Freezing Guidelines from Real Food for Real People

First: Choose enough recipes to fill about 4 weeks worth of meals for your family. This will generally be around 24 recipes, but may vary depending on how often your family eats out, uses leftovers, wants to cook from scratch, etc.. Try to balance the variety of meals so you aren't eating only casseroles or only stews & soups.

Second: Make up your grocery list, tailored to the recipes you have chosen for the next four weeks. The 'MasterCook' program is great for this because it will help you to make up your grocery list. Be sure to include all items which you don't already have on hand, including zip baggies, aluminum pans, aluminum foil or other containers/products you will need to prepare the food for freezing. Be sure to double check the food you already have on hand, to make sure of the amounts available so you do not run out in the middle of your cooking day. It is helpful to put all needed ingredients on the same list and then using a highlighter marker, cross off the ingredients you already have on hand. You may want to make a master copy of this list, should you make the same combination of recipes again, as this will save you time when making your list and determining what you need to buy.

Third: Organize the recipes which you will be using for your cooking session. Many folks find that a three ring binder with vinyl sleeves inside works well for this because they can just wipe the sheets off if they get food on them. You can also add or remove recipes easily with this method of recipe storage.

Fourth: Take your recipes, and break them down into ingredient amounts (chopped onions for spaghetti, soups & casseroles can all be done together, then separated) When you are ready to begin cooking, do this preparation first, so ingredients are prepared when you get down to the individual recipes.

Pre-cook any meats or other ingredients which will be needed in assembling your recipes, such as layered casseroles, etc.. Once this is done, you can set soups & stews on to simmer while you assemble other recipes.

When assembling casseroles, breakfast burritos, or other recipes, it is helpful to use aluminum pans which are disposable, OR to line cake pans or casserole dishes with heavy aluminum foil so they can be removed from the original pans once frozen. You may want to mark your finished frozen entrees with not only the name, date & number of servings, but also with the size of the pan the entree was originally frozen in, so you can pop it back inside the original pan when thawing and cooking it for your family.

When freezing, your foods will freeze quicker if they are placed at the bottom of your freezer. Cold falls, and they will freeze faster when you do this. Once frozen, you can stack them in sections, or on shelves so you know where to find the meals when you want them. It is very helpful to freeze soups and stews in freezer quality zip baggies, laying them on their sides while freezing, so they can be stacked like books on your freezer shelves. This will also aide in quick defrosting when you are ready to use the contents.

Fifth: On the day you have chosen to do the cooking, start early in the day, and be sure to wear comfortable shoes and clothing. Have changes of towels and aprons handy. Keep the clutter in your kitchen down to a minimum, to make the assembly go smoother. I find it helpful to tape the vinyl sleeves holding my recipes to the doors of my cupboards so they are at eye level and out of the way while I am working. (Be sure to use masking tape or another mild adhesive so you do not marr your cupboard finish).

Sixth: I find it helpful to set aside one of the meals I am preparing, to feed my family on the day I am cooking, although we sometimes have 'sample nights' on the day of cooking, with the extra ingredients or amounts that do not quite fit into the freezer containers. This is a nice way to get your family excited about what you are doing, and to help them to look forward to eating the meals you have just put away for the month.

WARNING: This type of cooking can become addictive! Many women find themselves with two or three months worth of meals in their freezers, and when food comes on a good sale, have to restrain themselves from not picking up a great bargain and doing just one more 'chicken session' or 'ground beef session'!

One Last Freezer Hint:

It is helpful to break up the cooking session into several parts:

Breakfast session: Make only Muffins, Breakfast Burritios, Breakfast Casseroles, etc.

Chicken: Make only recipes using that ten pounds of chicken you got on sale Saturday ;-)

Ground Beef: Make only recipes using that ten pounds of lean ground beef you picked up at an incredibly low price!

Baking Session: Make breads, rolls, pizza crusts, cookies or other baked goods. Remember that baked goods should be kept in one piece to discourage drying out. Cookie doughs can also be frozen before baking.