In today's fast-paced world, finding time to cook nutritious meals can feel like an impossible task. Whether you're juggling work, family commitments, or just trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle, the thought of spending hours in the kitchen every evening can be daunting. So every night after you get into the kitchen with a growling stomach, you desperately make puppy eyes at the menus and food ordering apps. But that’s not so healthy, is it?
To cater to this major issue, almost every millennial and Gen-Z faces on a daily basis, the idea of freezer meals is getting much traction. By investing a little time upfront to prep and freeze meals in advance, you can enjoy homemade dishes that will ensure that you’re eating healthy while also saving you a lot of time and effort. Here’s a list of healthy freezer meals that you can try out every week to save yourself from the guilt of eating takeouts.
Dal
If you were raised in an Indian household, you’d know the importance of a bowl of dal on the dinner table. But again, you might not have the time to go through the entire process of making a flavourful meal every night. So, you can follow these steps and freeze the mixture and boil the portion as and when required.
Start by choosing and soaking a dal of your choice. Take out a pot with chopped onions on medium flame and cook until golden brown. Add a paste of garlic and ginger with some tomatoes and stir well. Next, put some haldi (turmeric powder), coriander powder, and salt to taste. Let it cook till the dal is fragrant and all tender. After cooling it, put the dal into a container before you’re ready to eat it the next time.
Vegetable Gravy
Gravies are a great freezer-friendly option, as they often taste even better after the flavours have had time to meld together. Since this is a generic recipe, you can even turn it into sambar, use it for matar paneer, or other dishes with gravy. All you need to do is take sliced onions and diced tomatoes in a pan and start mashing till you get a thick paste. Then you can add ginger garlic, and your favourite curry spices and stir the paste. You can store the thick paste as is and add the main ingredients like paneer, peas, and diced potatoes with water as per the consistency when you take it out of the freezer.
Pasta Sauce
This is especially for the foodie inside you who craves an Italian dish every once in a while. So, instead of ordering it online, you can keep the pasta sauce ready in your freezer and add the pasta of your choice like spaghetti, penne, or even lasagna. So, take really small pieces of onion and garlic and make a thick paste. If you like red sauce pasta, feel free to add chopped tomatoes along with your go-to spices, oregano, and chilli flakes.
Heat the paste in a pan, add some milk and maida and stir well to avoid any lumps. Set it on low flame and stir for another 15-20 minutes, and you’re done. You can now store it in air-tight containers for up to three months before you get the next craving for pasta.
Chicken and Vegetable Stir-fry
Stir fries are not only delicious but also incredibly easy to prepare in advance, and of course, to relish afterwards. You can simply start the process by slicing chicken breast and marinating the pieces in a mixture of soy sauce with a hint of ginger-garlic paste. Then, take a pan and stir-fry the marinated chicken until all the pieces are thoroughly cooked. In another pan, take some vegetables you’re fond of, like peas, carrots, bell peppers, and broccoli and cook them on medium flame. Mix the chicken with the vegetables and cook for another 10 minutes till the chicken gets the flavour of the vegetables. Remember to cool down the mixture for freezing, and you’re all done!
Smoothies
Don’t you feel like drinking a cold beverage to relax after you’ve completed your work? Or if you have kids, and you want to give them a nutritional boost every evening, you cannot miss freezing smoothies. And this recipe is, by far, the easiest and gives you an instant kick whenever you feel tired. Just take up the seasonal fruits available to you, like bananas, strawberries, grapes, etc, along with some curd and blend them. Once you get a thick mixture, add skimmed milk to even the consistency, add some honey as a natural sweetener, and blend till you get a smooth and creamy mixture. Now all that’s left is to freeze and relish the content within a month.