I greatly admire anyone who can do once a month cooking for freezer meals. I just can’t do that, nor do I want to make the effort of spending an entire day cooking, even it if means that I won’t have to cook for the rest of the month. In spite of my aversion to freezer cooking sessions, I still have a relatively full upright freezer full of meals for busy nights. How is this possible? I’ll tell you.
I fill the freezer with meals by incorporating freezer cooking into my normal routine.
First, I don’t plan out elaborate meals with the exact side dishes, deserts, etc. Rather, I supply the freezer with meal basics that can be mixed and matched. Some examples might included a cooked turkey breast, slices of meat loaf, glazed carrots, bean dishes, pot pies and baked pasta dishes.
Second, I keep the freezer stocked with plenty of frozen vegetables that can round out a meal and be microwaved in minutes. Frozen corn, broccoli, peas, green beans and more can be prepared quickly with a little salt and butter or a bit of shredded cheese.
Third, I incorporate the freezer cooking into my regular meal preparation. Since I have to cook anyway, it doesn’t take much more effort to make extra and freeze it. The dishes, bowls and pots are no dirtier, and cooking everything in the oven at once uses the same amount of electricity as cooking a single meal. Today, for example, I prepared and cooked four ground turkey meat loaf loaves. When they came out of the oven and cooled for a bit, I covered one and put it in the refrigerator for tonight’s dinner. The other three, I cut into slices before freezing them on a cookie sheet. Later I’ll pop the slices into freezer bags for longer storage.
How do you freezer cook?
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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