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A Good Freezer Meal – Tater Tot Casserole

Y’all, I’ve been following the blog Hallee the Homemaker for a long time now.  If you like a honest blog, one with good food and good family values, make sure you subscribe to Hallee the Homemaker. I asked Hallee to write a post for y’all and she knew I was working on freezer meals for The Bean, so she’s sharing a GREAT freezer meal with us today…and in case you didn’t know, it’s the family favorite of the Duggars. 🙂

Image by Tasty Planner

I have been reading and participating in homemaking blogs for over three years now, and one thing that a lot of bloggers really enjoy doing is “freezer cooking”.  They buy a whole bunch of supplies, and spend a day or two in the kitchen making several meals, freezing the meals, and then they can just pull a meal or pre-prepped ingredients for a meal out of the freezer as needed.

It’s a great idea and one that a lot of people have great success with.  However, for me, spending that much time in the kitchen just to save meal prep time just doesn’t appeal to me.  I think I really enjoy the art of cooking for my family on a regular basis, and the time it would eventually save me just doesn’t seem worth the time and energy it would take to properly do the freezer cooking.

However, Jill Bond, author of Mega Cooking, has a BRILLIANT method of freezer cooking that doesn’t require two full days in the kitchen.

Image by Mr. T in DC

You pick one night a week to be your cooking extra day.  Let’s say it’s a Tuesday.  So, on Tuesday, if you have spaghetti in your menu plan, when you cook the spaghetti sauce, make more of it.  As much as you’re capable of making.  It is hardly any more work to make one quart of sauce or seven quarts of sauce.  It’s just a matter of volume.

The next week, on Tuesday, if you’re making meatloaf, make seven meatloaves instead of one.  Then, one day that week, have spaghetti on your menu.  You have now removed cooking one night during the week.

The next Tuesday, if tacos are on your menu, make refried beans and taco meat times seven.  Then, one day that week, have meatloaf, and another day, have spaghetti.  You have now cut out cooking for two nights that week.

If you continue on this trend, after seven weeks, you could conceivably only be cooking on Tuesday nights.  Or, if you have an event coming up (like, oh I don’t know, say an addition to your beautiful family like Miss Stacy here), you can prep your freezer so that you won’t have to cook for a month after said event.

According to Jill Bond, the following is the best “starter” freezer meal.  I’m going to give you the ingredients and prep for one recipe, and I’m going to give you the ingredients and freezer instructions for four recipes:

J.J.’s Prayer Casserole
(Tater Tot Casserole)

1 casserole:

  • 1 pound ground beef (preferably grass fed) or turkey
  • ¼ cup minced onion
  • 1 cup diced celery
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp fresh ground pepper
  • 1 ½ cups Cream of Mushroom Soup
  • 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
  • 1 pound frozen potato nuggets (“tater tots” – I use Cascadian Farms organic because potatoes are on the “Dirty Dozen” list)

4 casseroles:

  • 4 pounds ground beef (preferably grass fed) or turkey
  • 1 cup minced onion
  • 4 cups diced celery
  • 2 tsp Kosher salt
  • 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
  • 6 cups Cream of Mushroom Soup
  • 8 cups grated cheddar cheese
  • 4 pound frozen potato nuggets (“tater tots” – I use Cascadian Farms organic because potatoes are on the “Dirty Dozen” list)

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

Skillet

Sharp knife/cutting board

8×8 baking pan

Freezer bags for storing the extra casserole ingredients

PREPARATION:

  1. Mince the onion
  2. Dice the celery
  3. Grate the cheese
  4. Lightly grease the baking pan with a paper towel dipped in olive oil
  5. Prepare the Cream of Mushroom Soup
  6. Preheat the oven to 400º F (200º C) if you are making it now.

DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING THE CASSEROLE IMMEDIATELY:

  1. Brown the meat, with the onion and celery, in a skillet over medium to medium-high heat.  Season with salt and pepper.
  2. Stir in the soup.
  3. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.
  4. Cover with the grated cheese.
  5. Top with the potato nuggets.
  6. Bake  at 400º F (200º C) for 40 minutes.

Wonderful served with Whole Wheat French Bread and a garden salad.

DIRECTIONS FOR STORING (UNASSEMBLED) IN FREEZER:

  1. In a large skillet, brown the meat.  Work in batches if you need to.  Season with the salt and pepper.
  2. Stir in the raw onion and celery and the Cream of Mushroom Soup.
  3. Divide proportionally into bags (for instance, making 4 batches, divide into 4 bags).
  4. Divide the cheese into 4 bags.
  5. Divide the potatoes into bags.
  6. Label all bags.
  7. Rubber band each meat, cheese, and potato together and freeze.
  8. The day before you want to serve, take out one package of cheese and one package of meat and thaw in the fridge.
  9. Lightly grease a baking dish with a paper towel dipped in olive oil.
  10. Pour in the meat/soup mixture, top with the cheese.
  11. Top with the potatoes.
  12. Bake uncovered at 400º F (200º C) for 40 minutes.

DIRECTIONS FOR PRE-BAKING CASSEROLES TO FREEZE:

  1. In a large skillet, brown the meat.  Work in batches if you need to.  Season with the salt and pepper.
  2. Stir in the raw onion and celery and the  Cream of Mushroom Soup.
  3. Lightly grease however many baking pans you are making with a paper towel dipped in olive oil.
  4. Fill each dish with meat, then cheese, then potatoes.
  5. Bake at 400º F (200º C) for 30 minutes.
  6. Remove from oven.  Cover with airtight lids or use foil or plastic wrap.
  7. Place the partially baked casseroles in the refrigerator to cool.  When they are no longer hot, place them in the freezer.  Once they are frozen solid, you can pop them out of their pans.  Wrap in foil, plastic wrap, or use a freezer bag. Label.

To serve:  Remove the wrap from one of the casseroles and replace it in its original baking pan.  Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.  Place the casserole in a cold oven 20 minutes before you want to serve it.  Turn the oven on to 400º F (200º C) and bake for 15 minutes.

If still frozen: 1 hour before you wish to serve it, place the casserole in a cold oven and turn on to 300º F (148º C).  Bake for 1 hour.

Hallee

Hallee is a follower of a Christ and a child of God. She loves and respects her husband passionately, and strives to make his home a beacon of comfort and love in this violent world. She has three amazing children, whom you will read about below. Once a professional woman in suits and heels six days a week, her life now is a bit unconventional. She’s an advocate for the Titus 2 model of a womanhood. Research has taught her how horribly unhealthy the food sitting on grocery shelves is for her family, and Hallee has made it a personal commitment to make as much as she possibly can from scratch, using wholesome and whole real food ingredients. She grinds flour, bakes bread, makes cookies and cakes, makes crackers, salad dressings…if it can be made, she finds a way to make it, keeping the constraints of their family’s devotion to following a Levitcal diet.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the content above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase an item, I may receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Comments

  3. Alissa says

    Looks delicious! For those of us who aren’t as motivated to make cream-of soups, how much canned soup should we add to this recipe? I wasn’t sure if the amount was the same since the canned stuff is condensed. Thanks for your help!

    Reply

    • Stacy says

      I tried to Google and see how many cups are in a can…but I can’t find it. 🙁 I would guess it was two cans for this recipe though…I think you’d have to eyeball it. 🙂

      Reply

  4. Denise says

    Sorry, but I just have to comment. Potatoes are always on the top of the list for vegetables that should be bought organic if you can only afford to buy one veg. that is organic. They are one of the most sprayed crops and are very toxic. Living in MT, I see this – we have lots of potato farmers.

    While you can’t have everything pure, there are some things you should just avoid.

    Tater Tot ingredients:

    POTATOES, VEGETABLE OIL (SUNFLOWER, COTTONSEED, SOYBEAN, AND/OR CANOLA), SALT, YELLOW CORN FLOUR, ONIONS, DEXTROSE, DISODIUM DIHYDROGEN PYROPHOSPHATE, NATURAL FLAVORING.

    Vegetable oils are rancid and to be avoided, 85% of corn is GMO – changes your DNA – and the natural flavouring is MSG – a neurotoxin. These are not food, they are a “frankenfood”.

    I’d give them a miss, great recipe or not. Sorry! 🙂

    Reply

    • Dani says

      We do not “do” tater tots in our house (anymore) either–there’s just too much yuck in them. I do not know about the ingredients list for Cascadian Farms brand, though, which is the brand recommended here. Even still, I think I’d stay away from processed tots, depending upon what the ingredients label says.

      I would bet that this recipe could be made with “real” hash browns, and they take seconds to make in the food processor. I always hesitate to drag out that sucker for one meal, but if I’m making several meals, then the work would be worth it.

      Reply

    • Hallee the Homemaker says

      I actually never buy potatoes or corn that are non-organic, because of the dirty dozen and high gmo lists. I linked the article about it when I suggested Cascadian Farms organic tater tots in the recipe. Here are those ingredients:

      INGREDIENTS: ORGANIC POTATOES, CANOLA OIL, SALT, ORGANIC CORN FLOUR, ORGANIC DEHYDRATED POTATOES, APPLE JUICE CONCENTRATE (TO PROMOTE OVEN BROWNING), CITRIC ACID (TO PRESERVE NATURAL POTATO COLOR).

      Even though I personally try to steer away from most processed foods, I allow for an occasional tater tot, and when the ingredients are whole and organic, there’s nothing wrong with that.

      Reply

  7. Fran K says

    Thankyou, thank you! Finding real food recipes for the freezer has been a bit of a challenge! This is perfect. Got any more?????? lol

    Reply

    • Stacy says

      Sure! I’m working on a post for that soon, but it just uses recipes that are already on my website. 🙂 I freeze a lot of my crock pot meals…you can freeze them before you cook them or after.
      My friend, Leigh Ann, is doing a series right now about freezer meals. Here is a great list: http://intentionalbygrace.com/2012/08/29/nutrition-packed-list-of-freezer-meals/

      Reply