Freezer Cooking a Bite at a Time

Opening your freezer and finding a great dinner there already to place right in the oven with no other prep from you is a wonderful thing. It can put a smile on your face after a long day or supply a hearty dinner in the midst of the unexpected.

But all day marathons and planning weeks in advance what to cook and buy just doesn’t work for everyone.  If you already work outside the home all week long the last thing you want to do on a Saturday of freedom is chain yourself to the kitchen for a cooking spree not to mention the cleanup that comes afterward.

Better yet prepare meals for your freezer in small doses.

1. Pick a day of the week where you have the least amount going on. For me this is Thursday. I can spend a little bit of extra time in the kitchen in the later afternoon.
2. Do the usual planning of your family’s weekly menu. Look at which dish that’s on your plan also does well when frozen. You usually have one. Soup, a casserole, even a fish dish. Plan on making twice as much that day when you cook and putting the second batch in the freezer for a busy day. Only pick on because you are too buys for more than this.
3. On the day of cooking be sure you have your freezer safe container ready. Soups can go in plastic baggies. Casseroles or lasagna’s I put in a foil pan. Meatballs in a baggie. Be sure and label and date your dish before setting it in the deep freeze.
4. The day before you plan to cook your meal take it out of the freezer and place it in the fridge to thaw.

This is also known as Cook-Once-Eat-Twice.

Not sure what freezes well? Make a list of your family’s favorite dinners. Do a search on the internet for the dish omitting the specialized word’s such as “Freezing Lasagna” instead of “Freezing Cathy’s Famous Lasagna.”   You will usually find just the tips your need to set your meal on ice.