Easy Curry - Freezer Meal

This is the second freezer meal I've chosen to work on (the first being the burritos for which I made those refried beans). I really love curry. I grew up on the boxed curry, where you cook the meat and vegetables, then add water and those squares of curry paste. It's so yummy, but those boxes are so expensive! I do think that the boxed curry will always be my favorite, but this recipe is a very delicious and inexpensive substitute. It came from the More-with-Less Cookbook by Doris Janzen Longacre. I love using this book for yummy, inexpensive, practical recipes.


I doubled the recipe and it made enough for three freezer meals for my family. I cooked it up after dinner last night, so I wasn't heating up the apartment by simmering the food during the day. I try to avoid doing anything that will heat up the apartment in the middle of the day - it's already too hot!

Easy Curry
1/4-1/2 lb. chicken or other meat (raw or cooked), finely cut
2-2 1/2 cups water
2 medium carrots
3 stalks celery
1 green pepper
1/2 medium onion
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 tbsp. curry powder (this makes a medium spiciness - for spicy use more, for mild use less)
1 cup tomato sauce
1/3 cup milk
2 tbsp. cornstarch

Brown meat in small amount of fat. Add water. Chop and add vegetables. Add salt, pepper, and curry powder. Blend tomato sauce, milk, and cornstarch, and add.

Simmer 45 minutes or until vegetables are tender and sauce is thick and glossy. Stir frequently. Serve over rice, noodles, or biscuits.

Sorry for the bad pic, the lighting in my kitchen is terrible! But here you can see all the delicious veggies and the thick, glossy sauce.

Freezer Meal: Once curry is finished cooking, let cool and separate into meal-sized portions, into freezer containers, ziploc-style freezer bags, or canning jars. Freeze. To use, thaw completely in refrigerator, and heat in a saucepan over medium heat until heated through.

If you put it in freezer bags, flatten it out to freeze. You can stack the frozen bags easily so it takes up less freezer space, and it thaws faster.


I was going to wait and do the curry another night, but we had chicken last night for dinner and there were several drumsticks left. Opportunity knocked, and I used the leftover chicken to make the curry after we had dinner. I had planned on boiling some separately for this recipe, but why do all that work when there was already cooked chicken available! ;-)

Later today I'll be making a nice big batch of chili, and possibly tortillas for the burritos. Stay tuned!