You pad to the freezer in the middle of the cold, dark winter and take a homemade tv dinner out. You pop it in the oven and half an hour later your kitchen is filled with the smells of roast chicken, gravy, mashed potatoes and delight.
This magical scenario is easiest if you have leftovers from a big holiday dinner like Thanksgiving or Christmas but you can make them from scratch too.
Extra mashed potatoes can get made into potato pancakes or gnocchi and turkey can become sandwiches or turkey pot pies but the easiest thing to do with holiday leftovers is to throw them in the garbage.
But we're not going to do that. We're going to turn them into frozen tv dinners that you can heat up during the long cold winter.
If you already have leftovers all you have to do is assemble it in a tv dinner tray, put the lid on, label it and freeze it.
The chicken you see in the first photo is a roast chicken I made in my wood oven outside specifically to make frozen tv dinners with. I just layered the bottom of a cast iron pan with the stuffing, spatchcocked the chicken and placed it on top of the stuffing before roasting.
TIPS
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- Mashed potatoes freeze the best if you use whipping cream in them instead of milk or regular cream.
- Plastic tv trays are washable and reuseable but you can't put them in the oven.
- Aluminum tv trays don't wash very well, but they're recyclable and can go into the oven.
How to Reheat Frozen Dinners
Cook from frozen in a preheated 350°F (175°C) oven. Crack open one of the lid corners to let steam escape. Cook for 40-45 minutes.
THE BEST TIP
I give Betty frozen TV dinners for Christmas. Stacks of them I make all year. Macaroni & Cheese, chili, soups, quiche ... Whenever I make a dinner for myself that I know freezes well, I make an extra one to add to her stash.
If you know someone who doesn't like cooking or doesn't have enough time or energy to do it, a stack of frozen tv dinners is a knock it out of the park gift idea.
Thanksgiving has come and gone in Canada but I will be reminded of it daily during the morning disagreement between my jeans and my thighs.
If I was so inclined I could shut my jeans up by taking up some form of organized exercise activity where someone yells at you for an hour and you end up sweating, crying and complaining about the taste of blood in your throat afterwards.
But I can't be bothered. I figure a few more weeks of vigorous fighting to get my jeans on and off and those few pounds will melt away - which is good because my ass is a spot I normally reserve for the upcoming shortbread cookies.
Lana Jones
Hi Karen. I just cooked my first spatchcocked turkey. In the bbq. Thought that would free up the oven for the sides. It took longer than it should have! I make casseroles similar to Shepard's pie with our leftovers. It is something we always look forward to eating down the road. You are in inspiration and I love your sense of humour. Happy Thanksgiving.
Karen
Thanks Lana! It was a good holiday. :) ~ karen!
Robin
Karen,
It's been a minute since I used frozen tv dinners, so please refresh my memory. Do you take the cardboard lid off before heating? I can't remember! 🙄🙃
Karen
Shoot, I should have included that. Yes, you leave the lid on while heating, with a corner open for steam to escape. ~ karen!
Esther
Don’t worry about your thighs or your ass - you’ve still got plenty of closing up the gardens work I suspect……
Karen
I do. But this is right about the time of year (right after Thanksgiving) that I run out of steam. ~ karen!
Dwight Blanton
Great idea!
But you got fancy on me. Had to look up spatchcocked. Never heard of it. 🤔😃😃
Kristin
Me too! lol! I can think of some interesting ways to use that term!
Karen
Feel free to drop it into casual conversation. It always gets a good reaction. ~ karen!
Jan in Waterdown
Are you available for adoption? I’m already into the hate cooking and can’t figure out what’s for dinner mode which has swiftly morphed into either marinara sauce on pasta or peanut butter on toast. Or was it the other way around? 🤔
I have no kids so you would be an only yet treasured child. Added bonus, I’m just in the next town over and haven’t written my will. Yet.
Karen
Let me think about it. ~ karen!
Hettie
I laughed at your ass being a spot reserved for shortbread cookies. Mine too! The frozen dinners idea struck me as a brilliant solution for my son. He recently got a slow cooker so he can have hot meals when he comes in from skiing. There are bound to be leftovers. Why not freeze them in nifty little trays? I forwarded your blog post and suggested he buy via your link (the trays listed came up as unavailable but there are others). I'm also getting some so I can make easy dinners for one of my daughters who is having her second baby in November and will appreciate frozen meals. Thanks, Karen! :)
Karen
Yes! That's a great idea. When my niece had her 3rd and final child my gift to her was bringing over a prepared dinner every night for the first week or two for the whole family. ~ karen!
Cara
Great post today and what a fabulous idea to make TV dinners. I will do it for sure. Thanks.
Jane
I thought everything in the TV dinner is already cooked. It still takes 45 minutes just to warm up in 350 oven?
Karen
Yes, because you're heating them from frozen. ~ karen!
Chris W.
For the most part, the thing I freeze most often is soup (and of course, our huge pile of tomatoes after roasting them). Whenever my brother who's by himself comes for the holidays, I load him up with all varieties of soups that I've made and he loves it. He always brings me back the containers ready to go for another bunch. He's in construction, so many times he ends up working long days and this is an easy meal for him. Plus, this way he's not existing on fast food or junk food. And fortunately, he eats everything - no allergies, etc. Betty is very lucky and I'm sure she truly appreciates your thoughtfulness.
Ellie
I'm assuming these aluminum TV dinner trays have been saved from actual store-bought frozen TV dinners and are being re-used. I've never bought frozen TV dinners, so I have no re-usable TV dinner trays. By any chance, do stores happen to sell these compartmentalized aluminum trays?
Karen
Hi Ellie. I bought the foil trays specifically for putting frozen dinners in from Amazon.
Ellie
Good to know; thank you, Karen!
tuffy
Geez you are the best daughter ever 🙏
Any mother would be so lucky to have a daughter who grows, harvests, cooks and freezes ready made healthy meals for her!!!
Wow!!
RandyP
Good tips - I've been single for some 20 years now, so I whole heartedly agree with freezing the leftovers of a recipe that will feed just one person but makes 2-3 portions. I have therefore developed a very beneficial relationship with my Foodsaver brand vacuum sealer (great for portioning fresh meats) and a wide range of freezer safe food storage containers. Soups, casseroles, chilis etc.etc. don't go to waste and offer a quick meal when I don't feel like cooking. Plus I'm not stuck eating the same thing a couple days straight.