Freezer Cooking Sample Plan

To be consistent and organized on your Big Cooking Day, you need to have a good plan to follow. Planning is always a good thing, and even if you are not this king of person, freezer cooking sessions are frustration and waste of time without planning.

So, we need two days for every once a month cooking session (if you prefer to cook once a week, though, you can do everything in the same day, of course).

Shopping Day:

• Shop for all needed ingredients (yes, again with a list - not to miss out something important).
• Process, package and freeze straight-to-freezer items if there are any.
• Make one of Basic Recipes, serve one portion for dinner and reserve remainder for use on Cooking Day.

Cooking Day:

• Switch on your favorite music, put on comfortable clothes and smile :)
  
• Package and freeze any "overnight" entrees (Barbecue Pork); wash pot or crock pot and prepare for use.
• Perform all chopping, slicing, crushing and grating tasks, using your "common ingredients" card as a guide.
• Start bread dough (if you have pizza on the menu).
• Start with a "simmer" group: Marinara Sauce, Chili. Begin with one recipe, processing ALL required common ingredients as you go. For example, when sautéing onions for Marinara Sauce, sauté ALL onions required for the whole plan; browning ground beef for Chili, brown ALL ground beef needed.
• Move to next recipe "group" and assemble entrees one at a time. Bundle with appropriate "extras" when required.
• Move from group to group, assembling Chicken entrees, Ham entrees, Pasta entrees or Miscellaneous entrees in turn.
• Clean up-and go out to dinner. You deserve it!