My schedule, like many in my situation, is a bit nuts. A few days a week I have time to spend 2+ hours prepping and cooking dinner, and some days I have barely time to actually eat dinner. That's where my freezer comes in.
- chicken stock
- an empty unbaked pie crust (an easy Friday treat!)
- waffles
- apple flax muffins
- a roast
- ground beef
- 6 meals (plus leftovers) worth of various chicken dinners already marinading or totally prepped (including some of that delicious butter chicken!)
- sole fillets
- steaks
- veggie burgers
Obviously your freezer will look different. But the question is, are you actually using it? Making a dinner with 4 servings is just as easy (in most cases) as 2. Even dinners that are more involved like stuffed chicken breasts or handmade ravioli don't take that much more work to do a few more. You've already got everything out already.
One thing my Mom does is once a month or so is take a Saturday morning and stock her freezer. Grilling and chopping chicken for easy salads and wraps for later, making crab cakes, etc. I'm not quite that organized yet but I'm getting there. I tend to do mine as I go along through the weeks, stockpiling bits and pieces.
(Note I am not paid to endorse the following products any way!)
Ziploc's line of plastic containers are my lifesaver. They often go on sale at Superstore for $2.50 for a pack of 4, including a really neat colored line they've just come out with! When I first moved into my house I bought a "starter pack" of all different sizes for $9.99 - best purchase ever! Now every time I shop I swing through that aisle and see if they're on sale. They're perfect for lunches and single serving meals in the freezer. Best part is because they're so cheap you won't really feel bad throwing them out when they start to show their wear.
The trick with any kind of plastic storage is organization. No use buying them and then never using them because you can't find the lid to match the container! That is where the "freezer drawer" comes in.
(Yes it always looks that tidy!)
I keep the containers in stacks with the associated lid on top of the stack. Along with the ziplocs (honestly it's not worth buying the no-name brand of these) and saran wrap (again name brand is good here) I've got everything I need to store and sort food.
In summary today's message is very simple. Learn to embrace your freezer with the use of a few simple and cheap tools!
Ziploc always has tons of coupons out online too! I have a couple in my wallet just waiting!
ReplyDeleteWe have a deepfreeze and have stocked up lots of pasta sauce, pie crusts (well duh its fall ;)), and tons of ground beef. We also have a lot of moose meat as my husband hunts ever year - let me tell you, that saves on my meat budget because for the first few months I wont have to buy ANY beef! Moose steaks, ground, sausage, pepperoni, roasts, liver, etc.
I have to cover the taste with something, but you can hardly tell in pasta or hamburger helper ;)
Hehe right on! I'll be honest I've thought about getting a deep freeze just for myself lol. But I can make it with just my freezer, it forces me to USE what I stockpiling in there rather than just continually packratting!
ReplyDeleteRight before Baby Caveman was born, I stockpiled my freezer so I wouldn't have to worry about meals for a while. It was the best thing ever. I try to do it fairly regularly now, because not only does it give me more time on a day-to-day basis, but it helps me save money because on those nights when I just don't want to cook or don't have the time, we pull something out of the freezer instead of spending money ordering out.
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