I have a dream/goal about cooking. Pretty much a "pipe dream" at this point.

[Denninmi]

Probably won't happen, because I never have any freezer space.

What I would LIKE to be able to do is start doing a lot of cooking ahead, making things that I could freeze either uncooked or cooked, so that I could just whip out and finish them off at meal time. It would help a lot in my household -- use free time to help avoid the crunch and ease the daily burden.

I guess my question would be -- what kind of things can you assemble and freeze in a "ready to cook" state, and what kind of things taste almost as good if they are cooked, frozen, thawed, and then reheated?

I was thinking that a lot of casseroles, soups, and stews might work. How about quiche? Pasta sauces would probably be good, too.


PS -- somebody gave me a Valentine's Heart. Very sweet, thank you!

[cbayer]

1. I used to spend one weekend a month cooking for the entire month.

I can't remember the cookbook I used, but it was fantastic. You make large quantities of things like certain sauces, then make different dishes with them.

All the dishes then had instructions on how to store them, cook them and serve the. It even included things like grating cheeses and placing them in individual baggies.

Of course, everything was well marked, and the system worked extremely well.

I did a google search which looks like it has a lot of good sources for this:

http://www.google.com/search?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&q=cook+for+a+month

Go for it and good luck!

[Denninmi]

2. Thanks, It does have a lot of good links.

I bookmarked it for later. It's just what I was thinking of doing.

I need to make it a goal to empty out part of a freezer. So I can start filling it up again with semi-finished dishes, not raw ingredients.

[Tesha]

3. Lasagna

bake and cut into squares and wrap tightly.

The little packages fit nicely together, they defrost quickly, are a whole meal with a salad...
all 'round perfect I'd say.


and thank you heart-giver - for mine too...

:hug:

[trud]

4. I'd like to do that. But

I keep thinking power failure and it's all gone. The web says it cost $10-$16 a month to run a freezer, but who knows.

[Arkansas Granny]

5. When I was a single, working mother of four, I would spend one day

each weekend cooking a few meals ahead for the week. I didn't freeze any of them since we were going to eat them within a few days. I made a lot of casseroles because they were very economical, but I also made soups, stews and beans. It was a real life saver.

BTW, quiche reheats beautifully in the microwave as long it's not overheated.

[WhiteTara]

6. I just learned about this

tomorrow I'm shredding chicken and beef. We eat a lot of taco salads and that is so easy. I'm preparing chicken Scallopini, nut encrusted chicken, chili and stew. I make a veggie broth that lasts about 10 days, freeze half so it keeps. I'll probably marinate some lamb chops and freeze them raw. I make rice and keep it in the fridge and make a lot of fried rice dishes. A freezer is really on my want list. When the garden starts up, I would like to freeze some as I go along. I just learned about freezing tomatoes and I am jazzed about that.
:hi: