Crocker - Betty Crocker Fresh from the Freezer

Copyright 2016 by General Mills, Minneapolis, Minnesota. All rights reserved.

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.

www.hmhco.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-0-544-81624-4

Cover photos:

GENERAL MILLS

Owned Media and Publishing Director: Amy Halford

Owned Media and Publishing Manager: Audra Carson

Senior Editor: Grace Wells and Cathy Swanson

Recipe Development and Testing: Betty Crocker Kitchens

Photography: General Mills Photography Studios and Image Library

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT

Publisher: Natalie Chapman

Editorial Director: Cindy Kitchel

Executive Editor: Anne Ficklen

Editorial Associate: Molly Aronica

Managing Editor: Marina Padakis

Production Editor: Helen Seachrist

Cover Design: Tai Blanche

Interior Design and Layout: Tai Blanche

Senior Production Coordinator: Kimberly Kiefer

eISBN 978-0-544-81625-1

v1.0816

Hello Friends,

We get itlives are busy and time is short. Just when theres no time for making a home-cooked meal, you know youre going to get that dreaded question... whats for dinner? Prepare yourselves for days like these with meals or ingredients youve prepped and thrown in the freezer, making homemade possibleeven on your busiest days. This book is filled with recipes for delicious make-ahead meals and great tips that make it simple to do.

From breakfast to dinner (and not forgetting dessert) youll find yummy recipes that will excite taste buds and satisfy like no frozen boxed pizza can do.. Well show how to make meals you prep and freezeall ready to dump in your slow cooker, turn it on... and go!

, gives you everything youll need to throw one of these popular get-togethers. Who wouldnt love to be at a party where you get to chat, nibble and sip wine... all while preparing meals that everyone can take home to put in their freezers? Well also show you how to turn it into a party with a purposemaking meals that can help out those in need in your community!

So dive in, get started and stock your freezer. Homemade meals will be at your fingertips whenever youre hungry and short on time.

Look for these helpful icons:

[ QUICK PREP ] (15 minutes or less)

[ SLOW COOKER ]

Lets get chopping!

Making meals ahead doesnt mean you need to be uber-organized or in the kitchen all day. Consider this book your one-stop cheat sheetgiving you all the tips and tricks youll need to easily make meals in advance. Just think how good it will feel to have delicious meals on-handready to pull out and cook or reheat with little effort. Never be caught by the whats for dinner? question again!

Freshness Counts

You get out what you put in. Freezing can be tough on foodsit wont improve the qualityso start by using ingredients at their freshest: vegetables and herbs at their peak ripeness and fresh meat and poultry with good color and no odor. Set your freezer to 0F or lower so that foods come through the freezing/thawing process successfully.

Freeze Only Once As Is

To get the best from your meals once theyve been frozen and avoid potential food safety issues, always follow this rule: Ingredients can be frozen only once in their current condition: once raw (uncooked) and once cooked.

Example: Youve thawed ground beef to use for a recipe but then realize you dont have time to make the recipe. Do not refreeze the uncooked ground beef; but you can brown, cool and then freeze it now because its cooked. When youre ready to make your recipe, youre now one step ahead! Thaw the ground beef and continue as directed.

Dress for Success

Package your meals in wraps that can take the arctic blast of your freezerfreezer plastic wrap, foil or containers specifically designed for freezer use.

Prevent freezer burn by removing as much air from packages as possible.

Freeze food in realistically sized portions. If the recipe you cooked made eight servings and you are a family of three, consider packaging the recipe for the freezer into smaller sizes, so you will use just what you need and save the remaining portion for another meal.

Help foods freeze quickly to retain better quality: allow space between them while freezing, and freeze in shallow containers instead of upright, deeper ones.

Freeze purchased frozen foods in their original packaging.

Label All Packages

You might be tempted to skip this step, thinking that youll know what the food is when you go to use it. But given time (out of sight, out of mind) and frosty containers, theres a good chance that when you pull it from the freezer, you wont know what the mystery package is!

Always label packages with the date and name of the recipe. If using a freezer bag, write any further directions for completing the recipe (such as bake temp and time) right on the bag so you dont have to pull out the recipe again when youre ready to make the dish.

First In, First Out

Use up what you first put in the freezer before using more recently frozen foods. That way, you can keep on top of whats in there and nothing gets wasted due to being stored too long. If you have a chest-style freezer and hate to dig, keep a list near it that shows what you put in and when. Cross it off the list when you take it out.

Not all foods are great freezer candidates. Know which foods are freezer-worthy and which are not.

These foods get good marks for their freeze-ability. To freeze a dish thats a combination of ingredients, freeze it for the length of time given for the ingredient that can be frozen for the least amount of time. Use the chart below to know how long you can freeze at 0F or below.