Love From the Freezer - Beef and Vegetable Stew

 

There aren't many dishes that are more comforting than a good old fashioned beef and vegetable stew but many of the recipes for this dish take a long time to throw together and can be complicated.    Stews are great for Sunday dinners because you can put the ingredients into a crock pot or casserole dish in the oven and just let them cook on low for hours until you are ready to eat them.  They are also perfect for when you are running low on food in the house as well because you can throw all sorts of things in and end up with a delicious meal.

This dinner is so simple that it literally takes about 10 minutes to throw together.  Hence, the reason I don't have a lot of pictures.  By the time you can read this post, you could have everything in bags and in the freezer beginning the deep freeze!  You don't need to pre-cook any of the ingredients but if you want to, you can seer the beef stew chunks, drain and cool before placing in the bags.  The stew will cook long enough for the meat to be completely cooked without pre-cooking if you don't have the time to do it before you freeze the meals.

Take two 1 gallon freezer bags and write the date you are making them, the name of the dish and the directions for thawing and cooking on the front of each bag and split the following ingredients into the two bags:

2 Small Bags of Baby Carrots
8 - 9 Medium Red New Potatoes or Yukon Golds Cut Into Quarters

2 Small Bags of Whole Kernel Corn

2 28 oz. Cans of Diced Tomatoes

1 Medium Onion, chopped

1 T Salt

1 T Pepper

2 Beef Bullion Cubes

2 lbs. Beef Stew Meat

1 46 ox. Vegetable Juice

Directions for Thawing and Cooking

Thaw overnight in refrigerator or if in a hurry, run under hot water until all ingredients slide out of bag.  Add 1 cup of water to the crock pot on top of ingredients and if you want potatoes, cut up some New Red potatoes or Yukon Gold potatoes into chunks and throw them in to cook with the other ingredients on low for 7 - 8 hours.  

Once you have added all the ingredients to your freezer bags, seal them and squish them around a bit, you will see that the bags are pretty full and puffy.  That is good and means that your meals will go a long way when you cook them.

Here are the bags of stew before placing them in the freezer.

Tiny - minor problem.  As I have said in previous posts, it is a good idea to lay your freshly packed meals on a cookie sheet in the freezer for the initial freeze so that they freeze flat.  After about 2 hours, you can remove the cookie sheet and lay the meals flat on the shelves in your freezer.  When I went to put my cookie sheet tray into the freezer with my stew bags on it, the sheet tray was too wide for my freezer.  RATS!  So I had to improvise and use a 9X13 metal pan.  Hence, the picture of my dinners in a deep pan!

Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think.  Do you have a fantastic recipe that is quick, easy and inexpensive to make into a Freezer Meal that you can share?  If so, please post it below in the comments section.  I would love to see it!

Beef and Vegetable Stew

2 Small Bags Baby Carrots
8 - 9 Medium Red New Potatoes or Yukon Golds Cut Into Quarters

2 Small Bags Whole Kernel Corn

2 28 oz. Cans Diced Tomatoes

1 Medium Onion, chopped

1 T Salt

1 T Pepper

2 Beef Bullion Cubes

2 lbs. Beef Stew Meat

1 46 oz. Vegetable Juice

Split all ingredients between 2 freezer bags, seal and then mixed completely so that all the ingredients are well combined before putting them in the freezer.  These meals will freeze well for 3 - 4 monthes.