Give yourself some time off from daily cooking by freezing meals ahead of time.   Did you know that freezing meals will save you money too?

Too often things come up and I am not left with enough time to cook a dish that I had planned and resort to take-out instead.  By having meals in the freezer that only need to be re-heated, I am much more likely to heat that up than load all of the kids into the car to pick up take-out.

By spending one day in the kitchen cooking and baking, you can:

• Take a night or two off each week from standing in the kitchen cooking
• Alternate dishes every night for a week
• Have meals prepared ahead of time for:
• breakfast for hectic mornings
• birth of a baby
• surgery
• illness
• nights when kids have sports practice or extra curricular activities
• for a babysitter to heat up for the kids
• instead of cooking for one
• to have pre-made meals so you don’t need to food shop prior to moving house or going on vacation (or returning from vacation)

Tips for getting started:

1. Clean out your freezer.  Check that items don’t have freezer burn, consolidate packages and dispose of items that you froze with good intention of using, but most likely never will.  Set aside some space for frozen meals.
2. Read this article by the USDA on Freezing and Food Safety.
3. Write a meal plan of dishes that freeze well and food shop accordingly.
4. Stock up on Freezer bags and containers.
5. As you freeze meals don’t forget to include a label with the date the meal was frozen, when it needs to be used by, and any heating instructions that will come in handy for older children, the babysitter, or your spouse if they are wanting to re-heat a meal when you are not home.

Here are a few recipes to get you started:

• Whole Wheat Blueberry Banana Muffins
• Crock-Pot Pork Mole
• Creamy Onion Garlic Bread
• Swedish Meatballs
• Easy Strawberry Freezer Jam
• Chicken Puffs

Other helpful tips:

• How to Preserve Fall Produce – this article has a lot of great tips for freezing fruit and vegetables.  This is fabulous information for when you have leftover veggies or fruit, have stocked up at the farmers market or are wanting to preserve your favorite seasonal produce.
• 10 Tips for Perfect Homemade Chicken Stock – chicken stock can be used for so many dishes and freezes well.
• It’s Basil Time – tips for freezing basil. This would work well for other herbs too as you can read in the article How to Preserve Summer’s Savory Herbs.
• Freezing Beans – there’s a fabulous recipe for Black Bean Corn Salsa Quesadillas, but the second paragraph focuses on cooking and freezing beans instead of using store-bought canned ones.
• Freezing Pesto – pesto is a staple in our pantry.  It is my lazy dinner dish that I can whip up quickly and toss in some penne and top with parmesan.  This article has a delicious recipe for Pasta with Chicken and Artichokes but will also give you great tips for freezing pesto.  Now you can make batches and freeze it for later.