You see, frozen meals are a real life-saver for any busy woman.
But there are several things you need to know before you start your first once-a-month cooking session.
You see, just having good freezer recipes is not enough for successful freezer cooking. Believe me, I know it. When I decided to give it a try for the first time, believe me or not, my session turned into a real nightmare. So, over months of trial and error, I developed a number of rules for once a month cooking sessions.
1. Since you cook about 30 meals during a single day,
decide on a day that you can devote to cooking only. If an entire day is not possible though, consider cooking at night, when your house is quiet.
2. Build a
monthly meal plan that will let you know exactly what dishes you need to cook, how much and what ingredients you are going to need for that.
3.
Plan your grocery list. This step is absolutely crucial, because even if you are not a list-maker and usually do without them, once a month cooking implies extended shopping lists, and leaving something behind can mess up your whole cooking day.
4.
Do your shopping. Here everything is pretty much clear. But don't forget to buy freezer bags, foil or containers for your food.
5.
Cook the meals. Prepare the recipes of every meal you are going to cook, decide on the order of the meals (it's better to write the plan down), combine the same steps for various meals: chopping vegetables, boiling eggs etc.
6. Leave each meal to
cool down fully before freezing it.
7.
Freeze the meals. There are several methods for freezing meals: plastic or foil wraps, freezer bags, reusable containers, vacuum sealers. The latter is the most preferable, since it prevents freeze burns and keeps your food taste fresh for long periods of time. When packing the meals into wraps or bags, make sure your food is fully covered and sealed, so no air can get inside.
For more information on freezer cooking
click here.
