Stocking the Freezer

I love to have comlete meals in my freezer to make dinner time easy. There are many great sites dedicated to this process so I won't go into the whole thing here but I have learned several great tips that may help you also.

*I "almost" always have browned ground meat in my freezer. It used to be ground beef but I've been leaning more toward a combination of 95% lean ground beef and fresh ground chicken breast. (It's the whole Weight Watcher thing goin' on). Since most of my recipes call for 1 lb. of ground beef, I will brown 1/2 lb. beef and 1/2 lb. chicken for the recipe, bag it up in a zippered freezer bag, mark it with a date and contents and throw it in the freezer. Truth be told, I'm usually browning up several pounds of both at once to save time.

*I also love it when I find bell peppers on clearance at our local IGA or Save A Lot. Most of the time, if you chop them up the same day you buy them they are fine AND tons cheaper than buying them out of the veggie bin. I currently have green, yellow, red and orange pepper all diced, chunked & sliced, in separate baggies of course. The sliced and chunked ones have 1 or 2 peppers per baggie and the diced ones are usually in 1/2 cup measures in snack baggies.

With both the ground meat and the peppers, if you lay them flat while freezing them, they stay flat and are easy to line up in your freezer like books on a shelf. Chopped onions are another excellent item to chop and have ready in the freezer to throw into a dish. You would be amazed at how much time you can save having these things done.

*Many of your favorite recipes are easily frozen to have complete meals in the freezer. While you are making one of these for supper, must make up a double or triple batch and freeze the extra. I have several that I generally always have ready including:
♥ Meatloaf-mix as directed, shape and place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and freeze. When froze place in freezer bag and label.
♥Meatloaf muffins-your favorite meatloaf recipe baked in muffin tins. You can freeze before or after baking. I like to freezer after baking so The Hubby can just grab a couple for lunch on his way out the door.
♥Salisbury Steaks (recipe to come later)
♥ Taco Meat-brown ground meat and go ahead and add the taco seasoning and water, simmer, cool and bag up into meal sized portions. Great for tacos and taco salad.

There are just so many ideas to make mealtime preparation just a little easier on you. I hope this post will help you get started. Let me know if you have any tips that make your cooking life a little easier!