Double Up :: Adventures in Freezer Cooking
Posted by Alli on August 2, 2009
The Moms Group I’m involved with usually has a theme during the summer months. This year we settled on “cooking.” Topics varied from quick cooking, preparing summer veggies, and our pantry staples. We had some great discussions and fellowship this summer, making our time together to be pretty memorable.
I guess because of the weekly topic, it really kept the concept of the kitchen and our family dining habits at the forefront of my mind.
As a stay at home mom, I think of feeding my family as one of the top “jobs” I have. And I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not very good at it. While we have food everyday, I know our diet isn’t as nutritionally sound as it could be. And at the same time, I struggle with using our food responsibly, so we don’t send money into the trash in the form of spoiled and uneaten food.
The best time I had at Moms Group this summer was when my friend Betsy drove from her city (about 2 hours away) to come and talk to us about freezer cooking. She gave us simple tips and advice from her own adventures in freezer cooking. I took two things away from the discussion:
1. Double Up. When cooking a meal, go ahead and make enough for two or more meals. You serve the meal and freeze the rest. It seems so simple when you think about it. What I have been trying to do it make at least double a recipe at a time. I can package the “second” meal as a whole meal for the family or package it in single servings for us to have for lunches. If I decide to serve it as a meal for everyone, I can open three (or more) packages.
By freezing second meals I cut down on prep and cooking time later in the month. Also, freezing them really cuts down on spoiled food, making us better stewards of our resources.
2. Make your freezer work for you. This advice has kind of revolutionized how I think about using the freezer for our family. Some people think of freezer cooking as dinner food, specifically the main dishes, and sometimes they get stuck on casseroles only. But really, the freezer can freeze anything. How about breakfast food? Or side dishes?
I love breakfast, but hate making it. So if I can take the time to make various breakfast items in bulk, I can freeze them and make them easy to access everyday. As an added bonus, Fuller can help himself too, so if he wakes up starving and I’m dealing with Tebow, Fuller doesn’t start his day with me asking him to wait.
When it comes to making dinner, I tend to get tripped up with side dishes. Damon loves mashed potatoes but I’m not keen on making them because of the work. However, if I make mashed potatoes in bulk, serve them once and freeze the rest, it is a lot easier to give him a dish he likes more often. So, I buy a 5 pound bag of potatoes and make them all at once into mashed potatoes. Again, this cuts down on waste, but I like how I can make Damon happy with more mashed potatoes on our menu. If only we could make everyone happier with mashed potatoes.
I once tried to do once-a-month cooking on my own and it was tiring. Then I went to a place that helped me do it for a fee. Then I tried meal planning and got flustered. These two things are simple enough that I can do often and feel like I’ve done something to better serve my family. I’ve already reduced my stress when it comes to meal planning, and I think the more I work on this, it will help our budget in some ways as well.
[tags]freezer cooking, bulk cooking[/tags]
Mistaken Identity « DarcKnyt said,
[...] Double Up :: Adventures in Freezer Cooking (alwaysalli.com) [...]
Add A Comment