Today my freezer is somewhat stocked with meals that are ready to go. This really comes in handy on those nights when you just don’t feel like making dinner or the times when you want to save money and reduce your budget.
Forget the elaborate all day plans that keep you in the kitchen morning until night cooking away. There is a reason that these methods encourage you to do it with a friend. It is a lot of work!
While there may be a time and a place to do these massive freezer cooking sessions, I find that our family life is way to busy, especially on weekends, to devote an entire day to cooking. We would have to cancel the kids activities, church and even grocery shopping!
Instead, I try to practice freezer cooking with as little effort as possible. There are three main reasons to this:
- It is easier time wise on me and my family
- It takes less effort and therefore I’m more likely to do it
- It allows me to respond to sales and use coupons, rather than being a slave to a set list of ingredients, so I save money.
So how do I practice freezer cooking without effort? The main way is to simply increase the amount of each recipe and freeze the extras. So, instead of making one meat loaf, I make two or even four. It takes pretty much the same time to prepare multiples, with maybe an extra 5 minutes to slice the meat loaf and label the freezer bags. When cooking chicken, I’ll cook extra and then chop or shred it for use in recipes later. Etc.
The other way I practice freezer cooking without effort is to concentrate on one particular menu item at a time. I also get the kids involved sometimes in assembling. There are no complicated steps or multiple dishes and ingredients to remember. I can whip up a dozen egg muffin sandwiches for the freezer in a manner of minutes this way.
The important thing to remember is to not be intimidated by freezer cooking. Adapt it to the needs of yourself and your family. You’ll save both money and effort.
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