More Freezer Cooking by Sis Marita X

Table of Content Introduction What is Freezer Cooking and What Are The Benefits Foods That Freeze Well and Those that Don’t Getting Started Items Needed Planning The First Few Freezer Cooking Sessions Freezer Cooking and Meal Planning Freezer Cooking as a Team Effort Freezer Cooking Tips Freezer Cooking Storage Tips Freezer Cooking Safety Tips Sample Menu of 7 Freezer Dinners Worksheets Planning Sheet Freezer Inventory Sheet Freezer Cooking Recipes Breakfast Recipes Chicken and Turkey Recipes Ground Beef Recipes Soup and Stew Recipes Casserole Recipes Pasta and Pizza Recipes Baked Goods and Dessert Recipes Printable Labels

Introduction I get emails just about every single day from moms who are trying to make do with less money. Grocery prices have skyrocketed and many of us are dealing with fewer hours at work or worse having lost a job. In short, we need to tighten our budgets and the easiest place to save for many of us is on groceries. At the same time we are busier than ever and while some of us are home and are able to spend a fair amount of time each day cooking meals from scratch and making homemade bread, others aren’t as lucky. I was a working mom for quite some time and know how hard it is to find the time and the energy to cook something from scratch after a long day at the office. It’s just too tempting to order some takeout or stop at the drive through on the way home. Unfortunately neither one of these options is cheap or healthy. After a lot of thinking and weighing all the options, I think I have come up with a good solution for anyone that wants to cook healthy, inexpensive meals, without spending a lot of time on dinner each night. The solution is Freezer Cooking. We’ll start out by taking a look at what exactly freezer cooking is and how you and your family can benefit from it. From there we’ll jump straight into some practical tips that will help you get started. I’ve even created a weekly menu of freezer meals for you complete with recipes, directions and grocery list. Just shop, cook and freeze.

Toward the end of this ebook you will find some additional worksheets, plenty of freezer friendly recipes for all kinds of dishes and even printable labels for each of the dishes. Print them, cut them out and tape them to your freezer dishes. They include the name of the dish, a space for you to note the date that you cooked the meal and some reheating instructions. Having the reheating instructions right on your freezer meal makes it easy for someone else to prepare the meal in case you’re running late or are out sick. It’s just one of the many perks of freezer cooking. Let’s dive right in and of course you are welcome to email me at susanne@hillbillyhousewife.com with any questions or comments. If you have a great freezer recipe I would love to know about it as well. Let’s get cooking.

Susanne Myers – The Hillbilly Housewife www.Hillbillyhousewife.com

What Is Freezer Cooking? Let’s start by taking a look at what freezer cooking is and how your family can benefit from it. Some people associate freezer cooking with once a month cooking. That’s a concept, where you plan your meals for the entire month, shop for them and then cook them in one big cooking session that usually takes about 2 days. All the food is then frozen and used for dinners throughout the month. While this is a valid and good strategy for some women, it’s always been a bit much for me. I find it too exhausting to do all that shopping and cooking at once. While you can most certainly use this guide to do all your cooking for the month at once, I would also like to share some other options with you that may be more suitable for your family and your lifestyle. Freezer cooking to me is any effort you make to prepare meals ahead of time, freeze them and then use them later. Let’s look at some of the options here.

Cooking Once A Week With this method you basically sit down once a week and plan out your meals for the coming week. This is very similar to the process of doing any type of weekly meal planning, but with this method you pick 7 freezer meals. I tend to do this when I know we have a really busy week ahead of us or If I know I’m going to be gone for a week and need to get meals ready that my family can just heat eat. Once you have your 7 freezer meals, make a shopping list, get all the ingredients you need and designate a cooking day. On cooking day you will prepare all 7 meals, cool them, pack them up and stick them in the fridge or freezer. Then you simply pull one out each week and heat it according to the reheating instructions. Add some sides if desired and dinner is done. This method can easily be adapted to cook 2 weeks’ worth of meals or even an entire month’s worth of food at once.

Cook Once Eat Twice With this method you cook something one night and then turn the rest of the ingredients into another meal. For example, you could make a big batch of spaghetti sauce with hamburger meat in it and serve it with spaghetti the first night and then use the rest of the sauce to put together a lasagna for the freezer. In it’s simplest form you can simply take out some of the meat when you brown ground beef or cook chicken and stash it in the freezer. It can then be used later in soups and casseroles.

Double or Triple Batches Batch cooking is something I make use of almost every week. It is simply a matter of doubling a recipe and eating one half that night and then stashing the other half in the freezer to be enjoyed a different night. It isn’t really any more work, you usually just need a larger mixing bowl and pot. If

Cook Along A Freezer Meal When I first came across this idea I thought it was simply brilliant. Sometimes I cook things that I need to keep a fairly close eye on while they cook, but I don’t really have to do much other than “babysit“ the food. Whenever you cook something like that (chili for example), use the time you’re spending watching your dinner for the night to put together another pot of soup or stew and then freeze it.

So it’s up to you and what will work best for you and your family. If you are a little hesitant if this will work for you, just start by cooking a double batch of soup, chili or a casserole and stick it in the freezer for later use. If you know you have a busy week, prepare a few freezer meals and include them as well as some crockpot meals in your meal plan for the week. If there’s a great deal on a particular food that lends itself to freezer cooking (for example ground beef or chicken), take advantage of the deal and then turn it into a couple of freezer meals for later use. Of course not every food freezes well, so let’s take a look at that next.

Foods That Freeze Well and Those that Don’t I don’t have to tell you that some foods freeze better than others. If you haven’t been freezer cooking for a while, it’s a bit hit or miss to determine if a particular dish will freeze well or not. That’s why I’ve put together this list of items that will and won’t freeze well. Let’s start with what doesn’t freeze well. Use this as a general guide. It doesn’t mean that you have to completely avoid these foods, but you do want to use them sparingly in your freezer dishes and when you do use them be prepared for some taste and texture changes after you reheat your dishes. • • • • • • • • • • • •

Greasy or fried foods Cream cheese or mascarpone and other soft cheeses Yogurt Sour cream Mayonnaise Cream fillings and custards Large chunks of potatoes Cooked pasta Gravies and fat-based sauces Whole eggs or hardboiled eggs Fruits and Vegetables with high water content (i.e. watermelon, citrus fruit, lettuce, tomato) Jello

Almost anything else will freeze well, but keep the following tips in mind. If you are using pasta in a freezer dish, add it uncooked if possible, otherwise undercook it since the pasta will continue to cook during the reheating / baking process. Otherwise you will end up with some soft and mushy noodles. Potatoes don’t tend to freeze really well. I recommend you only use small chunks of potato in stews, soups and casseroles. A great alternative is rice or grains like barley for a filling, starchy component to your dishes. Frozen cheese will crumble, which is why I only use grated cheese in my freezer dishes. Allow your dishes to cool completely before you freeze them and wrap them. Wrap them in freezer safe bags or containers including freezer paper, freezer bags and glass or plastic dishes that are both freezer and oven safe.

If you have a particular dish, a family favorite and you’re not sure if it will freeze well, cook up a small portion of it, or even better cook it for your family for dinner and then set aside a small portion for freezing. Reheat it after it has frozen completely. This small test will show you once and for all if the dish freezes well. If it does, don’t forget to not on the recipe card that this makes for a good freezer dish. If the dish doesn’t taste all that great after reheating, consider cooking components of the meal as needed (i.e. brown the meat), then assemble the dish and freeze it. When it’s time to use the dish, defrost it if needed and then cook it. Some dishes can even go straight from the freezer to the oven, but I usually prefer to defrost them. Just stick them in the fridge the day before. Even just assembling the dish before freezing will save you a lot of time. The meal almost cooks itself in the oven while you go about everything else that needs to be done that night.

Getting Started Now that you have a pretty good idea of what freezer cooking is and what items freeze well (and which don’t), it’s time to get started. If you already have some recipes for dishes that you know will freeze well, you may want to start by making a few of those over the coming days. If not take a look at the recipes a little further down in this report and look for one or two that sound appealing to your family. If you are ready to jump right in and make an entire week’s worth of freezer meals, take a look at the freezer meal menu included in this ebook. You will find a list with an entrée for each night of the week. The recipes for each dish can be found a little further down in the report in the freezer recipe section. I have included a grocery list to make each dish on the list. Decide if there are any extra side items or desserts you would like to serve with those main courses and the suggested sides and add what you need to the grocery list. Don’t forget to cross out anything you already have in your pantry or fridge. Then it’s time to start cooking. If you are cooking an entire week (and later on maybe even two week’s or an entire month’s worth of dinners at a time), you may want to consider designating one day to shopping and another day as a cooking day. If I have a lot of meals that call for some sort of chopped vegetables (i.e. chopped onions, celery etc.), I go ahead and get as much of that out of the way on shopping day. The next morning it will make cooking all those dishes a lot faster. Next it’s time to come up with a game plan for all that cooking. Get out all the recipes ( I also do this on the shopping day), and look for similarities. For example, you may be browning ground beef for both spaghetti sauce and chili. While they may call for different seasonings, you can brown all that ground beef at the same time and then separate and season it. You also want to note how often and for how long you will need to use things like your stove and crockpot and plan accordingly. As you start to cook, it is handy to keep the sink full of hot, soapy water. Wash all those bowls, pots, pans and utensils as you are done with them. It’s an easy way to make sure you don’t run out of them as your cooking progresses and you also don’t want to be left with a huge pile of dishes at the end of the day.

I’d also like to take a moment to address a concern I often hear from people just starting out with freezer cooking. Many of us don’t have a large freezer, but work with the one on top of our refrigerator instead. I cooked freezer meals for years before investing into a full-size freezer. The key is to use plenty of freezer bags that you can stash into all kinds of nooks and crannies in your freezer. As you bag your frozen meals, squeeze out as much of the air as possible and just start stacking them up in there. You’ll be surprised how much you can actually fit into little freezer.

Items Needed Next let’s talk about some of the basic “hardware“ you are going to need. Don’t worry this isn’t going to be complicated and you probably have most of the items already at home. If you are planning on cooking several meals at once, you are going to need a few pans to brown meats and root vegetables in, some pots in various sizes, particularly if you are working on some soups and stews. Make sure you have plenty of casserole dishes that can go straight from the oven to the freezer. Inexpensive aluminum dishes are fine. If you are making some meat loaves ahead of time, you are also going to need as many loaf pans as you are planning on making. If you don’t already own several loaf pans, consider picking up a few aluminum ones. They are inexpensive and can be used several times. I suggest you do the same with pie and casserole dishes. Once you are sure freezer cooking is working out for you, you may want to go ahead and invest in a few good metal or glass dishes, preferably with lids. Next you also want to make sure you have an ample supply of freezer paper, freezer bags in various sizes and aluminum foil. Make sure you also have a way to note what’s in each of your freezer containers. You can use pens, pencils, or print out labels and tape them to the containers. At the end of the recipe section of this guide, you will find premade labels for each of the recipes. Feel free to print those and just fill out the date you made and froze the dish. The labels include reheating instructions which makes it easy to have someone else get dinner started when you are running late and also come in handy when you give these freezer meals to someone else.

Planning the First Few Freezer Cooking Sessions Here is a very basic step-by-step process I use to plan each of my freezer cooking sessions. You can easily use this to make anything from a few meals to cooking dinner for an entire month. 1) Determine How Many Freezer Meals You Are Going To Cook I recommend you don’t try to do more than a week’s worth of cooking during your first few freezer cooking sessions. This will allow you to learn the different processes and shortcuts without overwhelming yourself. 2) Find and Pull Out The Recipes You Are Going To Use I usually sit down with my cookbooks and recipe cards and come up with what I want to cook for a particular session. I try to have a variety of meals throughout the week. Much of what I’m actually going to cook depends on what’s on sale that week at my local grocery stores. I may also plan to cook double batches of some dishes and save the additional servings for the following weeks. I will pull out all the recipes that I have in binders or on recipe cards. If a recipe came from a cookbook I usually end up writing it down on a index card and later add it to my recipe card box. It makes it easier to have all your recipes out and ready while you’re cooking. You don’t want to have to search through your cookbooks to find something on cooking day. If you already have some meals in your freezer you may want to include some of them in your meal plan as well. 3) Make the Grocery List and Go Shopping Once you have made your meal plan and pulled all the recipes out, grab a blank piece of paper and start making out your grocery list. I usually end up making two of them. The first one is just a scribbled down version of every ingredient each recipe calls for. I then take that list and looking through my pantry, cabinets and fridge, I cross off anything I already have on hand. Next I get out a new sheet of paper and start rewriting the grocery list as follows. I start by looking at the various types of meats each recipe calls for. If several

recipes call for ground beef, I come up with a total of ground beef I need to buy. Next I look for all the produce I need, then dairy, dry goods, breads and so forth. You can of course rearrange these categories to fit the layout of your grocery stores. Last but not least I make a note of any items that are going to be on sale that week (the ingredients I based some of the meals around … for example if chicken breast is on sale that day, I make a note of the price I’m supposed to be getting). If I have coupons for any particular item, I like to put a c next to it and then keep the coupons I need with my grocery list. If I’m going to cook quite a few freezer meals, I do my planning one evening and then go grocery shopping the next day and cook on the third day. If you have some help or are only cooking about a week’s worth of meals, I recommend you do the planning in the evening, then go shopping early the next morning and start cooking when you get back. 4) Unloading and Prepping When you get back from the store, it’s time to put away your groceries. I like to go shopping the day before I cook, so I can leave some of the things I’ll need out on the counter. I also like to get as much prep work done as possible. I wash and chop fruits and vegetables as need and store them in covered bowls in the fridge. Every little thing you can do ahead of time will make your cooking day easier. 5) Time To Cook Allow for plenty of time when it comes to cooking and go in it with a game plan. You don’t want to come to a stopping point with one meal because your oven will be tied up for another 2 hours to cook a roast for example. You also want to combine as many things as possible. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind: •

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Cook the same items together. If two dishes call for cooked rice and two others for browned ground beef, cook them in larger batches and then divide them up to continue with the recipe. If you have things that will have to bake for a while, start them early and make sure the timing won’t interfere with your other recipes. Get soups and stews and other things that will have to simmer for a while started and then move on to cook other foods alongside them. You’ll still

• •

be able to keep an eye on those soups and get your remaining meals cooked. If you only have one crockpot or one large casserole dish, make sure you are not planning on cooking two of those dishes in one cooking session. Clean dishes as you go so you don’t start to run out. It’s also nice not to have to end your cooking day with a huge pile of dishes that need to be washed.

6) Cool, Package And Freeze Good news… the hard part is done at this point. As you finish cooking each dish, allow it to cool and then package it up in a freezer save container. After that it’s simply a matter of stacking things up in your freezer. You want to cool your food items rather quickly, so take them of the stove and stir them occasionally. Pouring the food into a new, cool container like a metal baking pan will also allow it to cool faster. If you’re in a rush, set up an ice water bath in a large plastic bin or an empty cooler and set the container with the food in it. Once your food is cool enough, pour or scoop it into freezer bags, plastic containers that are safe for the freezer, or wrap the items in freezer paper or aluminum foil. Be sure to label all items well, including the name of the dish and the date you froze it. I also like to include how many servings of the dish are in the container and some reheating instructions. Toward the end of the recipe section you will find labels you can print that include the name of the recipe and the reheating instructions. Just add the date you made and froze the meal and how many servings are in the package and tape it to your container. Don’t open your freezer anymore than absolutely necessary to avoid warming it up too much. Wait until you have a few freezer meals packed up and then put them in the freezer. Don’t forget to note each item on your freezer inventory sheet. Stack plastic containers and flat items to save space and then carefully “cram” freezer bags in any remaining openings. You’ll be surprised how much food you can fit into your freezer this way.

Freezer Cooking and Meal Planning I don’t have to tell you that I am an avid promoter of meal planning, so let’s briefly talk about how freezer cooking can fit in with the meal planning you are hopefully already doing. When you sit down to make your meal plan I want you to keep two things in mind. 1) Take stock of what meals you already have sitting in your freezer waiting to be reheated. Take advantage of these meals when you know you have a busy day. Don’t forget to make a note on your meal plan the morning of or the day before to remind you to start the defrosting process. Turn your freezer meal into a complete dish by adding some fresh veggies, a salad and some bread and maybe even a simple dessert. 2) After you’ve completed your meal plan for the week, look over it again and see if there are any opportunities to make a double batch and freeze one for a future freezer meal. For example if you’re planning on making a meatloaf, you can easily double the recipe and prepare one for the freezer, or make some meatballs out of the second half of your recipe. Most soups, stews and casserole dishes can also easily be doubled up. When you’re cooking chicken, cook some extra, allow it to cool and dice it up. It makes a great basis for a lot of quick and easy freezer meals. If you don’t have time to cook another dish right away, just freeze the chicken chunks and turn them into a full meal later. My family loves spaghetti with meat sauce. Every time I fix it, I double the recipe for the sauce and then scoop out half for the freezer. When you’re ready for a quick meal, take your sauce straight from the freezer to the microwave or a heavy saucepan (add a little water) and heat. By the time your spaghetti are cooked your sauce is ready. Just add a side salad and some garlic toast for a complete meal. Another option is to cook something alongside the meal you are preparing for your family. For example, I’m making it a habit to also put on a pot of chili every time I fix some vegetable beef soup. Many of the ingredients are the same and it all starts out with a base of browned hamburger meat. Since I’m already stirring one pot making the soup, I can easily put together the chili at the same time.

While we eat dinner, it has a chance to cool down and is ready to be packaged for the freezer by the time I’m done. Sure there is an extra pot to wash afterwards, but other than that it doesn’t make my cooking any more complicated than before. If you can cook just two extra meals a week simply by doubling up what you are doing or cooking another dish along with dinner, you can quickly build up a nice little stock of freezer dishes. I also like to give myself a day off from cooking every once in a while. On those days I plan for a freezer meal and put hubby in charge. It’s a great way to carve out a little extra me time. Of course these freezer meals also come in handy when you have to throw your meal plan overboard because of a family emergency or an illness.

Freezer Cooking as a Team Effort By now I probably have you convinced that some form of freezer cooking would work out well for you. But let’s face it, it’s also quite a bit of work to cook all these extra meals, especially in the beginning, when you’re not used to the process and you don’t have a stock of freezer meals built up yet. The good news is that you don’t have to do all this planning, shopping and cooking alone. Freezer cooking is something that can easily be done with several people and in several different ways. Let’s take a quick look at them. Cooking As a Family Just because you are the mom (or dad), doesn’t mean you have to do all the work by yourself when it comes to planning and making freezer meals. Get your significant other and the kids involved with anything form helping you plan the meals, grocery shopping and basic cooking and cleaning tasks. Even young kids can help you measure and stir. Put the older ones in charge of chopping ingredients, stirring pots and doing dishes. Explain to your family that this will allow all of you to spend more time on other fun activities and I’m sure they will be glad to help.

Cooking With A Friend Another way to tackle all this cooking is to get together with a friend. Plan to make a few different freezer meals and then go shopping. Whenever I do this, my friend and I simply split the cost of the groceries 50/50. When we get home we start cooking while we chat and catch up. I suggest you cook everything in double batches so you end up with one of each freezer meal for each family. Of course you can easily expand this to include a third friend, but I don’t recommend cooking with more than 2 other friends. It just gets too crowded. If you’d like to involve more friends, opt for a freezer meal exchange instead.

Freezer Meal Exchange A freezer meal exchange works pretty much like a cookie exchange. Each person brings a frozen entrée. I suggest you have everyone bring it in a cooler to avoid having the food thaw. It’s a good idea to bring the recipe for you dish to share with the other participants. After that it’s simply a matter of shuffling all the frozen meals around so each person ends up with a dish other than the one she brought.

While all of these are definitely optional, they are also a lot of fun. Consider trying them out at one time or another. I have some friends who enjoy the freezer meal exchanges so much, they end up holding one about once a month. It’s a great way to socialize and exchange freezer recipes as well as getting some more variety in the meals that are waiting for you in the freezer. I also really like to involve my family in cooking in general. It’s a good experience for everyone involved and builds important life skills.

Freezer Cooking Tips

Freezer cooking, also known as bulk cooking is the process of cooking an entire month’s meals in one weekend. While that may seem like an overwhelming task, it is actually quite doable. Here are some tips to make the process a little easier:

• Partner Up: If you have a family member or friend who is interested in freezer cooking, partner up with them. It will be easier to get started when you have someone to cook with. Together, you can brainstorm new recipes, scope out the best deals at the store, and of course, share in the work.

• Keep Notes: As you start freezer cooking, keep a notepad handy to jot down any notes. If you find a certain recipe works better with a different ingredient, jot it down. If you find yourself going through more quart sized freezer bags than you planned for, write it down. When you begin your meal planning for the next month, you can look back at your notes and be better prepared. Plus, you’ll want to note which entrees your family loved, and which ones didn’t go over as well.

• Pare Down: If you find that planning and cooking your meals for a whole month to be too much work for one weekend, simply pare down. Try cooking 15 entrees instead of 30. You will still have two weeks of meals ready to go. Or you can just take a weekend to make several things your family enjoys. For example, if your family loves lasagna or a certain type of casserole, make a few of them and stick them in the freezer. When you are having a busy week and need a quick dinner, simply take a lasagna out and let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight and pop it into the oven when you’re ready to eat.

• Ask For Help: Depending on the age of your children, they may be able to help you plan, shop, and cook. If you have an infant or toddler and want someone to help keep them busy while you are cooking, ask a young teen from your neighborhood to come over and help you keep an eye on them. A younger teen will normally charge less than older, more experienced babysitter would. You’ll be on hand if your child needs you, and it could be a good idea to start building relationships with the young teens in your area, as they will be the prime “babysitting age” as your child grows.

If your first attempt at freezer cooking doesn’t quite go as planned, keep trying. You probably weren’t the world’s greatest driver the first time you drove a car, and I’m sure your first attempt at writing looked pretty indecipherable, but I can pretty much bet that you write something legible down everyday and, unless you live in New York City, you probably drive a car just about everyday, too. With a little practice, you could just end up being the town expert on freezer cooking.

Freezer Cooking Storage Tips

If you have always wanted to try your hand at freezer cooking but thought you would have to purchase 30 freezer-safe casserole dishes beforehand, you are in luck. As it turns out you only need one or two of them! Here are some tips on how to freeze, store, and reheat all of your meals:

• Stock up on aluminum foil, jumbo sized plastic storage bags, and both gallon and quart sized plastic freezer bags.

• To make the most of your freezer space, try to freeze your foods as flatly as possibly. You will be able to stack them on top of each other and fit more food into your freezer.

• To freeze casseroles, you’ll simply line the casserole dishes with enough aluminum foil to come up over the sides of the dish. After the casserole is assembled, bring the foil up and cover the casserole tightly, and then wrap it in a second freezer bag.

• Once the casserole is frozen, remove it from the outer bag, pop the frozen casserole out of the dish, and place the aluminum foil wrapped casserole back into the freezer bag. When it is time to cook the casserole, remove it from the freezer and place in the same baking dish to thaw. Once thawed, take it out of the freezer bag and cook. Since it is lined with the aluminum foil, clean up will be a breeze! Simply throw the foil out and wash the dish!

• As you know, a full freezer is more efficient. To prepare your freezer to freeze all the food, wash out your empty milk gallons and fill with water. Place them in your freezer. And if you wanted to quick-freeze something on your cooking day, all you need to do is take out one of the frozen gallon jugs and smack it on some cement to start cracking the ice. Place the cracked ice and the items you want quick-frozen into a smaller camping-type cooler. They’ll be frozen in no time!

• Make it a point to label each freezer bag. You can write the name of the entrée and the reheating instructions on a piece of paper and stick it inside the bag, on top of the aluminum foil covered casserole or write the instructions on the bag with a permanent marker. Another idea is to print out the information on packing slip labels ahead of time and just peel and stick as you cook and freeze your items.

• Keep track of the meals you have on hand by placing a magnet mounted whiteboard on your freezer door. If you add three lasagnas, two portions of chicken fajita meat, two beef stews and one ham casserole, write them on your board. As you take things out of the freezer to thaw, erase them. It can be easy to forget what you have previously made, and if you don’t remember it’s there, you’ll never be able to use it!

• If you don’t have a deep freeze, try bulk cooking in two-week inventories. By freezing things flatly you should be able to store two weeks worth of food in a normal sized freezer.

• Soup can be a simple but very hearty and satisfying meal. When it comes to freezer cooking, simply freeze the ingredients. Frozen soups can lose their consistency when reheated. If you make your own broth, you can definitely freeze that. Add a package of frozen broth and a package of frozen chicken broth to one jumbo storage bag and label “chicken soup”. When it’s time to eat the chicken soup, simply thaw the broth and chicken. Add your veggies the day you will actually eat the soup.

• If you find your family doesn’t like a certain ingredient after it’s been frozen, simply omit that item and add it the dish as you are cooking it for that night’s supper.

• If your dish calls for pasta, remember to assemble it with slightly undercooked pasta. The pasta will finish cooking when you reheat the dish.

Freezer Cooking Safety Tips When it comes to safety, there is room for it in every area of life. As with everything, freezer cooking has some safety precautions. It is important to pay attention to the tips and implement them. Here are a few tips on food safety for freezer meals. If you're making extra food at one meal for future meals, separate and refrigerate the portion to be served later before you put the food on the table. This keeps food quality higher and helps keep food safe. Keep an appliance thermometer in your refrigerator and in your freezer. This helps to assure they stay at 40 F or lower in the refrigerator and 0 F or lower in the freezer. You can find thermometers at a discount, hardware, grocery or other stores that sells kitchen cooking tools. Cool foods to refrigerator temperature before bagging them for your freezer. It is ok to refrigerate foods while they're still warm. Once you are ready to refrigerate food, cover it loosely. Doing so will allows heat to escape and protects the food from accidental cross contamination. Do not thaw perishable foods at room temperature. If perishable foods are left at room temperature too long, bacteria may grow and produce heat-resistant toxins that can cause food-borne illness. Your family does not need that. To avoid mystery meats and other foods of unknown age and possibly origin, label foods using freezer tape, gummed freezer labels or permanent marker. When you label include the name of the food, packaging date, and additional information like is the food sliced or chopped. Freeze food in the freezer safe containers or bags. Containers and bags that are not freezer safe allow air in and cause freezer bite. The food will also not last as long. Pay attention the packages date of the food you freeze. In general food that has been frozen last from 3 to 6 months. Take inventory every so often of what it in your freezer and pay attention to foods that have freezer bite, meats that have blue of green spots on them, and food that is outdated. Throw it out. When it comes to freezing your food ahead of time, you want to be sure to be safe. Freezer cooking is a safe way to make meals ahead and using these tips will help you to keep it that way. Follow the ideas listed here and successfully freeze your food every time.

Sample Menu of 7 Freezer Dinners Monday: Chicken Burritos from the Freezer - serve with salad and tortilla chips Tuesday: Cheeseburger and Fries Casserole (makes two servings... save the second dish for later use) - serve with green beans Wednesday: Split pea soup - serve with biscuits Thursday: Freezer Chili - serve with corn bread Friday: Frozen Pizza Saturday: Turkey Noodle Casserole - serve with sliced bread and assorted fruit Sunday: Freezer Meat Loaf - serve with instant mashed potatoes and steamed carrots

Grocery List

Produce □ □ □ □ □

Salad 4 onions 1 large pack of carrots 2 cloves of garlic assorted fruit

Meat □ □ □ □

4 boneless skinless chicken thighs (or 3 breasts) 8 lb ground beef 2 smoked ham hocks 1 lb ground turkey

Dairy □ □ □ □ □ □

8oz package of taco cheese 3 egg 4 1/2 cups of milk Shortening 12 oz grated mozzarella cheese parmesan cheese

Frozen Foods □ 2 packages (20 oz each) frozen crinkle-cut french fries Canned Goods □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □

Jar of Salsa 1 can refried beans (or homemade) salad dressing (your favorite) 3 cans cream of mushroom soup 2 cans cheddar cheese soup 1 can of green beans 2 cans diced tomatoes (14 oz) 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce 2 (15 oz) cans chili beans 1 can of corn 1 1/2 cups marinara sauce

Dry Good and Spices □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □

3 cups dried yellow split peas dried marjoram chili powder salt & pepper cornstarch cornmeal 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs worcestershire sauce instant mashed potatoes 1 pkg broad egg noodles 2 cups flour 2 tsp active dry yeast sugar 2 tbsp olive oil

Bread and Baked Goods □ 8 burrito sized tortillas □ Biscuits □ Sliced Bread Snacks □ Tortilla chips Misc. □ Your favorite pizza toppings

Printable Worksheets On the pages that follow you will find a few different printable worksheets. They include the following: •

Weekly Meal Planning Worksheet

•

Monthly Meal Planning Worksheet

•

Blank Grocery List

•

Freezer Inventory

•

Blank Recipe Cards

•

Blank Recipe Labels

To print a particular worksheet, click on your print button as usual. You will see a print properties window open. Look for “Print Range”. There you can tell it exactly what pages you want to print. Look at the page number of the page you want to print and enter it in the print range. If you want to print just page 27 for example, you would set the print range to: From 27 To 27. If you wanted to print pages 27, 28 and 29, you would set the print range to From 27 To 29.

Scroll down to the next page to see the first printable worksheet.

Weekly Meal Planning Worksheet Day Of The Week

Dinner Recipe and Sides

Monthly Menu Planning Worksheet Day Of The Month

Dinner Recipe and Sides

Grocery List Fresh Produce

General Grocery / Cooking and Baking

Meat and Fish

Bakery / Bread

General Grocery / Cereal and Breakfast

Dairy and Refrigerated Foods

Canned and Bottled Items

General Grocery / Snacks

Frozen Foods

Other

Freezer Inventory Date

Freezer Meal

Recipe Labels Use these blank forms to make labels for your own freezer recipes. You will also find labels for all the recipes included in this freezer guide toward the end of it (right after the recipe collection). Item: ___________________

Date _________