Freezer Cooking

What comes to mind when you think freezer cooking?

Well if you were a child of the 70's you may think, "not another casserole!" Casseroles then fell out of fashion in the 1980's and 1990's. They are making a come back for many reasons. Mom's are out working more, homeschooling is becoming more mainstream, an increase in health awareness and I think a return to homesteading are all reasons why.

Several friends and I thought it would be a good idea to start small. Meaning not doing Once a Month Cooking in one day but to prepare 8 meals each in a day. We all just happen to be homeschooling moms who go to the same co-op so we know co-op days are full. Add in music lessons and the library and you could have drive through every co-op day. Instead we plan to cook every Monday until school starts so we will be able to pop a meal in the oven fresh from the freezer.

Yes I mean fresh. Only top ingredients here. I didn't want just a freezer meal void of all nutrition. I wanted healthy food. So I made a list of possible recipes and went from there. The first week we made stuffed cabbage and meat loaf. We used the recipe from The Maker's Diet that is full of whole ingredients. Stuffed cabbage was full of pastured beef and brown rice. We use whole food, organic ingredients.

Today we made Shepherd's Pie with pastured beef, organic carrots, mushrooms, onions, garlic, peas, organic potatoes, rice milk and good old butter. We also made meatballs full of organic spinach, Parmesan cheese, pastured eggs, pastured beef and pork and freshly made bread crumbs. We started at 9:00a.m. and were all cleaned up by 3:00. We ended up making 38 meals! Had 15 kids running around and grilled hot dogs.

Next week? Apple Betty's because who doesn't love dessert on a cool Autumn night? Breakfast and lunch burritos for those days we are running out the door or to pack in dad's lunch box.

I encourage you to get some friends together and start to plan your freezer cooking days. When you do please let me know how it goes and don't forget to share a recipe or two.



Raising Mighty Arrows