The first step to actually beginning the process of a freezer cooking session, is choosing the recipes. You can choose as many, or as few as you’d like, but try to stick with things your family likes, or that you can purchase multiple items for. For instance, three recipes that might call for sour cream, etc. A good number is ten or fifteen recipes. Remember you can choose different recipes the next time you do a freezer cooking session.
Keep in mind, that if you choose ten different recipes, and you plan to cook for a month, those ten recipes will need to be made three times each. This will give you thirty meals, and every ten days or so you will eat a meal again. This is not a problem for our family, so we stick to the ten recipes.
You can also choose fifteen recipes which is a bit more difficult, as you will need to make each meal only twice, however you will only eat each different meal twice during the month.
You can also choose other amounts as well. Five meals would need to be made six times, which means you would eat it every 5-7 days perhaps allowing for two meals out each week. You could do seven recipes, and prepare each recipe four times allowing for two or three “take out or go out” meals in a month. You can do whatever you want, that’s the freedom in freezer cooking.
For our family, we usually choose ten different recipes to make. I do get the kids involved sometimes so they can help me decide. This makes it easier when deciding when we will eat them, and how often. They have a hand in decision making and that makes this method of cooking work better for us. Plus, the kids are great about taking things out of the freezer, learning the organizational method I’ve used in the freezer and they even understand my weird calendar method which I will explain in another article.
So you’ve chosen your recipes, now it’s time for meal planning.
For more of my articles on freezer cooking, please see the freezer cooking section in the frugal living blog or for some excellent recipes to prepare, visit the food blog. I have contributed some exclusively for freezer cooking, however you can use many of the great ones already there!