Could your hottest recipes come from your freezer?
Make and freeze recipes are one of the best ways we know of to eat well without spending a lot of time and money. Americans throw away nearly $70 billion in food each year and yet we are all complaining about how hard it is to save money? It’s time to start looking more closely at the best ways to save money on food without compromising on nutrition and your health.
You can learn to make the most of everything you buy and cook through smart shopping and strategic planning, using your freezer for great make ahead and freeze meals you and your family and friends will love.
Make ahead and freeze recipes can be eaten on the day they are made, in most cases, with the left overs frozen for future meals. You can double or even triple the batches, eat while it is hot, then cool and parcel up the rest.
Or you can shop for your groceries each week, head home and start cooking. Create a range of recipes using the fresh ingredients you’ve just bought. Cook, eat as needed, and allow the recipes you’ve whipped up to cool to room temperature to avoid condensation and watery food from the freezer.
Divide up the food into portions suited to the size of your family, or single-serve TV-type dinners, using appropriately-sized freezer containers. Label each container with the contents and date. Fill your freezer with a range of recipes that you can heat and eat any time.
Cook family favorites for a fraction of the cost of eating out or delivery. Since all these recipes will be made from scratch, take control of your family’s health, avoiding sodium (salt) and all of the artificial colorings, flavorings and preservatives that are usually found in most convenience foods.
Make and freeze recipes are ideal for:
+Working moms who don’t want to spend more time in the kitchen than they have to but still want great meals the whole family will love at budget prices;
+Expectant mothers getting as ready as possible before the birth of their baby; pack the freezer with food before your bundle of joy (and hard work!) arrives;
+Soccer moms who need meals in minutes as soon as they get in their door with their hungry children;
+Working moms who have to travel a lot but refuse to compromise on their family’s nutrition;
+Working couples who want to be sure their ‘latchkey’ older children have healthy foods they can heat and eat as soon as they get home each day, without resorting to fast food from the local chains;
+Families planning for the holidays, especially if they have guests coming to visit who will need to be fed several meals a day while they are visiting;
+Families wanting to prepare for the school holidays and other times when the children will be at home all day and will need to be fed at least three meals a day, plus snacks;
+Busy couples who want to eat well without spending a lot on convenience foods or eating out;
+Couples who do not want to bicker over whose turn it is to cook tonight;
+Singles who want to enjoy great meals without having to start from scratch every time they are hungry;
+Young adults in their own home for the first time who want to save money by learning how to cook in bulk many of their favorite recipes, so they can eat or freeze them safely to enjoy a delicious hot meal any time.
Creating your own make and freeze recipes can be amongst the best ways to save money on your food bill. Best of all, it saves a great deal of effort as well, freeing up your time and cash to enjoy more of the better things in life even as you eat more nutritious and tastier food.
FURTHER READING
Make and Freeze Recipes: Great Foods You Can Cook, Freeze and Use Quickly and Easily
Healthy Make Ahead and Freeze Muffins
Even More Make and Freeze Recipes
