Your very easiest OMAC recipes (or other freezer recipes)

[Quiteria]

So, I'd like to start OMAC very gently...what are your absolute easiest recipes?

Don't feel like you need to type them out if you have a link...I can probably even google the name if you got them off a website for OMAC...but the gist is that at this point I don't really care about quality or variety. I just want a few to start with that require extremely little effort. Stuff I can throw together with very little prep, so that I succeed in getting hte month's food done with a zillion interruptions, not spread out the "cooking day" over 72hrs and ruin all the raw stuff by taking too long.

I want my freezer to be full so that we can stop eyeballing takeout menus and storebought frozen dinners. I can add stuff with more prep once I get the hang of it...but first I need to get the freezer full!

[Blue-EyedLady]

http://www.marthastewart.com/356147/...-apple-patties

Kid-approved.

[Mother of Sons]

Balsamic mustard chicken

Taco meat

Spaghetti sauce

Chicken Parmesan

Bacon wrapped stuffed chicken

[filmgirl2911]

subbing. maybe stealing some ideas along the way

great idea for a thread

[Emerald Orchid]

Shepherd's pie
Chicken fried rice
Vegetarian chili
Vegetable noodle soup

[Castle On A Cloud]

I did these for after the baby's birth:
Brown Bag Burritos
http://amysfinerthings.com/brown-bag-burritos
Chiuahua Chili
http://goodcheapeats.com/2009/06/chihuahua-chili/
Apple Pie
http://goodcheapeats.com/2009/09/mak...eat-apple-pie/
Chicken Pot Pie
http://lifeasmom.com/2009/09/ultimat...rite-fall.html
I also cook up 1 lb of ground beef and mix it with 2 cans of sauce (the equivalent of one meal for us)

[Happygrl]

Many of my easiest recipes are in this thread (along with some links, other GCmers recipes, tips, etc.)

http://www.gentlechristianmothers.co...highlight=OAMC

[MiriamRose]

because after I use up what's in my freezer now, I want to keep several meals in there at all times in case of "emergencies".

[Blue-EyedLady]

Originally Posted by Emerald Orchid

Shepherd's pie
Chicken fried rice
Vegetarian chili
Vegetable noodle soup

How do you do fried rice with OAMC? IME, freezing cooked rice doesn't work.

[Emerald Orchid]

Originally Posted by Blue-EyedLady

How do you do fried rice with OAMC? IME, freezing cooked rice doesn't work.

I reheat in the oven and it's just a bit mushier, but I find that brown rice is mushy anyway.

[Hannah Elise]

Originally Posted by Emerald Orchid

I reheat in the oven and it's just a bit mushier, but I find that brown rice is mushy anyway.

I know it's not technically OAMC but it is something I have found to simplify having a grain on-hand for meals - but you could cook up a big ol' stockpot of rice once at the start of the week, and keep it in the fridge - then you just pull out whaatever portion you need for a night's meal. We'll do that, and have rice with like... three different meals duringthe night.

Also - you guys mentioned the rice being mushy... I for one don't like mushy rice and found that if I use short-grain brown rice, it cooks up much "drier" than white rice or even typical long-grain brown rice. Then again, I also use the boiling method - I put in waaay too much water (none of this "put in this proportion of water to this proprtion of rice and when it's done cooking, there won't be any water left) - and just check it periodically while it's cooking until it is the doneness we like - then I drain the pot as you would with a pot of pasta - and voila!

Now, I haven't tried freezing it - I use the "make a ton and keep it in a pot in the fridge" err... 'method'... - but I would imagine that since short-grain is less mushy to begin with, it would freeze less mushy as well? Worth a try, I guess?

As far as finding short-grain rice, I was getting mine at our local health food store, as they have bulk bins of grains, seeds, and flours - but then I found I could order an entire 25lb bag of Lundberg's Eco-farmed Short-grain Brown Rice through a local store that uses a couple of co-ops to get their grains and spices... I would imagine you could probably find it on Amazon, too (although I don't know what brands they have, I just know the one I've found that we love) - their subscribe-and-save option is great.

Hope that wasn't too much of a tangent for a OAMC thread...

Pardon the typos - this was sent via Tapatalk on my cell phone!

[Hannah Elise]

Originally Posted by Blue-EyedLady

http://www.marthastewart.com/356147/...-apple-patties

Kid-approved.

Oh my goodness.. they're gluten-free and they sound amazing. I need to make those when we get home from the in-laws...

Pardon the typos - this was sent via Tapatalk on my cell phone!

[Blue-EyedLady]

All my recipes are top-8 allergen-free, plus corn-free. (We do eat fish, but I rarely follow a recipe to cook it! )

[Mother of Sons]

The trick to freezing rice or pasta is to undercook it.

[RiverRock]

I find that rice freezes better if it is in a bit of a sauce, or if it made as a pilaf with some oil. Plain dry rice seems too dry after being frozen.