Pasta and rice freezes very well, I just don't think potatoes freeze well.
I think pretty well any casserole would work.
But keep in mind that some casserolesa rea whole meal, while others are juyst veggie or just meat and noodles etc.
I never put potatoes in my pot pie....just chicken ( or beef) veggies and gravy under a crust.
Most small casserole type of dishes don't have to be thawed. They can go directly from freezer to the oven....but you have to cook them a little longer.

However I am not sure why you say soup is not substantial...I can make a very substantial soup....beef lots of veggies, rice, or noodles and just enough broth to make it soup!
Perhaps she would like an Empanada type of meal?
Sort of a hot meal in a crust....or a pot pie without the dish!
Linda C

starlightfarm, I freeze things with cooked potatoes and they are fine. I partially cook french fries and freeze them and I've frozen pasties with potatoes, shepherd's pie, etc. Freezing raw potatoes didn't turn out so well.

I freeze spaghetti and lasagna, the pasta is cooked but requires the baking step. I freeze chicken pot pie but again the filling is cooked before I put it into the crust, that's how I make it when I'm going to bake it immediately too.

I do freeze uncooked meatloaf packed into muffin cups so Ashley can just take out one little meatloaf and put it in the oven with a baked potato for a meal if I'm not home. I've also frozen cooked and mashed potatoes in muffin cups and those just get popped into the microwave with a little extra milk and butter.

Muffins freeze well, as do cookies and unfrosted cupcakes. Bread, of course, freezes without significant impact to quality. I've made individual "calzones" with bread dough and various fillings and frozen them after baking. The girls liked "pizza" filling with sauce, pepperoni, canadian bacon and cheese or a reuben filling with corned beef, grainy mustard and sauerkraut. I've filled them with chicken and broccoli, with herbed cream cheese and cooked salmon, with roast beef and horseradish.

English muffins make good breakfast sandwiches, I fry an egg, add a slice of cheese, canadian bacon if I want, assemble, wrap and freeze. Breakfast burritos freeze well too, as long as you cook the eggs and vegetables before rolling and freezing. I've even cooked burgers on the grill and frozen them so they can be microwaved and put on a bun by the kids.

Most of the things I freeze are pre-cooked and only need thawing and reheating. The breakfast muffins can be disassembled and put into the microwave to thaw but the muffins take less time than the egg/cheese/meat filling so I take them apart.

Good luck, and good for you for doing this. I'm sure your MIL appreciates the help and loves you even more for it.

Annie

Rice and pasta will freeze better if they are not surrounded by a liquid sauce. You could cool the rice or pasta and the sauce, then put the pasta on the bottom, layer a sheet of parchment paper over it, then put a thick sauce on top of the parchment paper. Just remove the paper before mixing and eating. Another trick is to cook pasta just al dente or not completely and let it finish cooking in the re-heating process.

Potatoes will get very soft and mushy if frozen in a soup or sauce. Twice Baked Potatoes freeze fine and it is easy to have a half a potato for just one smallish serving.

It would be easy to make small servings of "calzones" or the hot pocket type snack by using crescent roll dough or dairy case biscuits in the tubes. You could also use All Ready Pie Crust for little meat pies or toppings for pot pie.

Your MIL might do better with meatloaf muffins already cooked. I don't find that meatloaf has a loss of flavor or texture after freezing.

Do a search on "once a month cooking" for lots of ideas. Recipezaar has tons of freezer meal recipes too.
Teresa

Soup doesn't have to be thick or have a lot of solids to be nutritious and satisfying. Broth can be the most nutritious part of the soup, so I would consider making "thin" soups as well as stews.

Jim

Starlightfarm:
I Bake Stuffed Whole Chickens, cut them up for
Portion Meals.
But I don't freeze the Potatoes. I nuke them a couple minutes and add butter.
Sometimes I add Stir Frie Vegetables to each or Mashed Potatoes.

You can make Prebaked Pizza Dough add the Sauce and toppings,
so it will take only a few minutes to Bake.

How about Chicken soup with Veggies and pieces of Chicken Breast,
from the Chicken you Roasted.
I add them about 8 minutes before the soup is done.
That's the best tasting way I found for using Chicken Breasts in soup

Lasagne Cut into Portions.
I'll be back if I remember some more meals.

Lou

I've never frozen a potato in any form, but it seems like mashed potatoes would freeze very well. Am I wrong?

Jim

I portion nearly everything I cook for one or two and freeze it. Cook once and serve many times.... All cooked meats are sliced into portions to serve another day, or be used in a casserole or for sandwich meat. Along with portion sizes, the FoodSaver is my friend for keeping foods longer in the freezer without freezer burn. Some of these foods can be tossed in boiling water to reheat, rather than an oven/microwave/toaster oven.

I also portion cornbread, dinner rolls, quick breads, muffins, scones, etc., and wrap them in pop-up sheets of foil I get at Sam's Club. When I make a meal in the toaster oven, I can add the foil-wrapped breads to re-heat while the meal cooks.

A trip to the library may be in order. I have several books for cooking for one or two and cookbooks with recipes designed for a toaster oven - which are in smaller portions, that may be helpful for ideas. Better Homes and Gardens - Meals for One or Two has great recipes in it. If you have a senior citizen center, the director may have hand-outs for ideas and recipes.

My parents used to purchase Meals-On-Wheels frozen meals and used these occasionally. They were very inexpensive. Our Senior Citizen Center is where the meals are prepared and the frozen meals are sold there. These meals are generally low-sodium and well-balanced. You don't have to participate in Meals-On-Wheels in order to purchase these frozen meals - just meet their age/income requirements. Salsbury Steak and Turkey were favorites of theirs....

Another friend found her MIL did very well using NutriSystem foods. The low-carb selections were perfect for her diabetic MIL.

I've only posted this poor recipe a dozen times, or so, but I almost always use Freezer Mashed Potatoes. I only purchase potatoes when they are buy one 5# bag and get one free and make them into dollops of frozen mashed potatoes. I only make them a few times a year using this method, and always have some in the freezer. You can also freeze the potatoes in small containers if you like.

FREEZER MASHED POTATOES
5# potatoes (washed and peeled, or leave the peel on)
Cook the potatoes as you normally would. Drain. When you mash them add:
6-oz. cream cheese
1-cup sour cream
1/4 c. butter

I portion them using an ice cream scoop onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Quick freeze them (just until they are completely frozen, and package them in a FoodSaver bag (a FoodSaver bag keeps them from getting freezer burn). Take out what I need and reseal the bag.

-Grainlady

No Jim, you're right. As I mentioned, I just freeze muffin cups full and after they are frozen I pop them out and freeze them in ziplock bags so I can take one out at a time.

Add a bit of milk and butter and microwave until heated through. A quick stir and they're good to go.

I do this in the fall when the potatoes are going for about $5 for a 100 pound bag at the farm market, or when I dig potatoes in the garden and don't want to put them all into the root cellar. I buy the ones that are way too big, or too weird shaped for commercial sale, they are still good and fresh, but not consistent with the perfect potato that consumers want, I guess.

Annie

Wow.... you guys never disappoint!

Some great ideas.

I guess I worded it wrong when I said that the soups were not "substantial". I've gotten some WONDERFUL recipes for soup from you guys... and she loves them all. I just want to have some variety for her (not JUST soups).

The mini-meatloafs sound just perfect for her... along with the freezer mashed potatoes. She usually keeps some frozen veggies in the freezer, so that would be an easy meal right there!

Thanks for all the ideas. I'm heading over the Recipezaar to check out their frozen meals also.

Sorry Annie, for overlooking the mashed potatoes in your post. I did read your post, but a little too quickly.

And thank you, Grainlady, for the good recipe. It probably seems to you like posting it for the thousandth time. :>)

Jim

Star Light Star bright:
I was going to tell you,I make a large Meatloaf with Cream of Mushroom Soup added to it.

Portion it with Gravy. Add Veggies or whatever.

Tonite, I'm making Lou's Baked FishCakes with Veggies.
Had them made and frozen.

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