Ahrens Lindsay - Fix, Freeze, Feast, 2nd Edition: the Delicious, Money-Saving Way to Feed Your Family ; Stock Your Freezer with Ready-To-Cook Meals ; 150 Recipes

Even with all the recipe books, cooking classes, how-to manuals, and television programs devoted to the subject of meal preparation, many of us still find ourselves hungry and disorganized by the time the dinner hour rolls around. There is no end to the excellent resources available, but our busy lives get the better of us, and all our good intentions can come to naught. We want to feed our families healthful, economical meals that taste great and do not require hours of work. How can we accomplish this when time is short and the demands of work and family are ever increasing?

This cookbook shows you how to fix several meals at one time. No doubt youre used to preparing a recipe from start to finish and then presenting a hot meal to your family. But our method is different: We scale the recipe using large quantities and then divide it into multiple meals. The meals are prepared right up to the final cooking stage. You then package and freeze them, and all you have to do is thaw one and cook it for dinner!

The purpose of this book is to make feeding your family easier. Following are just a few of the benefits you will enjoy when you use our recipes.

• Economy: Every time you eat from your freezer you save money, especially if it takes the place of frequently eating out.
• Time management: If you normally shop daily and cook one meal at a time, we estimate our method will save you an hour or more every day.
• Convenience: Things come up: There are evenings when everyone in the family is busy; late or unplanned meetings cut into cooking time; childrens school friends or other unexpected company stops by; a friend is in need. It is wonderful to have a few meals on hand, for every day or just in case.
• Adaptability: If you watch what you eat for whatever reason make-ahead meals will help you stay on track.
• Variety: An interesting selection of freezer meals integrated with fresh meals and the occasional restaurant treat will prevent food boredom.
• Fun: Work through your recipes with a friend or two. Sharing stories and laughter makes the time seem less like work and more like play.
• Accomplishment: Its a wonderful feeling to have nourishing food in the freezer and an organized and efficient approach to daily dinners.

As former owners of meal-preparation businesses, we bring you our best of the best in this book. Yes, these recipes are straight from our stash tried, tested, and true. Our past customers have made many of these recipes countless times and rave about the delicious results. We are passionate about what we do and uncompromising in our commitment to using fresh, from-scratch ingredients wherever possible. We give you only dishes that meet the same standard we use to feed our own families.

Whether youre a novice or an advanced cook, a bargain shopper or someone with money to spare, a time-starved or a leisurely from-scratch cook, youll find plenty of wonderful recipes and tips here!

Our recipes are presented in a different way than in a conventional cookbook. Weve designed and tested the recipes to yield large quantities that are divided into several meals. This way, you are maximizing your use of time and the economy of scale. Preparing food intended to be frozen is different from preparing and cooking a meal fresh. Some foods freeze better cooked, while others freeze better raw; some foods dont freeze well at all and are best added fresh at dinnertime. As such, some of our recipes are a hybrid of cooked and raw components. All our recipes have been tested and written for maximum quality at mealtime.

If youre new to make-ahead meals, we suggest you start with one or two recipes at first. Consider choosing a recipe for a simple marinade poured over meat a quick and delicious way to acquaint yourself with our method. Tequila-Lime Chicken, Honey-Glazed Chicken Thighs, Ans Pork Chops, and Basil-Balsamic Chops are simple meals for beginners. Or you may want to look for recipes that are similar to dinner dishes you currently prepare. It never hurts to go with the tried and true.

If you already batch cook, belong to a dinner co-op, or practice other forms of advance meal preparation, our recipes will work nicely with your current practices. Even if you have experience, we still recommend you start off with a few different recipes and gradually increase the number you do at one time.

Many of the recipes in this book are for entres, but dont miss the other gems! We have included an assortment of brunch items, side dishes, snacks, sweets, and sauces. We offer a selection of meatless recipes and even some homemade spice mixes sprinkled throughout the chapters. Fill your freezer with main dishes or the extras either way, youll enjoy all the benefits of make-ahead meals.

You will notice that several recipes in this book are labeled Feast Tonight. These meals are intended to be eaten without being frozen first and are the offspring of a few of our favorite recipes. (And, of course, you can always save one freezer meal from any of our other recipes and cook it that same night for dinner.)

For example, Daves Swamp Blues Barbecued Chicken is a typical recipe that yields three freezer meals. The Feast Tonight recipes that follow it show you how to take one of those freezer meals and prepare it for use in either of these two fresh recipes: Daves Skillet Hash or Daves Barbecued Chicken Pizza. Feast Tonight recipes are a great way to add more mealtime variety while extending the economy and convenience of our make-ahead meals.

Also, check out for a list of recipes that can go directly from the freezer to the oven, skillet, or slow cooker no thawing required.

Buy in bulk and make multiple portions of one recipe.

Divide food into meals & label, then stack in the freezer.

Thaw & cook one meal for dinner and enjoy!

Weve found that it helps to start with a plan, even if its just a mental list of steps well take. Thinking through what we want to accomplish helps keep us organized and efficient. We have broken our method into some simple steps, though these are by no means mandatory. Have fun and experiment with what works best for you. We encourage you to adapt our recipes to fit your lifestyle.