In an ideal world I would have a fully stocked freezer all.the.time. I’d cook for one day, freeze and be set for the month. While I’ve done this in the past (see my freezer cooking plans) it’s just not practical for me right now. I do not have a full day to spend shopping and cooking. We also didn’t like chicken “dump” recipes in the crockpot which I find usually makes up a large portion of people’s freezer cooking plans because you don’t have to cook it that day.
Anyway, I realized that for my family the perfect freezer meals are those that are fully cooked. Since that takes more time, I’ve had trouble in the past getting my freezer stocked.
That is until recently. I’ve come up with a new system for myself that really isn’t a novel idea, but I wanted to share it with you because it works for those of us who do not have loads of time on our hands.
What I started to do was to break out my freezer cooking into smaller sessions. For example, this past week I spent 3 days stocking my freezer.
Day #1: On Sunday I did the planning and shopping. Later that day I cooked 4 butternut squash kugels, lentil soup and tomato barley soup (I eat soup for lunch at work, even in the summer).
Day #2: The next day I cooked 4 pans of meatballs.
Day #3: The day after that I cooked 3 broccoli kugels.
So in 3 days I had a freezer stocked with foods that my family enjoys. All the recipes I used were super simple and were not super time consuming.
I found that when I gave myself little jobs each night I was able to execute them. I had a plan ahead of time, was prepared with all the ingredients and got to work as soon as I came home from work, knowing I would not be cooking for long.
I usually cook a lot of kugels, because that is what my family enjoys and we end up spending a lot of money on the not-as-healthy store bought version when I don’t have them in the freezer. We save them for Shabbos and usually have leftovers for during the week. When it’s time to serve them I take them out of the freezer, defrost in the fridge overnight and heat it on my hot plate.
I don’t usually do freezer cooking for week night meals, but with this method along with the right recipes it’s totally doable.
How do you stock your freezer when you’re short on time?
Until next time,
Shaindy
I prep chicken breasts with a marinade/sauce and then freeze and label the bag. I defrost and when I get home from work, I take about 20 minutes to grill or bake them for dinner. While that’s cooking, I make a quick salad and other side dish. This has consistently worked for me! I’ve also frozen cauli-rice successfully, which also adds to the quick dinner prep.
I love those ideas! I’ve frozen chicken with marinade in the past and the results are yummy!
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