The Benefits of Freezing Your Meals
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Just because you don’t always have the time to cook every day, doesn’t mean you should give up on enjoying homemade meals. With a little bit of planning ahead and extra time spent in the kitchen, you can easily stock your freezer with meals that you can enjoy any time in the following days and, in some cases even weeks!
That is the wonder that freezer meals can bring to a household.
Freezer meals can feed an entire household for days and weeks. Credit: Instagram/ThisMamasHouse.
As the name suggests, freezer meals are meals made ahead of time and frozen for later use. These meals are then cooked or reheated directly from the freezer for an easy breakfast, lunch, or dinner fix.
Most of the time, the term “freezer cooking” is used to describe batch cooking a set of recipes. Sometimes though, this process is as simple as doubling a recipe that you’re making anyway, with you popping the extra servings in the freezer.
According to the people behind Freezer Meals 101, freezer meals can be kept for up to 3 to 6 months in the freezer, assuming that they’re properly stored at a temperature of -20 degrees celsius or below.
That is also why batch cooking meals and freezing them later is the go-to process for busy individuals who don’t have much time to spend in the kitchen.
Like Tabitha, a mum-of-five, who shared that she used to prep a whole month’s worth of meals for her family.
In a video blog that was posted in 2020, the mum revealed that she was 36 weeks pregnant at the time and wouldn’t have the time and energy to cook meals for her family in the following weeks. So she prepped around 90 meals in advance so that her family could easily cook and reheat these meals ahead of her childbirth.
According to Tabitha, each dish took her around 15 minutes to make, relying on the recipes found on the Happy Money Saver website. She managed to whip up various meals for her family, such as beef fajitas, chicken satay, and turkey chilli. Then she placed each dish in freezer bags and stored them in the freezer.
She also made an inventory of all the meals she stored, so that her family could simply look at the schedule and take out the designated meals for the day.
The dishes may have taken a lot of work to make but Tabitha said it was “so so worth it”.
Credit: The Mama’s House.
Aside from saving you a lot of time, freezer meals can also save you a lot of money. Since you’re going to be cooking and buying things in bulk, you can often take advantage of bulk sales or additional discounts in the supermarket.
Planning your grocery shop ahead of time can also ensure that you avoid impulse purchases and reduce waste.
If, like Tabitha, you’re also looking at batch cooking and freezing your meals, here are some tips to follow:
Credit: Tasty.
That is the wonder that freezer meals can bring to a household.
Freezer meals can feed an entire household for days and weeks. Credit: Instagram/ThisMamasHouse.
Most of the time, the term “freezer cooking” is used to describe batch cooking a set of recipes. Sometimes though, this process is as simple as doubling a recipe that you’re making anyway, with you popping the extra servings in the freezer.
According to the people behind Freezer Meals 101, freezer meals can be kept for up to 3 to 6 months in the freezer, assuming that they’re properly stored at a temperature of -20 degrees celsius or below.
That is also why batch cooking meals and freezing them later is the go-to process for busy individuals who don’t have much time to spend in the kitchen.
Like Tabitha, a mum-of-five, who shared that she used to prep a whole month’s worth of meals for her family.
In a video blog that was posted in 2020, the mum revealed that she was 36 weeks pregnant at the time and wouldn’t have the time and energy to cook meals for her family in the following weeks. So she prepped around 90 meals in advance so that her family could easily cook and reheat these meals ahead of her childbirth.
According to Tabitha, each dish took her around 15 minutes to make, relying on the recipes found on the Happy Money Saver website. She managed to whip up various meals for her family, such as beef fajitas, chicken satay, and turkey chilli. Then she placed each dish in freezer bags and stored them in the freezer.
She also made an inventory of all the meals she stored, so that her family could simply look at the schedule and take out the designated meals for the day.
The dishes may have taken a lot of work to make but Tabitha said it was “so so worth it”.
Credit: The Mama’s House.
Aside from saving you a lot of time, freezer meals can also save you a lot of money. Since you’re going to be cooking and buying things in bulk, you can often take advantage of bulk sales or additional discounts in the supermarket.
Planning your grocery shop ahead of time can also ensure that you avoid impulse purchases and reduce waste.
If, like Tabitha, you’re also looking at batch cooking and freezing your meals, here are some tips to follow:
- Plan your meals ahead of time. This includes the recipes, prep lists, shopping lists, and printable labels which make things so much easier.
- Label your bags in the freezer.
- It’s important to use good quality freezer bags so that they don’t leak or break.
- Clean as you go. Do the dishes as you work so that things don’t pile up. It’s also important to wash the surfaces you are working on to keep things sanitary.
- To prevent freezer burn, remove all the excess air from the freezer bags before freezing.
Credit: Tasty.
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