I Need Freezer Friendly Recipes

Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Spencer Richards, Prop Styling by Marina Bevilacqua

ON THIS WEEK’S episode of Dinner SOS, test kitchen director and host Chris Morocco taps deputy food editor Hana Asbrink, one of the brains behind Bon Appetit's column The Fourth Trimester, to help caller Mara stock up on freezer-friendly, comforting but nourishing meals before her baby arrives.

Mara is expecting her first child. She really enjoys cooking as a way to unwind but is anticipating that the way she currently cooks won’t be feasible when there's a tiny human in the mix. She’s never freezer meal-prepped before and is finding the idea of it intimidating. Her dream is to have a variety of foods in the freezer before the baby arrives, so she and her husband have one less thing to worry about when dinner time rolls around.

Chris brings in Hana, who is no stranger to Mara’s quest! She explains a little about The Fourth Trimester, a relatively new recurring column focusing on the general postpartum experience of new parents and the foods that nourished them. It combines essays and recipes that explore this often tumultuous time in people’s lives. Chris and Hana offer Mara two approaches, one focused on classic freezer meals like lasagnas, and one focused on soups like Mara’s favorite comfort food, avgolemono. They recommend Rachel Gurjar’s Baked Mushroom Rice-Porridge, similar to a traditional congee, which is not only simple to make using a hands-off oven approach and an easy flavor vehicle but also freezes well. They also recommend Kendra Vaculin’s Cozy and Quick White Chicken Chili, which in addition to being super flavorful and easy to reheat uses a number of optional toppings that make everything feel fresh again and less straight-from-the-freezer. They also advise on best freezing techniques as well as which bags to use for freezing.

Listen now to hear more of how Chris and Hana help Mara prepare before her baby arrives with these delicious and nutritious recipes, and how the test run went!

Chris Morocco: Hey there listeners, future callers and cooking enthusiasts. Welcome to Dinner SOS, the show where we help you save dinner or whatever you're cooking. I'm Chris Morocco, Food Director of Bon Appetit and Epicurious. Our caller this week is Mara. She's a professor of cognitive science in Michigan and she loves a cooking project to unwind during the week. And her SOS revolves around some exciting news which she shared when we first spoke last fall.

Mara: I am pregnant. So we don't have children yet but watch this space, one incoming in the new year. And I recognize that the way that I really like to cook dinner right now is probably less feasible when there's a tiny human in the mix. And I am not someone who has ever really done much freezer meal prepping. And I'm trying to think about how I can get ahead of the game when once the tiny human is here and everything is chaos, and I'm also going to be really hungry.

CM: Yeah, you will be. As anybody who's become a parent in the age of the internet knows, there's a seemingly infinite amount of advice and hacks out there. And some of it is useful, but a lot of it can feel engineered to make new parents without much time in their hands feel bad.

M: So the reason why I came to you and ran away from the subreddit meal prep is because I came across a post that was just so intimidating to me. It was like a woman had meal prepped something like 430 meals or something, and it was just like, I was like, "Oh no, I got it. I can't do this. It's too much." So that is not the dream, but I think the dream is to feel well supplied with food that I'll be excited to eat and that will be easy for us to eat in say the first month or two, just when we're really trying to get to grips with any semblance of routine and just have one less thing to worry about when dinnertime rolls around. And so I would love for there to be a little bit of variety in the stuff that's in the freezer for us to eat.

And I'd also love for it to be, yeah, stuff that's delicious, but I also want to make sure there's some vegetables in there. And it's not just cheese and pasta, as delicious as cheese and pasta are. Because if I had to pick one comfort food that I love the most in the world it's avgolemono, the Greek lemon chicken rice soup, and my family makes it with rice anyway. And I love to make it, but it's a little labor-intensive and it doesn't freeze the best just because it's got the rice in it.

CM: Yeah. So you mentioned wanting to leverage your freezer, and I'm curious, what does your freezer space look like? Are you the kind of person who has a chest freezer in the garage or are you just working with your regular fridge?

M: So we actually have a totally unused and empty upright freezer in the basement.

CM: What? Did it come with the house?

M: Yeah, it did.

CM: What?

M: And so we just haven't needed it thus far. But that was part of what was going on in my mind. It was just like, look at the possibilities, all this empty shelf space.

CM: And is the thought of filling that freezer, does that fill you with excitement or does it feel intimidating in some way?

M: I think I really could use some guidance about how best to fill it, but I am excited by the prospect of getting prepared. And I also, I like the idea of spending some time doing this cooking that's going to benefit future me.

CM: How would you describe your freezing career thus far? Do you feel like you're somebody who really takes advantage and sort of really pushes your freezer to the max?

M: No. Really no. So I mean I like occasionally will freeze, it's like, oh, this broccoli is going south. I'm going to chop it up and freeze it so it doesn't go bad. But it is not really baked into my cooking habits.

CM: Really?

M: Yeah.

CM: Because I'm a freezer fanatic.

M: Give me all of your tips, I need them.

CM: Oh, are you kidding me? Bread, sliced bread.

M: Oh, I mean, yeah, I freeze bread.

CM: Okay. Because there's people who are like, "No, no, no, I just keep it in this box on the counter and watch it slowly get crappier every day of the week."

M: No, it goes moldy.

CM: Yeah, thank you. Just put it in the freezer and it's all good. And it comes back refreshed like the day was baked. But I mean, I get a little bit weird with it. I'll eat half of a chocolate chip cookie and then very carefully wrap the second half and then I'll freeze that.

M: I mean, I have a sweet tooth husband who it would never make it to the freezer.

CM: I've caught some flack for this behavior, but sometimes the whole tin of curry paste is too much. I'll use half of it because the full can would just be overpowering, and I'll just leave the rest in the can and I'll wrap it tightly, and I'll just throw it in the freezer where it just holds for months. So suffice to say, we can definitely expand how you're thinking about the freezer and how you're making best use of it in terms of meals that are truly ready to go. Last question, when are you due and how much time do we have?

M: Oh, so I am due in mid-January, so there's a bit of time.

CM: Okay, excellent. Because I certainly want to make sure we're getting some ideas into your hands so that it's not like a last-minute crunch in terms of prepping and filling that freezer. You actually have some time to do that. Well, looking forward to continuing the conversation.

M: Thank you so much for having me.

CM: To help Mara leverage her freezer and plan ahead for postpartum meals. I knew I needed to call my colleague Hana Asbrink, who helps run the test kitchen and also is the brains behind Bon Appetit's column the Fourth Trimester.

Hana Asbrink: Fourth Trimester is a relatively new recurring column focusing on the general postpartum experience of new parents, I should say. And even though it's a very narrative-led series, it's accompanied by personal recipes that really kind of elucidate that moment in time for the contributing writers.

CM: And the first iteration of Fourth Trimester was an essay about your own experience in that time. And just in case anybody hasn't read the piece, which is beautiful, what did that time look like for you after you gave birth to your daughter and became a parent?

HA: I mean, it was like a period of my life where I was like, "What is time?" When the days kind of just bleed into one another and you really don't have a good sense of time, space, or self really. So I wrote about Miyeokguk, which is a traditional Korean seaweed soup that new mothers have. And really that was the anchor point for me. That was the one constant during a time period that was very not constant. So in a way it was kind of like a north star dish, if you will.

CM: Okay. You may be sensing where we're going with this, and I want to tell you a little bit about Mara and her dinner SOS. She's expecting her first child in January.

I caught Hana up on Mara's freezer dreams, and we decided to give Mara two different approaches, one focused on classic freezer meals like lasagnas, and one focused on soups like Mara's favorite comfort food, avgolemono.

HA: You have chosen the correct participant for this podcast. I love soup so much. As you know, I love a clear broth and I also love a thick chili or stew. So it's the full gamut of the soup world that I'm a huge fan of, and it just so happens most seem to freeze very well.

CM: Yes, definitely. Okay, cool. So we're agreed you're taking the soup assignment and I'll think of some other things.

HA: Yes.

CM: But you think broadly.

HA: Yes.

CM: Awesome.

HA: Love it.

CM: We're going to take a short break, when we get back, Hana and I will get Mara set up for Fourth Trimester success.

Welcome back, Mara. How has everything been going?

M: It's been really good. Thank you. How are you?

CM: Good. I'm joined here by my colleague Hana Asbrink. Hana, how are you doing?

HA: I'm great. Mara, it's so nice to make your acquaintance and congratulations on the fantastic and very exciting news.

M: Thank you so much. It's so nice to meet you as well.

HA: Yes. I hope you've been feeling great and are relatively energized and sleeping well. How far along are you at this point?

M: I have, knock on wood, I've been having a pretty good time, I would say, so I'm about six months now, which is wild to think about. And I have managed to escape really any morning sickness and I think I figured out the pregnancy pillow situation. So no complaints.

CM: So Hana, I want you to take it away, and I'm curious if you were thinking recipe first or if you were thinking technique first, or were you just thinking comfort? What sort of loomed as the most important element to raise up here?

HA: I think all of the above is the answer. In feeding yourself after such a momentous time in your life, you'll quickly realize how kind of low in the totem pole you suddenly become. So I wanted to focus on all those things, kind of ease plus comfort, certainly, and nutrition. I actually have two recipes that I'd like to share. And the first one is in the spirit of a more traditional congee. And I bring this up because it lives in a family of kind of porridge, oatmeal, goodness that a lot of postpartum diets represent. They are just easy to put together, require no real recipe, freeze well, and can really sustain you in terms of being a great canvas for other flavors.

The first recipe I would love to share with you, Mara, is a baked mushroom rice porridge by Rachel Gurjar. Congee is a rather simple dish to get together. You just boil up either fresh rice or already cooked rice, just lots and lots of water or broth. And she's made it even simpler in that you are essentially doing it all in the oven. So no kind of active stirring required. And with deep, hearty, earthy mushrooms as a base, it can basically stand as a pretty vegetarian-friendly canvas, and you can always add in more vegetables or proteins of your choice as you kind of reheat and enjoy along the way.

M: That sounds great.

CM: How would you freeze it, Hana? How would you store it?

HA: Yes. So this particular recipe, as I mentioned, does get cooked in a casserole or basically any large deep vessel. So what I would probably do is make enough maybe for two large vessels. If your oven is on, make it worth your while, cook other things, throw everything in there, and then serve yourself a warm portion and then cool down the rest. And then I would in zip-top baggies, preferably like a sandwich size, so no more than a quart or so just ladle in all of the leftover congee, kind of flatten them out, make sure everything is cooled down sufficiently, and then just stack them in your freezer, almost like a library of sorts. And that way you can have one serving's worth of congee whenever you feel like it. And you can either rip open the top and reheat the congee that way with a little more water, or put it in a big pot of warm water and slowly bring it up to heat and then empty the bag of its contents. There are different ways to heat up the style of frozen meal, if you will.

M: That sounds so good. I had mentioned to Chris earlier, my ultimate comfort food is avgolemono. And my family has always made it with rice, and I kind of love that it can be thicker or you can have it be more brothy. And so variations on that theme are super welcome.

HA: Yes. And frankly, you should make some avgolemono as well and just create your own little library of avgolemono. And for that you probably would want to add more liquid, but once everything's frozen, they all kind of look the same. And hopefully they'll all bring similar levels of comfort to you.

M: I mean, if I'm checking out a soup from the soup library in the freezer, but I made them, I'll be happy no matter what the outcome is.

HA: Mara, you're the best. I want to membership card.

CM: To the library, to the soup. Hana, any particular type of Ziploc bag you would use? Are you talking like freezer grade? Do you just kind of roll with what you've got? Do you force the air out or go crazy with it or?

HA: I think a freezer grade of any brand that you trust is good. And being my Asian self, I 100% will reuse these bags maybe a couple more times as long as it's not being compromised too much, especially if you'll just be using them in the same way, refilling them. And again, you don't have to use plastic bags either. If you have those great super cube style silicon molds, those are super popular. I haven't really used those yet because my own freezer doesn't quite lend themselves space-wise. But there are plenty of silicon options, a lot with a lid to help prevent freezer burn and prevent them from kind of sloshing around in your freezer. So anything that's kind of easy to pop open and defrost should work great. And don't forget to label either with a sharpie directly on the bag or even with a piece of tape marked with the date, just so everyone can keep track.

CM: Permanent marker and masking tape is my default. It's somehow, I swear, any amount of water vapor in the freezer environment starts to kind of like degrade even permanent marker directly on a bag, but whereas on tape on the bag, it really wants to stay put. Your library deserves the utmost care. It needs a Dewey Decimal System of just labeling and dating.

HA: Oh my gosh. We need a visual of this, Mara.

M: I'll do what I can. One of my very first jobs actually was at a library that used the Dewey Decimal System, so close to my heart.

CM: Nice.

HA: Stop it. Let's fill up the library.

CM: Hana, did you have another recipe?

HA: Yes, I did. So in addition to congee, which is just so comforting, one of our most popular recipes on the site is Kendra Vaculin cozy and quick white chicken chili. And let me tell you, I've always loved white chicken chili.

CM: I already had it pulled up.

HA: I'm so sorry.

CM: Because I was going to cheat and I was going to give a soupy thing anyway.

HA: Oh, that's what you get for trying to cheat me, Chris.

CM: Oh my God, you cut me off at the pass.

HA: I knew this was going to happen.

CM: Amazing.

M: Great minds.

HA: Oh yes, great minds, great recipe. And I mean, I don't know if you're a chicken chili or chili fan to start, but the beauty of this recipe, in addition to the fact that it can double or triple very well, and it has a whole host of flavors, and also it's very friendly in terms of its ability to reheat, is that the toppings make everything feel like fresh again. So if you have just like a wedge of lime or some fresh avocado or jalapeno slices or some cilantro or coriander perhaps you would say, then you can just make this feel really bright and not so straight from the freezer.

M: I've had my eye on that one for a while. I have never pulled the trigger, so this is a great reason to.

CM: It's such a good recipe. And this recipe uses canned, diced green chilies. This is not leaving any flavor behind, but it's just bright, and like Hana said, finishing it with a handful of textural or other bright fresh items would be so great and make it feel new every time you eat it.

HA: One last bonus of this recipe is that you're not laboring over a chicken carcass or even chicken bone-in parts. It's using ground chicken. So you can really make this tonight and see whether you like it, just the single recipe's worth of servings. And then if you do like it, you can always use ground turkey, ground beef, ground pork, whatever your family likes, because the barrier to entry is just very low.

M: Yeah, that sounds delicious. We love chili, but I would say I almost always use the same one, usually using the red chilies and various beans, and this sounds a little fresher and definitely just a different thing to add to the rotation.

CM: Yeah. So the soupier path is sounding okay to you, Mara?

M: Oh, absolutely.

CM: Okay. Yeah, I mean, so from my perspective, when we first spoke, Mara, you were obviously rightly so focused on this period of time you're anticipating that's immediately postpartum when you're really just not going to have much time wherewithal, headspace, et cetera, to make the kinds of dishes that you currently enjoy making. And so where my brain was going in our initial conversation was sort of even beyond the Fourth Trimester, if you will, in terms of what is weeknight cooking going to look like for you?

And so another recipe that I wanted to mention was this is a recipe from our former colleague, Zaynab Issa. It's called Spinach Lasagna with ricotta. It's just the most kind of platonic ideal of a red saucy lasagna, but one that is phenomenally streamlined in terms of how it comes together. And one thing that I really like about this recipe is it actually was developed specifically with a freezer in mind. So sure, do I want you to return to a place in your life where you are making six hour lasagna and rolling out your own sheets of pasta and making your bechamel and making, well, I guess in your case, maybe a chickeny ragu or something? Sure. I really want that for you.

But for the meantime, a recipe like this, which is making the most of things like frozen, chopped spinach, ricotta, getting cream cheese into that mixture so that you have a really luscious kind of creaminess without having to make a bechamel. It's also using dried lasagna noodles. The moisture that you need in order to rehydrate those noodles has been factored into the ingredient choices around them. So you can set this up with those raw uncooked noodles and tomato sauce and your creamy spinachy sauce. You can set that up and freeze it as is.

M: It just sounds convenient, like assemble, bake, serve out of the same thing. Yeah, I mean that checks all the boxes.

CM: Absolutely. So yeah, Hana scooped me on the chili, so that's me done. Mara, how are you feeling in general?

M: I mean, I'm feeling increasingly well-equipped and then also just excited to try out some new recipes. That's always a really fun project for me. And food related recon is probably the best kind of recon. So I am just excited to dive in. This has been really, really helpful. And even the practical storage container suggestions, were so welcome as well.

CM: Absolutely.

HA: We're so excited for you and here with any follow-up questions as well.

M: All right, awesome. Thank you again.

CM: So we sent Mara off to do her test run of cooking and freezing. After the break, we'll see what Mara is checking out of her soup library.

Hi Mara, how are you?

M: Hi, I'm good. How are you?

CM: We're okay.

HA: Hi Mara. Great to hear your voice. Hope you're feeling well.

M: I am. Thank you so much.

CM: Yeah, we're speaking in mid-December and your due date is fast approaching, so just checking in. How far exactly along are you and how are you feeling?

M: So yeah, I am eight months pregnant, which is just bananas. It feels like it's flown by, but I have been feeling really good. So I feel really lucky and I can't quite believe it's going to all be happening next month.

HA: I can't believe it.

CM: My kids came early, so I mean, all I can say is if you haven't packed that bag, pack it.

M: I actually haven't. And that is sort of constantly on my list and it keeps getting, I move it to the next week. I'll pack it next week. But noted, I will get on that.

CM: Don't be like me. My first kid came five weeks early. We were scrambling. I was wearing the same socks for three days. I mean, that wasn't the worst part of it, but it was on there, on the list.

M: I mean, five weeks early, that's like tomorrow for me.

HA: Yeah, no pressure.

CM: Sorry, I always just make sure you crack the bag.

M: Okay, I will do my very best. We did install the car seats, so I'm feeling good about that at the very least.

CM: So Mara, you've done a test run yes?

M: Yes.

CM: All right. And you cooked, you froze, you defrosted, and then ate some kind of recipe.

M: That's right.

CM: What did you end up making?

M: So I could not choose, so I asked for permission to make two things, but the first one I went with was the quick and cozy white chicken chili.

HA: Yay.

M: Which I know both of you recommended, so how could I not? And it was spectacular. My partner and I had a really hard time only eating sort of a little bit right when I made it, I was like, "No, we have to put some of it away." So had to wrestle it away from him. But when we had it the second time around after it had had it stint in the freezer, we maybe liked it even more. So that was a huge hit.

CM: How did the process go? Making it, defrosting it, every step of the way.

M: It was really easy. I loved using the ground chicken, loved using the canned chilies. It came together really quickly and then I ended up freezing that one just in a sort of medium size Tupperware I already had, that was the perfect amount for two people to have a dinner portion. And so stash that away in the freezer remembered to take it out a day or two ahead of time and it was great.

CM: And did you add any of the fresh elements to serve, like herbs, et cetera?

M: Yes. So the first time I was trying to take a nice picture for you guys, I might've done it a little more beautifully. So we had sour cream and chips and the chopped jalapenos and cilantro and some scallions and it was delightful. Second time around, I think we didn't have quite as many fixings, but definitely had at least some chips. The sour cream, again, some of the jalapenos, and it really did freshen it up.

CM: Nice. So you mentioned you had also done a second recipe. What was that?

M: Yes. So I decided to go with the baked mushroom rice porridge.

HA: Yay. What a good student you are, Mara.

M: Well, not picking favorites. One of each, I think just because that's a recipe I had read in the magazine and was like, oh, maybe had sort of skipped by it, but the prep was so easy and I just wanted to give it a try, and that one really, really blew us away.

CM: Really.

M: I could not believe how easy it was to make. I could imagine even doing it from scratch with a baby around because the prep is so quick, and it was delicious and really nourishing. And my partner kept being like, "Is there cheese in this? Something that's making it really creamy and delicious." And I loved that I could add on whatever flavorings to sort of tweak it to our taste. So I used vegetable stock the first time, but it would be delicious with chicken as well, and throw on more chili crisp. I'm going to chuck in some spinach to make it sort of more well-rounded. So that was awesome. And then I also got to try out the Ziploc freeze flat little light.

HA: Yes, I'm all ears. Tell me about your library.

M: So I screwed up by buying the wrong Ziplocs. We took a special trip to Costco and I was like, I must get the ones with the double zipper thingies and I got the crappy slider [inaudible 00:27:44]

HA: That should work.

CM: Check out the library.

HA: Oh my gosh.

CM: Check out the stack.

HA: A+. That looks fantastic. Great.

CM: And I made sure when I froze them at first, I didn't lie them all the way to down just in case they were going to be a little leaky, but it was sort of thick enough that it didn't matter. And then they just defrosted really beautifully in the fridge and we feasted on those a couple of days ago as well. So that was also just a huge hit.

So when you say you defrosted them in the fridge, do you mean overnight or over what length of time was that?

M: Yeah, overnight, I think because I had frozen them flat, it was fully defrosted in that time, so I had given myself a calendar reminder. I knew I wanted to get it all done before we talked. But I could imagine if I needed to defrost them faster, it would be doable even just in the moment on the stove or maybe use the microwave to speed things up.

CM: Yeah. One final note from me with regards to defrosting, I almost never have the foresight to take out of the freezer what I intend to eat the following day or in the subsequent days. So I'm constantly putting a frozen block of whatever in a saucepan with a tight fitting lid. The key is low heat to begin with and a good splash of water in there. As long as you have a little bit of freely available liquid in the bottom of the cooking surface, you're creating a nice gentle steam action that will defrost a frozen block of soup or whatever it is really quickly. That can be a game day. That's like a game hour decision in some cases. Hana, what are you thinking?

HA: I think you did everything so well. Good for you for just following our lead with such open arms and being open to everything, from the recipes themselves to the actual techniques of storage. We're so proud of you.

CM: Mara, what is the state of your freezer right now? Do you have a bunch of food frozen in there? Is the plan working or where are you at?

M: So we haven't really started like a mega freezer prep stash yet. So you saw the little picture of the little baked mushroom porridge stash, and that's about what we've got. But we are hosting friends and then also family over the next few weekends and everybody has expressed interest in cooking projects to help fill the freezer. So we've got big plans.

CM: That is a very smart strategy.

HA: Truly the best holiday gift you can get this holiday season, I bet.

M: Oh yeah. I think it's going to be great. And I think I also really look forward to having some cooking projects and I think thanks to you all, I feel much better equipped to store it in a way that's actually going to make sense for us, so I'm so grateful.

HA: That's great. I think also another practical takeaway is anytime you're cooking or preparing any food, I think just getting into the habit of making twice as many in that moment so that you can enjoy one meal that day, for example, and then store the second one for future use. If you get into the habit of just cooking slightly bigger batches, I think the synergy and the time that you save, it takes just a nominal amount of extra time, but you save so much on the back end. So I think that's a great habit just to get into for the next maybe first year at least.

M: Oh, definitely. I also just, I love leftovers and so I have always adopted, I think, a mindset like that, but I'm also getting this newfound satisfaction from building my little soup or stew library.

HA: I love it.

M: I just got to fill that freezer. I'm feeling really motivated.

CM: Well, listen, you pulled it off. We're super happy for you and wishing you all the best of luck.

M: Thank you both so much. This has been such a delight.

CM: Pack that bag and make that soup though.

HA: We're keeping you in our thoughts. And feel free to reach back out once you have regained ground under your feet. But we wish you the smoothest labor and fast recovery.

CM: If you have a dinner emergency on your hands, write to us at dinnersosatbonappetit.com. Leave us a voice message at 212-286-SOS1. That's 212-286-7071. We'd love to feature your question on the show. If you enjoyed this episode, please give us a rating and review on your podcast app of choice and hit that follow button so you never miss an episode.

You can find the recipes mentioned on today's episode linked in our show notes and on the Epicurious app, brought to you by Condé Nast. Just search Epicurious in the app store and download today. And if you're not yet a subscriber, you can sign up today for a thirty-day free trial in the app or at bonappetit.com.

Thanks for listening to Dinner S.O.S. I'm your host, Chris Morocco. My co-host this week is Hana Asbrink. Our senior producer is Michele O'Brien. Peyton Hayes is our associate producer. Cameron Foos is our assistant producer. Jake Lummus is our studio engineer. This episode was mixed by Marlal at Macrosound. Jordan Bell is our executive producer. Chris Bannon is Condé Nast's head of global audio. Next week, wintertime means slow cook stews, hearty mains, and project bakes. So Shilpa, Jesse and I are getting cozy with it to talk about the February issue and answer your questions.

Originally Appeared on Bon Appétit