Its officially Soup Season! Its my favorite go to lunch, a steaming bowl of soup and a sandwich really hits the spot on cold days. I really love when I can go out to the deep freeze and grab a soup pack and have lunch or dinner on the table in an hour, or in the crockpot in minutes. Several readers were curious how I make freezer packs from recipes, here is how I break it down.
Ingredients
- 1 cup chopped onion
- ¼ cup diced celery
- 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups green bell pepper, chopped
- 2-3 TBSP olive oil
- ½ lb. lean ground beef or turkey
- 1 16 oz. can crushed tomatoes
- 2 TBSP tomato paste
- ¼ cup uncooked white rice
- 3 ½ cups water
- 2 TBSP fresh chopped parsley
- 2 tsp. sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- In a Dutch oven or soup pot, sauté onion, celery, garlic and peppers in olive oil just until tender. Add the beef, and cook until browned.
- Stir in the rice
- Add the remaining ingredients, stir well and cover. Simmer for 45 minutes stirring occasionally. Add water as needed. Season to taste.
- Garnish with cheddar cheese.
Since we have been getting several green bell peppers lately, now is a great time to stock the freezer with this soup! I start by reading through my recipe, it will have it broken down for you in steps. Assemble and prep the ingredients, plastic ziptop freezer bags in quart and gallon sizes, note card and pen, permanent marker and freezer tape. Begin bagging ingredients that are grouped together on the recipe, if it says sautee onion, peppers, garlic and celery they measure and bag those all together in a quart bag. (bag the meat separately) Continue this process until you have your soup ingredients bagged. If you don’t have something available or its a canned item don’t include it such as stocks and broths, tomatoes, canned or dried beans. Spices and seasoning should be kept separate as well (they don’t need to be frozen). Include a copy of the recipe in the freezer bag, then you wont have to go searching. (Hint: save the recipe card and re-use it
Now that you have it all bagged, label it and date it and place it in the freezer. Try this with any of your favorite soup recipes, some items may need to be blanched prior to freezing. Some of those include peas, green beans, corn and potatoes.
Now when you want soup your ready!
great idea! I might just brown the meat and veggies together in a great big pan and freeze them as soup starter, then it is that much faster as a meal or to give a friend who needs a night off from cooking!
Thank you for sharing this wonderful idea! I am so busy and work late sometimes. my daughter could make this herself after school!!!
Thank you. Now I know what’s cooking tomorrow.
Miranda, If I understand this correctly, in the one bag you have the raw onion, celery, garlic and bell pepper all together, is that right?