You may have heard of freezer cooking before. It’s also known by other names: once-a-month-cooking, bulk cooking, batch cooking. Whatever you want to call it, it can be a huge help to the busy family and home manager who wants to serve home cooked meals in a shorter amount of time. If this is a new concept to you, you may have a few questions.
- How does one grocery shopping for freezer cooking?
- How do you plan for a Freezer Cooking Day?
- What in the world can you freeze?
- Will Freezer Cooking fit the budget?
- How do you keep track of what you have in the freezer?
- What do you do with the kids?
- Are there any books to help you learn the process or that offer recipes?
If you’ve still got a question without an answer, I’d love to hear it! Let’s talk in the comments.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Can you thaw ground beef, chicken, etc, cook it and then re-freeze it? I have always been under the assuption you couldn’t do that!
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Jessica Fisher Reply:
January 29th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
@The Sometimes Mom, yes, you can. I buy meats on sale, store in fridge and then thaw, cook, and refreeze. I prefer NOT to do this with items that I’m just going to marinade or with uncooked meatloaves.
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I have a question about carnitas. I wrote down your slow cooker recipe. After they’re cooked can you freeze them? So, could I make a double batch and use them for a meal that night, and freeze the other half for another day? If you freeze them, how do you re-heat them on the day you use them?
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Jessica Fisher Reply:
January 29th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Carnitas freeze beautifully. Wrap them well, cool, and freeze. I simply nuke them or warm them in the oven before serving. Easy peasy.
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I love that you have all of the freezer cooking links in one place! I am bookmarking it for future reference.
Thanks!
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I just did a bunch of shopping today on items that were on sale. I bought a few packages of ground turkey and chicken leg quarters. I also plan to thaw out some of my ground beef to cook up w/ peppers and onions.
My favorite thing to freeze are chicken (or turkey) enchiladas! My recipe is so easy! Then, if I remember in advance, I will take a package out of the freezer the nite before and put them in the fridge to thaw. Then all you have to do is put them in a pan, pour enchilada sauce over and top w/ cheese then bake! Easy Peasy!
I plan to post my recipe on my blog.
This is such a great thing….I’ve been wanting to try OAMC for so long, but never had any good sales happening at the same time. I am so thankful to have such great motivators like you all!
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The link for “how can you plan for freezer cooking day” didn’t work for me
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Jessica Fisher Reply:
January 31st, 2010 at 8:39 am
@April Driggers, thanks! All better now.
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And what are you packaging everything in? Do you have a stash of 9×13 pans or what works for you? That’s my hold-up on this.
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Jessica Fisher Reply:
January 31st, 2010 at 8:48 pm
I use lots of different things: baking pans, disposable plastic that I reuse, freezer bags. Sounds like a post for next month, eh?
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One of my biggest obstacles in trying freezer cooking is I’m afraid that once a meal is frozen, I won’t know how to cook it/warm it up. Do you usually thaw your meals first, or do you pop them straight in the oven?
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Jessica Fisher Reply:
February 1st, 2010 at 11:02 am
@Amy, I try to thaw them, but often that doesn’t happen. I’ll defrost in micro if the pan allows for it, otherwise, I just increase cooking time. Often, it’s just trial and error.
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