Freezer Meals 101: How to Prepare
Now that you have considered the cost of preparing make ahead meals for your family, let's discuss how to prepare yourself for the task at hand! There are three things you need to prepare before heading to the grocery store: your list, your home, and yourself. I guess that it is possible not to do these steps, but I find that I am more efficient when I do!
1) Prepare your list:
Gather your recipe book, pull out your favorites, and determine if they are freezer worthy. Here is a list of guidelines that I follow when I look at recipes to freeze.
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| An organized list is key to a successful shopping trip! |
Soups:
*I have never met a soup that does not freeze well.
*Noodles do not freeze and reheat well, so it is best to add those during the reheating process.
Entrees:
*Cooked meat and meat that was
not previously frozen are fine to freeze, but don't thaw meat and then refreeze it
uncooked. It is not unsafe, if previously thawed in the refrigerator, but you will end up with a tough piece of meat!
*Beans freeze really well!!
Sides:
*Veggies freeze fairly well, but some have to be blanched before they are frozen, so check online for the proper way to freeze fresh veggies!
*Leafy greens do not freeze well if you want them to be crisp, but they do freeze well if they are cooked! We make huge batches of collard greens to go with our pinto beans and they freeze incredibly well!
Desserts:
*Cookie dough freezes really well, but baked cookies are not that fantastic out of the freezer.
*Please don't try to freeze a baked cake... trust me... it is painful...BUT, if you know the secret to freezing cakes, I'd love to hear them!
Sauces
etc:
*Sauces freeze really well; I keep marinara, pesto, and salsa in my freezer at all times!
Bread:
*I like to make my pizza dough and bread items the day I plan on consuming them.
*I have not had great experiences with frozen dough, but apparently some people have! So if you figure it out, let me know!!
I also like to gather recipes that use similar ingredients. I want them to be different enough to keep our interest, but I want them to use similar ingredients, so that at the end of the day I have used every bit of the groceries I bought. I do not want half bags of random ingredients sitting around taking up precious space! My kitchen is TOO tiny for that!! Thus, most of my recipes will include beans, peppers, and/or quinoa. If the recipes don't originally call for these ingredients, I have been known to adapt the recipe to fit my ingredients instead of buying something random! Also, before you go to the store, check your list against what you already have! I know that seems like common sense, but I did not do this the first time and ended up with two huge bottles of oregano in my spice cabinet!
I have one last thing I want to share with you how I make my list. I organize everything on my list by department. That way when I am in the store, I am not running from one end of the store to the other because my list is disorganized!
2) Prepare your home:
Clean out your pantry, freezer, and fridge! Throw out all of your expired food and eat up all the food you have left over! This means you might be eating a few meals that are a little hodgepodge, but honestly, we all have food that we forget about that sits in our pantry for too long! A quick tip: write down all the random food you find shoved in the corners of your pantry and fridge. These are the foods that you probably bought on impulse and should avoid buying again! I had a jar of instant tea in the back of my pantry (I think there was a recipe that used maybe a tablespoon) and it sat there for a couple years before I just finally tossed it. I am not a fan of wasting food, but again, I have a TINY kitchen! And instant tea? Really?
Secondly, clean your kitchen! Before you start cooking, you want to have all the dishes you need clean and your dishwasher empty so that you have what you need at your fingertips and cleanup will be easier. Another thing you might want to consider doing is removing the small appliances on your counter that you will not use. Unless you are blessed with a huge kitchen, having more counter space is more important than having that toaster oven out. Did I mention I have a tiny kitchen?
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| These are cute... but just say no! |
3) Prepare yourself:
Before you head to the store, EAT! You will be at the store for a while, and you don't want to start throwing impulse buys in your cart because you are hungry! It is easy to lose items in a full cart! I don't want you to unload your groceries and wonder why you bought that package of cookies, the sodas, and the instant tea! (again... instant tea?) Anyway... moving on!
Wear comfortable shoes and clothes! You will be pushing a heavy cart around and loading and unloading bags of groceries.
Arrange for your husband or a babysitter to watch the kids. I do not have kids at this time, but I can still imagine how difficult grocery shopping for one week would be, much less for three months! This might be a great time for the grandparents or the crazy aunts and uncles to spend some quality time with your little ones! (I am a crazy aunt, so I can say that!)
The last thing you want to do before heading out the door is to make sure you have room for all of your groceries in your car! I made the mistake of not doing this the first time I shopped for three months. Yeah... I opened the back gate of Stanley (yes, we named our car) only to realize that I had boxes of books stacked up in the back. I played an awesome game of Tetris getting my groceries into the car that day!
I know it seems like I am going overboard in the planning stage of these freezer meals, but the process is more efficient if you plan ahead!
In the next post, I will walk you through how I decide what to cook first. Believe it or not, there is a bit of strategy that goes behind cooking this many meals in only a few days!
Until Next Time!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Sweets
