The moms’ group I belong to asked me to give a little talk on whatever I wanted to, so of course I chose cooking. A few years ago, I did a presentation at the Fort Lewis Women’s Conference on quick cooking, so I used those recipes, plus a few more freezer meals.
That presentation was the start of this blog, technically. I needed a way to distribute all the recipes, so I jumped into the blogosphere and made my first post on “Chaos Served Daily.” Then I didn’t blog for two and half years, but that’s a discussion for another day.
Here’s this week’s version of my talk, in brief.
My Ten Favorite Quick Recipe Meals (not those meals you can put together without a recipe, in your sleep…if you ever got any sleep)
Ten Amazing Crockpot Meals (you’ll just need to add a freshly made side)
For the moms’ group, I added a menu of ten freezer meals, with a grocery list, game plan detailing how to make the ten meals in four hours or less, and recipes. Here’s the menu:
Meals to Make for the Freezer
- Pepper Steak with freshly made rice
- Lime Cilantro Chicken to use in wraps, over salad, or with Mexican Rice
- Huevos Rancheros with fresh fruit salad
- Sausage and Peppers to use for sandwiches or with pasta and a salad
- Vegetable Beef Soup
- Cider Braised Pork Loin with Apples and Potatoes
- Big Greek Pasta
- Lasagna Ruffles
- Butter Chicken with freshly made rice and cucumber strips with rice wine vinegar
- Cottage Pie with fresh Waldorf Salad (apples, celery, craisins, almonds, and vanilla yogurt)
Once you do a round of freezer meal prep, I think you’ll love how easy it makes the daily “What’s for dinner?” answer. I try to cook for the freezer about every six weeks, and making ten meals is perfect for us.
I don’t use freezer meals every night, but they sure are nice on busy weeknights. In our home, we eat two or three freezer meals a week, I cook fresh a couple of nights, and we eat out once or twice a week. We always have at least one night a week that’s leftovers, either reinvented or everyone can “order” off the leftovers menu.
When I cook a fresh meal, I try to double it, so I can freeze a meal for later. It really doesn’t take more than a few extra minutes to make a double recipe, yet saves me an hour in the future when I can use a freezer meal!
