Freezer Cooking

There is a concept out there called Once A Month cooking that focuses on the freezer. The idea is exactly what it sounds like—you spend one weekend per month cooking 30 meals to store in the freezer. I don’t go quite that far, personally, since I actually enjoy nightly cooking, but I do like to keep some frozen meals on hand just in case.

Some things freeze better than others. For example, pasta freezes well, potatoes don’t. Casseroles and ground beef both work great for freezer cooking. If it’s lasagna night, make 2—1 to cook and 1 to freeze for another night. This concept works well with casseroles as well.

If you don’t have extra pans that you can lose to the freezer for weeks on end, line your casserole dish with freezer paper before preparing the recipe. Put it in the freezer until it is frozen, then pull out the freezer paper and wrap the meal. It will hold its form in the freezer and the paper slides right off to put the frozen meal back into the appropriate dish for cooking.

Flash freezing is helpful with freezer cooking as well. Meatballs or chicken tenders are great things to use with this method. Once the food is cooked, line a cookie sheet with freezer paper and spread the food on top. This will allow the foods to freeze individually instead of as one unit. Now you can remove the cookie sheet from the freezer and add your items to a freezer bag to be used as you need them.

Another, simpler version of freezer cooking is to season your meats before you store them. Add marinade to chicken breasts, shape hamburgers and season your roast. When you move them to the fridge for cooking, the meats will marinate as they thaw. These quick, easy preparations can be done when you get home from the grocery store rather than at night when you are struggling to get dinner on the table. When you have a rough day and don’t feel like cooking, you can say “Dinner’s on ICE” (In Case of Emergency).