Frozen Assets
Posted by Gail | Filed under Good ideas
When we first moved and I would leave home to shoot for a couple of days, I’d always feel the need to leave lots of food in the fridge for Alex. Inevitably I’d come home to dump food. I finally got wise to the fact that she couldn’t eat all the food I was cooking because I was going for variety and she’s just one small chick. So I changed the strategy. Now, when I batch cook, it’s with the intent of putting stuff in single serve containers in the freezer. She can go look at the menu board we keep beside the freezer, pick what she wants for dinner, grab it and defrost.
I’ve long been a believer in batch cooking. It’s what stands between eating home made and ordering in when the day just gets away from me and I have no time to start a meal from scratch. Sometimes those frozen assets come in really handy like the two weeks my household was down with the flu and we could haul out the chicken soup I’d stocked in single serves in the freezer.
Since I’m a stress cooker – when the caca hits the fan I deal with it by cooking up a storm – batch cooking comes naturally to me. Some people do it randomly like I do. I feel like curry, I make a big pot, eat some, put some in the fridge for later and freeze the rest. Some people use days off to batch cook for a week or month, planning the meals carefully and freezing for rotation eating.
Whichever you choose, batch cooking save gobs of time because the preparation and clean up are consolidated, leaving you more time free on nights when you’ve got extra curricular activities or just too much to do. And if you plan carefully, batch cooking can save you money. When ground beef goes on sale, you can batch cook spaghetti sauce, lasagna, meat loaf, whatever it is you make with your ground beef and have some for later along with your big savings. If it’s a roast of beef that’s on special, you can have a great dinner and then create two or three freezer packs for nights when you just don’t have time to cook.
Batch cooking also saves your family from endless leftovers. If your family is like mine, they don’t mind eating the same thing a couple of times, but then they’d rather have a peanut butter sandwich than face yet one more serving of the stew you made four days ago. When you batch cook you automatically set aside two or three servings for the freezer, so your leftovers don’t last as long and you’ll get less whining.
My favorite batch cooking benefit is the part where I don’t have to make dishes I hate to cook as often. I’m not fond of cooking turkey. I can’t abide the smell in the house. Alex loves turkey and bats her eyes so I’ll make it for her. But she’s the only one that eats it, so when I do, I set aside several freezer packs for later, so I don’t have to cook it as often and stink up my house!
Batch cooking is going to play an even bigger part in my life when Alex heads off to university. She’s already told me she expects me to keep her in a stead supply of delicious meals. Hey, since I batch cook for the kids of a couple of friends of mine who have been away at university, I think I’ll likely be batch cooking for my mini-me too.
November 11, 2009 at 7:21 am
Batch Savings – this is the thought that jumped to mind when reading your blog today Gail. I’ve been doing ‘batch savings’ for my kids’ RESPs. For example, I’ve got a series of GICs that come due at different times. One lump came due 2 yrs ago when our eldest went to 1st year university. Then the 2nd batch came due a yr ago for her 2nd year. There’s another small batch coming due this Jan. to cover her 2nd semester tuition, etc. So like cooking and freezing servings for later, I’ve been saving our savings for different points in our kids’ education.
November 11, 2009 at 7:38 am
37 Jars of Pickle beets in our cupboard, 37 Jars of Pickled Beets, If my wife shoudl eat one of those Jars, 36 Jars of pickled Beets in our cupboard…
My wife batch cooks all the time. We always have a full freezer and I find it’s a really enjoyable time to spend with her on the weekend cooking up all these recipes.
Since there is only 2 of us and all recipes come in 6 to 8 serving sizes we ussually have lots of leftovers to freeze and store.
November 11, 2009 at 8:00 am
We rarely batch cook anymore.
I only batch up my salad desssing.
Sold the freezer and buy just in time specials using the sales flyers
My wife scans the the special flyers they come out ahead of time and we run off that plus some other goods you just don’t batch.
We are zoomers and eat a lot of salads avacados and vegetables some tortellini.
I have known people who do jars of this and that or batch cook 5 same items and wind up tossing 1 or 2 from the freezer or shelf and other people who make it work.
November 11, 2009 at 8:03 am
I have recently started to do this. I make a lasagna or casserole and then freeze two servings for us to eat another night. It saves us from eating endless leftovers and makes busy evenings a lot more relaxed.
It is also a money saver in more ways than one. I don’t end up buying take out foods, I don’t end up throwing out leftovers that we are tired of eating and I am able to take advantage of sales.
November 11, 2009 at 8:59 am
I stock up on great meat specials, but put everything in the freezer uncooked. I do repackage things into meal sized portions, which I find quite useful.
One strategy I find useful is to set aside a portion of our dinner for my lunch the next day. I dish it out at the same time as the meal, which makes it a deliberate meal and not just whatever is leftover. It’s relatively easy to stretch the meal, saves me the extra fuss of hunting for something for lunch, and then I’ve basically got a yummy, free lunch the next day.
November 11, 2009 at 9:43 am
I batch cooked when I was in college. On Sunday I’d make a big pot of on-sale stew and freeze it in individual containers. Every morning before school I’d take one container out to thaw and when I got home 8 hours later I’d heat it up and voila! Home cooked without cooking. If I felt energetic or extra hungry I’d make buiscuits.
Now I am happily married to a man who loves to cook (I do the dishes, I hate that less than cooking) and we still freeze leftovers for those long days when he works and I don’t want to cook.
November 11, 2009 at 10:00 am
I know this has been asked before but does anyone have recipes to share that work well for batch cooking. I try but end up throwing stuff out of the freezer that we’ve forgotten. Also how do you package it so you have enough room in the freezer?
November 11, 2009 at 10:21 am
I’ve been doing this for years for my family….now it’s just hubby & me, I still do it. Can’t beat a sale so stock up, cook away and reap the benifits in days to come. LOL about your turkey comment Gail, I LOVE turkey and cook one every couple months….hate fish & chicken though.
November 11, 2009 at 10:29 am
I don’t go to university anymore but if you want to adopt this 40 year old ‘kid’, I will gladly accept any offerings you have:) I was speaking this summer with my in-laws about the workings of the meals-on-wheels jprogram that my husbands grandparents participate in. I joked that I would sign up for a program like that if I could!
Seriously though, I have three teenage boys and I cook two family packs of hamburger when I bring them home and we spice them to make ‘taco beef’ which is great for tacos, nachos, in spaghetti sauce…..ummmm spaghetti, I think that’s what we’ll have for lunch today!
November 11, 2009 at 10:30 am
With two kids now off to University I find I am still “cooking for four” when in reality there are only two of us. Don’t get me wrong – I lovvve leftovers, however some meals offer up more than we can eat.
So it’s back to the pre-kid days when I used to divide up and freeze smaller portions of chili, stew etc. I miss my kids dearly but knowing that I have dinner waiting in the freezer and I don’t have to cook that night is divine !!
November 11, 2009 at 11:03 am
There are only 2 of us here. One is not an adventurous eater, and me who is. I like Mexican and Indian food, but since my mom is not: old school traditional meat and potatoes or spaghetti, and I do mean spaghetti, no other pasta. I have to go out to get my fix of other ethnic cuisines. I do batch make spaghetti sauce. I buy the ground beef on special in bulk. Break it down into 1lb pkgs. I usually make my sauce on a Saturday night or Sunday in the crockpot! Easy cleanup, if i remember to spray the crock first.
November 11, 2009 at 11:05 am
I like to batch cook certain items. My other half likes ‘fresh’ meals which is fine on days that we are off but on the days that we both work (we work 12 hr shifts) or days that I just don’t feel like cooking (due to a medical condition), I like to pull out something easy. I like to batch cook a basic pasta sauce and freeze it in individual containers. With this sauce I can prepare pasta and sauce, veggie chilli, or use the sauce for chicken parm, etc…. that way it can be used for several different meal ideas!!!!
November 11, 2009 at 11:16 am
I don’t do any of this, simply because for me, preparing dinner is also a form of entertainment. It takes time in my solo life, and I need that. It’s boring and quick to pull it out of the freezer. I suppose if I had a life, it would be a great time saver.
November 11, 2009 at 11:18 am
Okay, I have thought of this, but never did anything beyond thinking. Here are a few questions:
1. What containers are best for freezing smaller batches in so that one of my kids could easily take one out?
2. Do you put it in the oven or microwave?
3. Are there foods that don’t freeze well?
Any help would be appreciated. We have spent money at times at a certain outlet that does individual meals and my one kid eats them, but if I had stuff in the freezer already it would be easier and cheaper. And especially on those days you come home from work and can’t face trying to think of what to make!
November 11, 2009 at 11:20 am
I batch cook chicken vegetable and beef vegetable soups. These work great frozen in small sizes so I can just grab one in the morning and microwave it at work for lunch. It’s nice on those cold winter days. I also do muffins, loaves and cookies. Always make a double batch and freeze half.
November 11, 2009 at 11:45 am
cook once……eat twice (er, three-or-four times more)……that’s been my mantra from when i was a little bambina.
it’s the italian way.
November 11, 2009 at 11:52 am
I batch cook all the time, especially now that winter is here. Leslie and Kathryn , what I do with my batch cooking meals is I go to the dollar store and purchase the disposable foil containers with lids (these are similiar to what restaurants use for take away meals). They come in a variety of sizes, so you can make portions for one or portions for eight. They are very inexpensive and also stack in the freezer nicely as the are all the same size. Another advantage to this is they have a lid that you can write on. I always label with contents and DATE it. If you are using other types of containers, I again always date it- Masking Tape is my buddy in the kitchen. You can put masking tape on pastic or glass containers and it comes off clean after washing. I also use this in my firdge on condiments, so I know how long they have been in there. In my house usually about once everyother month, we commit to eating what is left in the freezer and I do not buy anything until it is completely empty. This ensure no waste and everything if properly rotated.
My favorite items to batch cook are: Spaghetti Sauce, Lasagna, Beef Stew, Sheppard Pies (add the potatoes when ready to eat), Curried Chicken, Chicken Paprikash, All kinds of soups, Meatloaf, Meatballs, Home made calzones.
Baking fresh goodies and freezing goodies immediately is also done at my house. I aways have small boxes of cookies, small loaves, muffins, cupcakes, uniced cookies. I usually freeze cookies in 8’s and pull as needed. Those little mini loaves are great, no waste and you always have fresh cake. Sames goes for muffins and cupcakes, I put them in a large container and pull out what is needed. I do the same for buns, (one thing I have not mastered yet) – but I do purchase them in bulk for lunches and again freeze individually and pull as needed.
Happy Cooking!
November 11, 2009 at 12:27 pm
I bought a cookbook years ago, called “Once a month cooking”, which set out a meal plan, then the complete grocery shopping list. Granted, it would be expensive to start out, but most of us have a stocked pantry at this stage of our lives. The neat part about batch cooking, besides the convenience later, is the convenience now. So many recipes use the same ingredients – chopped onion, celery, minced garlic, grated cheese, etc., that doing all that at once, and then just measuring out what each recipe needs is a time saver. Cooking three chickens at once and using two to cut up into other recipes is no harder than cooking one. Using this concept, one can customize their monthly meal plan with favorite family recipes, and use the techniques to your advantage. My family favorite is a hamburger goulash, where I use 50% off bulk packs, which I cook immediately, then add diced tomatoes, peppers, onions, kernel corn, kidney beans, brown beans, tomato sauce, mushrooms, cinnamon and cumin, and simmer. When it comes time to eat it, depending on what with, is when I add other things, like the chili powder, or some lentils to stretch the base. Co-workers always tell me, I want what she is having. It is filling, versatile, and easy. My mom has also packaged “TV dinners”, with leftover turkey meals, etc. and it is so easy for her when she has unexpected company on the farm to pull out a few frozen divided plates – not sure where she got those! Dishing out your ‘leftovers’ before serving the meal also makes the serving look more attractive, and not feel like a ‘leftover’. Another meal stretcher is Lazy Man’s Cabbage Rolls – all the taste, none of the work! Chopped cabbage, cooked ground beef and chopped onion, long grain rice, mixed in a roaster and covered with anything tomato – juice, sauce, soup, and cooked in the oven till the rice is cooked. This is a ‘by God and by guess” recipe, give it a try. I love Dollar Store containers, almost as good as Tupperware, and not so expensive to toss if they get damaged.
November 11, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Good for those of you who can do this. I can’t cook for more than 15 minutes without contemplating suicide, so batch cooking would be hell on earth for me
November 11, 2009 at 1:30 pm
LOL, Rebecca, bet you can find someone to barter services with – come clean my house for me, and I will cook for you….
November 11, 2009 at 1:40 pm
I don’t do much batch cooking, but I do a lot of freezing and canning, mostly of fresh local produce. Blueberries in the summer at the farmer’s market are cheap. If I store them in my freezer I can have a year’s supply for almost nothing. And I even know the farmer that produced them. It’s a little bit of work on my part, but it saves me money and allows me to enjoy the bounty of the harvest long after it’s disappeared from the landscape.
November 11, 2009 at 2:17 pm
For someone like me who dislikes to cook and whose family prays everyday that the offerings won’t be burnt there is no other way to cook. It saves time and stress and it is amazing how the flavours of many recipes will improve just by being frozen. I think the cold gives the flavours time to meld.
One of the best ways to store batch cooking is in canning jars. Half litre and litre jars are great for one and two serving portions. The lids are air tight and the jars are easy to clean and sterilize. There is no taste transfer with glass as with plastic, Just remember to leave an inch to an inch and a half of head space at the top of the jar for expansion when you freeze.
November 11, 2009 at 2:28 pm
I always seem to get freezer burn when I try this. How do you guys avoid that? I don’t like the idea of using disposable containers to freeze food (sorry Diane, I just find that incredibly wasteful).
November 11, 2009 at 2:42 pm
When freezing individual soup or chicken broth portions we fill sandwich-sized freezer bags and freeze them on cookie sheets so they are completely flat. You can then “file” them standing vertically in the wire bins of your freezer (or a shoebox works fine). We write the flavour/date along the zipper edge so when we flick through the soup files we can easily find what we want. Same principle works well for efficiently storing any soft items (mashed squash, gravy etc)
November 11, 2009 at 3:00 pm
If you don’t like freezing things in disposable tinfoil type containers, you can freeze things in a good quality plastic container. Make sure you label it. Then you can pull it out of the freezer, run it under hot tap water, pop the meal out of the container into a microwave safe dish and zap it till warm.
Alternatively, you can buy (new or secondhand) a pile of glass casserole dishes. Put the meal (lasange, or whatever) in the casserole, then into an extra large ziploc freezer bag. Then label and freeze. Use masking tape or a label so you can wash & reuse the bag. Some people like to double freezer bag things.
Don’t buy no-name brand freezer bags. They really don’t work and you’ll get freezer burn. Ziploc or Glad may be a little more expsenive, but worth it. And you can wash & reuse them!
November 11, 2009 at 3:31 pm
I love cooking, so I don’t mind cooking each night. However because there are only two of us, I do batch cook for certain things. My favorite is spagetti sauce as it freezes well and I cannot really tell the difference between frozen and prepared fresh sauce. I put my sauce in a ziploc back (large size) and stack them in the freezer. I have found that it takes no time to defrost unlike a container that took a long time to defrost. I do not microwave though, I put it back in a saucepan and reheat (microwaving tends to get crust of sauce on the sides). I do not store pasta in the freezer though.
I only buy meat when its on sale (I work at a grocery store and stuff like chicken breast goes on sale all the time) and so I buy the meat, divide it into two portions and freeze it with butcher/freezer paper and then put it in the ziploc bag (I don’t like freezer burn or anything that remotely tastes like freezer).
November 11, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Forgot to add, that defrosting our “soup files” is quick since they are never more than 3/4″ thick. We just lay them on the counter for a while, or in a sink with an inch of water.
We also batch cook meatballs. I’ve collected 4-5 recipies for various sauces but make the meatballs all at once and bag them in quantities suitable for each recipe.
DH is off today and is spending the afternoon making multiple batches of pizza dough in the bread machine. Each batch takes 45min so he’s doing about 1/hr. He’s wrapping and freezing each dough ball as it comes out of the machine. By late afternoon he’ll switch to making calzones for dinner tonight. He’ll cook one batch for supper and another batch for the freezer. Tonight’s calzones will be hawiian (ham/pineapple) as we need to use up the last of the enormous ham we started on Sunday night. Two nights of regular ham suppers, quiche last night (made 3 extras for the freezer while I was at it), a few ham sandwiches each and one morning of egg McMuffins. The end of the ham is finally in sight but I find it only freezes well buried in things (pea soup, calzone sauce, quiche, etc so we can’t just stick the left over piece in the freezer.
November 11, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Would y’all mind posting your recipes for the rest of us? I’d love to get some new ideas/flavours – thanks!
November 11, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Here is the meatball recipe we use, plus several sauce options to use up all those frozen meatballs!
MILLIONS OF MEATBALLS
(this makes a lot — at least four dozen, depending on size)
12-ounces tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups dry bread crumbs
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup green pepper, finely chopped
1 teaspoons salt, optional
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
1/8 teaspoon dried marjoram, crushed
4 pounds ground beef
In a large mixing bowl, combine first eight ingredients. Add ground beef and mix well. Shape into meatballs (use a small cookie scoop if available) and place on broiler pan so grease can drain while cooking. Bake uncovered in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Divide into meal-sized portions. To prevent from freezing into a solid meatball-mass, freeze individually on cookie sheets and then place in freezer bags. Label and freeze.
To serve meatballs, thaw completely, and reheat with your choice of sauces (six sample sauce recipes follow).
SWEET-N-SOUR MEATBALLS
(5 servings)
1 (14-oz) can pineapple tidbits or chunks, undrained
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 teaspoon soy sauce (or more to taste)
1 family meal-sized portion of freezer meatballs
1 (5-oz) can water chestnuts, drained and thinly sliced
1 green pepper, cut in strips
Drain pineapple tidbits, reserving syrup. In medium saucepan, combine brown sugar and cornstarch. Blend in reserved syrup, water, cider vinegar and soy sauce. Cook and stir over low heat until thick and bubbly. Carefully stir in meatballs, water chestnuts, green pepper strips and pineapple. Heat to boiling. Serve over hot cooked rice.
CHILI-DAY MEATBALLS
(5 servings)
This recipe sounds a little strange (chili sauce and grape jelly?), but it tastes like burgundy sauce (only without the wine)
1 (12-oz) jar chili sauce
11-oz. jar grape jelly
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cube beef bouillon dissolved in 1/2 cup water
1 family meal-sized portion of freezer meatballs
Whisk together chili sauce, grape jelly, lemon juice and bouillon, breaking up all clumps. Simmer on low heat until sauce starts to thicken. Add freezer meatballs; cook in sauce until meatballs are fully heated through. Serve over hot cooked noodles or rice.
MEATBALL SANDWICHES
(6 servings)
1 family meal-sized portion of freezer meatballs (approximately 4-5 meatballs per person)
6 hot dog buns (or hoagie rolls)
6 thin slices mozzarella cheese
2 cups prepared spaghetti sauce
Thaw meatballs and spaghetti sauce (if using frozen). Place both in medium saucepan. Heat until hot. Place meatballs into warmed buns. Ladle small amount of spaghetti sauce onto each sandwich; place mozzarella slice onto each sandwich.
TOMATO-SAUCED MEATBALLS
(5 servings)
1 (10 3/4-oz) can condensed tomato soup
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 family meal-sized portion of freezer meatballs
Mix together soup, water and Worcestershire sauce. Place meatballs in a medium sized saucepan; pour soup mixture over meatballs. Simmer until meatballs are heated through. Serve over hot cooked rice.
MEATBALL STROGANOFF
(5 servings)
1 (10 3/4-oz) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1 cup mushrooms, sliced and cooked in butter until soft
1 family meal-sized portion of freezer meatballs
In medium saucepan, mix together mushroom soup and sour cream. Gently stir in mushrooms and meatballs. Simmer until meatballs are heated through. Serve over hot cooked rice or over egg noodles tossed with melted butter and chopped parsley.
CATALINA MEATBALLS
(5 servings)
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 bottle Catalina salad dressing
1 family meal-sized portion of freezer meatballs
Sauté onion slices in olive oil until softened. Place frozen meatballs in medium skillet. Pour dressing over meatballs. Cover skillet and cook over low heat until dressing caramelizes on meatballs and onion, and the meatballs are fully thawed and heated through. Serve over rice.
November 11, 2009 at 5:15 pm
I love batch cooking when time permits. What I do consistently is “batch prep”…this is an essential time/money saver in my world as a working Mom…
Veggies: I often buy red pepper, green pepper and zuchini when on sale (mostly seasonal) and do some ‘batch’ chopping. They I take ’small’ freezer bags and put each raw veggie in three equal portions into the bags. Excellent for spagetti sauce, stir fries, etc
Chicken – I’ll usually get a box of M & M boneless, skinless chicken breasts when it goes on sale. I cook ‘em all up, dice and into ‘large’ freezer bags they go. Fantastic time saver for fajitas, stir fries, casseroles.
Lean Ground Beef – I stock up again when it’s on sale and buy a minimum of three large family paks. One pak I’ll make meatballs, cook them and freeze in an ice cream container (divided by portion size of 8’s with wax paper). Quick for spagetti and meatballs or honey garlic meatballs and rice.
2nd pak gets cooked up and put in a large freezer bag. Terrific for pasta, chili, nauchos, pizza topping.
3rd pak used for meals (batch cooked and left overs frozen when possible).
I’ve even cooked and frozen bacon – convenient for salads, toppings, etc.
Of course, you can buy most of this prepared now in the grocery store freezer section (chicken, frozen veggies, etc).
Just a few tips – I’ve been doing for this for years and am happy to share with all of you – the inspiring “Gail community”.
Lisa
November 11, 2009 at 5:20 pm
I should add that all of this goes into my freezer and pulled out when needed. Our deep freezer has paid for itself three times over I’m sure with all of our ‘on sale’ food purchases for my batch prep, etc.
Cheers,
Lisa
November 11, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Looking forward to getting a deep freezer. Three of us share the freezer above the fridge and it gets tight. I can really only have one set of “leftovers” in there at a time. Can’t wait to make lasagna again and freeze most of it!
I’m really hungry now. Thanks a lot!
November 11, 2009 at 6:28 pm
I like to batch cook meat – unflavoured, so when I have a recipe that calls for it, I pull it out of the freezer, thaw and add to the recipe. I do this with chicken breasts, chicken thighs, and ground beef. It’s a HUGE time saver and really encourages me to cook healthy meals. It’s also helpful near the end of the week to chop up any leftover veggies into small cubes or bits and freeze them as well. It saves time chopping fresh veggies for the “recipe of the day” and SAVES you in a pinch when you NEED a green pepper and there isn’t one in sight. It also help save money because you aren’t tossing soggy veggies into the composter.
November 11, 2009 at 7:28 pm
I like these ideas! I used to do spaghetti sauce in university but that’s about it. Most of my meals back then never took longer than 15 minutes to make!
One thing to add, is that the dollarstore often has reusable containers where you can put the date on it by turning a dial. Saves even on that masking tape!
November 11, 2009 at 8:02 pm
We do ‘batch baking’. I will bake a series of muffins, cookies and loaves and freeze them for lunches and snacks for the kids. Since we’re a family of 10, we make huge meals every day, so we don’t do a lot of batch cooking unless we’re making chicken stock or turkey stock. We always have leftovers, but those go to lunches the next day (our 9 year olds LOVE to take soups and stews in their thermoses). We would love to batch cook…and will probably do so when we move into our house in 10 months.
November 11, 2009 at 8:54 pm
This is one of our secrets too. We’ve been doing it since we got married and I always have lunch for next day. Sure saves us time and money, as the cleaning is done once for X meals rather than X times.
November 11, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Great post Gail!
I recently found a very useful cookbook at my local library called Fix, Freeze, Feast. The recipes are designed to make large quantities of dishes that freeze well. A quick search on Amazon.com reveals a whole host of similar cookbooks.
As for keeping foods from becoming freezer burned, my sister swears by her gadget that vacuum seals foods before freezing. I don’t have one myself (not in the present budget) but I guess it could be useful if one wants to do a lot of freezing.
I often freeze leftovers in plastic containers or freezer bags but never reheat in them as it isn’t safe.
November 11, 2009 at 10:41 pm
I’ve always batch cooked. Good to have a full freezer for those days you don’t feel like cooking, are short of time…or you get snow days and can’t go anywhere for a week (which has happened).
Two of the baskets in the freezer are goodies i.e. buttertarts, cookies, lemon loaf, etc. Nice for when someone drops in (and the supply seems to decrease when the kids come home ;o)
Right now we are eating ‘down’ the freezer – getting it cleared out for more batch cooking for the winter. Just found pork ribs on a terrific sale and bought two huge pkg. which takes up a lot of room unfortunately. We have sweet glazed ribs Christmas Day (slow cooked for hours) because no one really likes turkey here either. I’m going to make shepherd’s pie, lasagne, beef and chicken pot pies etc. very soon….i.e. when ingredients are on sale.
November 12, 2009 at 11:05 am
Oooohhhh!! Y’all are making me hungry!! At the age of 36 I still show up at my sister’s or parents for dinner on the weekends. I always bring containers with me. Everytime I try and reciprocate they won’t let me. I think they feel sorry for me because I am single. Whatever works, I get fed well and feel loved. Sigh! I wonder what mom is cooking this weekend….
November 12, 2009 at 11:58 am
Thanks Jenn! I’ll be making meatballs with your sauces this weekend.
November 12, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Forgot….this is a fabulous recipe from Recipe Zaar via Saver Queen. I had 8 coming for lunch. Emailed them with a choice of ingredients – eg. roasted garlic, spicy sausage, olives etc. – they responded with their choices – I whipped up ‘made to order’ pizza pops!
They are awesome to have in the freezer – kids love ‘em!
CRUST
1 cup lukewarm water
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup oil
2 1/1 cups flour
SAUCE
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1/2 cup fine diced onion
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon thyme
3 tablespoons water
add a pinch of salt
Mix yeast with 1 cup of flour. Add all the rest of the crust ingredients (except rest of the flour) and beat well.
Knead in the rest of the flour. The dough should be soft and elastic, not too dry.
Let rest 15 minutes.
Cut into 8 balls (SQ says 10, but, I like them bigger) and roll out into
6″ circles.
Top with equal amounts of sauce on half of the circle leaving 1/2″ at edge clear for sealing purposes.
Add your choice of fillings. Pinch edge well to seal.
Prick tops (I prick in the initial of the person I’m making it for) and you can also brush with an egg wash mixture (I do not do this)
Bake on cookie sheets lined with parchment at 350F for 30-35 minutes.
You can stuff these with lots of fillings because the bread expands leaving a large pocket inside.
These freeze really well. I wrap them in foil with the initial of who it is for.
I reheat them at 350F for 15-20 minutes in the oven or toaster oven.
These would make a great after school snack…..
January 7, 2010 at 5:43 pm
One day I had my husband go to the butchers and see if we could buy a roll of butchers paper. Surprise, for $20.00 we got enough to last 10 years and that is after sharing with other family members. Now when we buy our meat on sale, we repackage it in the butchers wrap (no freezerr burn with the paper, unlike the plastic freezer bags).
I also bulk cook, when I make bread, I tend to do 8 loaves at a time, 2 of each kind my family likes, then I make 2 dozen bagels at the same time, sometimes I will make cinnamon rolls for a treat. I also make many differebt sauces and freeze them, I tend not to use any can or prepared foods so everything is bought fresh.
If I find alot of veggies marked down for instance, I will go home and chop them up and make a soup base and freeze enough for 4 servings at a time, then when its time to eat the soup I add my meat to it.
January 15, 2010 at 6:36 pm
First off excellent site. Im not sure if it has been addressed, but when using Opera I can never get the entire site to load without refreshing many times. Maybe just my connection. Appreciate your work