There is a really nice person who lives at my house. Sometimes when I come home, she has dinner waiting for me. Granted, it is a little cold, but I can warm it up. And yes, usually I need to make a salad to go with it. But isn’t it nice of her to make me dinner?
Ok, I confess. It’s me.
I love my freezer pantry. When I come home to a meal waiting in the fridge for me to warm up, it does feel like someone came into my house and left me something to cheer me up at one of the hardest times of my day – coming home. I’m a great believer in using treats like this to keep my sanity, and this always feels like a treat.
How many nights a week are you out of the house until 5 pm or beyond?
If you are regularly out four or five nights a week, you may want to simplify some of your dinners so that you don’t need to heat them up. Have a meat, cheese, and vegetable plate night with crackers and nice dip. Chop up the vegetables in the morning.
Then choose three nights a week to be your freezer meal nights. On the weekend or the days you are home early, make double or triple portions of the recipes that you use. Freeze them, label them, and take them out 1 or 2 evenings before you need them. Put them on a shelf in your fridge, and they will be ready for you when you get home.
What recipes work well for freezer meals? Think one-pot meals like chili, stir fry, or soup. Loaves and casseroles that you bake in a pan and freeze and reheat in the same pan are great too. Frozen homemade pizzas are good, or you can freeze taco and burger fillings. If you have time one day before you are out, you can also make a large salad, fruit salad, or pancake batter and freeze it as well.
The freezer pantry is one of the key ways that I keep my sanity in the kitchen.
Image courtesy of Beverley LR at Stock Exchange.