to boil and shut off let sit 3/5 minutes while thickens, if in a bag,, you bring water to almost boiling, remove oxygen absorber and pour water into bag, stir contents, then close bag as much as you can let sit 5 minutes, stir , add salt and pepper to taste
These are self stable from 6 months to 25 years, it just depends on the ingredients that are used.. because the fat products will go bad first, like butter, sour cream etc..
but freeze dried meat will last if stored properly 25 years… it’s the same thing as emergency foods sold in buckets.. but this way we control the ingredients…
My Mom doesn’t like to eat the same thing over and over , so I purchase the mini loaf pans and make her freezer meals into them as I’m making ours, 😂 she doesn’t eat much at one time so this is the perfect amount for her.. sometimes she also requests the heat and eat, from our leftovers, instead of having to cook her food , she usually cooks the mini loaf pans either in her toaster oven or air fryer pending what it is, this has worked great.
I also do a lot of pressure canning, so we usually have soups and stews ready to eat in jar anytime, I make sure my college kiddo and mom have a few of these stashed away too..
These are all such great ideas. Your mom and daughter sound lucky to have you! Thanks for watching!
Jamerrill wraps her freezer meals twice in plastic wrap and foil to prevent freezer burn. Or maybe it's once with the foil, and twice with the plastic wrap. Plastic, foil, plastic.
Jamerrill is awesome! 😎 For us, we find we eat them fast enough that this works for us. In our families the extra wrapping would be wasted but every family is different. There is no wrong way. 😁
@@FreezerMeals101 - I live alone, so I wouldn’t go through them as quickly. So, maybe I’ll do both tricks. Yours to put plastic wrap on top, and Jamerrill’s double wrap.
Thanks for the reply.
Just curious...why are your cabinet door pulls in the middle of the door?
I wish I knew! 🤦🏻♀️ It's unfortunately how the cupboards were when we moved in and it's ugly but functional enough that we've never changed them. Someday we'd like to redo the kitchen and when we do, the new cabinets will have door pulls in a normal location!
How much ground beef did you use and how many lasagnas did it make?
my brain works the same way....ooohhh sparkles.....oooh cumquat...lol i totally relate!
🤣
Yesterday I made 8 loaf pan lasagnas, one we ate last night, one for a single friend and 6 for the freezer which I will be freezing uncooked. I had a kitchen mishap. While grating my parm cheese block in my food processor, the stem that holds my grating disk SHATTERED, so until I get a new food processor, I can only use my S blade. I've had this processor for about 15 years so I am sure that has alot to do with the shattering stem.
😳 oh no! I'm glad you weren't hurt! I hope you get a new one soon.
@@FreezerMeals101 I bought a new food processor at Canadian Tire last week on sale...haven't opened the box but am hoping to soon.
My kids have dorm fridges but the freezer is very small.
It's good to know they can have something in there. Might have to make recipes that are non-layered to fit in bags. They lay flat and will fit better in the smaller space.
Literally laughing out loud about math. Me too!
Oh man, were the worst!
Love kumquats. Five are enough to satisfy though. LOL. Take a page from my niece's book: She says, "I'm too pretty for math."
I like your niece! Gotta skip those kumquats though. haha
Cook the lasagna in mini loaf bread pans that come in 8 loafs (muffins in 6 or 12).
I like jicama in fruit salad and in my cucumber salad.
Oh I bet that's so great! Awesome crunch and so fresh tasting! I'll have to try that. I've sliced it thin and used in sandwiches before and liked that too.
@FreezerMeals101 Thank you cucumber salad :cucumbers slices thin or spirilized mix with vinegar and oil then ethier mix in a ranch packet or dip in ranch.
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I LOVE KUMQUATS!
I never heard of them.
Dorms=airfryers!
YES!!!
Am I the only person who adds mustard to their meatloaf mix?
I haven't heard of that but I'm sure it would be good!
How about just single adults? It's like we don't exist. I'm single (but not yet a senior) and I do love to cook but don't always want to or don't have time. For other singles out there, who don't want any leftovers at all, there's a smaller disposable loaf pan you can use and divide any recipe for 2 servings into 1. I do really like you both, (stirring spaghetti had me crying) but it just felt like you only see the world in 3 groups - kids, married parents and seniors who are done with daily living.
I'm sorry you feel that way. We may have not specifically talked about the adult single demographic, but we also have you in mind when we make videos for meals for one. So many of my close friends fall into that category and I often have them in mind when I create these meal ideas. I'm sorry that from our words you didn't feel seen. You are seen and valued.
First time watching. Less talk and more showing recipes. I have to fast forward to see recipes. Don't have that much time for small talk.
Welcome! I'm so glad you joined us! Fast forward all you like. We're never offended by that. :D
Way way way too chatty. Just give us what we r here for.
😂 I had to laugh at your comment as this is obviously the first video of ours you watched. Most of our viewers are actually here for the chatty! If you're just here for recipes, there are lots of TH-cam channels that give you recipes and nothing but. We are not that channel!
My first time watching you two. I thought it would be a good idea because I'm cooking foe just 2 now. Sorry but you two talk too much .😮
Oh, yeah. We're pretty chatty. 🤷♀️ Some people really like that about us.
I love your videos and recipes but please, please, please, Do not make individual meals for elderly in aluminum pans! My mother was in elderly housing. She had several small strokes but could still live by herself that way. She put a foil wrapped meal in the microwave. The oven arced and caught on fire. She died in that fire. Please, Please, Please no foil for the elderly if they are reheating their meals!
So sorry to hear of this 😞.
My thoughts go out to you for your loss.
The older/elderly don't always remember the best way to use the microwave.
Thank you for sharing that caution. That's not something I had considered. I'm so sorry for your loss. What a tragic circumstance. Thank you for warning others.
Less story telling more cooking please
Thanks for watching. You caught us on a particularly chatty day as we hadn't seen each other in a few weeks. Feel free to fast forward to the recipes. We're never offended by that! :D
Gals I love your recipes. But I also love when you get off track! I think the insides of your heads must look similar to mine. 🧠⚙ You give so many great ideas and help to all of us!
Oh gosh. It's messy in there. hahaha
@@FreezerMeals101 😂😂😂😂
I’ve been really liking making individual freezer meals with souper cubes (1 and 2 C portions). I also have the 2 C ceramic baking dishes (4 of those) for baking in. So far I’ve tried lasagna and Shepard’s pie and both were great. I don’t make HUGE quantities for my little family of 3, so this has definitely been working out better than always having to make and freeze huge 9x13 meals. If I ever get brave to do a super mega session, I would definitely resort to some tins and glass 😂😅
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