Tuesday, March 6, 2012

I Love Beng Prepared!

Buttercup and I have been cooking up a storm lately.  The poor girl had to shred the meat of four whole chickens one day, so I could make gallons of chicken and noodles.

We filled 160 shells.

We made 9 pounds of homemade chicken nuggets.

We've made the first batch of pulled pork.

We've made 3 pounds of mac and cheese.

We baked a few loaves of banana bread.

All of the recipes (except for the bread) come from one of my favorite cookbooks, The Freezer Cooking Manual by Tara Wohlenhaus and Nanci Slagle
The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet : A Month of Meals Made Easy

I have used this cookbook for years.  It is meant to help people plan their meals, save time and money, and eat healthy dinners every day.  The authors have actually done the math for us, so if we want to double, triple, or quadruple a recipe, just follow the directions for that amount.  Couldn't be easier.  And the meals are yummy, too!

Tara and Nanci suggest a full day of cooking, then sit back and eat your meals the rest of the month.

I do it a little differently. 

On days that I use their cookbook, I simply double or triple the recipe, then stick the leftovers in the freezer. 

Makes my life easier for sure.

But those extra meals can be for other people, too.

A friend has an extra busy week?  Pull out a meal and make her day a little easier.

A friend gets sick, but her family is feeling just fine?  Drop off a meal that the kids can simply heat up.

But lately, we've gone hog-wild. 

I have one friend, a homeschooling mother of eight, who has been battling breast cancer.  Her surgery was last week, and the kids are all out visiting relatives for a while.  Everyone returns home next week.

As I've mentioned, I also have a friend who is moving to Japan in a few months.  Her husband is already there.  She is going to be ridiculously busy trying to take care of the three kids and getting everything squared away for the move.  She is certainly not going to want to cook every night. 

So, I have planned a bunch of meals from the freezer cookbook for our dinners these last two weeks.  For each meal, I quadruple the recipe; one for us to eat that night, and the others to freeze for my friends.  They each will have a freezer full of meals from which to choose on days that they just don't want to/can't cook.

All in handy-dandy freezer bags for easy storing.  And no clean-up!



When I was looking up the information about the cookbook, I found that they have a new, improved book out.  I'm going to have to look into it.  See if I can broaden my freezer meal options.

Do you have any favorite meals for the freezer?

1 comment:

  1. OH I love a freezer full of meals, makes afternoons so much fun and my kids don't question when they ask "what's for dinner" when I say something from the freezer they know what ever it is they will like it, I make a bake once a month, usually try to get 5-8 meals in there but have never seen that book. I'll have to put it on my list! thanks for the tip! {I knew #6 was going to be a medical c-section and actually had 20 meals frozen for after her birth} so handy but my feet were like sausages from all that standing!

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