Easy Freezer Friendly Hashbrown Casserole

This is my mom’s recipe, the one she makes at all the holidays.  This casserole is definitely a comfort food.  In recent years, my mom has been making this recipe a little “healthier” by using the liquid spray butter, in place of regular butter, and fat free sour cream and cream of chicken soup.  (You could use unsalted butter and the Healthy Choice Cream of Chicken Soup if you are watching you sodium intake).  Whenever I make this, I add diced ham to increase the protein a little.  (My husband thinks there should be meat at every meal, lol!)  Also, onion is optional in this recipe.  I’ve found that my family prefers it without, so if you don’t have an onion on hand, don’t worry about getting one!

Some of you may be saying that by no means is the “healthy” version of this all that healthy, and you are probably right.  But if you are craving comfort food, instead of ordering it and paying $10 per person to get take out, why not make this and feed your entire family for less than $10.

Tips:  

1.  I’ve experimented a little with the best way to prep this freezer meal.  I’ve tried cooking the casserole before freezing it and then just reheating it in the microwave to serve.  This method was not ideal, I found the potatoes got a little soggy.  I think it’s best to make the casserole, freeze it uncooked, and then just cook it frozen (but baking time is significantly increased.)
2. I don’t like having my casserole dishes tied up in the freezer, so I use the disposable foil pans.  I bought a giant stack of them at Sam’s Club a couple years ago and haven’t had to buy any since.  The foil pans for Sam’s Club come with foil lids.  I don’t think the lid creates a very good seal, so after I put the lid onto the disposable pan, I wrap the lid on using some foil.  I do this just to reduce the chances of freezer burn.
3. I like to freeze the casserole without the cornflakes on top, because I worry that they won’t crisp up as well.  Therefore I usually just lay a stick of butter and a resealable bag of cornflakes on top of the casserole before freezing.  I always worry that I will run out of butter or cornflakes, forgetting I need them for this casserole, so this step isn’t necessary.
4. Our family likes the cornflake topping, so I usually just approximate the amount of cornflakes (tending to go a little heavy on them!) To be completely honest, I melt the stick of butter in the microwave and start adding handfuls of crushed cornflakes until all the butter is absorbed!