SWISS CHEESE CHICKEN: A Must-Have Meal for Your Freezer & Food Storage!

Wow! It’s been way too long since I’ve shared a recipe! You probably think I never cook (and depending on who you ask, you might be right

I may not have time to make a gourmet meal every night (or ever), but I can always whip up this Swiss Cheese Chicken in no time flat! I thought this meal was great for Thanksgiving too since it uses Stuffing Mix, and even more importantly leaves you plenty of time to shop those Black Friday Sales!

You’ll notice below that along with showing you how to turn this into a freezer meal, I’ll also show you how to incorporate it into your food storage plan – because after you make it once, you won’t ever want to go without!

I’m a part of a freezer meal group in my area, and they’re probably ready to kick me out because I bring this meal to exchange all the time – but it’s just soooo good I can’t help myself.

I feel like I’m cheating a little, because it’s almost too easy to make! This week we held our exchange and I made 8 of these meals in less than 30 minutes (yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s cheating)!

Swiss Cheese Chicken is also one of those meals that’s great to take to new moms or picky eaters, because it doesn’t have any of the common “I HATE THESE” ingredients in it – like mushrooms, onions, sour cream, or anything green (the things my kids complain about most). But don’t let me stop you from throwing broccoli in or anything else that makes you feel healthy!

All right, let’s get cooking…

Swiss Cheese Chicken

This meal consists of just layering ingredients! If you have a few kids hanging around, have them join in and form an assembly line! You’ll be done in no time!

Layer Ingredients:

• Cover bottom of pan with Chicken. You can leave the breasts whole, or cut as small as you like. You can even make this with about 2lbs of canned chicken  – it’s not as scary as it seems

• Layer 6 slices of Swiss Cheese on top of the chicken (I actually tried out Pepper Jack this time, so feel free to mix it up too)!

• Mix the Cream of Chicken with 1/4 cup of Milk – You can also add more milk to have more of a sauce, whatever you prefer.

• Pour the Cream of Chicken Mixture over the Cheese.

• Sprinkle Stove Top Stuffing Mix over the top!

• Drizzle 1/4 cup melted Butter over the Stuffing mix!

That’s it! Now you throw it (or place it gently) in the oven and bake it uncovered at 350 for 45-60 minutes (or until the meat is cooked through).

Once it’s done cooking, serve over rice and eat until your tummy’s happy!

Make it a Freezer Meal:

If you want to turn this into a freezer meal or be a super-mom and give it to someone, make sure to STOP after you put the cream of chicken mixture on top. You don’t want to put the Stove Top Stuffing Mix on or it will get nice and soggy while it sits in the freezer.

If you’re an over-achiever make sure to add some rice to the meal with the directions on it Nothings more annoying then making a meal and realizing you’re missing a key ingredient.

You could also substitute the rice for noodles, or even omit it completely.

Quick Tip: If you make freezer meals a lot, I love these disposable pans & lids! They stack great in the freezer, are the perfect size, and look great too!

The ones I use are:

• 4 Pound Aluminum Oblong Pan – 11.5″ x 7.5″ x 1.5″

• 4 Pound Foil Board Lid – You can’t forget the Lid, that’s what makes them stackable (and of course pretty)!

P.S. Please ignore the fact that my freezer needs a major defrosting party (unless you’re volunteering)! 

Don’t forget to attach the cooking directions so others can make Swiss Cheese Chicken too!

Or even better, print off the recipe below and tape it to the pan – otherwise they will be hunting you down for it   – That’s what I had to do to get this recipe in the first place!

This post was originally shared on Or So She Says. 

Make it a Food Storage Meal:

With a few minor adjustments, you can incorporate nearly any recipe into your long-term food storage plan. Here are some suggestions to make sure you can eat Swiss Cheese Chicken all year long ;)

First, know the shelf-life of the ingredients you are storing, or ways to extend it. My rule of thumb is I look for alternative options for anything that won’t last me at least 3 years.

Second, figure out which option or method you will use to store your food. It doesn’t have to be just one either, you can combine a few different options depending on how often you are rotating through your food.

Ingredient Options With Longer Shelf-Life:

• CHICKEN –

• Can Your Own Chicken (3+ year shelf-life)
• Purchase Freeze-dried Chicken (25 year shelf-life)

• CHEESE
  • Freeze blocks of cheese – I know it’s not recommended, but I do it all the time.
  • Wax your own cheese
  • Purchase some Freeze-dried Cheese (25 year shelf-life)

• CREAM OF CHICKEN
  • Buy Cans of Cream of Chicken Soup – Even after the expiration date food is often still good.
  • Make a Cream of Chicken Soup Mix from scratch.

• MILK
  • Use Instant Powdered Milk (25 year shelf-life)

• STUFFING MIX
  • Buy extra boxes or bags of Stuffing Mix
  • Make your own Stuffing Mix using shelf-stable ingredients.

• BUTTER
  • Once again you can freeze butter (at least I do).
  • Use a Butter Powder (3 year shelf-life)
  • Or Get Canned Butter (2+ year shelf-life)

• RICE
  • Store in Buckets or #10 Cans (25 year shelf-life)

How to Calculate a Year Supply of Ingredients
for Swiss Cheese Chicken:

Now that you know what ingredients you want to use, it’s time to figure out how much you need of each!

Depending on the amount of mouths you are feeding and how often you want to eat a particular meal, be sure to customize the amounts to your family’s needs and tastes!

I don’t want to eat the same meal more than once a month, so I get enough ingredients to make each meal 12 times, but you could do more or less – totally up to you!

Once your list is finished all you have left now to do is go shopping!

Are there any meals you have in your food storage that you love?

P.S. Want other simple and easy meals like Swiss Cheese Chicken? Those are the only kind I know how to make Feel free to check-out my FAVORITE RECIPES  –  the best part is most of them can be made from ingredients already in your pantry!