15 Multipurpose Frozen Foods You Should Always Have - Page 2

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Frozen foods have come a long way since sad TV dinners with stiff turkey cutlets, muddy-looking gravy, and questionably goopy vegetables. When I used to think of frozen foods, I just thought of complete meals. Well, nutritionally they may not have been that complete, but in theory, they were. Frozen enchiladas with rice and beans. Frozen lasagna. Frozen stirfry. Frozen spaghetti dishes. I felt guilty buying frozen food because it seemed like I’d just given up on interacting with my ingredients in any genuine way. It seemed a bit sad—frozen meals, in my mind, were for divorced single dads or women on a weight loss plan.

Now, I’ve learned to diversify my uses of frozen items. I love getting creative with what’s in my kitchen, and I often make meals that are a combination of fresh things, frozen things, and even canned things. Sometimes, I throw in some takeout leftovers—Thai restaurants often give me too much rice, which I use with other meals throughout my week. There are a handful of single-ingredient and limited-ingredient frozen foods I always have on hand, because there is so much I can do with them. They can become a base for my fresh ingredients, or just the final topping a fresh entrée needed. Some foods are so much easier to handle frozen and prepared. I don’t mind taking the win and letting someone else cut, peel, dice, and cook certain ingredients for me if it saves me 45 minutes. And the beauty of frozen ingredients is that they (almost) never go bad, so they can be a lifesaver when you’re out of fresh food and out of time to hit the store. Here are multipurpose frozen foods you should always have in your freezer.

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Whole grain waffles

Making waffle batter from scratch, frying it up, and cleaning up the waffle maker is quite a pain. Then, you have to use all of that batter quickly before it turns. Keep frozen waffles on hand and use them to make sweet or savory dishes. Chicken and waffles anyone? Or how about a cheese and egg sandwich, using waffles instead of bread? Huevos rancheros taste great over this crispy, doughy food, too.

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Black bean burger

There’s a lot you can do with a black bean burger, besides putting it between two buns. And the frozen variety is so much easier to make than those from scratch. Put them on some toasted bread with melted cheese for a patty melt. Cut them up and put them in a quesadilla. Place one grilled on top of a salad.

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Shrimp

Seafood is great to buy frozen because when you buy it fresh, you run the risk of not eating it before it goes bad. Fresh fish can be pricey, too. Keep a bag of frozen cooked shrimp around and add it straight to stirfries, defrost it and grill it to add to tacos, or eat it with some cocktail sauce for an appetizer.

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Sweet potato fries

Making French fries from scratch is a real pain. White potato fries don’t contain too many nutrients. Frozen sweet potato fries, however, are loaded with nutrients and arrive read to eat. Cook them up and dump canned chili over them with some shredded cheese for a hearty meal. Put sunny-side-up eggs on top of them with chives and sour cream.

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Green beans

Washing and cutting the ends off of these can take quite a while, so I just buy them frozen and add them to veggie soups, baked chicken dishes, or simply toss them with some garlic, parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Or use them to make a classic green bean casserole.

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Cabbage

You can actually add frozen cabbage directly to whatever you’re cooking. It’s such a delicate, water-heavy food that you don’t even want to let it defrost. So toss it into your vegetable soup, stirfry, or corned beef and cabbage dinner. You can also fry it up with pieces of bacon and onion for a tasty side.

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Carrots

I personally never use all of my fresh carrots before they become floppy. But they are great to have around to have with peas over rice as a side dish, to add to Bolognese sauce for some veggies, or to heat up with some brown sugar and butter for a sweet and savory side.

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Red snapper

Frozen red snapper is more affordable frozen than fresh, and is a wonderfully versatile fish. Make fish tacos, bake it with bread crumbs and Worcester sauce, toss some pesto sauce on it and have it with rice, or batter it and fry it for some fish and chips.

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Butternut squash

Peeling and cutting butternut squash is no small task. It takes a very long time. And, unfortunately, the fresh stuff goes bad pretty quickly, becoming slimy and sour. Buy peeled and cubed frozen butternut squash and add it to soups, use it in a casserole, or bake it in the oven with olive oil and herbs.

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Kale

A lot of people don’t like the texture of kale, but that’s because the fresh stuff can be rather tough. The frozen stuff is actually much milder and has a better consistency—it’s similar to spinach when frozen—and is easy to add to all sorts of things, like omelets, pasta dishes, and casseroles.

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Chicken patties

Chicken patties are efficient and tasty sources of protein, and can be a nice change from simple chicken breasts. Keep frozen ones around and lettuce-wrap them for a lean burger, dump salsa and avocado on them for a south of the border recipe, or even use them as the base for your chicken parmesan over spaghetti.

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Salmon filets

When you want to make something truly healthy but don’t have time to do much shopping or preparation, you’ll be glad to have salmon filets on hand. Just place your sealed filets in a bowl of cold water, and they should be defrosted within about an hour. Grill them and put them cold over salad, mash them up to make a salmon salad sandwich, or bake them in the oven with potatoes and vegetables.

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Sausage

Fresh sausage tends to come in airtight bags that, once broken, allow oxygen to deteriorate the meat quickly. I personally don’t need to scarf down eight fresh sausage links in the three days I have until they go bad. So just buy frozen sausage. You can crumble it into soup or scrambles, or make it whole with mashed potatoes and beans.

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Meatballs

Though I’d love to make meatballs from scratch, I rarely have the time. I do, however, keep bagged frozen meatballs around. I use these to make meatball sandwiches, spaghetti and meatballs, or even appetizers of meatballs on skewers with barbecue sauce.