Month of Savings - Day 2

My slow quiet day at home turned into a busy day of being gone. Don't you love it when than happens? It does however bring me to another way of saving money - Freezer Cooking! Now I imagine that many people are imagining yucky casseroles or boring frozen meals. We are having Brunswick Stew tonight. I took this out of the freezer this morning. It simply needs reheating. While I am doing that I will make some grilled cheese and we will have a nice, quick, cheap meal. Another option would have been a pizza that I made for the freezer.

Homemade frozen meals can be a budget saver on the days when life is too hectic to cook and you do not want to resort to the drive through. One of my favorite sites for freezer cooking information is 30 Day Gourmet. It offers bunches of free recipes for freezer meals that even my picky DH enjoys. Here is a link to the archived issues of the free newsletter. This goes way beyond casseroles.

Also consider making mealtime a bit easier. If you do not want to freeze the entire meal, cook and freeze parts of it. We eat brown rice, which takes 40 minutes to cook. That 40 minutes is for two servings or the entire bag. I good the whole bag at once, saving energy I might have used to cook four separate times. I package it in meal sized portions and pop it into the freezer. When I need brown rice, I simply thaw and serve. I have done this with pasta by simply undercooking it before freezing so it does not turn to mush when reheated.

Did you have a little leftover taco meat? Freeze it! I mix the leftovers which are not enough for a meal on their own with some black beans (also homecooked and frozen) to make beef and bean chimichangas. This keeps food waste to a minimum.

If you are making a meal your family enjoys, just double the recipe and freeze the second half. Do a test run of any new meals. You do not want 10 meals worth of chicken Parmesan only to discover that your family hates it. As much as possible I use freezer containers rather than freezer bags cutting out a bit more cost. I prefer making my own frozen meals. I know exactly what ingredients when into the dish, and I can control the amount of salt.

Say "NO" to fast food once a week and serve your own homemade fast food!