Freezer Cooking Tips to Make It Easier

Freezer cooking, can also be known as bulk cooking and the process of cooking an entire month’s meals in one weekend.  Or in our case here at OAWC, taking a couple of hours and doing a week or two’s meals.  While that may seem like an overwhelming task, it is actually quite doable.  Here are some tips to make the process a little easier:

• Partner Up: If you have a family member or friend who is interested in freezer cooking, partner up with them.  It will be easier to get started when you have someone to cook with.  Together, you can scope out the best deals at the stores, and of course, share in the work.  It’s also even more fun to cook with others.

• Keep Notes: As you start freezer cooking, keep that meal plan handy.  If you find a certain recipe works better with a different ingredient, jot it down.  If you find yourself going through more quart sized freezer bags than you planned for, write it down on a main cooking list.  When you begin your meal planning for the next month, you can look back at your notes and be better prepared.  Plus, you’ll want to note which entrees your family loved, and which ones didn’t go over as well.

• Pare Down: If you find that planning and cooking your meals for a whole month to be too much work for one weekend, simply pare down.  Try cooking 15 entrees instead of 30.  You will still have two weeks of meals ready to go.  Or you can just take a weekend to make several things your family enjoys.  For example, if your family loves lasagna or a certain type of casserole, make a few of them and stick them in the freezer.  When you are having a busy week and need a quick dinner, simply take a lasagna out and let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight and pop it into the oven when you’re ready to eat.  We have a few family favorites such as chicken enchiladas that are always in the freezer for a quick meal.

• Ask For Help: Depending on the age of your children, they may be able to help you plan, shop, and cook.  If you have an infant or toddler and want someone to help keep them busy while you are cooking, ask a young teen from your neighborhood to come over and help you keep an eye on them.  A younger teen will normally charge less than older, more experienced babysitter would.  You’ll be on hand if your child needs you, and it could be a good idea to start building relationships with the young teens in your area, as they will be the prime “babysitting age” as your child grows.

If your first attempt at freezer cooking doesn’t quite go as planned, keep trying.  You probably weren’t the world’s greatest driver the first time you drove a car, and I’m sure your first attempt at writing looked pretty horrible.  Don’t give up, the easy meals are well worth it.  With a little practice, you could just end up being the town expert on freezer cooking.

Homemade Dinner Rolls

Bread is my downfall. Especially homemade bread! The great thing about this recipe is it freezes well and you can take out only the needed portions to add with your meal. Something I prefer to do as I have no self-control with warm, buttered rolls.

How To Make Homemade Dinner Rolls From Scratch

By: Shelly Hill

A few years ago, my mother in law was gracious enough to share with me her recipe to make these easy and delicious homemade dinner rolls. You can make them any time of the year or just for special family dinners. You can freeze them (once baked) for up to 3 months in your freezer and then reheat in the oven (for 3-4 minutes) or the microwave for 1-2 minutes once thawed.

Homemade Tasty Dinner Rolls Recipe

2 packages (envelopes) dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water (not hot water)
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup melted butter
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
vegetable grease

In a measuring cup, dissolve the dry yeast in warm water. Pour yeast mixture into a mixing bowl and add in the granulated sugar, salt, egg, butter and 1 cup of your all-purpose flour. Mix the dough well. If needed, stir in a little more of the all-purpose flour to make a soft dough.

Shape the dough into a large ball. Lightly grease all sides of the ball and then return your dough ball back to your mixing bowl. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let it rise until it has doubled in size. Punch down the dough and shape into smaller balls and let rise for 20-30 additional minutes.

Place balls onto a baking sheet and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 9 to 13 minutes or until golden brown and done.

Serving Suggestions: Serve rolls slightly warm with a pat of butter, honey butter, jam or fruit preserves.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

Shelly Hill is a mother and grandmother living in Pennsylvania who enjoys cooking and baking a variety of homemade foods. You can visit Shelly’s online cooking site at wahmshelly.blogspot.com for free cooking tips and recipes.

Save Some Cooking Time Mom

Below are some quick ways to get ahead on a couple of meals for those long work days.  Nothing fancy, just some ideas to get in that freezer.

Make Ahead Freezer Meals – For Women on the Go

by Darlyn Burkle

Make ahead freezer meals could be the answer to a busy woman’s dinner time blues. Have you ever come home from work or running the kids to their activities, to find that you have nothing in the house to eat for dinner? Maybe you have come home and you were too tired to prepare a full meal for your family? Did you know that make ahead freezer meals could save the day?

Make ahead freezer meals are perfect for a family, couple, or single person. Let me tell you a little bit about these meals. They are easy to prepare and are a wonderful life saver.

Make ahead freezer meals require proper planning. You will need to plan at least a couple hours but three or four hours would be better. The reason for this is you will be preparing the meal from start to finish and you will be doing more than one meal during this time period.

There are a couple of ways to prepare make ahead freezer meals. You can do each one of them separately or you can prepare them all at once. Here is an example.

If you are preparing four meals, two are with chicken and two are with hamburger, you could prepare the chicken meals together and when you are finished prepare the hamburger meals or you could put the chicken in the oven to cook and prepare the hamburger meals while that cooks. Once the chicken is complete you would finish that meal.

If you don’t want to prepare the entire meal you can cook up the chicken so the only thing needed is to warm it up. You can do the same with fried hamburger. If your family enjoys hamburgers, you can create the patties ahead of time so you won’t have to do that step. You can even add the seasoning to them if you wish, and then pop them in the freezer until you are ready to use them.

Make ahead freezer meals are also possible with crock-pot cooking. Creating crock pot meals ahead of time is super easy. All you do is put all the ingredients needed in a bag with the seasoning. Then all you have to do is open the bag and dump it into the crock pot and turn it on. What can possible be easier than that?

Here is a list of items that can be created ahead of time for make ahead freezer meals.

o Fried hamburger – cooked
o Baked Chicken – baked
o Hashbrowns – baked and shredded
o Potato squares – baked and cubed
o Hamburger patties – seasoned and ready to cook
o Chicken strips – cooked and sliced

Cooking or at least preparing these items ahead of time can save you anywhere from a few minutes to a half hour of time. I don’t know about you, but that’s a lot of time for me.

Make ahead freezer meals are meals that are already cooked and sitting in your freezer. All you have to do is place it in a dish and into the oven to warm it up. Other make ahead freezer meals can also include meals that are all put together, all you have to do is cook them. These types of meals are wonderful for a family on the go, a couple who works long days, or a single person. Whatever your situation is, make ahead freezer meals are the way to go.

Fit a Dinner Party in Your Menu Plan

By Kathy Hester

When you’re rushing around to the store last minute every night there is never enough time to entertain. If you are already doing a menu plan and shopping once a week, you are way ahead of the game. So, go ahead and wash your up best dinnerware and send out an evite to your friends. It’s time for a dinner party!

The menu can be as simple as you want. You can make a lasagna with seasonal veggies like Swiss chard and mushrooms at the beginning of the week and heat it up on the day of the party. Another option is make it in the slow cooker and when you come home from work all you have to do is throw together a salad.

You can also plan way ahead for a party and freeze your pre-made dish in an oven safe Pyrex dish. I always have a few of these stored in the freezer just in case I feel like having people over. Make sure to defrost in the fridge overnight or add extra cooking time.

Not into lasagna? A warm weather dinner can be a chilled soup that you make the day before. I like gazpacho, yogurt dill, or a cold borscht for a refreshing summer treat. Pair it with a salad made of mixed greens from the farmers market and topped with julienned veggies that you’ve marinated overnight in a balsamic vinaigrette.

If you have a sweet tooth like I do, you’ll want to serve a dessert. It can be as simple as a store bought vanilla greek yogurt topped with in season berries. Serve it in a martini glass placed on a square dinnerware salad plate and drizzle some melted chocolate over the top.

Make sure to start the party with an empty dishwasher and your clean up will be a breeze too.

What is Freezer Cooking?

The concept of creating a month’s worth of meals in one weekend is known by several different names, such as “freezer cooking,” “bulk cooking” and “once a month cooking”.  There is no doubt about it that this method of cooking requires a lot of planning and a lot of work, but if you have the time and energy to devote one weekend to cooking each month, you can feed your family for an entire month.

I however do not always have 2 full days to spend cooking and cleaning.  I do take a couple of hours and cook the meals up for that week or a few extra days.  Some months I can schedule in getting that full month cooked ahead and I love it.  But any way I can fit it in, I love the ease of planning ahead.

Imagine how stress-free the next few weeks will be, when you’ll no longer have to worry about what to serve for dinner.  You’ll be able to serve your family a great tasting, home-cooked meal each night, and the best part is that the meal has already been made.  All you’ll need to do is pop it into the oven.

As you can imagine, bulk cooking calls for bulk shopping.  If you have ever been to a warehouse store, you know how much money you can save by buying in bulk. In the past, buying food in such large quantities may have been daunting.  You may have wondered if you were ever going to use all that food before it went bad.  With freezer cooking, you can shop without worry; when you get home, you are going to assemble all those meals and freeze them.  The food simply won’t have a chance to go bad!

Freezer cooking allows you to avoid the “dinner rush” for an entire month.  Before you go to bed each night, you simply open the freezer and pull out tomorrow’s dinner.  When you get home, it will be in the refrigerator, waiting for you to pop it into the oven.  You are free to spend time with your family and enjoy your evening.

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