Freezer meals are meals prepared ahead of time, frozen and put away for you to just pop in/on the oven or in the microwave for a later date!
Here is the USDA's website for freezing information to help aid in safe preparation!
1. BENEFITS:
*Save Money- Buying in bulk on sales and planning ahead.
*Save Time- Less time preparing meals each day.
*Less Shopping- You are less likely to shop the goodies because you are shopping less often.
*Less cleaning after meals- no prep dishes, just your table plates and bowls, and a dish to heat the food in!
*Healthier Meals- They are planned out, instead of thrown together in a hurry.
*Spend more time with family- Less clean up and less prep makes for a happier mom!
2. ADAPT, ADAPT, ADAPT
* Double dinner recipes and freeze on a few times a week.
*Simplify meals- spend a day where you cook, or put marinate on your meats and then throw them back in the freezer to use later!
*Freeze leftovers if they have not been cooked and frozen before! You can freeze meat from the store, then once it is thawed, it needs to be cooked not refrozen. Once cooked meat is frozen and you then thaw it out, it cannot be frozen again.. One freeze time for raw and one freeze time for cooked!
*Prepare freezer meals for one month.
* Get a group to trade meals with or cook with.
3. CHOOSE RECIPES
* Balance and variety:
Fish, Chicken, Beef, Pork, Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Vegitarian
* You can use almost any of your own recipes, just think how to adapt it to freezing. For example (Spaghetti, cook your hamburger and get your sauce ready and freeze in a zip lock bag!) ( Pot pie, make your pie filling and freeze in a bag!!!)
4. START NOTEBOOK OF RECIPES
*Organize them to work for you
*You can use a notebook, recipe cards and box, ect.
*Read through and break down recipes:
For example: Break into tasks like chopping grating, peeling, sauteing ect.
*note any changes in recipe to make them work for freezing ( for example, don't fully cook the noodles for lasagna, just partially cook them.)
5. MAKE A MASTER GROCERY LIST
* Look through your storage, use what you have first!
* Mark how many lbs, or bags or cans you will need. If you are making spagetti sauce, and sloppy joes you will need to write down exactly how many lbs of hamburger to buy
* Make sure you get ALL your ingredients, when making the meals in one day you don't want to be in the middle of cooking meat and find that you need to run to the store for something!
* Check adds, and utilize sales!
6. COOK AND PACKAGE
*If possible prep the night before
* Clean counters and take out garbage, place garbage in an accessible area and have extra bags handy.
*Keep recipes close by such as on a fridge where you won't loose them in your supplies or accidentally throw them away with garbage!
*Cook meat and store in fridge, grate cheese, pre chop veggies!
COOKING DAY
* Start early
*Dress in cooking attire ( not your 50.00 cute blouse you just bought)
*Get out all the canned goods you will need and keep in one area
*Assemble meals
PACKAGING
*Use your regular pans and line them with tinfoil, making sure to leave enough tinfoil to overlap, all 4 sides! ( this way you can take it out of the pan once it is cold enough to keep it's form allowing you to reuse the pan for another meal!!)
* Have zip lock baggies and plastic wrap available.
*Label all meals with name and date and how many items you have frozen for that meal.
7. CLEAN UP AND GO OUT TO DINNER OR ORDER PIZZA!
* You will be tired of food, have a huge mess and be really tired after, treat yourself this day!
8. EVALUATE
*Keep a log of how meals tasted, likes and dislikes, how to prep differently next time if needed!
Don't forget to freeze a few deserts too so you don't have to spend the time making them too!!!