Logan - The ABCS of Freezer Cooking

The ABCs of Freezer Cooking

http://www.kmlogan.com

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Table of Contents

Thank you to my amazing husband

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Thank you to all my cyber friends whove encouraged me and taught me so many valuable things.

Introduction

So what exactly is freezer cooking? For the purposes of this book it simply means preparing meals ahead of time, storing them in the freezer, and reheating them later.

Freezer cooking can be as simple as making a double batch of whatever youre serving your family for dinner one night and freezing half, or freezer cooking can be as involved as cooking your meals for an entire month in one day.

A lot of people traditionally think about freezer cooking before a new mom has a baby, or when someone has lost a loved one. A freezer full of food is of course a huge blessing during lifes most overwhelming times, but Ive discovered consistent freezer cooking can also be a huge blessing to the family in normal times as well.

When I first started freezer cooking all my food for a month, I was hooked immediately. It became a huge blessing to have that freezer full of food. I loved not needing to prepare dinner every night. You might not be as crazy as I am when it comes to freezer cooking. It takes a lot of time and organization to cook 20-30 meals in one day. You might decide instead to prepare 10 freezer meals per month or just one extra meal to freeze a week. Whatever you choose, this guide is designed to give you some basic ideas, tips, and recipes for freezer cooking.

I hope you enjoy it. And if you have an amazing recipe that freezes well contact me through my website http://www.kmlogan.com , or my Facebook page (facebook.com/ lessonsfromivy ), I would love to try it!

A

Arrange the Time to Cook Now

To Save Time Later

If I could figure out how to put time in a bottle I would be a millionaire, scratch that Id be a billionaire. Could you imagine the infomercial?

I can see the perky blonde assistant now. Wow! You mean all I have to do is open Time-in-a-Bottle and I exist in my own inter-dimensional plane, and get 3 hours to do whatever I want?! Amazing! How much would you be willing to pay for something like that?

Everyone always seems to be seeking ways to get more time. As a society we are busier now than we have ever been. Right, wrong, or in between, imagine having an extra hour (or more) every evening because you cooked all your meals and froze them ahead of time. I can tell you first hand, having that extra hour every night is AMAZING!

Freezer cooking literally changed my family dynamic. I am a mother of 3 children under three and prior to beginning my journey into freezer cooking I could count on 3 separate melt-downs every single night at 5 oclock. It wasnt pretty. By the time my husband got home at 6:15 I was lucky to have anything on the table. No one was ever happy and it was like my husband was entering a war zone.

Having an extra hour in the evening has allowed me to tend to my childrens needs instead of tending to a meal. There are of course trade-offs when it comes to freezer cooking (you are eating left- overs after all) but for me the fact that our evening melt-downs have all but stopped is absolutely worth it for our family.

It can definitely be daunting to figure out how to do cooking for a month in just one day, but if you can swing it, you will save time, lots of time. If you plan on having one big cooking day consider waking up very early, 4:30 or 5:00 and start your cooking before anyone else gets up, and continue after everyone has gone to bed. I am amazed how much more I can accomplish without interruptions. Will doing this make for a long day? Yes, but the trade off might be worth it for you.

Dont let 4:30 AM scare you there are other ways to maximize your cooking time without waking up before the sun. I definitely dont wake up that early on my big cooking days, but I do make sure my husband keeps the kids out of the kitchen.

Maximize time by cooking what you can in large batches. For example there are a multitude of recipes that use browned ground beef. You could feasibly cook 10 pounds of ground beef and never duplicate a dish. Rice and chicken also make great bases for a variety of dishes, and both can be prepared in huge batches.

Another time saving idea is to double, triple, or even quadruple recipes. I have been accused (by unkind blog commenters ) of having some boring meal plans. But heres the thing, I have two toddlers with very limited palettes, and they LOVE breakfast for dinner, spaghetti, roast turkey breast, and pizza. You can bet I make those meals at least once a week. Generally, my monthly meal plans repeat the same 6 meals 4 times, but that works for my family. Your meal plan doesnt have to be quite as boring as mine but making 30 different meals in one day will take all day, whereas making a double batch of 15 meals or a quadruple batch of 6 does not.

Incorporating lightning fast meals into your monthly plan will also free up time on one big cooking day. I dont freeze our spaghetti dinners (I might freeze meatballs though) I boil water, throw in pasta, and heat up the sauce on spaghetti night. This takes all of 5 minutes, and its one less dish that I need to make on the big cooking day.

The first month I attempted freezer cooking I was in the kitchen for 12 hours, but there wasnt a dish duplicated, and most of my dishes were quite complex. By duplicating dishes and incorporating lightning fast meals into the meal plan, however, I can get the cooking done in less than 3 hours. Depending on your meal plan and prep work you do the night before, you could feasibly make all your meals for a month in one morning. So is freezer cooking time in a bottle? It just might be.

Baked Goods

When it comes to baked goods you have two options. The first is to make fresh baked goods for your family throughout the course of the month. Now that you have an extra hour every evening this is a real possibility. Can you imagine the smell of freshly baked cheddar biscuits wafting through your house? Or better yet, cupcakes? Your children are already making your Super Mom cape as we speak.

The other option when it comes to baked goods is to make a large batch of baked goods on cooking day and freeze them. Most baked goods thaw beautifully on the counter or in the fridge. I would highly recommend whatever you do choose to bake to freeze in single portion sizes as they thaw quicker. A cake slice thaws in minutes versus the hours it takes to thaw a cake.

Personally, I dont do a lot of baking on my big cooking day (Maybe this is because the first month I tried freezer cooking I wound up with a fire in my oven from cake batter, theres a YouT ube video with my story if youre interested). I prefer to do baking as I have time later in the month. Baking isnt something that I need to do every day; its a treat. I can choose when I want to bake. The less chaotic days are the days I bake.

For those of you however who would like to bake and freeze your goodies ahead of time, Ive frozen the following to great success: Cupcakes, muffins, breads (slice before you freeze), slices of cake and brownies. This is by no means an exhaustive list, just what Ive personally found to work.

Cleaner Kitchen

Not only will freezer cooking save you cooking time, it will save you cleaning time too. This was a pleasant surprise when I first started freezer cooking. Just a few dishes after dinner and the kitchen remained clean throughout the month. If your house is anything like mine, when your kitchen stays clean you tend to be more motivated to clean the rest of your house too, because there is no looming pile of dishes youre putting off.