Recently, rather on the spur of the moment and motivated by some big sales on various meat, I decided to cook a month's worth of meals for my freezer. It worked out so well that I decided to write a little series devoted to the benefits I've already seen (3 days after the big weekend) and the tips I learned in my first mass cooking extravaganza.
In a nutshell, here are some of the benefits of cooking en masse:
- Customizable Convenience
- Less Stress
- Time Saver (Efficient Prep and Clean-up)
- Money Saver (Bulk Buying and Sales)
- Enjoyment and Hospitality
I'll spend a little more time on these and share some tips in the days to come. I think this method of cooking would be particularly helpful to single people, marrieds with no children, and mothers of small children (who make dinner-time a real hassle even if the food is already prepped!). For those in small 1- to 2- member households, making a casserole and then packaging it into 4 smaller portions will enable you to eat those comfort foods without committing to eating the leftovers every day for a week! For those with small children, this is a great strategy since it will then free you up during cranky dinner time (and your grocery trips are shorter since you're buying fewer items for the day to day operations).
So, what can you freeze? Where do you start? Do you have to commit an entire day to this labor of love? I'll touch on those as I have time, but for now, check out Carrie's former post: Supper's in the Freezer. She includes excellent tips for what to freeze, how long frozen food lasts, meat safety, and more.
4 comments:
I love "Power Cooking", but I wish I had more time/money to do it. I look forward to your future posts, because I've only done it twice and I needed a friend for moral support!
I also have a computer database that I am working on for "power cooking" that I could share with you if you are interested!
I'd love to see your database! I thought about starting something for future mass cooking extravaganzas.... aaahhh... the possibilities
Yeah! I'm glad you are doing this series. I "mega-cook" a couple of times a year. I don't cook from the freezer every night (I really like to cook so I cook from scratch a couple nights a week), but it is SO nice to have those freezer meals when I need them.
I'm looking forward to so inspiration - I need to so another session of mega-cooking but right now I'm not very motivated. I need to get motivated before fall when school starts and we all get so busy again.
Thanks!
Jill
I'm finding that I enjoy the couple of nights I actually cook during the week much more because I'm not cooking EVERY night. It's been great! I'm also cooking more fresh side dishes since I'm not worrying about the main course.
Post a Comment