Freezer Recipe Ideas

I'm trying to put thirty meals in the freezer for my mom before I leave on Thursday, so that she has healthy prepared food during the recovery process.  The food has to be low in fat, salt and diabetic friendly.  I've done this a few times for friends who were about to have a baby, but never with dietary restrictions involved.  So far I have White Chicken Chili, homemade Chicken Soup and Andee's Very Veggie Spaghetti sauce- this amounts to about 10-12 meals.  I'm putting everything in small containers, so she can defrost one meal at a time.  I don't want them to all be stews and soups, because that would get a little boring, but I'm at a loss for anything else.  Usually I do things like lasagne etc. but I wonder if that is too many carbs?  Money really isn't an issue and I intend on using all organic meats, fruits, and vegetables.  I would really appreciate any input.

Also, not to be a demanding PITA but I'm only here until Thursday so I plan on cooking the rest on Wednesday.  So, quick replies would be most helpful.  Apologies for the time constraints.  Thank you all in advance. 

Could you make your lasagna with long strips of zucchini instead of noodles? Maybe use noodles for just the top or top and bottom?

Yay for Very Veggie sauce!

Everything I make is freezer friendly and with cutting out the salt it would be very low sodium, and I *think* OK for diabetes.  But it is all soups, stews, and curries. 

How about chili?  I can give you recipes for my chili, curries, etc. 

The very veggie tomato sauce can also be used as a base for minestrone with the addition of more water, beans, and if it's OK for your mom to have--a bit of little pastas like elbow macaroni.

Could you make your lasagna with long strips of zucchini instead of noodles? Maybe use noodles for just the top or top and bottom?

Yum, what a good idea! In that same vain, eggplant parm? (Don't bread and fry the eggplant, just bake it first.)

What about Turkey Burgers? Just cook 'em up and freeze them in bags. We do that.

I'll try to think of more! That's all I can come up with before 7am.

How about moussaka as an alternative to lasagne?

ETA: or what about shepherd's/cottage pie?  You can turn that veggie by using lentils as the base instead of mince.  A friend of mine does it that way, and it is really good! 

Great ideas, thanks friends!  I love the zucchini lasagne idea!  I'm going to look some recipes up now. 
 

Has spaghetti bolognese been mentioned? That freezes well. I also did a mock Thai chicken soup, based on a recipe you posted and that froze well! 

Frozen burritos? Really easy to adjust (use low sodium everything, no meat, lots of veggies). If you add rice to the beans, it will  be a complete protein, and you can spice them up instead of salt them up--super tasty.
Wrap them individually in that microwave friendly saran-wrap and you're good to go!

I have a turkey & veg soup that I've been making in my slow cooker that would freeze well using individual tupperware or gladware containers. I've worked out the nutrition information as well using food focus and it's quite healthy per serving and the recipe makes about 15 servings. Hearty n Healthy, especially with a nice slice of seeded bread.

It's a misnomer that you have to be zero carb when you're diabetic, in fact they normally recommend around 8 servings of starches a day and you should base your diet around carbohydrates. You should just use low GI, slow acting carbs wherever you can but there's no reason why she can't be eating pasta, just not whiet starches at every meal

Snacks are really important when you're diabetic, you normally need 3 healthy snacks a day to keep blood sugar up, so it might be worth bagging up easy 100 calorie snacks for her to grab between meals which are carbohydrate based.

Watch out for sugar free things which have sugar alcohol in them, like Manitol.

Things that are good to use -
Wholemeal bread slices
Wholemeal pasta
Yams/sweet potatoes
Wholewheat Chapatis
Basmati rice
New potatoes
Porridge oats
Pumpernickle/rye bread
Soba noodles
Cereals (without sugar) All bran is a good one.

Things to keep to a minimum -
American/short grain rice
Polenta
Bagels and bread rolls
Naan
Cakes/biscuits/sweets
Muffins
Fruit juice


You're such a good daughter! x