I hope you were able to complete yesterdays task. I am going to try and space out days with more to do with easier ones. Todays work does not have to be done today. START today though and aim to make sure it is complete by day 30. I am being bossy because I really want you to be better prepared by the end of this all!
For those in early days of being prepared I want you to set the goal of seven meals, enough for everyone in the household, in the freezer. If you do not have this kind of freezer space go for seven very simple meals you can put together in minutes from shelf stable foods.
For those of you with some ready made meals on hand I want you to add a whole weeks worth.
My friend in California has been so sick with the virus. She was on day 19 when I heard from her last. There was no way she could stand let alone cook. There are so many times we can't look after ourselves let alone others. You could be snowed in. You could be locked down. Whatever... stuff happens and you need to have decent meals to tide you over. Also when sick you need nutrition!
Ready meals do not have to be fancy. A stack of sandwiches ready to toast is just fine. Variety is good. Some soup is great. I tend to keep things in the fridge also that could easily become a simple meal.
I keep 30 ready to "thaw and its done" meals and try not to drop below that. After that I would go to easy to put together things from the pantry. In this challenge I will add seven more.
One of my favourite is to make up Enchiladas and freeze like this...
Another of my easy favourites to freeze are pasta bakes and lasagna. They just thaw and re heat perfectly. If I am making a pasta sauce I bulk it out and by the time I make a cheese sauce and some pasta it goes a long way. A couple of these live in the freezer for emergencies. You know... this also means you can help someone else out in their emergency.
I keep puff pastry in the freezer too. If I make a casserole and there is a bit left I use it as a pie filling. A pie is an easy one dish meal... and freezers well.
You will have your family favourites. Just squirrel away a weeks worth of meals. Label them well maybe with instructions depending on who is in your household.
I keep some frozen chicken and garlic and my pantry has all the other ingredients that allow me to start a good wholesome chicken soup any time. Like the other night when I put one on at 10pm! A slow cooker is so good as if you are sick it is slowly cooking away while you are sleeping. If I feel like I am coming down with something I usually get a soup like this one right away.
Think about what meals you feel like when you are under the weather. What meals your family like. What is comforting and good to you. Think of nutrition and comfort.
When you know you have dinners for your family you have a great weight off your mind if you are unwell or unable to cook. But you have a great help if for some reason you have to stay home or the grocery store has failed you. The bank might have failed you! There are just many reasons to be ahead. It is one less thing to worry about.
You might plan a cook up or to double some meals in the next few weeks to get your extra meals put away. What meals do you find freeze well or can be made up super fast from what you keep on hand?
What kind of meals do you like to have when there is sickness in the house? We would appreciate any tips in this area! I hope everyone can complete this task by day 30. I will remind you at the end of each week to check how you are going with the tasks like this that need some work.
My opportunity yesterday was to try something new. I have natural honey from the farm. I warmed it slightly to make it really runny by sitting it near the fire. Some of the lemons I am trying to used up were just right to make lemon infused honey. You wash the lemons and cut off the hard ends then cut them in a spiral fashion to open the lemon up. Place this in your jar and cover with honey. Now let it sit for several days. I read that it will keep up to a year. I am thinking to use them in the next few months as a bonus dose of goodness and immune boosting vitamins. So far I made four. One was given to a friend and he was keen as he is thinking of keeping his immune system up.
I already tasted it and its so good! A new way to preserve some of the lemons.
See you tomorrow for day 3! xxx
Annabel, you and Wendy at My Abundant Life often write about ready-prepared meals, or--especially in Wendy's case--freezing leftovers as single serves. I'll be honest...I'm never totally thrilled with the results when I freeze meals. I used to have the Once a Month Cooking book and didn't really like most of the recipes after they were thawed and cooked. I find I can freeze soups and sauces, lasagna, stews, meatloaf (raw or cooked), etc., but when pasta or tortillas are involved, they absorb the sauce. Macaroni and cheese, for example, comes out very dry, and tortillas and sauce turn to mush...at least, mine do. Potatoes are difficult to freeze and often do not turn out well. So...am I doing something wrong? What types of foods freeze most successfully for you?
ReplyDeleteYesterday we had bean and rice burritos for dinner. I cooked a whole pound of beans and froze leftovers--beans freeze beautifully--and the leftover Mexican rice, which is OK for awhile. This is a meal my daughter would love, but she wasn't here. So, this weekend, when she is back, I'm going to make bean and cheese burritos and serve the rice on the side. This is a pretty simple meal to put together if you have the beans and rice, but it doesn't feed the family if the cook is sick in bed! Of course, there is always breakfast for dinner--even my husband can make that!
How many days do I have to make the 7 meals? I love the idea, just not sure what to cook.
Hi mikemax, potatoes don't freeze very well as a rule, they are a starchy/water vegetable so when they thaw after freezing the starches and water leach and make them grey and soggy. But you can get around it. Par cook any chips/wedges - I just boil them for about 5 minutes, drain and cool before freezing. Then I bake them in the oven, but that's more so I don't have to stand at the stove and watch them fry. For roast potatoes, I do the same thing - par cook, cool and freeze. Cook them from frozen, you'll need to add a little extra time to the cooking - maybe 10 minutes - to allow for the thawing and heating right through. The best way to freeze potato is to mash it, whichever way you like, and freeze the mash. This thaws and reheats in the oven or microwave beautifully. When I'm in a hurry or have a lot of potatoes to use up I do this, just drop spoonfuls onto a baking sheet and flash freeze, then bag and freeze. If I have time I pipe them - they just look prettier on the plate. They can be heated in the microwave or thawed and then browned under the grill or baked in the oven. When you freeze things like mac'n'cheese don't cook the macaroni all the way, leave it a little under done. This will stop it from going soggy and it will finish cooking when you reheat it. Could you try freezing the tortillas without the sauce on top if you don't like the way they reheat - add it after they have thawed before heating. As for what to cook - double up what you're cooking each night and bingo! 7 meals in the freezer and you didn't have to think about it.
DeleteChili is a great dish to freeze but let it thaw in the refrigerator before reheating or the beans go to mush. Pasta sauce with meat is another of our favorites. I do enough for 8 meals at once. Chicken tortilla soup is great to freeze and we like it as soup or over a bowl of freshly cooked rice. I freeze chicken broth and chicken in the same container for soup starter or for chicken and rice or noodles. After a Sunday roast I freeze meat and gravy for another meal. It can be served over mashed potatoes or rice or noodles or add water and cook noodles in the thinned gravy. Hope it helps!
DeleteI have found that canned potatoes both freeze better in freezer meals and taste better when cooked. You might try with a single tin of canned potatoes...or simply keep some canned potatoes on hand to add when heating the thawed meal. Also if topping a cottage pie with potatoes, make a wetter mash that you might typically as they will dry out and be just right once you thaw and reheat. For pasta, raw or very al dente is the best way to go otherwise it's mush.
DeleteWe always have 2-3 weeks of meals in our freezer and we are always adding by cooking extra. Our home canned meats make very easy meals too since the meat is already cooked. Honestly we are never sick because I treat with oils at the very first sign of illness. But, if I were sick I would want foods that my Mom gave us like Campbell's chicken noodle soup and we always have some of that on our shelves.
ReplyDeleteI love this one Annabel! Can I ask you something about freezing? I know you can’t refreeze thawed meat, but is it right that you can if you have cooked it? Like I I froze 1kg of mince, then thawed it and cooked it up as spaghetti sauce can I then freeze that sauce? I’ve heard that, but I’d rather hear it from someone I trust!
ReplyDeleteCurrys freeze well I find, and then it’s just a case of reheating and cooking some rice to serve.
Thanks for the inspiration! Last night we entered a nationwide lockdown - level 4. In NZ level 4 means only going out for essential shopping, medical care or if you are an essential worker. We did it for a month last year and it worked well, at this stage it is for 3 days (7 in two areas), but that is dependant on test results etc. So this feels even more timely than it did two days ago!!
Take care
Jen (NZ)
Hi Jen. Ok yes you can thaw meat, cook it then freeze, thaw and heat. So say I will cook a lasagne, cool it. Freeze and then it will be heated to serve. This is fine. It is not fine to thaw raw meat then for whatever reason re freeze it raw. That is my belief. Also look at the freezer isle. This helps you to see what can be made, frozen and heated.
DeleteI saw tonight about your lockdown. Things happen fast. I hope it will be for the three days and not more but I know you will do fine! With love Annabel.xxx
Not sure I will get that many meals frozen, but thanks to another blog I read, I do try to keep what I need on hand to make most of our favorites. One thing I do like to do, is when I make a pot of either chicken or beef barley soup, is freeze half for another meal. Does that count? Since it’s just the two of us now, we always have leftovers, which I actually love, so I don’t have to cook every night!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your encouragement! ~ Laura C.
Yes that counts, a good soup ready is a very good thing!
DeleteI don't have my driver's license and things run off out of my purse but plan to do that still. I did make up two 8x8 pans of baked spaghetti. We had some for our evening meal and hope that one will still be left after our out of town family company leaves. I have another meal in the freezer, pizza casserole I think and chicken and hamburg cooked ahead. Want to get more meals in the freezer. We have two battery operated lights now as just bought another, want to add another couple candles in glass jars yet and we have a few flashlights. I have one that I wind so it doesn't need batteries. Also bought a small battery operated fan. and a charger for the car to charge our phones. We have gas fireplace and stove and I have a Berkey water filtration. I would like to get a couple solar lights for outside that we could bring in the house if we needed them. I need to go through my medicines and write down what I have and what I need. With chronic fatigue and the puppy I can't accomplish a lot but I can keep working at it. Thank you for your suggestions. Nancy
ReplyDeleteDear Nancy, A little bit a day adds up and also when you are not up to it you can plan. That is what I do. Lists and plans!
DeleteYes solar lights are really good! It is fantastic you have a Berkey and a fireplace. You are ahead of the game already! With love Annabel.xxx
I know I can do more of this, although I do have lots of soup in the freezer, and always freeze a container of casserole when I've had the slow cooker on. I recently bought a pie maker too - I was a bit clever, and gave it to my husband for his birthday, so he now happily makes pies with all sorts of leftovers, and we freeze those! In summer I have freezer storage problems, as we grow most of our own vegetables and stone fruit, so to save space I do tomato soup in jars. I shall make a start on pasta dishes too, having seen yours. There are only two of us, so we don't need large quantities, just more variety on hand, I think.
ReplyDeleteKeep well, everyone. We in NZ are all in total lockdown from today, following a case of the Delta variant in the Auckland community, but hopefully not for too long.
Linda in NZ
Hi Linda, I saw about your lockdown. I hope it doesn't go for too long.
DeleteTomato soup is great to have. A pie maker is super handy! It is fantastic you grow so much. Dehydrating might be handy for you as you save a lot of space. I am getting to love that. Variety is nice too I agree. Love Annabel.xxx
I love having dinner in the freezer ready to go! My favourite way to build freezer meals is to simply cook two (or more) of whatever I'm cooking. Last night it was spag bol sauce, so I quadrupled the recipe and froze three meal portions. Tonight Thomas has taken over and he is making lamb kebabs, and he automatically doubled the recipe - he's grown up with cook once, eat twice and it's a habit for him now too! I was so proud of him for just doing it :) Tomorrow night is pizza night in our house and again Thomas is the cook. We make the bases from scratch and he always makes four times the recipe and then we have pizza bases for six weeks (par bake and then freeze). It means that even when the temptation to get takeaway is strong, it doesn't win because there's always something in the freezer ready for dinner. I have lemons, and I have honey - I think I'll make a jar of lemon honey this afternoon. I imagine it would be amazing for sore throats and head colds, flu and so on.
ReplyDeleteI keep ingredients to make a healthy canned soup....for example: a can of canned chicken, can mixed veggies & a can of chicken broth...or canned beef & beef broth. Canned foods keep so very long & it seems you can buy healthier canned foods of single ingredients like just meat or broth. I know it's better to just make it myself but these are for days or season when I'm busy.
ReplyDeleteI also have to consider that my husband is a type 1 diabetic....so pastas, dried beans, breads, ect are not in my pantry.
Do you eat the lemon peel in the honey lemon mixture? Or just the honey? And how do you use it?
On the weekend Bluey cooked up a whole bag of rice. This is then portioned into zip lock bags and frozen flat. He also baked up a leg of lamb in the hooded barby. Whilst this was going he baked up 6 large sweet potato. The fruit was scraped out of the skin and each went into a zip lock bag and were frozen flat. We do the same when spaghetti is cooked up. Last week Bluey found a great deal of Chicken Maryland. These pieces, enough for three meals, were cooked up in the slow cooker. We had one meal and then two portions were frozen in zip lock bags. Whilst we dont have complete meals in the freezer, we have a number of ingredients that are ready to be added to make up a quick meal. If there is left over mince cooked, adding some sweet potato and rice from the freezer, a few herbs and veg and you have a quick meal that isnt just eating the same meal as the night before. I stew fruits and freeze in small containers. This thaws quickly and can be made up into a crumble, used in a cake/cupcakes/muffins, added to breakfast cereal, wrapped in pastry and made into a turnover or simply had with some yoghurt for a delicious snack. I will make an effort to freeze up some complete meals.
ReplyDeleteThe ready rice is a really good idea. You have great ideas on this Jane and the two of you work as a team at squirrelling things away! xxx
DeleteOh I love the rice idea! That is great.
DeleteAlthough I've never cooked a whole bag of rice at once, I do have good luck freezing ingredients, as Bluey did. For instance, in the fall I will cook a whole squash and freeze (in flat packages) what we don't eat at the first meal. I also make a "ratatouille" with tomatoes, zucchini, onions and diced bacon and freeze the leftovers in cottage cheese/sour cream cartons. A good way to use up zukes and preserve tomatoes without lids.
DeleteMy problems seem to start when I add liquid (sauces) to starchy ingredients. Cath, I have a recipe for twice-baked potatoes that freeze really well, and I've also found that potatoes cooked in stews are OK. I freeze little dabs of leftover mashed potatoes to add a cup or so to bean soup.
I have thought of one thing to try, though. I freeze leftover turkey. One of the recipes we enjoy is turkey divan. When I'm in a hurry, I sometimes make it with frozen broccoli. It occurred to me that I could make the sauce, chill, and use it cold to make the casserole with the frozen turkey and frozen broc--then pop it in the freezer while everything is still frozen. The next time I do this, I'll cook double...which is always how I get ahead for dinner. I'm past the point where I cook much just for "the joy of cooking," but I'm always about making dinner easier. I also find that I don't mind cooking as much if I'm not doing it all in the hour before dinner. When I cooked beans and made rice this week, I did both in the morning and ate that night.
This is a huge tip! Something I have been trying to get better at, last night I was feeling a bit meh because I had my second COVID vaccination so I pulled out some curried sausages out of the freezer and just cooked up some rice and steamed some veggies! It was so easy and healthy. This is definitely something we should all do!
ReplyDeleteDear Cheryl, That was a good example as what can happen is we feel meh as you say and dont eat something decent. Just when we need something decent. Good planning. Love Annabel.xxx
DeleteThank you for all the ideas with this Bluebirds :)
ReplyDeleteI am not someone who does batch cooking to freeze. I can see how in sickness or emergencies it would be a great relief. I do keep a few cans of veg curry etc in my pantry to go with rice for a quick meal ( usually eaten by my older children if they can’t be bothered to cook!), but I will try to make up a few meals for the freezer as suggested.
Much love, Heidi xx
Dear Heidi, I often just do a double amount. It is not like a huge batch but still over time you get ahead with some meals. I will also stash something from the shops now and then like meat pies or sausage rolls. They are handy too!
DeleteSoup is a good one as very often we end up with quite a bit so some single serves are good to have too. With love Annabel.xxx
Another great ideea I will work on. I ussually double the recipe, cook one eat twice or more as I use the leftovers to turn them into new dish. My husband loves jam and milk so yesterday I made a batch of peach jam for the winter months.
ReplyDelete- all gloriously golden he said smilling. Ready for the next challenge.
My freezers are too full to have frozen dinners stored in them. Though I have four “take away containers “
ReplyDeletefilled with main meals for our grandson to reheat at work. We have our main meal in the middle of the day
However we have plenty of eggs, homemade beef, pork and lamb sausages. Home grown and home cured smoked bacon and ham and plenty of preserves and canned food
I collect vintage magazines and in one there was a suggestion for what the author termed 'shoe box meals'. I wrote about them on my blog here:
Deletehttps://bluehousejournal.blogspot.com/2017/04/planning-convenience-meals-end-of-april.html
and here:
https://bluehousejournal.blogspot.com/2017/06/more-shoe-box-meal-ideas.html
Please read the comments on both these posts as they were helpful to me and will likely be as helpful to others. It's an alternative to freezer meals and while admittedly not my top choice, I do find it helpful to keep a listing of these meal possibilities in my home recipe book for reference so I can pull cans from my shelf and prepare meals.
Cooked chicken soup tonight and froze five portions . I now very carefully label and date my freezer meals having learnt from my past mistakes - hmm what is that brown stuff in that container. I thought I would remember but of course two weeks later I had no idea what it was I had cooked ( I like to try new recipes ). So the second item on my list of frozen meals is a question mark!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the next challenge Annabel.
Virginia
Like several others I usually make 4-6 serves of curries, casseroles and the like and freeze the extra. I also often freeze half a shepherds/cottage pie - the mashed potato on top always seems fine. I have a rice cooker - now I always cook the maximum amount and freeze the extra in individual portions. Defrost as needed and microwave for a minute or two - I always add a tablespoon of water.
ReplyDeleteThanks Annabelle -I need to stock up!
I have been making “convenience” ready meals or easy to put together meals for many years. With a large family, time was always at a premium. Back in the ‘70’s , I used Make A Mix which included pre-cooking and freezing ground beef (mince), chicken, beef, pork as well as Marinara sauce. Later, I began freezing ready to eat meals ahead using Once a Month Cooking, Frozen Assets and others for ideas. Then, in the past few years, I’ve considered diversifying my ready to go meals by canning meats, chili, Sweet and Sour Sauce so that the most time consuming part of meal prep was already done. I’ve also added jars with Ready to toss into crockpot or pressure cooker meals that are dry/dehydrated.
ReplyDeleteThe best tip I can give is to LABEL not only what something is but exact directions on what to do to make it ready to serve! This is vital for family members who might be preparing it but also for me because if I’m feeling unwell or stressed, I can forget the directions if they aren’t written down!
Very timely prep!
Gardenpat in Ohio
Annabel,
ReplyDeleteI will be working on this for the month, but both my freezers are full at the moment (blessings). I am planning to buy ten pounds of hamburger meat, then cook it up with onions and seasoning, and freezing in one pound packages. I can make alot of different meals: tacos, nachos, beef and yellow rice, spaghetti. I will also purchase some smoked sausage for some quick and easy meals. Thank you for doing this! Belinda in Florida
Hi Annabel (and everyone),
ReplyDeleteWhat a good idea! The lemon honey sounds like it would be amazing.
Last night I made two muffin tins of make-ahead frozen oatmeal cups - super easy and quick and lasts a long time in the freezer (just oats, water, cinnamon, and I throw in some chopped up apple or dried cranberries or whatever we have - you can make it with milk or whatever other liquid you like to use to make oatmeal). These are so handy for workday mornings and a good way to get heart-healthy oats into your diet.
We also like to keep frozen homemade broth (made in the crockpot) for easy soup, noodles, adding goodness to rice, etc. and I usually cook and freeze extra portions of meat for easy reheating (mostly things done in the crockpot, though grilled chicken is also good. With roasted chicken/turkey I have had problems with it getting dry in the freezer.) Homemade bread and quick breads freeze well, too, and in a pinch you can have a nice sandwich or toast with your soup. I used to make up lasagna/ziti to freeze and bake later - I should do this again.
<3
Kathy
Kathy, I have found that if I slice the turkey thin-ish, it dries out. A LOT. After I cook a turkey or ham, I cube the leftovers. I don't have a food saver, but I freeze the meat in one quart zipper freezer bags. I used to freeze 2 cups per bag, but there are fewer of us now so usually I put 1-1/2 cups per bag. I do not use sandwich bags, which would be the right size, because they aren't heavy enough. Also, as I am closing the bag, I stick a drinking straw in the corner, close the bag up to to the straw, suck the air out of the bag and finish closing it. It's not a great vacuum, but it helps. I hope it helps you, too!
DeleteWhat a good idea, thank you so much! I'm going to try it - and I have tried to use sandwich bags to freeze mine in the past!
DeleteUnfortunately, I don't have a lot of freezer room. What I do have is shelf space, so I tend to can a lot. I keep the ingredients separate so that I can mix and match any way I want. lol.
ReplyDeleteMy freezers are full. But my dry pantry could use some beefing up with protein. I will be adding more tuna and salmon this week to the shelf. Since the pandemic, even though restrictions eased a bit, I never stopped my stocking up. Buy two items to eat or drink. One for now and one for the shelf has been my motto since this epidemic started. Always buying what we will use and not just because its on sale.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! I usually have extra soups in the freezer but just worked down to zero to get everything eaten. Will start again for aim for 7 days worth. I love having cooked food in the freezer, it makes it so easy in nights I am tired or lazy ;). Two days ago we ate Costco baked chicken, then I put the carcass in the crockpot. Yesterday I made a big batch of chicken noodle soup-feeds the two of us four meals! So I can claim that as a start;).
ReplyDeleteI like to keep frozen ingredients in the freezer as well. I buy cheese in bulk and shred different kinds. Then package for the freezer. I am allergic to corn products so I can't buy pre shredded because most of the time it is coated with cellulose which is a corn product. I also keep a few portion size bags of frozen cooked rice in there not to mention portion size leftovers which I package up the day we eat a meal or the day after. Even one or two make a good lunch. I am not a big meat eater like my husband so I always try to keep extra meats on had like rope sausage, breakfast patties and other items. I keep canned chicken on the shelf from Costco because I can make a quick chicken soup or white chicken chili, throw it on a salad or in an asian stir fry or even in a cheese quesadilla. Very handy. Pastas and sauce are always available for quick meal. My husband goes to Trader Joes and gets their frozen bagged broccoli (it's excellent) and their mushroom ravioli or frozen noodles and comes home and pre packages 4 packages of his servings just with those items and occasionally a cut up sausage or bit of left over meat. Into the freezer they go and he calls them his quick meals. He also likes when our Safeway has friend chicken 8 piece of thighs and legs on sale for cheap. We get him 2 of those and he cools and packages them in serving sizes and then has them to thaw and reheat in the air fryer. Even if you don't cook all of it yourself you can find cheap and easy ways to make "fast" food. This works especially good for us as I have so many food allergies and my husband eats Keto. It gives us both options. Take care.
ReplyDeleteI am not very good at this. I will put a few in, use them up, put a few more, etc. Normally, I don't have more than 3 in freezer and sometimes all are the same thing. I never include the pasta or the tortillas in mine. I just do the main thing and cook the pasta the day I use it.
ReplyDeleteUsually, I like a Mexican mix (which I use for enchiladas, tacos, quesadillas), red beans for red beans and rice, lentil curry without the rice, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, enchilada sauce.
I will work on this.
Sometimes my daughter and I make meals and then trade to mix it up. A really easy meal to make when busy or not feeling well. Chicken breast in the crockpot, pour over the top Pace Picante Sauce. After it is done stir in a block of cream cheese.Shred it and you can put it in tortilla or serve it over the
ReplyDeletetop of rice or noodles. I keep Cream Cheese in my freezer so I always have it on hand and several jars of Picante Sauce.
Oh, that sounds amazing! My boys would love that. Well they like anything in a tortilla or pastry :) I keep cream cheese in the freezer too, so handy to have it when I need it. I wonder if we have a similar sauce here (I'm in Australia)? Would it be similar to an enchilada sauce?
DeleteThat is a really good idea Lynd! A great way to get variety!
DeleteCath, Pace Picante sauce, while tomato-based, is not the same as enchilada sauce. Pace Picante sauce is basically a shelf-stable chunky red salsa in a jar, and it does not contain the oregano and chili powder that enchilada sauces contain. So the flavor is much different. If you don’t have Pace Picante sauce in Australia, you can substitute red salsa. Hope that helps.
DeleteI have lots of our own honey and 3 lemons to use. Are you spiraling the peel only or the whole lemon? Should 3 be good for pint or quart of honey?
ReplyDeleteThank you for your ministry to home - makers!
Dear Lori, Yes cut through the lemon into the centre so the honey gets right through the lemon. As long as the lemon is then entirely covered with honey its all good. I kind of rotated the lemon to let any air bubbles out and get the honey right through. Hope that helps. Thank you! Love Annabel.xxx
DeleteI've actually eaten 3 frozen HM meals in the past 10 days so I am getting very low. The weather should cool down enough in the next couple of weeks to get some more into the freezer so I am sure I will make the deadline. I only have the freezer above my fridge so I have to stack and store things in a really organized fashion. It is well worth the effort though, especially as I'll be going back into the office for 3 days per week in the next month or so. Great idea!
ReplyDeleteHi everyone it's been a little while since I commented. My partner is the main cook in our house and he always cooks in bulk so he can doesn't have to cook every night. We always keep our freezer and pantry well stocked and I am grateful we can afford to do this. Before we went back into lockdown on Tuesday night my partners brother and his partner called in. She is a baker at a gf bakery and they had 2 boxes of treats for us to choose from out of the shop that would otherwise go to waste. We chose 5 muffins, 2 pizzas, 2 fruit crumbles, a loaf of bread, 2 containers of lamingtons with 6 in each, my partner loves these. I had a muffin and pizza yesterday and we froze the rest. We are also lucky enough to get free bread each week. This is donated to my work place for our families and anyone can take some. On Monday I brought home a large seeded loaf. At the end of that day there was still some left so I wrapt in a table cloth to keep it fresh for the next day. At the end of Tuesday there were still two long french sticks so I brought them home. DP cut each in half and then sliced them not quite through, we wrapt them and froze them to be used for garlic bread later on. I was not going to let it go to waste and I was the last one at work on Tuesday. Each week I am able to bring home a quality loaf of artisan bread for DP and the drive home with the smell is torcher.lol. We use our freezer to freeze in season fruit and veges for later. This saves a lot of money and gives variety through the months. At work we have a large black boy peach tree and a large walnut tree, along with rosmary and a raised garden, so another source of free food. I make the most of these opportunities as we know what has gone into growing them and they too save money.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I like to do is freeze a single portion of leftovers, if that is all that is left. I either put it in a small freezer container or vacuum seal it. Then I can just pull a meal or mix & match things to take to work for lunch. Lots of times my husband and I each want something different, or won’t be home to eat together, so those homemade “TV Dinners” are perfect, and use up the little leftovers. And my co-workers are envious of my home-cooked lunches 😉
ReplyDeleteI know that at the end of summer, beginning of fall our freezers can be very full. I would like to encourage you in another way to do the seven extra meals. If you have or know someone who has one you can borrow, meals can be made then pressure canned for storage. I love stew done this way but don’t stop there as there are many meals that can be stored after pressure canning. One branch of our family get together and pressure can and can fir two days straight In their case they use the kitchen at their church. They pressure can meals and also things like salsa and fruit. Later in the year during hunting season they do it again using wild meat, fish and what produce they have in winter storage. It has saved them all many times when a household got sick one right after another and during blizzards. For them they don’t have to worry if the power goes out for a bit. They are still covered.
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful series, Annabel. I love it! I try and freeze as much as I can interns of meals, as it saves a fortune and is much better for you than most take aways, plus we don't even have good take aways near us. If I don't have much room in the freezer, I can usually fit in sandwiches ready made up, cooked sausages (they are great zapped in the microwave for a few minutes) and can be made into hot dogs with sauerkraut or with veggies. I also do packs of roast cooked meat with gravy, this then can be heated into pies, served with frozen veggies or on bread rolls. I often have zucchini slice in the freezer. I also have frozen lasagne, roasts (thank you for this tip, Annabel), Mexican chicken (just slow cooked chicken thigh fillet, with mexican powder, salsa and a tin of tomatoes) which can be served with rice/avocado/corn chips, casseroles, even single serve spaghetti sauces can be made into toastie, I also freeze chilli con carne, savoury mince....thank you for the inspiration. I need to get cooking and freezing again! Lots of love, Lily.
ReplyDeleteSo many good ideas here! I'm in the process of cleaning out our freezer to make room for meals! So progress will be two-fold. Also I saw online this woman who makes up "bag meals" using her canned or dried goods, noodles, spices, etc. to make a complete meal quickly. Stored in a brown paper bag and labeled. That's a good one if you don't have freezer room. Like "grab and go". I put organic lemons on my grocery list so I can try the lemon honey. I have lemon trees but no lemons yet.
ReplyDeleteMy freezers are fulled to the brim as we just butchered a beef and I have other frozen ingredients in there. Fruit, veg, chickens, some pork. I have a small amount of pasta sauce, some cooked rice and bone broths. If we get sick, I have an illness space on the pantry shelves with dry soups, instant mashed potatoes, applesauce, teas. As we eat down the freezers I plan to brown some ground beef and cook some chicken to aid in quick meals.
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