Healthy & Inexpensive Meals That Can Be Frozen

Having a healthy family meal ready to pop in the oven on a weekday can save you time.

You may want the convenience of grabbing a meal from the freezer and popping it into the oven or microwave, but the problems with store-bought freezer meals is the quality and expense. Premade meals found in the store are usually processed, high in sodium and sugar, and contain ingredients you can't pronounce. It may take a little more of your time to make meals from scratch but at least you know what you are eating. The key to not getting overwhelmed is to start off with some simple recipes in the beginning.

Broccoli Quiche

Quiche can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Steam and chop one large stalk of broccoli and add it to 1/2 cup of chopped mushrooms in a cake pan that is sprayed with canola oil. Mix 1/4 cup of fat free half and half, 1/4 cup skim milk and 1 cup of egg substitute or whole egg if you prefer in a separate bowl. Pour the liquid mixture over the broccoli and sprinkle with 3 ounces of Swiss cheese. Bake it in the oven for about 40 minutes. If you are preparing it for the family, double or triple the ingredients in the recipe and use a larger pan. Cool your food completely, cut the broccoli into squares and separate into plastic containers to freeze. Label each one so you know what it contains.

Lime Chicken

Freeze this meal before you cook as well. Take six boneless chicken breasts, 1/2 teaspoon of lime peel, three cloves of minced garlic, 1/4 cup of lime juice, add 1 tablespoon canola oil, 1 teaspoon of basil and 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt. Mix all the ingredients together in a large plastic container and label as lime chicken. When you are ready to cook the dish, take it out and thaw. While it is thawing, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place in casserole dish and bake for 20 to 30 minutes and serve with brown rice or multigrain pasta.

Aparagus Casserole

This is a good way to get your kids to eat their vegetables. Cook 3 pounds of asparagus. Prepare a sauce by mixing 1 1/2 cups of plain yogurt, one minced yellow onion, 1/3 teaspoon of dry mustard, one minced garlic clove, a pinch of pepper and pinch of sea salt. Put the asparagus in a plastic bowl and pour the sauce on top. Mix 1 cup of multigrain bread crumbs with 3 tablespoons of melted butter and crumble on top of the sauce. Label and freeze. When you are ready to cook, thaw the casserole and cook the casserole at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes.

Pasta Shells

Cook 24 whole wheat uncooked jumbo pasta shells. Boil 10 ounces of low-fat, low-sodium vegetable broth. Stir in some vegetables, including one minced carrot, one white potato and one small zucchini, both peeled and diced, and one minced white onion. In a separate bowl, mix 2 cups of low fat ricotta, 1 cup of shredded mozzarella, one egg or egg substitute and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Drain the vegetables and add them to the cheese mixture. Add some Italian seasoning to taste. Take the cheese mixture and fill each shell.

Put some tomato sauce on the bottom of a 9 by 13 inch casserole and place the shells in the pan. Pour remaining sauce on top of the shells and layer some mozzarella and Parmesan cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20 minutes with foil on top. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Let the casserole completely cool. Portion out five to six shells in separate plastic containers, label and freeze.

References

• Helpguide:Eating Well on the Cheap
• Mom's Budget:Freezer Cooking Recipes -- Once a Month Cooking