~Benefits to Freezer Cooking~
*Spending less time in the kitchen: which means more time for the family, yourself and other priorities. We are all busy moms and dads and are always looking for ways for “find more hours in the day… and now you have found them!!!! It doesn’t take any more time to make a triple batch of something as it does one batch and by making that triple batch you have saved yourself time in the future. I am so thankful especially on weeknight when it seems like the kids have just gotten off the bus and 5 minutes later you are tucking them in bed, in reality those few hours were usually spent doing homework, chores, fixing dinner and cleaning!
Less stress in your life: this is the “You had me at hello” moment because who wouldn’t like less stress. Forget to take something out to thaw because you were rushing to get the kids off to school? Not feeling good? Wish you could just take an hour to relax after a long day at work ? Too many after school activities and no time to cook after the taxi service (yep that’s you!) is done for the day? Having a homemade meal to just pop in the oven is the solution!!!
Saves Money & Increases Nutrition: How many times have you looked at the clock and realized oh no its 6 o’clock and I have not even thought about dinner yet and you say oh well “mommy’s night off from cooking, let’s order a pizza or go out to eat“. Now I am absolutely an advocate for the chef getting a night but when that night off is not planned ahead it can become costly$$$. Now if you are staring at your stockpile when you say “there’s nothing for dinner what are we gonna order?” then you have to deal with the guilt that goes with it~ I know I have felt that guilt far too many times~ because you know deep down that you have enough food to feed the neighborhood if you needed to-it’s just a matter of getting it into the stove! Freezer cooking will prevent you from having to run out for fast food to feed the family when you forget to make something, it also take’s the need out of running to the store several times a week spending money to buy the extra items you need for each menu item- this will save you lots of $$$. When freezer cooking there are so many neat tips (we’ll share them we promise!) to add in to so many meal extra nutrition that you might not take the time to do on a nightly basis. You have the peace of mind that the majority of your meals are made from your own kitchen with your own two hands with fresh ingredients!
**As with anything that we are teaching we want you to tailor this to your families likes, size, allergies ect!!!
So how do you take this ………..
And turn it into this…………
If monthly cooking seems a bit overwhelming then just start small (tailor tailor tailor!!) Instead of spending a half or whole day cooking you can begin by just doubling each recipe you make~ one for dinner and the other to freeze! Doing this every night or a few nights a week with your family’s favorite recipes will quickly build a stockpile of dinners in your freezer (this method is also great if freezer space is an issue)
Already Planning Meals in your Head??? Ok Let’s get Cooking!
Things to consider:
1) Enlist Recruits: See if you have a friend who wants to join you- you can swap meals (so if you make multiples of dishes some would go to your friend and she would be giving you back equal # of meals. Also making sure your family is on board and they know then when the Chef’s a cookin don’t come a knockin- also seeing if you have someone who could watch your children the day you are cooking if you have younger kids (yes I have burned many things due to “minor distraction”)
2) Cost: This can be a biggie~ it might help you determine what type of cooking you want to commit to (monthly, weekly, every couple days) If you plan on doing monthly cooking then you would be purchasing a large amount of food to make that happen and in turn using the majority of your food budget upfront (depending on what you have on hand already) There are also startup cost like freezer bags, aluminum pans, enough pots and pans to cook with (multi-tasking is key and you will want to have several meals going at once) ~Check out some affordable supplies here and here . Also think about investing (if you don’t have one) in a freezer- I found mine on Craigslist for $75 and don’t know what I would do without it!!!
3) Time: The time you have available may also help you determine if you are going to double and triple batches are you make meals or do a large freezer cooking day - Dee and Kylee both tend to do two weeks’ worth of cooking at a time and it take approx. 5 hours of cooking. We also like to have something to occupy the children (like a nice visit to Nana’s!) and then turn the music up and get cooking!!
4) What to make? It’s hard to resist the temptation to just start making all sorts of random recipes that you find on sites (we learned that the hard way!!) We recommend you starting with meals you know your family loves and then if you want to try something new make it on a small scale first and then if it’s a hit (like anything chocolate in my home!) then you can then make it on a larger scale to freeze- nothing worse than 3 of the same dishes sitting in the freezer that your dog won’t even eat!! You also want to take into consideration your family size (when looking at recipes) what they like and don’t like as well as any allergies! You can find some of our Cooking Videos and tutorials here and also a list of some of our favorite sites!!
5) What to Freeze? There are certain things that just freeze better than others and knowing this will save you time and money~ Check out our list of Do’s and Don’ts for freezer cooking in our Helpful Tips Area!
6) Pantry/Stockpile/Freezer Raid: Use what you have on hand first “First In First out” rule – go through each of these and make a list of the items you have before you go shopping – make menus based around what you have on hand to save money!!!
Check out Our Favorite Recipes and Cooking Tutorials
Helpful Tips Area
