Living in a rural area comes with lots of perks:
A slower pace.
Friendly neighbors.
Charming, smaller towns.
And lots of room to breathe and think.
I love all of those things and treasure them daily.
But the food, y’all. The food can be a challenge.
Our nearest town is about 60,000 people, and while that’s not a metropolis by any means, it’s a decent-sized town by Wyoming standards. However, our food options are pretty limited. While the local grocery stores have a few organic options available here or there, it’s almost impossible to find anything beyond the basics (although if you’re into ultra-processed food, you’ll be set). I had a hard time finding arugula the other day. Seriously, people!
Due to the fact that we grow so much of our own meat, eggs, dairy, and vegetables ourselves, we still eat very well. It’s not fancy and I really have no interest in ever being a gourmet cook, but I make sure our simple (usually homegrown) ingredients are packed with flavor.
Thanks to our limited supply of ingredients, there are a lot of cookbooks on my shelf I don’t use as often as I would like because I’m not able to source the ingredients. (I’m flipping through some of my cookbooks right now and seeing recipes calling for Bhutanese red rice, hedgehog mushrooms, saba, pomegranate molasses, and rapini. Hmmm… not gonna happen unless I start grocery shopping two hours away in Denver I’m afraid…)
However, there’s one book I recently added to my collection, and I’ve already made seven recipes from it in the last two weeks. It features family-style meals that use basic ingredients that even I can find here in Wyoming. Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner, folks.
(this post contains affiliate links)
Seriously Good Freezer Meals
My blogging buddy, Karrie Truman of Happy Money Saver, knocked it out of the park when she wrote this freezer meals cookbook.
To be perfectly honest, I like the idea of freezer meals, but I completely suck at actual implementation. Thankfully, there are instructions for serving each dish right away OR freezing it for later. Therefore, I’m making the recipes on an as-needed basis and then telling myself I’m totally gonna have a big batch freezer cooking marathon…. someday. (I don’t know what my hang up is– I just need to do it. Karrie even has sample freezer cooking day schedules outlined in the book!)
The cool thing about this book is that the recipes are flexible. Each of the 150 recipes include a chart that shows you how to scale it into LARGE quantities (if that’s your thing), or how you can just make a single batch to eat right away.
Grab Seriously Good Freezer Meals HERE.
So far I’ve made:
- Almond Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
- Morning Energy Bars
- Coconut Cashew Basil Curry Soup
- White Bean Chicken Chili
- Sun-Dried Tomato Basil Chicken
- Broccoli Chicken Alfredo Bake
- French Dip Sandwiches
They’ve all been AMAZING, but the favorite on this list so far is the French Dip Sandwiches. I’ve made many versions of French dip over the years, but these win. Hands down. And it’s easy– you mix the broth and seasonings, toss it all in the slow cooker, and before you know it, you’re sitting down at the table dipping a toasted bun packed with perfectly seasoned roast beef into richly seasoned au jus. I like the sounds of that, don’t you?
French Dip Sandwiches Recipe
From Seriously Good Freezer Meals. Shared with permission.
Makes 8 servings
Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon salt (I use Redmond Salt)
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 lbs boneless beef shoulder roast, trimmed
- 4 cups beef broth (here’s how to make it yourself)
- 1 1/2 onions, puréed or minced
- 1/2 cup tamari sauce (where to buy)
- 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 4 bay leaves
To Serve
- 8 buns or rolls (here’s my favorite homemade bun recipe)
- Cooking spray or olive oil
- 8 slices provolone cheese
Instructions:
Rub salt and pepper generously all over the roast. In a labeled gallon-size (4 L) freezer bag, combine broth, onions, tamari sauce, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic and bay leaves. Add roast and seal, removing as much air as possible.
To Make It Now:
Marinate beef in refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour or up to 12 hours. Pour contents of bag into a large (approx. 5 quart) slow cooker. Cook on Low for 7 hours, until beef is tender. Remove roast, reserving jus left in slow cooker. Discard bay leaves. Transfer roast to a cutting board and, using two forks, shred. Preheat broiler. Slice buns in half, spray with a little cooking spray or brush with olive oil, and place on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Broil for 1 minute or until golden and toasted. Remove from oven, place shredded meat on bottom half of bun and add a slice of provolone cheese. Broil for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and cover with top half of bun. Skim any fat off top of jus in slow cooker and ladle liquid into small bowls. Serve sandwiches with jus on the side for dipping.
To Make It Into a Freezer Meal:
Freeze roast and marinade in bag.
To Thaw and Cook:
Place bag in refrigerator for at least 24 hours or up to 48 hours to thaw. Transfer contents to a large (approx. 5 quart) slow cooker. Cook on Low for 7 to 8 hours, until beef is tender. Remove roast, reserving jus left in slow cooker. Discard bay leaves. Transfer roast to a cutting board and, using two forks, shred. Preheat broiler. Slice buns in half, spray with a little cooking spray or brush with olive oil, and place on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Broil for 1 minute or until golden and toasted. Remove from oven, place shredded meat on bottom half of bun and add a slice of provolone cheese. Broil for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and cover with top half of bun. Skim any fat off top of jus in slow cooker and ladle liquid into small bowls. Serve sandwiches with jus on the side for dipping.
French Dip Sandwiches Kitchen Notes:
- Tamari sauce is similar to soy sauce, but with a bolder, less salty flavor. You could also try using coconut aminos (affiliate link) as an alternative if you’re avoiding soy.
- I used this homemade burger bun recipe. (I tried to shape them into ovals, but they still ended up being mostly circular). Or you could try these honey whole wheat buns instead.
Don’t forget to grab a copy of Seriously Good Freezer Meals– you will love it!
French Dip Sandwiches Recipe
- Cook Time: 8 hours
- Total Time: 8 hours
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Main- Beef
Ingredients
- 1 tsp (5 mL) salt (I use Redmond Salt)
- 1 tsp (5 mL) freshly ground black pepper
- 3 lbs (1.5 kg) boneless beef shoulder roast, trimmed
- 4 cups (1 L) beef broth or Homemade Beef Stock (page 350)
- 11/2 onions, puréed or minced
- 1/2 cup (125 mL) tamari sauce
- 1/3 cup (75 mL) Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbsp (30 mL) yellow mustard
- 11/2 tsp (7 mL) minced garlic
- 4 bay leaves
- To Serve
- 8 buns or rolls
- Cooking spray or olive oil
- 8 slices provolone cheese
Instructions
- Instructions:
- Rub salt and pepper generously all over the roast. In a labeled gallon-size (4 L) freezer bag, combine broth, onions, tamari sauce, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic and bay leaves. Add roast and seal, removing as much air as possible.
- To Make It Now:
- Marinate beef in refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour or up to 12 hours. Pour contents of bag into a large (approx. 5 quart) slow cooker. Cook on Low for 7 hours, until beef is tender. Remove roast, reserving jus left in slow cooker. Discard bay leaves. Transfer roast to a cutting board and, using two forks, shred. Preheat broiler. Slice buns in half, spray with a little cooking spray or brush with olive oil, and place on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Broil for 1 minute or until golden and toasted. Remove from oven, place shredded meat on bottom half of bun and add a slice of provolone cheese. Broil for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and cover with top half of bun. Skim any fat off top of jus in slow cooker and ladle liquid into small bowls. Serve sandwiches with jus on the side for dipping.
- To Make It Into a Freezer Meal:
- Freeze roast and marinade in bag.
- To Thaw and Cook:
- Place bag in refrigerator for at least 24 hours or up to 48 hours to thaw. Transfer contents to a large (approx. 5 quart) slow cooker. Cook on Low for 7 to 8 hours, until beef is tender. Remove roast, reserving jus left in slow cooker. Discard bay leaves. Transfer roast to a cutting board and, using two forks, shred. Preheat broiler. Slice buns in half, spray with a little cooking spray or brush with olive oil, and place on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Broil for 1 minute or until golden and toasted. Remove from oven, place shredded meat on bottom half of bun and add a slice of provolone cheese. Broil for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and cover with top half of bun. Skim any fat off top of jus in slow cooker and ladle liquid into small bowls. Serve sandwiches with jus on the side for dipping.
Other Meaty Mains For Busy Homestead Nights:
Listen to the Old Fashioned On Purpose Podcast episode #53 all about freezer meals HERE.
I also live in a rural area where some international foods are not readily available. I managed to make very tasty pomegranate molasses by reducing pomegranate juice with a bit of lemon juice and sugar. Leftovers keep for a couple months in the fridge. So delicious drizzled on oven baked eggplant stuffed with ground lamb meatballs and many Ottolenghi recipes!
Oooh… brilliant! Thanks for sharing Melanie!
I’m excited to check that cookbook out! My family isn’t into to hardly anything adventurous… Yes, even avocados. I kind of shut down when looking at all my other cookbooks just because I know if I’d make it, they just wouldn’t eat it. Though, this French dip will definitely be on the love list!! Thanks Jill!
I can relate, Lacey! I hope you and the fam enjoy!
Finding tamari in my village in Italy is impossible. I can just about get coconut milk 🙂 and bizarrely Worcestershire sauce is in the shops here! Like you I have turned to older cook books where ingredients are seasonal and more simple. I read recently that eating like our grandparents did is genetically more suitable to our tums too, I don’t think Asian ingredients were on the menu in Ireland where they lived. 🙂
I love older cookbooks too– tried and true!
Tried this for dinner tonight and it was a big success! So easy and delicious too! Thank you for the awesome recipe!
Yay! So glad it was a hit!
This looks delicious! We will try it very soon.
A tip with the freezer cooking I’ve learned over the years, with homeschooling 5 kids and all the other chores of this natural homestead lifestyle, is to go in small batches. The few times I tried the big batch day, it always took longer than planned, so much messier, and left me exhausted.
Now, I know whether a recipe will freeze well or not. If I’m making creamy curry broccoli chicken for dinner, I chop enough for dinner, then more for another dinner, and drop into a freezer bag. A little more prep time, no extra mess, and at least one meal in freezer in addition to that night’s dinner. The kids can prep along with you, and remember how much they help out when you pull it from the freezer on a hectic day!
This recipe is a real keeper,we are having it tonight. I like to have some horse radish on the side for dipping the sandwich along with the au jus. Superb. I live in a town of 900, we drive 17 miles each way to get to a grocery store in a town with a population of around 8000. I love it here having moved here from Southern California where you have that many people in a couple of square miles.
So happy to have found your blog — purely serendipitous!
I’m old enough to be your children’s great-grandmother, but I’ve always wanted to live on a working farm.
It’s a wonderful thing to have families still invested in family-farming. Thanks for doing that and upholding the values that made our country strong…. AND passing on those values to your children.
I haven’t made this recipe yet, but definitely will. I’m originally from Chicago and I really miss a good recipe for ‘Italian Beef’, however I will add a good dose of oregano and garlic to get there!
Best wishes for continued success on your homestead. 🙂
Thank you so much for your sweet comment! We’re so happy you’re here.
Yum. I love French dip sandwiches so I can’t wait to try this. I have a chuck roast in the freezer I need to thaw out first…