Thank you for all your tips and inspiration. I am new to freezer meals, your tips have saved my family more than you know. I am a full time Nurse who happens to have a large family of 9 I had to have a major surgery which limited my mobility for a while but using your freezer meals took a heavy burden off my shoulders. Thank you.
Tina, this is exactly why we do this. Thank you for sharing that. It's so encouraging to us to know that what we're sharing is helpful. This comment totally made my day!
My dad made a steamed pudding once when mum was recovering from surgery. Instead of apricot jam he put blackcurrant jam in it. It reacted with the bicarbonate of soda and turned the pudding mix green. I can’t remember what colour it was once it was cooked but we decided it was a papier-mâché pudding!!!
I love all your videos! I learn so much from them. I am a college student and I have learned that I have to buy all my ingredients at the beginning of the semester when I get paid. Now I am excited to make a bunch of individual freezer meals next semester. I definitely need to get on my labeling game. You gals are so fun. Love you!
Ahhhhh! I love this so much!!! What are you studying? You should check out some of our "meals for one" videos! th-cam.com/play/PL0HOtnw6h2BlRtMn8pJs7K0gk4uXsj1oD.html&si=sIuR5EU8DvTxb1ib
I've been a member of your club for nearly a year and have totally enjoyed it! My husband and I are empty nesters so I usually half the recipes, then divide the meal into 2 quart-size bags. Perfect size for us!
Been waiting for this. Yeah! Update for me, my friend Sara and I did our first freezer meal session together yesterday. I think I found my freezer meal buddy. Glad to see you make the Caesar chicken again. It’s delicious. It’s so great to see your kids taking notice how to make cooking easier. My son said when moved out could he come grocery shopping from my freezer. 😊
We're so happy for you that you found your freezer meal buddy!!! It only gets better with time as you figure out your systems together and get into a rhythm. It's going to be great!
Me and my brother have been cooking since we were 5 and 6, parents worked, so we either learned how or waited till late to eat. I've taught my granddaughter to cook since she was 18 months, at first she just helped mixing the ingredients, the other day she wanted to make hot salsa for her dad. She even pressure canned 14 pints and did everything herself as well as the dishes. She did great. P/S I have an electric digital smart canner as I'm not comfortable letting her use my stove top canner.
The Ham-it-up segment was the best, I remember long days at work where some of us would get like Sharla and some of us would be like Christie, we would laugh/giggle at everything but still try to get our work done. Good times. Great video. I am so glad to be part of the club.
I love watching you two you get along so well together! You give so many great ideas and multiple meals that we can all choose from! Thank you thank you thank you God bless both of you amen!❤🎉
I am not married yet and I have no kids. I came here for freezer meals inspirations and I honestly subscribed because of the chat ! You both seem like amazing women to have a coffee and bible date with. May God bless you and your families ❤
My husband is the same guy as Christy's. He wants beef all the time. The Honey Garlic Chicken is a hit with him! I will be making some more of that soon. Thank you for all the good recipes.
@@FreezerMeals101 Lol! I’m sure you don’t! I’m a little different!🤪😆 It would be interesting to see what your groceries look like for these meal prepping marathon days!😳🤔
I am single elderly and always cook to much and eat it for a week straight. This will help me not have to do that. Best laugh I had in a long time over the ham spaghetti casserole . Thank you lady,s.
I want to start doing freezer meals and your videos are amazing! I haven’t watched all of your videos but from the few I did watch I noticed that you don’t blanch your veggies. Do you just not use veggies that need blanching or do you not prefer to blanch in general.
Blanching veggies will preserve their texture and colour. That is definitely an option, however when we are making over a hundred meals, we skip it. We have enough prep and assembly to do, we just can't blanch too. If it's important to you, definitely go ahead and do that. We don't find that it affects the texture in general, especially in soups or meals that have a lot of moisture. Thanks for your comment!
I'm "working" and watching you girls! I have a freezer meal session next week. I made Ranch Pesto Pork tenderloin this month and it's been a hit! 1kg pork, sliced into portions 1/2 cup ranch dressing powder 1 cup basil pesto 1/2 cup of oil Thaw and then bake, covered, until the pork is cooked through. Sooooooooo much yumminess here
This sounds so good! Thank you for sharing this. We will definitely be giving it a try. As a matter of fact, we're planning to try it in a video in late April!
You two are SO fun to watch! I wish I had a neighbor I liked enough to spend two days cooking with lol! For the “ham it up spaghetti”…how about the new name of “piggly wiggly spaghetti”?! Piggly for the ham and wiggly for the spaghetti noodles! 😂😂 Keep up the great work, ladies! You not only crack me up, you make me feel like I’m part of your posse!!
While you were making the spaghetti recipe I kept thinking you would never be able to successfully stir it in. i have made similar and I put the noodles in a plastic bag and mixed the other ingredients together and put in on top. I then massaged from the outside and it mixed much easier. All your other recipes you did in a freezer bag and yet you mixed this one in a bowl, the hardest one ever. Hope my suggestion is of help. I love watching you girls as you have so much fun, the thing I also find interesting is that there are so many ingredients not readily available here in Australia but I can substitute. Would love to be able to buy the green chilli in a tin. I suppose there is somewhere but it is not really a preferred ingredient. Nor is green salsa. Keep up the good work.
Yes, our Aussie viewers end up having to make a few creative substitutions. Are you in our FB group? There are often discussions about good substitution ideas.
You should try 3 soup chicken. Put chicken prices in your bags, mix together cream of chicken soup, ctrem of mushroom soup and cheddar cheese soup, salt and pepper. Pour over chicken, remove air and seal. Make mash potatoes and vegetables. Put in freezer. Remove from freezer bake at 375 degrees f for an hour or till done.
Lol!! I watched it all- well, some through my eyelids at the end. Then I watched it again when I woke up. And LOLOL about the 🐷 Spaghetti!! If you do make this again I’m thinking a scoop of sauce followed by a tong full of pasta, repeat twice, 🐽 sauce on top- then massage. You two crack me up!! And I loooove Sharla’s new apron with the added bow🎀.
Oh man, I bet that spaghetti got your attention!! lol That's not a bad idea for next time. If there is a next time. As you could probably tell... I am skeptical. I took it out to try tonight. I will have to report back!
Ground Chicken Stroganoff alternative, (actually a soup.) you started making that and I said Chicken mushroom barley soup! yes! I dont make it often because my Mom is lactose intolerant, but , I boil about a cup of barley in 4-6 cups of chicken stock, once it puffs up, I add the chicken, onion (I like to ad some leeks) peas, carrots, and when its almost completely cooked through I add some half and half or cream. Only seasoning I ad is some pepper because there is a lot of sodium in mushroom soup. I like to have warm french bread with lots of butter with it.
@@FreezerMeals101 it is, and I dont think you need to put the cream in a freezer bag on this, because makes it harder to just put on the stove, I always ad it last, or even switch with sour cream if its in the fridge. I always have cream for my coffee, dont always have Sour cream, but I admit its even tastier with a dollop of sour cream.
I have a bunch of pork medallion recipes using pork tenderloin.... some with rubs, some with sauces. I always slice up my tenderloins when I buy them, flatten them some with a mallet, and freeze them that way... no sauce or rubs. Both sauces and rubs are easy to pull together without much thought, which allows us to decide on a flavor the day of.
Also thanks for changing your membership... Even though it would be a savings to do the yearly it's just not in the budget to pay for it all at once right now so I was able to sign up now on the monthly plan.
I am hoping to have my mini deep freeze cleared out enough by the time I move this summer to do freezer meal prepping in my new place. It will be in a much smaller town so being able to buy in bulk and prep will be a money saver.
For ground chicken taco meat, for individual servings try zip lock snack packs. Then put in another snack pack baggie put cheese. Add a bag of corn chips. Put together add sour cream, salsa, guacamole ect what ever you like.
I live alone and I used to make a large lasagne/shepard's pie and eat it for a few meals for the next day or 2 and then I decided to buy the foil trays and just make the same amount as I was for the large dish but I'm now put them into the smaller foil trays :)
Hey Phyllis, Sharla here. It was actually my husband who suggested that I start doing videos on TH-cam. I had a website about freezer cooking but he felt that people really needed to be shown how to do it so they could understand and that video would be the best way to do that. At first, I was making the videos myself except for the every 3 month marathons that Christie and I do together but last Spring, I was able to convince her to leave her job and come and work with me so now the videos are way more fun to make with both of us and we're able to do more to be helpful to our viewers. It's built slowly over time (it's been two years), but we've had a few videos really take off and mostly, we just have focused on building a community and our community of viewers here on TH-cam, our Club members, and the people in our Facebook group are just the sweetest, most wonderful people. We just passed the 25K subscribers milestone and we are so thankful for the support of our viewers and humbled by how many people watch us.
Funny enough, there was recently a discussion in our Facebook group about just this! One of the ladies lost one of her staples in the food and had to use a magnet to retrieve it. Christie and I have both been using the staple system for decades and neither of us has lost a staple yet. I'm pretty diligent about it so I know that it would never end up in our food, but if you're concerned, you can attach the bags with clips or some people use an extra bag and put both bags inside that extra bag.
I always feel like I've hung out with friends after each video!! Adore the 2 of you and LOVE love how the club has saved my sanity in this season of life!! Xo blessings!
Glad to find you! I have a family of 7, and I struggle with this before it seems like Id need much more?? How does it work best with large families and portions?
It depends on the meal. Some of the recipes are enough to feed our super sized family and sometimes I stretch it with side dishes while for some of the smaller recipes, I just take out two bags (since we make 4 of each recipe, Christie and I both end up with 2 of each).
😂 suggestion mix all of the sauce ingredients lay spaghetti on a cookie sheet sprinkle with ham then pour the sauce mix over it. Or Put spaghetti and ham in bag pour in the sauce and just let it drizzle in between the noodles.
The ginger beef is delicious!! Recently I went to a Thai restaurant and ordered a Ginger Beef. Could not even taste the ginger! I'll stick with the freezer meals and cooking at home.
Yes! And it's cheaper too. I saw the ginger beef on the top of my stack today but I chose the Ham It Up Spaghetti so I can report back and stop overthinking it. haha Ginger beef tomorrow I guess.
@@FreezerMeals101 for sure!! I rarely do freezer meals if I haven't got my proteins on sale. The lunch was a special occasion however - and my adult daughter's choice for her birthday. But we have come to realize we'd much rather eat foods from home.
Hello, great video, thank you! I looked at your categories in the club when it showed up on screen and I can see that you have 113 dairy free and 118 gluten free recipes. I have someone that is both! Are there many recipes that are both dairy and gluten free? Thanks 😊
Christie's husband works shift work so they need larger meals because he takes their leftovers for his lunch which is more like his supper. For our larger family, the portions seem to work out because our kids are at an age when sometimes one or more is at work over suppertime. On days when all of our kids will be home and they bring friends with them (!), I will sometimes just pull out two bags of the same meal.
It's always hard for us to really tell unfortunately. We buy warehouse packs of what we can during caselot sales. Then there are some things that we have leftover from our last session, like sauces and spices. Then we each buy things. Sharla typically gets the groceries at our regular grocery store and I do the Costco run. Then you have to consider that we're in Canada so everything is going to be automatically more expensive than in the states. All told, I would estimate about $1500 up front between the two of us. But for all those reasons it's a fairly arbitrary number, so that's why we don't really dive into it during the video. What I would love to know is how much that would have cost if we bought those groceries week by week, without the advantage of sales and bulk prices. And factor in the trips to the store and the extra time involved by cooking something from scratch every night. And the extra trips through the drive through because we didn't have a plan or the energy to prepare anything. Sorry. I got off topic. Lol. But that's a great question! Thanks for watching!
I just found your video today and am interested in single serving meals for my 90 year old mother who lives alone and hates to eat leftovers for more than one day. My husband and I are empty nesters. I'll be watching to see if you have freezer meals she would eat if I made them for her. Maybe have servings for 2 people, plus one extra for Mom.
Welcome Ruth! We have quite a few videos specific to making freezer meals for one or two as we both make meals for some of our parents who live on their own. You can find a recent one here: th-cam.com/video/8GjRUEZqvP8/w-d-xo.html Here are a few more: th-cam.com/video/JHhnq58T1Rs/w-d-xo.html and th-cam.com/video/1dd9nBIK_nQ/w-d-xo.html I hope that helps!
Will you be adding all of these recipes to your club? I feel like you make a lot of fantastic meals that are not in the club. And I'm lazy and like the way the shopping list is calculated for me. 😂
Hi! Only the ones that make the cut will be added. So far it's looking good for the cashew chicken, sriracha cauliflower and seafood Creole. Ham it Up Spaghetti... not so much! Lol. We always try new recipes first. Sometimes we have to fiddle with them before we're confident they'll be good enough for the club. Sometimes they don't work out. We also send them to our food photographer who then makes them and does photos. Then we can upload them. So it's a bit of a process. Stay tuned! I'm sure many of them will be uploaded. The new ones are announced in emails as we add them. 😊 Also, in the club, the newest recipes are always at the top, so you can see the new additions.
i cook for two and my husband does not eat leftovers so when i make too much i put the rest in freezer amazon has stackable freezer/dishwasher safe black dishes with lids i use they stack three deepin fridge nice but freezer i can fit four of them stacked on top of each other
That’s a great way to do it! You may be interested in one of our freezer cooking for one or two videos. The latest one is here: 48 Meals for One Freezer Meal Marathon | A "Capsule Wardrobe" for Your Dinner th-cam.com/video/XTd1CiGxo7I/w-d-xo.html
Good question. We make four of each recipe but we film a single one of each and then film the three together. We use the video of the single one for short videos on TH-cam and we are trying to learn how to use TikTok (yep, these two middle aged moms trying to do TikTok 😂). It's faster to make all four at the same time of course so if it weren't for the video aspect, we could assemble the meals faster than we do now.
Practice, mostly. lol Sharla's freezer does a great job of freezing right away. We get them balanced on there and they seem to stay! You have to put ones with lots of liquid on top of something more solid - say just a protein with a marinade or a casserole with pasta in it. You can't put two or three soups on top of each other without them sliding off. We often make corn chowder at the end of the first day so it has time to freeze over night and then we're good to start adding more meals the next day.
❓ you bought a case of raw chicken thighs from Costco? How do they come... Like on the styrofoam trays or they just loose in a bag inside of a box? I'm guessing it's similar to the way they sell croissants and bulk from the bakery you have to go to the meat department to order it?
It never occurred to me to take a picture of it, but basically they are the regular trays of chicken and they put six of them in a box with a special "caselot" price - usually $.50/kg off, but I have seen it much more reduced. It's not that fancy. You can just go to the butcher window and ask them to make you a case of chicken. Above the butcher's window, you can see the caselot prices and options. I hope that helps!
I make my lunches for the week for work. Sometimes I end up freezing them because I make to much. I’m the only one who will eat them after the have been in the freezer.
I think this is one of those times where you wanted to break the spaghetti before cooking it. At least in half, I prefer in thirds. I'm bad at fancy spaghetti swirling, so I always do that. But for stiring and mixing in the sauce, shorter spaghetti strands would have helped a LOT. Otherwise your spaghetti is just like three necklaces where the chains have gotten tangled. Shorter means less tangling, easier movement for stirring. Hilarious though!
You know... I have thought about that recipe so many times since we made it and this is probably the best advice going forward - if there is a next time. lol
Hi Kay. We don't yet have a good photo of those (we're working on it) so you won't find it in the regular recipe search, but it is included in the Slow Cooker Take Two PDF which you can find in the Club library here: mealplan.freezermeals101.com/printables/ While you're in the library, take a poke around at some of the other meal plans and ecookbooks. There's gold there!
Sure! As long as they stay frozen until you're ready to use them, you can go ahead. Alternatively, if you thaw them first, you'd want to cook them before refreezing.
Ground chicken recipe idea... hubs LOVES racheal ray chicken Caesar burgers...if I make them.. I usually do it in bulk because of the anchovies needed...I hate wasting...
Hi Karen, only the new recipes that "pass the test" (aka: that we like and work well with freezing and then cooking) will make their way into the Club. We already know for sure that some of these are heading there because the Cashew Chicken and Vegetable Sheet Pan Meal was AMAZING!
Hi Karen, the short answer is that we don't actually know. We will often buy groceries during case lot sales, sometimes weeks in advance because we know we will eventually need chicken broth or evaporated milk. The other common scenario is we still have the same bottle of soy sauce or jar of garlic from the last session that we don't have to buy this time. And then there are times when we do our grocery shop and I have also bought pajamas at Costco and Sharla has bought breakfast cereal. It skews the total. There have been times in the past that we were making meals for $10-11/meal, which is pretty good for Alberta, Canada. It was consistent enough that we stopped bothering to figure it out. I'm sure it's higher now and if something is wildly expensive, we'll drop it (i.e. sometimes salmon is outrageous, even at Costco). Sorry for a non-answer, but we really don't know! Ultimately, we know we're saving money by going to the grocery store less, hitting drive-throughs less, having less food-waste, eating at home, using leftovers for lunches, etc. There is a woman in our FB Group that gave specific financials and figured that including what they were saving in take-out, etc. she was saving $200/month! That was somewhere in the States, so I don't know how that would compare here.
@@FreezerMeals101 thanks for trying to reply. 130 meals is a heft bill I’m sure. Was wondering. Love watching the sometimes giggle fest. Look forward to each one.
I would love to join your club! Can you please try to add other forms of payment like Paysafe or paypal? I don’t have a creditcard and with me lots of other Europian people since it’s very uncommon here to use a creditcard 😅
How did we miss that?? Oh yeah - because it's two hours long and it's a beast to edit! Here you go! Named by TH-cam viewer, Ana. She says “Giggle Pig Pork Chops” in honour of your fun loving kitchen sounds right to me. And the thought of families reminiscing many years from now about Gramma’s giggle pig recipe makes me laugh even more. I just love funny recipe names. My husband’s family has a cake recipe called “the wrong one” cause they got it very wrong once and they loved it better that way. 6 bone-in pork chops ½ cup soy sauce ¼ cup oil ¼ cup onion, minced 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 Tbsp. lemon juice 2 Tbsp. honey, melted Assembly instructions: In a large freezer bag, combine all ingredients. Squish around to coat chops evenly. Remove excess air from the bag and seal, then freeze. Cooking instructions: Thaw. Bake in oven at 350° for 45 minutes until the internal temperature of the pork chops is 145°. Broil to crisp up. Alternatively, BBQ over medium heat until internal temp is 145°.
That's a great question! If there is no link with a recipe, it's usually because it's new. We have either created the recipe (we adapt most recipes we try because they need to be freezer-meal-ized, if that's a word) or we have invented it, or it's three recipes put together and it just doesn't exist anywhere online yet. We make it, freeze it, cook it and eat it and if it passes the test, THEN we'll go ahead and add it to our Club and to our main website. We also have to get our lovely food photographer to make it and take pictures of it, so it sometimes takes awhile to hit the internet as a freezer meal. Sorry for the wait, but that's why the link is missing. It's a quality control thing. We're constantly trying new recipes to keep bringing more to our viewers. :D
Good catch! We have discovered that we have been using "meatless" and "vegetarian" pretty much interchangeably. Meaning , there wasn't a main meat for the protein in the dish. Things like chicken broth, Worcestershire sauce and anchovy paste... have slipped by without us really noticing. Once we realized we have begun to be more clear in our terminology. In future videos, we'll use the correct terminology. Thanks for watching!
Hi Julie, the recipes that don't have links are ones that are brand new. Since it's our first time trying them, we don't yet know if we can recommend that you make them. We don't put them on our website or in the Club until we are absolutely sure that they "pass the test" (that they freeze well, thaw well, and taste amazing!).
Happily, I’m able to say that those are on their way into the Club. If you’re needing them soon, you can find the the Honey Ginger Pork Chops recipe in the Slow Cooker Take Two PDF in the Club library but as soon as we get the photos done, both the pork chops recipes will be in the regular recipes area as well!
It's a mix. Sometimes we do and sometimes we don't. The recipe links are in the description below the video. We don't expect you to have to watch with a paper and pen. :)
Thank you for all your tips and inspiration. I am new to freezer meals, your tips have saved my family more than you know. I am a full time Nurse who happens to have a large family of 9 I had to have a major surgery which limited my mobility for a while but using your freezer meals took a heavy burden off my shoulders. Thank you.
Tina, this is exactly why we do this. Thank you for sharing that. It's so encouraging to us to know that what we're sharing is helpful. This comment totally made my day!
My dad made a steamed pudding once when mum was recovering from surgery. Instead of apricot jam he put blackcurrant jam in it. It reacted with the bicarbonate of soda and turned the pudding mix green. I can’t remember what colour it was once it was cooked but we decided it was a papier-mâché pudding!!!
🤣 that's awesome!
I was hee haw guffawing at your story! I’m sorry about the circumstances. But thank you for such a good and healing laugh. 😀
I love all your videos! I learn so much from them. I am a college student and I have learned that I have to buy all my ingredients at the beginning of the semester when I get paid. Now I am excited to make a bunch of individual freezer meals next semester. I definitely need to get on my labeling game. You gals are so fun. Love you!
Ahhhhh! I love this so much!!! What are you studying? You should check out some of our "meals for one" videos!
th-cam.com/play/PL0HOtnw6h2BlRtMn8pJs7K0gk4uXsj1oD.html&si=sIuR5EU8DvTxb1ib
I've been a member of your club for nearly a year and have totally enjoyed it! My husband and I are empty nesters so I usually half the recipes, then divide the meal into 2 quart-size bags. Perfect size for us!
that is a *great* idea!
Been waiting for this. Yeah! Update for me, my friend Sara and I did our first freezer meal session together yesterday. I think I found my freezer meal buddy. Glad to see you make the Caesar chicken again. It’s delicious. It’s so great to see your kids taking notice how to make cooking easier. My son said when moved out could he come grocery shopping from my freezer. 😊
We're so happy for you that you found your freezer meal buddy!!! It only gets better with time as you figure out your systems together and get into a rhythm. It's going to be great!
I love how happy you are even when the baby makes noises on set.😂 it makes me smile so much.
Me and my brother have been cooking since we were 5 and 6, parents worked, so we either learned how or waited till late to eat. I've taught my granddaughter to cook since she was 18 months, at first she just helped mixing the ingredients, the other day she wanted to make hot salsa for her dad. She even pressure canned 14 pints and did everything herself as well as the dishes. She did great. P/S I have an electric digital smart canner as I'm not comfortable letting her use my stove top canner.
The Ham-it-up segment was the best, I remember long days at work where some of us would get like Sharla and some of us would be like Christie, we would laugh/giggle at everything but still try to get our work done. Good times. Great video. I am so glad to be part of the club.
We're glad you're in the Club too! And yes... after long days, it can get very silly in a hurry! We still giggle over it.
Thanks to you both. I don't know how to cook and I love all the food varieties. I've made several & my family is so proud of me. Thank you!
This makes me so incredibly happy! We're proud of you too! 😋
I love watching you two you get along so well together! You give so many great ideas and multiple meals that we can all choose from! Thank you thank you thank you God bless both of you amen!❤🎉
I’m so excited to see this pop up. I’ve been cleaning out my pantry and I am ready.
Glad you're ready. Hope it goes great!
yes! I love the marathons! so many awesome ideas ladies! thanks for the motivation! xoxo
Always great to hear from you Molly. Thank you!
Just found you and watched this on my tv so I had to pull you up on my iPad to give you a two thumbs up!👍🏻👍🏻
Awesome! Thank you! Here's a thumbs up right back! 👍
Went back to watching your vlog and saw you tried my method, hope it worked a lot easier for you.
I am not married yet and I have no kids. I came here for freezer meals inspirations and I honestly subscribed because of the chat ! You both seem like amazing women to have a coffee and bible date with. May God bless you and your families ❤
Aw thanks! We love it when people like listening to our chats! We're too chatty to do it any other way! ❤️
Oh my goodness! Im so excited to watch all of this. Thank you for doing this for us:)
I'm so excited you're going to watch all of this! Thank *you*!
My husband is the same guy as Christy's. He wants beef all the time. The Honey Garlic Chicken is a hit with him! I will be making some more of that soon. Thank you for all the good recipes.
RIght?! He always asks for beef but whenever I make a chicken dish, he will say it's the best he's had. Thanks for being a faithful watcher!
I lie in wait for these every 3 months. Now when is your next?!? 😂😂😂
😂😂😂 You'll have to give us a bit... we're still recovering from this one! But opening up our freezers is pretty glorious at the moment!
Wow, I'm barely started and want to try so many of these recipes already
You should!
So excited for this video! I was so excited that it was 2 hrs long also!! Thank you!💜
Well we don't hear that every day! Lol! Thanks for watching! 🎉
@@FreezerMeals101 Lol! I’m sure you don’t! I’m a little different!🤪😆
It would be interesting to see what your groceries look like for these meal prepping marathon days!😳🤔
I wanted to watch a freezer cooking video…searched and your mega freezer session popped up first 🎉
Well you hit the mother lode! We have a few long ones, but a few shorter ones too! Glad you found us!
I am single elderly and always cook to much and eat it for a week straight. This will help me not have to do that. Best laugh I had in a long time over the ham spaghetti casserole . Thank you lady,s.
Freezer meals benefit those living alone as much or even more than families and I'm so glad you found us!!
Woohoo! You girls did great! I'll be joining the club monthly from Month end. Can. Not. Wait!
Thanks so much Jolene! We look forward to seeing you in the Club!
I want to start doing freezer meals and your videos are amazing! I haven’t watched all of your videos but from the few I did watch I noticed that you don’t blanch your veggies. Do you just not use veggies that need blanching or do you not prefer to blanch in general.
Blanching veggies will preserve their texture and colour. That is definitely an option, however when we are making over a hundred meals, we skip it. We have enough prep and assembly to do, we just can't blanch too. If it's important to you, definitely go ahead and do that. We don't find that it affects the texture in general, especially in soups or meals that have a lot of moisture. Thanks for your comment!
I'm "working" and watching you girls! I have a freezer meal session next week. I made Ranch Pesto Pork tenderloin this month and it's been a hit!
1kg pork, sliced into portions
1/2 cup ranch dressing powder
1 cup basil pesto
1/2 cup of oil
Thaw and then bake, covered, until the pork is cooked through.
Sooooooooo much yumminess here
Bake at 200°c
This sounds so good! Thank you for sharing this. We will definitely be giving it a try. As a matter of fact, we're planning to try it in a video in late April!
Yeahhhh I can't wait to watch this, but it'll have to be tomorrow because it's too late now, 23:17pm in Cape Town South Africa 🇿🇦💕
I love the protest dish towel! That is great. Love all your videos and I'm making lots of the recipes.
You two are SO fun to watch! I wish I had a neighbor I liked enough to spend two days cooking with lol!
For the “ham it up spaghetti”…how about the new name of “piggly wiggly spaghetti”?! Piggly for the ham and wiggly for the spaghetti noodles! 😂😂
Keep up the great work, ladies! You not only crack me up, you make me feel like I’m part of your posse!!
You know... that's not a bad name... I am going to have nightmares about making that one. hahaha!
You can be a part of our posse any time! :D
@@FreezerMeals101 that whole filming of trying to get it into the bags was hysterical!! 🤣🤣
i kept thinking you should have just made it in a pan or mixed with your hands. i like the ham it up name but piggly wiggly is even better 😂
While you were making the spaghetti recipe I kept thinking you would never be able to successfully stir it in. i have made similar and I put the noodles in a plastic bag and mixed the other ingredients together and put in on top. I then massaged from the outside and it mixed much easier. All your other recipes you did in a freezer bag and yet you mixed this one in a bowl, the hardest one ever. Hope my suggestion is of help. I love watching you girls as you have so much fun, the thing I also find interesting is that there are so many ingredients not readily available here in Australia but I can substitute. Would love to be able to buy the green chilli in a tin. I suppose there is somewhere but it is not really a preferred ingredient. Nor is green salsa. Keep up the good work.
Yes, our Aussie viewers end up having to make a few creative substitutions. Are you in our FB group? There are often discussions about good substitution ideas.
LOL The Ham It Up- turned out to be appropriately named! I was laughing. Too funny. Great work ladies. That was a lot of work.
Oh man! That one is going to give me nightmares for awhile! 🤣🤣
Ardrossan!? Wait... what?
Now I know why I like you two so much. You're my people. 😆
Just found you ladies 2 weeks ago. I’ve binge watched most of ur videos! I’m so excited to see what you two cook up this time!! ♥️ love from Ga
Welcome!! Thanks for watching!
i have come to the conclusion that christie has an entire collection of lovely aprons!!!!! this one is super darling!
Thank you!
You should try 3 soup chicken. Put chicken prices in your bags, mix together cream of chicken soup, ctrem of mushroom soup and cheddar cheese soup, salt and pepper. Pour over chicken, remove air and seal. Make mash potatoes and vegetables. Put in freezer. Remove from freezer bake at 375 degrees f for an hour or till done.
Thank you for the suggestion. We're actually planning to do a video of viewer suggested recipes so we will include this. Thanks again!
New over the sink sign "If you don't clean it today, you don't eat tomorrow!"
😂
Hooray!! I’m so excited to see this video pop up! I am sooo staying up till 2am to watch. No way I could wait till morning. It’s popcorn time🍿
Oh my goodness! You didn't! Get some sleep! You can't make meals if you're tired! LOL
Lol!! I watched it all- well, some through my eyelids at the end. Then I watched it again when I woke up. And LOLOL about the 🐷 Spaghetti!!
If you do make this again I’m thinking a scoop of sauce followed by a tong full of pasta, repeat twice, 🐽 sauce on top- then massage. You two crack me up!! And I loooove Sharla’s new apron with the added bow🎀.
Oh man, I bet that spaghetti got your attention!! lol That's not a bad idea for next time. If there is a next time. As you could probably tell... I am skeptical. I took it out to try tonight. I will have to report back!
Ground Chicken Stroganoff alternative, (actually a soup.) you started making that and I said Chicken mushroom barley soup! yes! I dont make it often because my Mom is lactose intolerant, but , I boil about a cup of barley in 4-6 cups of chicken stock, once it puffs up, I add the chicken, onion (I like to ad some leeks) peas, carrots, and when its almost completely cooked through I add some half and half or cream. Only seasoning I ad is some pepper because there is a lot of sodium in mushroom soup. I like to have warm french bread with lots of butter with it.
That's sounds really delicious!
@@FreezerMeals101 it is, and I dont think you need to put the cream in a freezer bag on this, because makes it harder to just put on the stove, I always ad it last, or even switch with sour cream if its in the fridge. I always have cream for my coffee, dont always have Sour cream, but I admit its even tastier with a dollop of sour cream.
Everything is better with a dollop of sour cream!
I have a bunch of pork medallion recipes using pork tenderloin.... some with rubs, some with sauces. I always slice up my tenderloins when I buy them, flatten them some with a mallet, and freeze them that way... no sauce or rubs. Both sauces and rubs are easy to pull together without much thought, which allows us to decide on a flavor the day of.
Great idea
Also thanks for changing your membership... Even though it would be a savings to do the yearly it's just not in the budget to pay for it all at once right now so I was able to sign up now on the monthly plan.
Welcome to the Club! It's situations like yours that are exactly the reason we decided to offer the monthly option.
I am hoping to have my mini deep freeze cleared out enough by the time I move this summer to do freezer meal prepping in my new place. It will be in a much smaller town so being able to buy in bulk and prep will be a money saver.
Rooting for you! That will be great.
You could try using your hands to mix the spaghetti snd ham thing. And leave the ham out until the rest of the ingredients are mixed
Cant wait to watch this in full !!!!!
It's a marathon in itself! haha Stay tuned to the end. The last recipe is... eventful! lol
For ground chicken taco meat, for individual servings try zip lock snack packs. Then put in another snack pack baggie put cheese. Add a bag of corn chips. Put together add sour cream, salsa, guacamole ect what ever you like.
Ah! Like freezer bag walking tacos!
I live alone and I used to make a large lasagne/shepard's pie and eat it for a few meals for the next day or 2 and then I decided to buy the foil trays and just make the same amount as I was for the large dish but I'm now put them into the smaller foil trays :)
So much better! You can do that with so many meals. That's a great idea. 😊
Hey how did you get started on the TH-cam channel and if you had any anxiously time, when you knew it was a hit😅🎉
Hey Phyllis, Sharla here. It was actually my husband who suggested that I start doing videos on TH-cam. I had a website about freezer cooking but he felt that people really needed to be shown how to do it so they could understand and that video would be the best way to do that.
At first, I was making the videos myself except for the every 3 month marathons that Christie and I do together but last Spring, I was able to convince her to leave her job and come and work with me so now the videos are way more fun to make with both of us and we're able to do more to be helpful to our viewers.
It's built slowly over time (it's been two years), but we've had a few videos really take off and mostly, we just have focused on building a community and our community of viewers here on TH-cam, our Club members, and the people in our Facebook group are just the sweetest, most wonderful people. We just passed the 25K subscribers milestone and we are so thankful for the support of our viewers and humbled by how many people watch us.
The spaghetti casserole was absolutely hilarious, but I think if I make it I'm going to use macaroni noodles
Great plan! Because as you can see, we can't recommend trying it with spaghetti!
Fell in love with your blue hoodie in the beginning! Can you let me know the brand/where you bought it at? Reminds me of Frozen!
I think it’s from a company called Charlie B. I’ve had it for over a year so I’m not totally sure but I think that’s the brand.
Love your ideas. Thank you. I am afraid of using staples on food packages. It just takes 1 to be a big problem.
Funny enough, there was recently a discussion in our Facebook group about just this! One of the ladies lost one of her staples in the food and had to use a magnet to retrieve it. Christie and I have both been using the staple system for decades and neither of us has lost a staple yet. I'm pretty diligent about it so I know that it would never end up in our food, but if you're concerned, you can attach the bags with clips or some people use an extra bag and put both bags inside that extra bag.
Maybe you could use those little craft clips? The sort people use instead of pins for sewing?
I always feel like I've hung out with friends after each video!! Adore the 2 of you and LOVE love how the club has saved my sanity in this season of life!! Xo blessings!
Laura, that means so much! Thank you!!!
Omg you two were so funny with the spaghetti! I bet it’s good though lol
Trying it tonight! I'll be sure to report back. It better have been worth it! hahaha
Glad to find you! I have a family of 7, and I struggle with this before it seems like Id need much more?? How does it work best with large families and portions?
It depends on the meal. Some of the recipes are enough to feed our super sized family and sometimes I stretch it with side dishes while for some of the smaller recipes, I just take out two bags (since we make 4 of each recipe, Christie and I both end up with 2 of each).
Oh that's funny!! You guys are in Canada and have an Ardrossan in the country - we have an Ardrossan in country South Australia also!
hi ladies
😂 suggestion mix all of the sauce ingredients lay spaghetti on a cookie sheet sprinkle with ham then pour the sauce mix over it.
Or
Put spaghetti and ham in bag pour in the sauce and just let it drizzle in between the noodles.
New to your channel. Love it! ❤
Thanks so much Kindra! We're glad you found us.
The ginger beef is delicious!! Recently I went to a Thai restaurant and ordered a Ginger Beef. Could not even taste the ginger! I'll stick with the freezer meals and cooking at home.
Yes! And it's cheaper too. I saw the ginger beef on the top of my stack today but I chose the Ham It Up Spaghetti so I can report back and stop overthinking it. haha
Ginger beef tomorrow I guess.
@@FreezerMeals101 for sure!! I rarely do freezer meals if I haven't got my proteins on sale. The lunch was a special occasion however - and my adult daughter's choice for her birthday. But we have come to realize we'd much rather eat foods from home.
Hello, great video, thank you! I looked at your categories in the club when it showed up on screen and I can see that you have 113 dairy free and 118 gluten free recipes. I have someone that is both! Are there many recipes that are both dairy and gluten free? Thanks 😊
There are actually many recipes that are both gluten free and dairy free! We also add new recipes most weeks.
@@FreezerMeals101 😊
Great video... how do you plan the portions seeing as your families are different sizes and yet I'm seeing all the portions are the same
Christie's husband works shift work so they need larger meals because he takes their leftovers for his lunch which is more like his supper. For our larger family, the portions seem to work out because our kids are at an age when sometimes one or more is at work over suppertime. On days when all of our kids will be home and they bring friends with them (!), I will sometimes just pull out two bags of the same meal.
@@FreezerMeals101 great idea... definitely worth trying
On the Pizza Casserole have you ever tried with ground beef instead of ham? That sounds good to me
We haven't, but ground beef or ground Italian sausage would both be good substitutes.
I want to know how much one of these cost in one grocery trip? Helps figure out on how to break up shopping and prep if needed
It's always hard for us to really tell unfortunately. We buy warehouse packs of what we can during caselot sales. Then there are some things that we have leftover from our last session, like sauces and spices. Then we each buy things. Sharla typically gets the groceries at our regular grocery store and I do the Costco run.
Then you have to consider that we're in Canada so everything is going to be automatically more expensive than in the states. All told, I would estimate about $1500 up front between the two of us. But for all those reasons it's a fairly arbitrary number, so that's why we don't really dive into it during the video.
What I would love to know is how much that would have cost if we bought those groceries week by week, without the advantage of sales and bulk prices. And factor in the trips to the store and the extra time involved by cooking something from scratch every night. And the extra trips through the drive through because we didn't have a plan or the energy to prepare anything.
Sorry. I got off topic. Lol. But that's a great question! Thanks for watching!
I just found your video today and am interested in single serving meals for my 90 year old mother who lives alone and hates to eat leftovers for more than one day. My husband and I are empty nesters. I'll be watching to see if you have freezer meals she would eat if I made them for her. Maybe have servings for 2 people, plus one extra for Mom.
Welcome Ruth! We have quite a few videos specific to making freezer meals for one or two as we both make meals for some of our parents who live on their own. You can find a recent one here: th-cam.com/video/8GjRUEZqvP8/w-d-xo.html Here are a few more: th-cam.com/video/JHhnq58T1Rs/w-d-xo.html and th-cam.com/video/1dd9nBIK_nQ/w-d-xo.html
I hope that helps!
Will you be adding all of these recipes to your club? I feel like you make a lot of fantastic meals that are not in the club. And I'm lazy and like the way the shopping list is calculated for me. 😂
Hi! Only the ones that make the cut will be added. So far it's looking good for the cashew chicken, sriracha cauliflower and seafood Creole. Ham it Up Spaghetti... not so much! Lol.
We always try new recipes first. Sometimes we have to fiddle with them before we're confident they'll be good enough for the club. Sometimes they don't work out. We also send them to our food photographer who then makes them and does photos. Then we can upload them. So it's a bit of a process. Stay tuned! I'm sure many of them will be uploaded. The new ones are announced in emails as we add them. 😊 Also, in the club, the newest recipes are always at the top, so you can see the new additions.
i cook for two and my husband does not eat leftovers so when i make too much i put the rest in freezer amazon has stackable freezer/dishwasher safe black dishes with lids i use they stack three deepin fridge nice but freezer i can fit four of them stacked on top of each other
That’s a great way to do it! You may be interested in one of our freezer cooking for one or two videos. The latest one is here: 48 Meals for One Freezer Meal Marathon | A "Capsule Wardrobe" for Your Dinner
th-cam.com/video/XTd1CiGxo7I/w-d-xo.html
Quick question: why do you seem to always make three of each meal when there are two of you? How do you divide them between both of you?
Good question. We make four of each recipe but we film a single one of each and then film the three together. We use the video of the single one for short videos on TH-cam and we are trying to learn how to use TikTok (yep, these two middle aged moms trying to do TikTok 😂). It's faster to make all four at the same time of course so if it weren't for the video aspect, we could assemble the meals faster than we do now.
Do you have a cash &Carry restaurant supply and groceries
How do you guys get your meals to stack. Mine keeps sliding all over the place. Any tips?
Practice, mostly. lol Sharla's freezer does a great job of freezing right away. We get them balanced on there and they seem to stay! You have to put ones with lots of liquid on top of something more solid - say just a protein with a marinade or a casserole with pasta in it. You can't put two or three soups on top of each other without them sliding off. We often make corn chowder at the end of the first day so it has time to freeze over night and then we're good to start adding more meals the next day.
❓ you bought a case of raw chicken thighs from Costco? How do they come... Like on the styrofoam trays or they just loose in a bag inside of a box? I'm guessing it's similar to the way they sell croissants and bulk from the bakery you have to go to the meat department to order it?
It never occurred to me to take a picture of it, but basically they are the regular trays of chicken and they put six of them in a box with a special "caselot" price - usually $.50/kg off, but I have seen it much more reduced. It's not that fancy. You can just go to the butcher window and ask them to make you a case of chicken. Above the butcher's window, you can see the caselot prices and options. I hope that helps!
I make my lunches for the week for work. Sometimes I end up freezing them because I make to much. I’m the only one who will eat them after the have been in the freezer.
As long as they're getting eaten and you don't mind, then go for it! Too bad for the rest of the family. haha
Just wondering could you add like vegetables bullion to the recipe and then add water at time of cooking instead of adding broth?
Yes you totally could!
I think this is one of those times where you wanted to break the spaghetti before cooking it. At least in half, I prefer in thirds. I'm bad at fancy spaghetti swirling, so I always do that. But for stiring and mixing in the sauce, shorter spaghetti strands would have helped a LOT. Otherwise your spaghetti is just like three necklaces where the chains have gotten tangled. Shorter means less tangling, easier movement for stirring. Hilarious though!
You know... I have thought about that recipe so many times since we made it and this is probably the best advice going forward - if there is a next time. lol
I’m laughing right along with you 😅
It would be ok if you laughed *at* us. That last recipe was something else!!! lol
Can’t find the recipe for honey ginger pork chops. I am a member but maybe I am searching wrong. Any help with a link
Hi Kay. We don't yet have a good photo of those (we're working on it) so you won't find it in the regular recipe search, but it is included in the Slow Cooker Take Two PDF which you can find in the Club library here: mealplan.freezermeals101.com/printables/ While you're in the library, take a poke around at some of the other meal plans and ecookbooks. There's gold there!
Found it. Thank you!!
Did you notice that you labled the first bag of tuna casserole as tatar tot casserole?
😂 I missed that! You can tell that on day 2, we're always more tired. The brains aren't quite as sharp by then!
Can you use frozen chicken to make freezer meals? They are 1# packs from Sam’s
Sure! As long as they stay frozen until you're ready to use them, you can go ahead. Alternatively, if you thaw them first, you'd want to cook them before refreezing.
And you were thinking of changing the name of the "Ham it up Spaghetti" , I think not 😂
Good grief! 🤣🤣🤣
Ground chicken recipe idea... hubs LOVES racheal ray chicken Caesar burgers...if I make them.. I usually do it in bulk because of the anchovies needed...I hate wasting...
Okaaaay! We can get behind that! Thanks!!
@Freezer Meals 101 for sure... just Google it! I do everytime I make them! 😆
If you switch out the spaghetti with a pasta like rigatoni you could stir it easier.
Totally!
❤❤❤
What do you mean by "meal? Serving? Meal for four?
In this case a meal is a family sized meal of 4-6 servings. Thanks for watching!
Hi again :). Will these new recipes be in the 101 club?
Hi Karen, only the new recipes that "pass the test" (aka: that we like and work well with freezing and then cooking) will make their way into the Club. We already know for sure that some of these are heading there because the Cashew Chicken and Vegetable Sheet Pan Meal was AMAZING!
@@FreezerMeals101 thank you for the reply… I really look forward to trying them :)
Curious. I know pricing is regional. But what did it cost for you to do this mega meal prep.
Hi Karen, the short answer is that we don't actually know. We will often buy groceries during case lot sales, sometimes weeks in advance because we know we will eventually need chicken broth or evaporated milk. The other common scenario is we still have the same bottle of soy sauce or jar of garlic from the last session that we don't have to buy this time. And then there are times when we do our grocery shop and I have also bought pajamas at Costco and Sharla has bought breakfast cereal. It skews the total.
There have been times in the past that we were making meals for $10-11/meal, which is pretty good for Alberta, Canada. It was consistent enough that we stopped bothering to figure it out. I'm sure it's higher now and if something is wildly expensive, we'll drop it (i.e. sometimes salmon is outrageous, even at Costco). Sorry for a non-answer, but we really don't know! Ultimately, we know we're saving money by going to the grocery store less, hitting drive-throughs less, having less food-waste, eating at home, using leftovers for lunches, etc. There is a woman in our FB Group that gave specific financials and figured that including what they were saving in take-out, etc. she was saving $200/month! That was somewhere in the States, so I don't know how that would compare here.
@@FreezerMeals101 thanks for trying to reply. 130 meals is a heft bill I’m sure. Was wondering. Love watching the sometimes giggle fest. Look forward to each one.
I would love to join your club! Can you please try to add other forms of payment like Paysafe or paypal? I don’t have a creditcard and with me lots of other Europian people since it’s very uncommon here to use a creditcard 😅
That is something we are working on. I will let you know as soon as we have that figured out.
Why don't you just add the extra pepsi to the ham meal when you originally make it? Does it make some sort of difference to add it after thawing it?
When you add it on the day of and pour it over the glaze, it kind of bubbles up and apparently helps keep the ham juicy.
We all know know why it's called ham it up spaghetti. 🤣🤣🤣
Ugh. Tell me about it. lol
I made my on version of sos so I have to freeze it,because I made to much.
so what is in the giggle pig pork chops? you didnt actually tell us! lol!! im intriuged now!
How did we miss that?? Oh yeah - because it's two hours long and it's a beast to edit!
Here you go!
Named by TH-cam viewer, Ana. She says “Giggle Pig Pork Chops” in honour of your fun loving kitchen sounds right to me. And the thought of families reminiscing many years from now about Gramma’s giggle pig recipe makes me laugh even more. I just love funny recipe names. My husband’s family has a cake recipe called “the wrong one” cause they got it very wrong once and they loved it better that way.
6 bone-in pork chops
½ cup soy sauce
¼ cup oil
¼ cup onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. honey, melted
Assembly instructions:
In a large freezer bag, combine all ingredients. Squish around to coat chops evenly. Remove excess air from the bag and seal, then freeze.
Cooking instructions:
Thaw. Bake in oven at 350° for 45 minutes until the internal temperature of the pork chops is 145°. Broil to crisp up. Alternatively, BBQ over medium heat until internal temp is 145°.
@@FreezerMeals101 love you lots! Tha kyou
Wait! I forgot the Montreal Steak Spice!
It's a wonder I wear pants some days.
@@FreezerMeals101 lol
I think gloves would be much easier for the ham/spaghetti meals.
Gloves! Genius! 🤣
why do not all your recipes have links with the recipe
That's a great question! If there is no link with a recipe, it's usually because it's new. We have either created the recipe (we adapt most recipes we try because they need to be freezer-meal-ized, if that's a word) or we have invented it, or it's three recipes put together and it just doesn't exist anywhere online yet. We make it, freeze it, cook it and eat it and if it passes the test, THEN we'll go ahead and add it to our Club and to our main website. We also have to get our lovely food photographer to make it and take pictures of it, so it sometimes takes awhile to hit the internet as a freezer meal. Sorry for the wait, but that's why the link is missing. It's a quality control thing. We're constantly trying new recipes to keep bringing more to our viewers. :D
Don't you have a spaghetti spoon or stirrer?
Oh probably. I don't know if that would've been enough to save us! 🤣
the puttanesca is not vegetarian if it has anchovy paste in it.
Good catch! We have discovered that we have been using "meatless" and "vegetarian" pretty much interchangeably. Meaning , there wasn't a main meat for the protein in the dish. Things like chicken broth, Worcestershire sauce and anchovy paste... have slipped by without us really noticing. Once we realized we have begun to be more clear in our terminology. In future videos, we'll use the correct terminology.
Thanks for watching!
LOLsooo funny:)
i like some but they dont have the recipes
Hi Julie, the recipes that don't have links are ones that are brand new. Since it's our first time trying them, we don't yet know if we can recommend that you make them. We don't put them on our website or in the Club until we are absolutely sure that they "pass the test" (that they freeze well, thaw well, and taste amazing!).
@@FreezerMeals101 okay well I am a member so I hope the pork chop ones do
Happily, I’m able to say that those are on their way into the Club. If you’re needing them soon, you can find the the Honey Ginger Pork Chops recipe in the Slow Cooker Take Two PDF in the Club library but as soon as we get the photos done, both the pork chops recipes will be in the regular recipes area as well!
Christy never gives measurements and Sharla does
It's a mix. Sometimes we do and sometimes we don't. The recipe links are in the description below the video. We don't expect you to have to watch with a paper and pen. :)