budget freezer recipe suggestions?

[setissma]

Hi, all! I'm a graduate student with a minor quandry: I'm currently profoundly bored with most of my stock of freezable recipes. I'm trying to eat well on a (fairly minimal) budget, and I'm running up against some problems that I suspect a lot of folks have, which are that a) it's very hard to cook for just one person, and b) food is expensive! If

Comments

[destabee]

I second the idea of chili or bean based psuedo-chilis. They freeze very well and bean based version can be pretty inexpensive.

[setissma]

I tend to make chilis, soups, and stews. I don't have a crockpot and my freezer space is kind of limited (I have two roommates and we all share a freezer) but I've sort of been thinking about getting one, given that they don't seem wildly expensive.

[glazed_glitter]

Cabbage rolls freeze well, if they are a little time consuming. I love this recipe: http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/02/alexs-moms-stuffed-cabbage/

[setissma]

Thanks for the suggestion! Those look delicious. :)

[deliquessence]

I freeze homemade soup and chili con carne in 1 cup containers (repurposed cottage cheese containers). For a meal I might add some canned wild-caught salmon or tofu or shredded turkey or beef chunks for adequate protein and variety. One soup I use a lot is potato celery leek and another favorite is creamy curried split pea soup, both from the Follow Your Heart Vegetarian Soup Cookbook by Janice Cook Migliaccio. I also keep a fresh pot of veggie (water, onion, celery, carrots, zucchini, green beans with basil and oregano) or broccoli mushroom soup in the refrigerator to warm up by the bowlful. Since the recipes are for a couple quarts each, a couple potsful will last for about a month frozen so I have variety. I keep an eye peeled for beef roasts on sale and grind my own hamburger for the chili - much less expensive and not nearly so fatty as packaged ground beef if you have a grinder on hand (I have my mother's manual Armaide from the 1950s

[setissma]

These are great suggestions, thanks! :)

[cobalt_00]

I like this recipe, because it's tasty and takes only about an hour to make. It feeds me on my own for a week or so, if I supplement with a loaf of sourdough (goes really well with the tart flavour). http://recipecollective.wikidot.com/red-red-soup

Alterations: Add the bay leaves with the lentils. I don't use the celery at all, and I use chicken stock instead of vegetable (makes it Sort Of Orange Soup). I think I used 3 tsp of crushed garlic last time - you can suit yourself on how much you like. I can only ever find green lentils, but I don't think it matters other than colour.

I also just throw it all in the fridge for the week, and it seems fine. I have never tried to freeze cooked lentils, so I'm not sure how well that would go. If you do - let me know!

[setissma]

That looks delicious! I agree that I have trouble finding red lentils, but I suspect green would be fine. :) I'm pretty sure it's freezable, I've frozen a (similarish) soup before and it was fine.

[grey_bard]

Soups are great. Buy a carton of some low sodium broth, dilute it slightly more than the package says, and throw in a variety of chopped vegetables and a little thyme or rosemary. (Alternately, make your own gourmet broth by chopping carrots, celery and onion very fine and roasting in the oven with some olive oil and tomato paste and then dumping the lot in a pot with water to simmer and cook down and dissolve.) Then saute some cheap chicken parts or hamburger, chop them up, and throw those in too. (Alternately, crack an egg, get the broth boiling and swirl the egg in with a fork for egg drop vegetable.) Make a big batch of muffins or olive oil bread or something. Divide soup up into one serving freezer containers, and bread or muffins into servings, and freeze both. Then enjoy soup and muffins whenever you want

[setissma]

That split pea soup sounds really good - I actually like it a lot with ham, so I may have to try this!