By Katy Wilkens, MS, RD

Who wouldn’t love a meal that can be cooked and ready to eat in less than five minutes? Unfortunately, packaged convenience meals from the store are stuffed with sodium and are not very tasty. But you can easily make your own frozen meals, saving time on nights you aren’t able to cook from scratch, and saving a lot of money.

A frozen meal from the grocery store can cost $6 to $8 a pound. A good homemade frozen meal is about $3 a pound, or less if you find groceries on sale. And of course, the flavor and added nutrition benefits are priceless! When you create your own frozen meals, you avoid chemical preservatives and control the amount of sodium.

Set aside one or two days every month to cook and freeze some dishes for a nutritious meal when you need it on short notice. Add a quick salad and you have a dinner to serve yourself or a last-minute guest.

Easy freezer beef or chicken enchiladas

1 pound lean ground beef or chicken, cooked and shredded
½ cup onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 26-ounce can or boxed pureed tomatoes
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
12 corn tortillas
Diced green and red peppers
Grated cheese
Sour cream

Set oven to 375 degrees. Brown meat in frying pan with onion and garlic until onions are soft. Remove, drain extra fat. In a bowl, mix tomato puree and spices. Dip each tortilla in sauce. Grease a 9-by-12-inch casserole pan and put a layer of tortillas on the bottom, cutting if needed for best fit. Gaps are fine. Layer with meat mixture and sprinkle with diced peppers. Add another layer of tortillas and repeat. Top with grated cheese. Bake 20-25 minutes, until cheese is melted and sauce looks thickened. Let cool and cut into 9 servings. Freeze each serving in a plastic container or zip-close bag. When you need a quick meal, just pop a serving in the microwave, covered, and heat for three to five minutes. Serve topped with sour cream. Makes 8 servings.

Nutritional information (per serving):
Calories: 258, Carbohydrates: 31 grams, Protein: 16 grams, Sodium: 260 milligrams

Easy freezer chicken Kiev
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
¼ cup fresh tarragon, minced
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 boneless chicken breast halves
2 cups Japanese bread crumbs (panko), plus 1/4 cup for filling

2 large whole eggs, beaten with 1 teaspoon water
Combine butter, parsley, tarragon and black pepper. Put mixture on plastic wrap or waxed paper and roll into small log. Place in freezer.

Put chicken breasts, one at a time, between two pieces of plastic wrap. Pound to about 1/8-inch thick.
Lay one chicken breast on a new piece of plastic wrap and place 1/4 of herb butter mixture in the center of breast and spoon panko bread crumbs on top. Using the plastic wrap to help, fold in ends of breast and roll breast into a log, completely enclosing the butter; roll very tightly. Fasten with toothpicks or skewers. Repeat with each breast.

Put egg and water mixture on plate or shallow pie pan and 2 cups bread crumbs in a different plate or shallow pan. Dip chicken in egg, then in bread crumbs. Wrap in plastic wrap, then aluminum foil.
To bake, unwrap chicken and place in shallow pan in oven heated to 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.
Nutritional information (per chicken breast):

Calories: 538, Carbohydrates: 33 grams, Protein: 35 grams, Sodium: 159 milligrams

The information in this column is meant for people who want to keep their kidneys healthy and blood pressure down by following a low-sodium diet. In most cases, except for dialysis patients, a diet high in potassium is thought to help lower high blood pressure. These recipes are not intended for people on dialysis without the supervision of a registered dietitian.

[Katy G. Wilkens is a registered dietitian and department head at Northwest Kidney Centers. The 2014 recipient of National Kidney Foundation Council on Renal Nutrition’s Susan Knapp Excellence in Education Award, she has a Master of Science degree in nutritional sciences from the University of Washington. See more of her recipes at www.nwkidney.org.]