Prepare Ahead

It so happens that my poor spouse cannot for the life of him not be sick if anyone remotely near him is ill. He gave me the flu I have and he swears I gave it back to him. So now we're both sick. And this leads to something that I'm sorely wishing I still had here.

Prepare ahead meals. This re-enforces that importance of having that little gem in the freezer.

Now I'd like to point out that buying a freezer, no matter what it's size, is an investment. Our grocery spending immediately declined when we bought ours. I did not just fill it up, we bought more meats and vegetables on sale and later started adding in other things to be frozen. By the time we bought a side of beef we were on our second freezer. And we have plans for another larger one for later on down the road.

Looking at other folks freezer set ups here.

My grandmother: She has a 25 cubic foot freezer that is older than I am and has seen better days. Fresh venison, rabbit, and hog that the boys bring her. She gets other meats from the family and it all goes in there. She further buys meat (on occasion) when it is on sale and drops it in there. She does have a few vegetables, but not too many since she doesn't do much of a garden anymore.

My father: He has two 25 cubic foot freezers with plans for another one probably half that size. In freezer one he has deer, rabbit, squirrel, pheasant, quail, goose, hog, gator, frog legs, white perch and catfish. All that he killed, caught, was given or traded for. In the other freezer he has beef and more venison. They don't have a lot of vegetables in the freezer, they tend to can theirs instead of freezing them. About the only vegetables you'll find in his freezer are breaded yellow squash and breaded okra. He can't exactly reproduce that batter so he prefers to buy it. I get frequent stories about how he and my little brother had 3 or 4 crock neck yellow squash for dinner right out of the garden. Man, there are days I miss such a long long growing season. Why two? His father-in-law is now in a nursing home so he provides for his mother-in-law, too and they don't go down there everyday.

My uncle: 25 cubic foot freezer filled with most all the game my father has but also with frozen foods from his garden. Corn, tomatoes, sweet peppers, and so many other vegetables that they prefer to freeze along with canning. With all the meat in there, you'd think that they wouldn't have enough room, but they do, and they are feeding a larger amount of people than my father, so I'd assume that they cycle through it pretty quick.

I know that my grandmother used to freeze her left overs but she never sat down and made entire meals to be put in the freezer. My aunt does the same, she'll freeze left overs that are en masse, but she doesn't go to the trouble of preparing a batch of gumbo and then portioning it out for future before meal use. (That is one of my favorite things!)

They prefer to cook same day and eat right after it is cooked. I feel for my aunt. When she is sick, she still cooks. But I don't (at least until we ate it all so that we can move!).

If you can buy pan cakes and waffles in the frozen food section at the store, wouldn't it stand to reason that you can make your own pan cakes and waffles to freeze? You sure can. Just have a look at the grocery store the next time you are there. What is in the frozen food section that you can do yourself at home? How is it packaged and how can you improve that packaging to extend the life?

Wax paper is your friend. You can put this in between stuff and over stuff and it will be easily removed because it is wax paper. I stay away from foil when I freeze, rip it or wrinkle it and now you have little wads of tin foil in your food that you're trying to fish out. If I can manage it, I put it in the food saver bags but that doesn't always work either. I collect the little plastic containers that soup comes in from Chinese delivery, I get them from people I work with and I always save mine, too. It is pretty heavy plastic and has a tight fitting lid that is still flexible enough to press down on so once the soup is in there, I press the lid down until it is touching and then seal it leaving less air. You'll have to find what you have on hand. There are a ton of freezer friendly containers on the market, some are made especially for freezing so don't overlook the bargain bin at your local mart.

Pan cakes, waffles, fried rice, fried chicken, pre-made vegetables already in a sauce. Whole meals like lasagna, fettuccine, my favorite being the chicken in a tomato sauce with zucchini, cheese and tomatoes, that is some awesome stuff. But I can make my own version of that at home and freeze it. Chili, gumbo, vegetable soup, stews, chicken noodle, and red beans and rice freeze well. I've never frozen jambalaya or etouffee, I'll experiment with that. Meatloaf, meatballs, stuffed cabbage (galumpki), mackerel patties or salmon cakes, crab cakes. Shepherd's pie, crustless quiches, pizza, pizza snacks (we love to make these at home, they never seem to make it to the freezer, though).

There are just so many things that you can prepare en masse and then freeze. How many exotic frozen meals are there in your grocer's freezer? It is all about finding the way to freeze it that works for you.

Just remember that you need to allow the food to cool before you start shoving it in the freezer. After it is down to room temp, it will be easier for you to handle and it won't melt what is already in your freezer.

If you can skip the salt when you are making the dish initially, this is a good idea. Salt can cause food with high fat content to go rancid faster. Make sure to stick with low fat food (you should anyway!).

There are specific recipes for this type of thing and if you have any, feel free to share them here!