What do you do for dinner when you work late? Or, when you are at after school activities with your kids? Or, when you just don’t feel like cooking? Come on, I know you have experienced these scenarios and probably others. Do you call for takeout? Go through a drive thru? Have sandwiches or leftovers? I have a great solution for you! Several months ago I decided to cook 30 meals in one day. It really wasn’t 30 meals. It was 15 double portioned meals. I chose several that bake in the oven, cook on the stove top, a couple of crock pot and several assemble and cook later. I found out that this was a great idea. For the next three months I had meals ready to defrost and heat up or cook (depending if it was already cooked or just assembled). When I knew there wouldn’t be much time for cooking I would pull out one of my “freezer meals” for dinner that night. I saved money (because we didn’t eat out) and it was healthy.
Are you wondering how you can do this, too and what steps to take? Well, first, go to the commissary and check out the frozen food section. You can make just about anything you see at home. Next, go through your recipes and decide what meals you would like to make and freeze. Now, it’s time to get on the internet and do some research. Or, you can buy a book or software for freezer meals. Find recipes that are like yours that other people have made and froze. There is a lot of information out there. Some things you should look for are things that freeze well and things that don’t. For instance, potatoes don’t usually freeze well. When dealing with potatoes you should consider substituting frozen potato product for fresh.
Ok, now that you know what you want to cook and you have done a little research it’s time to make the grocery list and go shopping. You can download the HH6 Mess Hall printable to help you plan your meals and create your shopping list. You want to make sure you don’t forget anything on this shopping trip! Don’t forget to pick up plenty of freezer bags, heavy duty aluminum foil and foil pans. When you get home you can prep for your big cooking day by slicing, chopping and dicing. Put your feet up and relax because tomorrow you will be cooking!
Start the cooking day by putting your fist meal in the crock pot. Put your second meal in the oven. Now, start assembling all the meals that you assemble and freeze. What’s left? Another crock pot meal, another oven meal and some stove top meals? Now, is a good time to start a stove top meal and then another oven meal and so on. Once your meals are cooked, cooled and assembled it’s time to put them in the freezer. Label those meals! I also wrote cooking directions on them. That way, I didn’t have look up the recipe or, if someone else in the family was going to cook the meal they would know what to do.
Another idea for freezer meals is for crock pot meals. This is very simple, too. Simply put all the ingredients for each crock pot meal in a freezer bag. Before putting everything in the bag write the instructions for cooking on the outside of the bag. The night before you are going to cook one of these meals you simply pull the bag out of the freezer and put in the refrigerator to thaw a bit. In the morning empty the bag in the crock pot and let the crock pot do all the work!
A final idea for freezer meals that is great for grilling is to put your meat in freezer bags with your favorite marinades. Put your favorite marinades in a freezer bag, add your meat (poke holes in it first) and put in the fridge for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, put the bags of marinating meat in the freezer. The day you are going to cook the meat you simply pull freezer bag out of the freezer. While the meat is defrosting it is marinating some more. You end up with moist and tasty meat.
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