Summer Serendipity

Consider devoting a couple hours after work or on a Saturday to preparing and freezing several meals in advance. You’ll love how investing a little extra time now, can free you up a LOT later.

Here’s a couple ways to approach this adventure:

Mini-Sessions: Take a couple hours to simply triple a few recipes.

Protein Type or What’s-On-Sale: Build several recipes around these purchases.

Whichever approach you choose, just think and cook BIG.

Plan your menu:

Decide number of days to plan for.

Select recipes.

Plan your shopping and approach:

Tally all ingredients needed (3 green peppers, 6 lbs ground beef, 4 cans cream of mushroom soup, etc.)

List all processes needed (chopping: celery, peppers, onions; grating: cheese, carrots; browning: stew meat, ground beef, etc.)

Plan work order according to which recipes call for oven, crockpot, etc.

Then shop! Purchase fresh foods no more than 2-3 days prior to assembly day.

Prepare! Do as much prior to assembly day as possible: cooking and browning meats, dicing chicken, making coatings and sauces, chopping vegetables, etc.

Assemble! If you’re a first-timer, understand it will take about twice as long as it will when you become experienced at it. Wear supportive shoes to minimize fatigue. Clean as you go to reduce after-the-fact major cleaning up. Work with one type of protein at a time. Work with cooked protein first, then move to raw protein.

Freeze! Cool food quickly before freezing (in fridge or atop ice in an ice chest). Label everything with a “use before” date as well as any reheating instructions.

Final note:

We’ve also found this habit really makes “summertime serendipity” possible also. You know—it’s Friday morning and family says, “Hey! Let’s go camping this afternoon!”. No problem food-wise: Most any freezer meal can be popped into a dutch oven and cooked in a campfire. Grab your gear and go!

Or,

“Hey! Let’s go for a picnic tonight!” Again, no problem food-wise: Just defrost a dish in microwave, and bake while you assemble the rest of the picnic. Grab your gear and go!