Have you always wanted to give freezer cooking a try but thought you would need to purchase tons of supplies and storage containers? Well, you’re in luck because freezer cooking doesn’t have to be a huge expense to get started. Here are a few tips to get you started freezing, storiing and reheating your meals:
1. If the dish your making calls for pasta, remember to assemble it with slightly undercooked pasta, this way your pasta will finish cooking when you reheat the meal.
2. If there is a particular ingredient that someone in your family doesn’t like after it has been frozen, simply omit that ingredient and add it to the dish as you are cooking it up that night for dinner.
3. Soups can be simple and a real satisfying and hearty meal. When it comes to freezing soups, simply freeze the ingredients and leave out the broth until reheating it. If you make your own broth you can also freeze that in other container.
4. Some people don’t like deep freeze. If that’s the case with your family, try bulk cooking for a two week period. By freezing your meals flatly you should be able to store two weeks worth of food in a normal sized freezer.
5. By using a magnetized whiteboard on your freezer door you can keep track of meal inventory. If you don’t keep track of what you add and take out it can easily be forgotten.
6. Label your freezer bags. Write the name of the dish and the reheating instructions and stick it inside the bag, on top of the covered casserole or write it on the bag with a permanent market. You could also print out the information on packing slip labels ahead of time and just peel and stick them.
7. A full freezer is more efficient. To prepare your freezer to freeze all the food, wash out any empty milk jugs and fill them with water. Place them in your freezer.
8. To freeze casseroles you simply line the dish with enough tin 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.
9. Once a casserole is frozen, remove it from the outer bag and pop the frozen casserole out of the dish, and place the tin foin wrapped casserole back into the freezer bag. When it’s time to cook, remove it from the freezer and place the same baking dish to thaw. Once thawed, take it out of the freezer bag and cook. Since it’s lined with the tin foil it makes clean up really easy. Simply throw the tin foil out and wash the dish.
10. To make the most out of your freezer space, try to freeze foods as flatly as possible. You will be able to stack them on top of each other and fit more into your freezer.
11. Stock up on tin foil, jumbo sized plastic storage bags, and both gallon and quart sized plastic freezer bags.
For more information check out Meal Planning for Busy Moms
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