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Whenever someone follows me to our pantry, he inevitably expresses his amazement at our preserves and ready-made dishes and says, “How do you find time?” In fact, I think this activity saves me a lot of time and a hell of a lot of money. Here, I will share some tips to help make this activity more efficient and doable.
Don’t be intimidated by the size of some recipes – most are freezer-friendly. And remember, doubling or tripling a recipe is as much work as doing just one batch. You have to wash the same dishes, clean the same kitchen and use the same heat. Having ready-made meal packs is a great help for a busy and frugal household.
Break down very complicated recipes into steps. For example, you can make the sauce on Monday and the filling on Tuesday and put it all together in the freezer the next evening. Breaking down these steps helps to stay within tight schedules and makes the recipe more manageable.
Keep all take-out plastic containers and buy a few to keep them on hand at all times. Likewise, save as much as possible of the plastic clamshell containers of blueberries, salads or pastries. Also have a box or two large resealable bags or lots of clean bread bags that you can reuse. All of these bags and containers are washable and reusable dozens of times and can be recycled at the end of their life.
Try to prepare at least one large recipe each week during the peak of your garden’s harvest season. For example, you could make 8 small lasagna, save one meal for serving that day and possibly leftovers the next day, but prepare the remaining 7 meals in the freezer. Before you know it, you’ll prepare dozens of meals, from various types of pasta and lasagna to enchiladas and chili.
Most desserts can be baked in advance, stored in the freezer and taken out as soon as you need to serve something or take with you on a trip. We like to have a few different frozen cookies, a few loaves of bread, rolls, flatbreads and muffins, giving each of us a selection of desserts and snacks available in the freezer. Having snacks and oven-ready meals on hand makes it easier to create homemade meals and reduce the urge to buy fast food.
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Source by Dave Brummet