So, for several weeks in a row now we’ve been talking all things freezer. Here’s what we’ve covered so far:

–6 reasons you need a freezer
–Saving time by Freezer Prepping

You learned last week that I don’t typically freezer cook for a variety of reasons, but I totally understand why some of you do! It saves time and stress during the week and it can be sort of fun.

If you’re new to freezer cooking, the concept is basically this: you cook many meals all at one time and then freeze them all separately, making it super easy to pull a meal out and have dinner ready in a flash (you can see how having an extra freezer would come in handy…).

10 Tips for Freezer Cooking:

1. You can choose your own cooking intervals. For example, some people cook once a month, some once every two weeks, and so on. It just depends on how much freezer space you have and how much you want to cook at one time.

2. When thinking about recipes, try to go with dishes that use similar ingredients and prepare as much of them together as you can. For example, if you’re making a soup and a casserole that both call for cooked chicken, cook a larger amount of chicken and simply separate them for each recipe. Along this same line, go ahead and chop all your veggies at once, too (onions, peppers, garlic, etc.), so they’ll be ready to toss in each recipe when you need them.

3. Make sure your food is completely cool before wrapping it up and storing it in the freezer. This will prevent freezer burn and possibly contamination.

4. You can store your prepped meals in disposable pans or your own casserole dishes; it just depends on your preference. Just make sure they’re able to be covered well to reduce freezer burn and extend their lives in the freezer. I used my own casserole dishes (because that’s what I had) and first covered them in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil.

5. Freeze soups in good plastic freezer bags. Once your soup is ready and cooled, fill your bags, remove excess air, and freeze them completely flat in the freezer. This will make them super easy to stack and will save a lot of space (as opposed to sitting them up and the bags turning into frozen blobs).

6. Make sure to label your dishes well with the title and date so you know what it is and how long it’ll be good. You can even write some quick instructions on there as well to make it easier for you when cook time comes.

7. When you’re ready to cook a meal, simply remove that dish the night before you’re ready to cook it and thaw it in the refrigerator.

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