Freezer Cooking

How To's for Freezer Cooking

~ Decide if you want to do once a month cooking or once a pay period ... 

~ Make your freezer cooking plan with meals that use similar ingredients, decide how many of each recipe you will make. I would suggest making only one or two of new recipes to make sure they are ones you/your family like.

~ Make a master grocery list. Shop one day and plan for your cooking day with in the next day or two.

~ If at all possible clear your calendar and plan to spend all day or at least a large chunk of time for cooking, if possible without the kids underfoot. :)

~ You may want to plan a prep day the day before cooking day, especially if you will not have all day. Prep by browning beef, cooking chicken, chopping veggies etc... This will save a lot of time while assembling the meals.

~ Also make sure you have all the dishes you need, pots, pans, casserole dishes,
tupperware, ziplock bags, plastic wrap, aluminum foil...

~ On cooking day assemble all meals. Decide what size you want the meals, you may want to freeze some in individual portions, or divide a 9” X 13” dish up into two smaller dishes if you have a smaller family. Make sure to follow recipes on if to cook before freezing or if they should be frozen before cooking. Make sure to label all meals with meal name, date, and also cooking instructions.

~ Save any left over veggies, meat, pasta, potatoes etc.. in a large container in freezer and add to it to make soup.

~ Make sure to set out a frozen meal at least 24-48 hrs ahead to thaw.

~ When planning on using a freezer meal make sure you remember the cooking time.
(i.e. casseroles may still need to cook for 1 hr even when thawed).


If starting for the first time, you might just want to make one tray of the casserole to make sure you like it.  You wouldn't want to spend all the money and time making 4 casserole to find out you and your family don't like it. 

In terms of storing, the aluminum foil trays are great because they can go in the oven and then you can just throw them away when you are done with it if you want to.  They can be expensive so it was recommended to purchase them in bulk at Sam's or Party City.

Other tips:
- Label your containers with food, date and cooking directions.  This way you know what is in each dish and you don't have to find the recipe to figure out how to cook it.

- Look for recipes that use similar ingredients.  Pick 2 that each call for 1/2 of a bell pepper so you use up the entire pepper and don't waste any.

- Store leftover veggies in the freezer: chop or slice them before freezing that way they are ready to cook with when you need them.

- Flash freeze leftover berries:Wash and then air dry berries on the counter.  Once dry, lay out berries in single layer on cookie sheet and freeze for 1 hour.  Store the berries in an air-tight bag or container and use when needed.

- When freezing burritos, wrap them individually so you only need to pull out as many as you need.

- Once casserole is made, cool to room temperature and then place in refrigerator to cool for approximately 3 house.  Once cool, you can freeze the dish. 

*** I have personally found that using Ziploc vaccum freezer bags prevent freezer burn more than regular freezer storage bags. They come in pint and gallon sizes. I buy mine at Wal-Mart.

Resources

~ http://moneysavingmom.com/ Go under the “from my Kitchen” tab on this site and she has a great section on freezer cooking along with lots of free printables for planning.

~ http://lifeasmom.com/features/freezer-cooking-days Lots of great articles and resources on prep and containers, planning sheets etc..

~ http://www.southernsavers.com/2011/11/freezer-storage-101-best-freezing-
techniques/ Freezing techniques

~ www.simpleorganizedliving.com/2011/02/10/freezable-foods/ This is a great list of foods that can be frozen, many I would not have thought of.

~ http://annies-eats.com/2010/08/26/stock-your-freezer-tips-and-tricks/ Tips and tricks for stocking your freezer.

~ http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/recipes/favourites/freezable/ Freezer food recipes

~ http://joelens.blogspot.com/2007/01/freezer-friendlymake-ahead.html Freezer food recipes

There are also several sites that have crock pot freezer recipes, assemble the meal in a ziplock bag ahead of time, then place all ingredients in the crock pot in the morning! :)

~ http://mamaandbabylove.blogspot.com/p/green-living.html Has some crock pot freezer recipes

~ http://www.sidetrackedsarah.com/p/freezer-to-slow-cooker.html More freezer to crock pot recipes

~ http://redicklife.blogspot.com/2011/09/freezer-to-crockpot-meals-part-ii.html recipes