Karrie Truman’s Top 5 Tips for Sharing Freezer Meals!
We all have occasions where we want to be helpful and share a meal. Maybe your sister has just had a baby, your best friend is moving into her dream home, or an elderly aunt or uncle is ill or just had surgery.
Now, we could easily hit up a local pizza joint or throw something together out of a box but is that really the “I love you!” we want to send out to our special peeps? I don’t think so!
Plus, you have to remember, you are not the only one with this brilliant idea. Lots of people will be showing up with food for new parents and those who are sick. Why not think ahead and give them a little something that they can use later on when they are so, so tired but well-wishers have stopped showing up every night?
The solution to a healthy, homemade gift of love: FREEZER MEALS!
Here are some tips to help you find the perfect recipe to share:
Meals for the post-pregnancy family:
For those super-tired parents, I am thinking that you want a meal that has some carbs for energy while avoiding foods that cause tummy trouble for babies (if mom is nursing).
Foods and spices to avoid for nursing moms include cabbage, garlic, onions, strong spices, broccoli and citrus fruits. Some nursing moms are advised to stay away from dairy products too, so the best way to know what to bring is just to call them up and ask.
Recipe Ideas:
Old-Fashioned Chicken Pot-Pie (found on page 155 in Seriously Good Freezer Meals)
Meals for post-surgery and illness:
Most doctors will put sick or post-op patients on a very strict diet. The recommendations may be a high-protein, low-sodium or bland diet, depending on the illness or operation. As with the nursing mom, it is important to check with the person who you are bringing the meal to be sure you are fixing something appropriate.
If your loved one lives alone, you may want to choose a recipe that can be divided into individual-sized meals.
Recipe Ideas:
Lentil Supreme Shepard’s Pie (found on page 262 in Seriously Good Freezer Meals)
Meals for the new homeowner:
While this is probably the easiest meal to prepare, you still want to check for food allergies before taking a dish. It also never hurts to find out favorite or most-hated dishes so that the meal you bring will be eaten and appreciated!
Recipe Ideas:
Momma’s Lasagna (found on page 225 in Seriously Good Freezer Meals)
Recipe ideas from Frugal Living NW:
- Crockpot pinto beans (eat for dinner the night you cook, freeze the rest)
- Basic bean soup recipe
- Meatloaf with BBQ sauce
- Black Bean Chicken Enchilada Soup
General Freezer Meal Tips
- Always put your freezer meals in containers that can be used in the oven or microwave. You do not want the recipient of your gift to have to do dishes after your meal! With that being said, also make sure the container can be thrown away and do not ask that it be returned to you.
- Label the container so that there is no confusion as to what is inside. You may even want to list the ingredients just in case an in-law or visitor may eat the food as well.
- Include cooking/warming instructions for easy preparation.
These tips should make it easy for you to share a freezer meal with someone special! You can find more recipes on my website, Happy Money Saver, or in my new book Seriously Good Freezer Meals!
Karrie Truman, passionate foodie, writer and author of the popular blog happymoneysaver.com, started blogging in 2009 as a way of sharing recipes and money saving ideas with her three sisters.
Karrie lives and blogs out of eastern Washington. She enjoys all the different seasons and being outdoors. Karrie has four amazing kids who keep her running around and steal her heart. Her site happymoneysaver.com helps her readers find delicious recipes, learn ways to live life to the fullest while on a budget, make things from scratch, and learn to try again when things occasionally go wrong. Karrie’s unique ideas keep her readers cooking in the kitchen and laughing along with her funny adventures.
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Seriously Good Freezer Meals is full of Karrie’s own tried-and-true freezer-meal recipes. As soon as she started posting freezer meal recipes on her blog her readers instantly fell in love. They were hungry for a whole freezer meal cookbook full of Karrie’s best freezer meal recipes and continually asked her to write a cookbook. Karrie finally relented and here are the delicious results of all her hard work!
“I want to share with you my belief that it is possible — even if you have the world’s busiest schedule — to have a seriously good tasting, healthy meal every day.”
—Karrie Truman
Looking for more ideas for freezer meals or taking meals to a friend?
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