Casseroles! Who doesn’t love casseroles? Made in one pan (for the most part), can easily be frozen into 2-3 smaller portions for 2-3 different days. Add a veggie the night you serve it and you’re done! Following are a few of my favorites. Make your life easy by buying rotisserie chickens. Costco’s are the best! (Costco even sells rotisserie chicken already pulled off the bone!) Tom Thumb does $5 rotisserie chickens on Mondays as well. All of these recipes are easy to double. So if you have the freezer space, go for it! Also, if you don’t batch cook, that’s also fine. On the night you choose to make a recipe, double it then.  Eat one portion that night and freeze the other.  This is an easy way to stock the freezer without spending all day in the kitchen.


Poppyseed Chicken
2 cans cream of chicken soup
16 oz sour cream
1 T. poppy seeds
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
1/2 t. black pepper
3/4 t. garlic powder
5 cups cooked chicken, chopped into bite-size pieces (rotisserie)
1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crumbled
1/2 cup melted butter

Mix all ingredients together except crackers and butter. Divide into two 8 or 9 inch square foil pans. Cover with foil and freeze. To heat: thaw, mix crackers and butter and sprinkle over casserole, bake til hot and bubbly on 350, about 30 minutes. Serve over rice with a vegetable on the side.

Lasagna
Your favorite meat sauce (as simple as ground beef and a jar of sauce), about 4 cups
1 or 2 boxes of lasagna noodles
2 cups ricotta or cottage cheese
1 egg
1-2 garlic cloves
4 cups mozzarella
1/2-1 cup parmesan

Have your meat sauce ready
Mix ricotta or cottage cheese with egg and garlic, add salt and pepper to taste.
Shred mozzarella and Parmesan if you didn’t just buy a bag of it. Do not cook your noodles!

I do this in the foil loaf pans, because I’m only feeding two adults. Even then we had leftovers because I always serve salad and bread. Feel free to make in bigger pans for bigger families; it will cook up the same.

Spray pan with cooking spray
Add a layer of meat sauce
Add a dry noodle, broken to fit the pan
Layer on ricotta mixture, then a bit of mozzarella
Start again with sauce - noodle - cheese - sauce.... until pan is full
Top with mozzarella and Parmesan.

Cover with foil and freeze.

Thaw the day you’d like to serve it and bake until hot and bubbly!

Lazy Man’s Lasagna
Your favorite meat sauce, about 4 cups
1 bag of frozen ravioli of your choice (keep it frozen)
Mozzarella, about 4 cups
Parmesan cheese

Layer meat sauce, frozen ravioli, shredded cheese until the pan is full or you’ve used all the ingredients. Cover the pan with foil and place it in the freezer or bake immediately at 350 for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Serve with salad and garlic bread.

Broccoli, Chicken, and Rice Casserole
4 cups cooked rice
4 cups cooked, chopped chicken
2 (16 oz) bags frozen broccoli
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1T. onion powder
4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything in a bowl and pour into greased foil pans, size of your choice. Cover with foil and freeze. To heat: thaw and bake at 350 until hot and bubbly. Before baking, you may add crushed Ritz crackers and melted butter or leave it off. It’s totally up to you!

These four recipes will give you about 10 meals, more if putting lasagna into loaf pans.