September 09, 2008
While baking bread and rolls and making your home smell terrific with cookies baking is one approach to cooking from scratch there are other things you can do. I realize there are times when we are just too busy to cook from scratch. This is when we waste lots of money either falling back on prepared items or …eating out!
Consider cooking in batches. When I make a stew, lasagna, pot pie or other dinner that freezes well I always make at least two and freeze one. There are a few tips for freezing meals.
1. Purchase several containers of the same size. A dish that is square or oblong will leave the least wasted space in your freezer. I use glass because it is both microwave proof and oven proof.
2. Before freezing allow the meals to cool. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly over the food and smooth out any air bubbles. Next cover the dish with aluminum foil and wrap and seal all the edges. Use heavy weight foil or two layers of less expensive foil. Before heating remove the plastic wrap and replace the foil if using an oven. When using a microwave remove the plastic wrap and replace with new plastic wrap. This method really cuts down on freezer burn and allows you to store foods much longer.
If you have a pan with a plastic lid place the plastic wrap on the food, smooth out the air bubbles and then cover with the lid. If ice crystals form you simply remove the plastic wrap and ice together and the food underneath is fine.
Allow the food to freeze before stacking.
3. Cook in batches the basic ingredients. If I am making taco salad I cook up enough ground beef for several meals. I season it and prepare it so it is ready to go. This works great with leftover spaghetti sauce, creamed chicken or anything you are serving over rice, potatoes or pasta. I place a meals worth of the food in a zipped freezer bag, squeeze out as much air as I can and lay it flat in the freezer to freeze. When they are frozen I place them in a larger freezer bag and label the larger bag. This method keeps the food safer and keeps me from losing the smaller bags in the freezer. In the case of taco meat I simply pull one out, heat it and I am ready to go for tacos, tacos salad, tostadas, taco soup, burritos, enchiladas…
4. Use your crock pot. With winter coming for those of us in the northern hemisphere a crock pot will not only warm up the kitchen but allow you to purchase cheaper cuts of meat. When the meat is tender remove it from the pot, cut off what you need for one meal and cut the remaining into meal size pieces. Do not shred or cube meat before freezing. Wrap meat in plastic wrap squeezing out the air as much as possible. Place in zippered freezer bag and lay flat in the freezer. When the meat has frozen place in a larger freezer bag. This may seem like lots of bags but they are all reusable and all this care will prevent your food from tasting of freezer burn. Now you have meat that can be shredded for fajitas, salads, soups, stews or mixed with barbecue sauce for sandwiches or potato topping.
I have also set aside a Saturday and spent the whole day making meals ahead. It’s great to be able to come home after a busy day at work or soccer practice and pull out a meal that is ready in minutes. If you have your three month supply of food storage the sides will also take just minutes to prepare.
Healthy, great tasting meals, in minutes, at sale prices, what could be better!
I wish that I could cook and bake as I used to. I made everything from scratch because one of our children was allergic to the additives in mixes, etc. and she had to be on a limited sugar diet.
Now the kids are all grown up. Good thing, because with my MS I can’t do any cooking and baking. I miss that part of my life.