Conner Polly - From freezer to table: 75+ simple, whole foods recipes for gathering, cooking, and sharing

Mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities in this book does not imply endorsement by the author or publisher, nor does mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities imply that they endorse this book, its author, or the publisher. Internet addresses and telephone numbers given in this book were accurate at the time it went to press.

2017 by Polly Conner and Rachel Tiemeyer

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

Food photographs by Mitch Mandel/Rodale Images

Food styling by Lisa Homa

Prop styling by Stephanie Hanes

Lifestyle photographs by Scott Patrick Myers Photography

Clock icon: Voodoo Dot/Shutterstock; carrot and dish icons: Line Icons by freebird/Shutterstock; child icon by musmellow/Shutterstock

Book design by Rae Ann Spitzenberger

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the publisher.

ISBN 9781623368944 paperback
ISBN 9781623368951 e-book

We inspire health, healing, happiness, and love in the world.

Starting with you.

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To our husbands and families:Youre our biggest cheerleaders and the most honest recipe testers well ever find. We love you. So much.

To our dear friends:You keep us upright. We are grateful for you in our lives.

To our Thriving Home readers:What a faithful tribe you are. You got us to this point, and you keep us going.

It was 2007 and I was floundering. I had just had my first baby, a sweet little boy, and Id made the decision to stay home full-time with him. So our one-income budget was tight. My time was tight. And to be honest, my post-pregnancy jeans were tight. It seemed like the only thing that had room to grow was my cooking repertoire. I just could not get dinner figured out.

Before kids, I had this lovely vision of providing healthy, homemade meals at the dinner table each evening as my husband walked through the door. As you can probably guess, that never happened. Not even close. I couldnt wrap my mind around how I was supposed to cook with a fussy baby in tow. Plus, how could we possibly afford fresh, whole foods on our now shrunken, one-income grocery budget? And where was I supposed to find recipes that my family would actually like, much less ones that were also easy and nutritious? So, most nights, I would throw my hands up, open the freezer, and pull out a processed frozen pizza or boxed lasagna. We werent eating well, and I didnt have a clue what to do about it.

That is, until my friend Darcie invited me to join her Freezer Club in the spring of that same year. I remember our first meeting well: At a cluster of tables at our favorite coffee shop with printouts of recipes in hand, some of my girlfriends and I excitedly hashed out our first monthly menu of freezer meals (ones that can be easily frozen for later use). We were ready to conquer the great dinner hour divide!

At our second meeting, about a month later, we all swapped the frozen meals we had worked so hard making for each other the previous month on our own time. I came home that night, filled my freezer with 12 ready-to-go, homemade dinners, and was hooked! This new concept of freezer cooking with friends was a huge breakthrough for our family.

A few years down the road, I would find myself facing a similar dinnertime struggle as Rachel did before she started her freezer club. As my husband spent many evenings in night classes, I quickly learned that juggling tired kids alone didnt allow much time for cooking and put a damper on this extroverts social life.

After dabbling in freezer cooking on my own, a big turning point came when I participated in a Freezer Cooking Party. For the first time I had a freezer full of easy-to-prepare and wholesome meals for the nights when I didnt have the time or energy to cook. It was ah-maz-ing! That one-time event was the motivation I needed to fully embrace the benefits of this lifestyle. I began to double and freeze meals regularly and even rallied friends to have more Freezer Cooking Parties.

Then, this past year, my friends and I finally began our own ongoing Freezer Club. With these changes, we now eat out less, I have lowered our grocery bill, and I have also benefited from the much-needed time with friends. Similar to Rachel, I have lost weight as my diet has changed, and Ive grown to love cooking from scratch using whole food ingredients. Freezer cooking is now a foundational way I feed my family.

For both of us, freezer cooking was no passing fad or newfangled diet. Rather, it became a lifestyle that continues to be a time-saver, money-saver, waistline-saver, and sanity-saver during some intensely busy years. One of the most surprising benefits weve found along the way was the formation of lasting friendships with the people we partnered to cook with. Having a reason to regularly gather together with our girlfriends ended up being a source of refreshment and companionship that was much needed in those little years of staying home with our young children. Who knew stocking our freezers could be so much fun and foster deep friendships at the same time?

Our blog, Thriving Home, which we began together in 2012, aims to equip readers to create flourishing homes. When we began sharing freezer cooking tips and recipes there years ago, they quickly rose to the top as our most popular posts. As Thriving Home became a go-to site for healthy freezer cooking, readers began requesting that we write a freezer meal cookbook. It was at this point that we decided to create this ultimate resource to help anyoneno matter their age or stageexperience the breakthrough at home that we did.

Our genuine hope is that From Freezer to Table will result in a positive lifestyle shift for you, too, and that you become inspired and equipped to make freezer cooking a way of life. Whether you form your own Freezer Club, throw Freezer Cooking Parties, or just learn to do freezer cooking on your own, we believe the concepts and recipes in our book will help you enjoy healthy, delicious, stress-free meals around the table with those you love most.