Have you ever considered preparing freezer meals at home? While I have personally had little success with them, it is something I always wanted to accomplish. I love the idea of being able to have meals planned for weeks in advance always have something available when my husband and I are busy (which seems to be…well…always). As much as I hate to admit it, I know I need someone to hold my hand and help me through the process, especially if I want to succeed at getting my small family on a healthy eating schedule that doesn’t include eating out. Luckily, I recently found the perfect book to help me do just that – Seriously Good Freezer Meals: 150 Easy Recipes to Save Your Time, Money and Sanity.
Let’s admit it: we all want to save time and money while still putting healthy and tasty homemade food on the table. But how? Karrie Truman, creator of the much-beloved blog Happy Money Saver, is going to let you in on a secret: the answer is freezer meals.
When she was an exhausted young mom, Karrie found herself serving processed or fast food at the end of a busy day even though she knew it wasn’t what she wanted her family to be eating. Then she discovered freezer meals. Immediately, she had home-cooked, easy and delicious food at her fingertips and more time to spend with loved ones.
InSeriously Good Freezer Meals, Karrie shares 150 recipes photos that will change the way you think about freezer cooking. You won’t find your mother or grandmother’s freezer meals here (except lasagna, of course). Her recipes include Morning Energy Bars, Empanada Hand Pies, Coconut Cashew Basil Curry Soup, Smoky Grilled Louisiana Turkey Legs, and Layered Chocolate Mousse Cake with tons of vegetarian, gluten-free and vegan options, too. Plus, she adds a bulk-batch chart for ease in making large quantities of each freezer-meal recipe.
Karrie gives you all the tools you need to become a freezer-meal genius: information on shopping, cooking, freezing, thawing and everything in between. The book includes beginner, intermediate and advanced meal plan programs to guide you in cooking 7 to 50 meals in a day. You read that right: 50 meals in a day. No more excuses: it’s time to start cooking delicious meals that will have you feeling anything but left out in the cold!
Seriously Good Freezer Meals: Our Thoughts
As you can likely guess with our crazy schedulers around here, I was excited to start reading Seriously Good Freezer Meals: 150 Easy Recipes to Save Your Time, Money and Sanity when it arrived. I will freely admit, I am a freezer meal failure. Don’t get me wrong, I got it working one time and that was when we lived in our temporary apartment in New Jersey. When it worked, it was so amazing and such a time saver, especially with my husband’s breakfast when he needed something quick on the go. Once I got back though, I was constantly wasting food. It also didn’t help that many of the freezer meal books I bought were filled with junk food – yuck! Honestly, I was close to giving up on the entire concept…until this book.
For the first time in a long time, preparing freezer meals didn’t just seem easy, but doable. Best of all, the recipes in Seriously Good Freezer Meals: 150 Easy Recipes to Save Your Time, Money and Sanity sound absolutely delicious! These are the sort of meals you would expect to get in a restaurant or serve when you have guests, not when you are trying to get dinner together after a busy work day. While the recipes do take prep-time in the form of cutting vegetables and prep during the week, everything is truly doable for people who have busy schedules like my husband and me. If you are looking for a way to get yourself back into healthy eating or just eating from home on a regular basis, I highly recommend Seriously Good Freezer Meals: 150 Easy Recipes to Save Your Time, Money and Sanity!
Susan Bewley is a professional writer who has been writing content online & in print format for over 10 years. As well, she is an alumni of the University of Louisville with a Masters Degree in Special Education. When not working as an online business consultant or ghost writing, she can be found writing on Budget Earth, on her own novel, or working with various entities in the pet industry.
I have found that eating home-cooked vegetable-filled meals is not only healthier for me and my family, but also cheaper. Having a well-stocked freezer saves even more money by removing the temptation of takeout. It also saves prep, cooking, and cleanup time during the week so you can enjoy time with your family.
Zip-top bags are great for freezing food because it's easier to get all the air out of them than it is with rigid containers. And zip-top bags have an added space-saving benefit: You can stack them, if you lay them flat to freeze first.
Julie Howard, M.D., a family physician at Mayo Clinic Health System in Tomah, says, "Freezer cooking can be an effective means of creating quick, easy, healthy meals down the road. However, it's important to make sure you're well aware of the health risks involved with improper food storage."
Freezer meal cooking involves planning meals ahead of time that can be easily frozen for later use. There are two main ways to do this: 1 - One option for freezer meal cooking is to use your "freezer smarts" and simply double a recipe you intend to cook and eat that day and then freeze one for later.
While some frozen meals can be very cost-effective, others may be more expensive than cooking the same meal from scratch. If you're cooking a meal for multiple people, you may find it's cheaper to buy the ingredients separately than to purchase enough frozen meals for everyone.
Choose from dozens of delicious freezer meals including casseroles, baked pasta dishes, gumbo, pot roast, slow-cooker soups and stews, and more. You guests will never guess that you just popped that Turkey-Noodle-Poppy Seed Casserole out of the freezer.
The decision to freeze food in glass or plastic containers is primarily up to personal preference. As long as the containers are marked as freezer-safe (like tempered glass), both materials are safe for storing in the freezer. Using glass is more environmentally friendly since plastic is not as sustainable or durable.
Quickly scan the nutritional content to avoid frozen meals filled with sodium, added sugar, and saturated fat, and make the best choice that aligns with your family's dietary preferences and health goals.
Of those tested, the Marie Callender's meals were highest in calories and fat. Roasted garlic chicken weighs in with 17 grams of fat per serving! Product a lower-fat option is the garlic chicken from lean cuisine -- which stood out for its flavorful veggies and large white chicken pieces.
You can! Just make sure to cool the spaghetti completely before freezing, transfer properly in an airtight container or freezer bag, and label it with the date. Can you freeze cooked pasta with sauce? You can, but if possible, it is best to freeze the sauce and pasta separately for best texture.
Affordable – Frozen foods are lower in cost-per-serving and have a longer shelf-life than refrigerated or fresh foods. Nutritious – Research from the Universities of California-Davis and Georgia show that frozen fruits and vegetables have equal to and sometimes better nutritional value compared to fresh-stored produce.
While some frozen meals from the grocery store may appear to be a healthy choice, they often fall short when it comes to their nutritional value. Many of these meals are highly processed and may contain fewer nutritious ingredients than expected.
An added advantage of frozen foods is that you can always buy these in bulk and keep it in the freezer until you need it. They are often cheaper than similar fresh foods and just as good.
And if you're watching your weight, you may want to opt for a frozen meal that's lower in calories and fat. But in general, frozen meals are safe to eat and can be part of a healthy diet. Just be sure to check the nutrition facts label to make sure you're getting a meal that fits your needs.
Introduction: My name is Edwin Metz, I am a fair, energetic, helpful, brave, outstanding, nice, helpful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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