Here's my dilemma... I work full time and soon spring sports will be starting. The last thing I want to do is come home from work and spend an hour in the kitchen cooking dinner before heading off to a soccer or baseball practice/game. I'd like to take a couple hours on Sunday morning/afternoon and make up meals for the week. But not sure what to do, what I can freeze, how do I store it and how long it will be good in the freezer. So, I'm turning to all of you for advice!
As I think about that, it also makes me wonder what else I can freeze - like bread, butter, milk... I will admit - I am clueless!
10 comments:
Good subject. I'll definitely be stopping by for other suggestions.
I found a great resource for freezer cooking, they do the math on big batch measurements. A portion of the site is free (most of the recipes are) and a portion is paid (not a member of that part). Anyway, here it is:
http://www.30daygourmet.com/Recipes/Free_Recipes.aspx
Let me know if you end up doing any of the recipes. I've tried the chicken chilaquiles and they turend out great!
There are certain meals that freeze well for me. When I make spaghetti sauce, I always make extra and freeze it. When I make meatloaf I double the recipe and bake 2 at the same time. The first one I serve that night and the second one goes into the freezer. Then I just defrost it and bake it until it's heated through. I also buy chicken breasts and ground beef in bulk at Sam's. I will bake and shred the chicken and freeze in meal sized portions, and brown the ground beef and freeze in meal sized portions. That way when I want to make something that requires cooked chicken of beef I have it already in the freezer. I also bought a Seal A Meal thing to seal up all the foods I'm freezing. It is definitely worth the investment as I now don't have to throw out food because of feezer burn. I also freeze bread all the time and it works well.
First let me tell you that I am ADDICCTED to freezer cooking! Love it! I started doing it about 5 months ago and will never go back. It is amazing how much less of a hassle dinner is now.
I use 2 books, "Don't Panic Dinner's in the Freezer" and "Holly Clegg's Trim and Terrific Freezer Fiendly Meals". The meals have all been wonderful and I'm on Weight Watchers so I try to pick some that are low-cal. Both books have guidlines about what to freeze and not freeze.
I cook with a friend, so it's fun and we make more faster.
Another thing you can do is double your recipes for a month...
Good luck and hope this helps! If you have any questions..let me know!
I freeze a lot of soups. Chili and bean soups freeze very well. If you wonder if something freezes well, you can always freeze a small amount of it, then thaw and eat a few days later to check. I keep a list on the front of my freezer with foods I know freeze well and ones that don't.
Chili and most soups freeze beautifully! Note that if a soup recipe calls for potatoes or noodles you are better off making it without, then freezing. Once you heat it up, then add in potatoes or noodles. This avoids mush. I also make huge batches of spaghetti sauce, often with meatballs or sausage cooked right in it. Once it cools I dish it into freezer-safe containers and I have easy starts to dinners!
You certainly can freeze bread and butter. I do it all the time. Butter is so expensive, so I stock up whenever it is on sale. When I'm down to a last stick in the fridge, I take out a box from the freezer. This way, it's thawed out when I need it.
I only recently started freezing bread. I just throw the whole loaf in there. I'm not sure how long it really takes to thaw it. Like the butter, I take out a loaf when the 'fresh' bread is running low. I think a few hours on the counter does the trick.
This week, I'm experimenting with milk. I've heard it freezes well. I poured a little off the top and then put the gallon container in the freezer. We're still pretty good with milk, so I haven't taken it to thaw yet. I'm really curious to see what happens!
I've also frozen cartons of orange juice. When it thaws, you get these yummy orange-juice crystals. It's like a slushie!
Thanks for all the comments. These are all great ideas...I'm getting excited and ready to give it a try. I think I am going to put my freezer to the test tonight. I bought 4 packages of butter at Meijer last night (actually didn't buy...they were free) so I will start with them.
I got a Glad Vacuum sealer thing for Christmas. (It stores in a small drawer which is why I like it better than seal a meal.) It works pretty good. I freeze bread all the time. I also freeze cheese.
I freeze foods all the time. I love it! There are some really good resources in Yahoo groups, if you are familiar with that. The group names are: Friendly-Freezer, Frozen Assets, Crockpot (not frozen food but useful for fast dinners), and Crockpot Recipe. Friendly-Freezer has been around since 1997 and active since 1997. The archives in it are a fabulous resource. You can search the archives as well.
Here are things that I typically freeze: chicken pot pie filling, chili, spaghetti sauce, taco meat, chicken salad, chicken nuggets, homemade pizza, homemade PB & J sandwiches, cheese, fruit, chopped onions, browned ground beef, browned ground turkey, and bread. When I was a child my mom froze milk and I hated it. I have never tried freezing it. I have a post on my blog with links to some of my freezer friendly recipes: http://jenuinejen.wordpress.com/2008/01/09/freezer-friendly-recipes/.
You might want to check out the book that the authors of Dream Dinners wrote. I have used Dream Dinners in the past. That method is much more organized than my method. Basically, if I run out of something in the freezer then I know it is time to stock up again.
I use the Food Saver Vacuum Sealer and I also have a small Reynolds Vacuum Sealer. I have a post that compares the two items. http://jenuinejen.wordpress.com/2007/12/10/reynolds-handi-vac-versus-the-foodsaver-vacuum-sealer/
If you have more questions after looking at my blog, leave them in my comments and I will do my best to answer them.
jenuinejen - Thanks for all the resources! Looks like the freezer will soon become my best friend!
Post a Comment