This post contains affiliate links. We’ve been in Arizona for 7.5 years now. When we first arrived, I could handle the heat better than I can now. (I’m blaming being perimenopausal for that!) Now, when the heat cranks up in early May and continues at least through late September (sometimes until late October), I’m miserable when it comes time to make meals in a hot kitchen. Since we homeschool and have food intolerances, we make all of our meals from scratch. That’s a lot of cooking and a lot of sweating and hot flashing. This year, I’ve decided to have an audacious goal–make and execute a gluten free dairy free freezer meal plan for summer 2022.
My Gluten Free Dairy Free Freezer Meal Plan for Summer 2022
My plan is to simply make double of a few meals I prepare each week and stash them in the freezer. I may have to have a freezer cooking day or two to help fill the freezer. However, right now with food shortages and trouble getting the foods I need, I’m just going to focus on doubling whatever recipes I’m making for the week.
How Many Meals Will I Need?
I don’t plan on relying solely on freezer meals for five months of the year. My family, especially my husband, wouldn’t be very happy with that. So, I will rely on freezer meals for about four dinners a week. I’ll also enlist the kids to do some of the cooking for meals. (It’s good training for when they move out, right?) And, my husband always cooks every meal on the weekend.
I figure for five months, using four freezer meals a week, I need roughly 80 freezer meals stashed away to get me through the hottest weather.
What Freezer Meals I Have So Far
(Please note that these recipes aren’t all automatically dairy free and gluten free. If they’re not, I just sub df/gf ingredients like nut milk or Bob’s Red Mill One-to-One flour or rice noodles.)
I just started working on this goal last week, and I now have four freezer meals stashed away:
Chicken Fajitas (x2) (I just froze the filling)
So, even though I made a small dent in my goal, I still have a lot of work to do.
Other Meals I Am Considering
Korean Beef (from MyFreezEasy)
Chalupa Salad (from MyFreezEasy)
Chicken Apple Sausage, Kale & Rice Soup,
How Much Variety to Have in the Freezer Meals?
Of course, having 20 recipes that I quadruple to put in the freezer is easiest, but my family likes variety. So, I think I’ll use at least 30 or 40 different recipes so that I have only two or three freezer meals that are the same. It’s more work upfront when I’m making the meals, but we’ll have more variety when it’s time to eat them.
Final Thoughts
So, that’s my audacious freezer cooking plan for the next few months. Get the freezer stocked with gluten free, dairy free freezer meals so I can have a cooler summer with less time in the kitchen.
Have you ever tried to cook this quanity of freezer meals? If so, how did it go? Inquiring minds want to know!
Read More
How I Made 40+ Freezer Meals with MyFreezeasy
Freezer Cooking Wrap Up, January 2018
Easy Gluten Free Dairy Free Monthly Menu Plan for February 2020
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