Almost Summer

It's almost summer. What that means at my house is that activity nights are few and far between. I like this time. It means that I get to defrost the freezer and cook more. I do not cook on activity nights. Having a larger family, in part, means more stress. I prefer to minimize my stress. The freezer is not frost-free, so I have to use that hair dryer for something.

Why on earth would I go through this much trouble? Well, it really isn't that much trouble. After all, what I do is just make a double or triple batch of what I was already making for that night's dinner. So, instead of having one night of dinner cooked, I get extra! Plus, something homemade is a lot better than something out of a rectangular box or paper bag with golden arches.

How do I freeze all of this? First, stock up on zipper style freezer bags (pick your brand). You'll want quart and/or gallon sized depending on what your freezing and how many people you're cooking for. The goal is to have one night of dinner in each bag. (Obviously a smaller family wouldn't even need the gallon bags most likely.) Some people will use containers. You'll also want a sharpie for labeling. How you organize your freezer will depend on the type of freezer that you have and such. The end goal is to have everything frozen as flat as possible. Then you just stack your bags. When it's time to serve, having to nuke some veggies, boil up pasta, or cook rice doesn't really count as cooking.

Finally, what do I freeze? Lots of things. Soups, Chicken Pot Pie filling, red beans (for beans & rice), jambalaya, sometimes casseroles, taco meat, burrito meat, sloppy joe meat, spaghetti sauce, etc. Some weeks, there are times when we may eat from the freezer 6 out of 7 nights. That calls for some variety!

I hope this has been helpful and informative. Over the next couple months, hopefully I can get some of these recipes up.