This week, I am making it one of my frugal goals to freeze a little something each and every day. Today it is mashed potatoes and also banana chocolate chip muffins. Yesterday, it was sour cream corn muffins, and the day before it was regular chocolate chip muffins.
I’ve been doing this by making extra and then packing up some aspect of our regular meals, such as the leftover muffins from breakfast or preparing a whole six pounds of mashed potatoes (before the butter and milk). By doing this, I really don’t have to do much additional preparation. I measure a few more cups of flour or peel a few extra potatoes.
Having these items in the freezer means that I have a couple of go to elements on busy mornings or busy nights. This saves me money because we are less tempted to grab something on the way out the door, and I can take advantage of the sales or bulk purchases.
Still, finding time to cook at all can be difficult. In the case of the muffins, I mix up the dry ingredients on an off time, such as in the middle of the afternoon while I am on the phone, or at night as the kids are getting their pajamas on and their teeth brushed. Then, when I have another bit of free time, I can mix up the wet ingredients, add them to the dry, scoop them into the muffin cups and then bake.
In the case of the mashed potatoes, I am making them tonight, to go with some already cooked leftover ham and vegetables. Since I don’t have to prepare the entire meal from scratch, this works out very well.
Lest you think that all I freeze is starch, let me tell you that I also have plans for freezing some ground turkey meatloaf and marinated drumsticks. Who knows what else.
While I greatly admire those who can do an all-day freezer cooking session and stock up for the month, the reality is that I don’t see that happening for me anytime soon. This way, I can still move forward with stocking the freezer a bit and making freezer cooking doable this week.
* Image from morgueFile
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