Friday, June 12, 2015

Freezing Meals


One reason some people have to not cook healthy meals at home is because they would be wasting food. Singles and couples without a lot of mouths to feed may not want to cook at home because the leftovers would probably go in the trash within a week. This is not a valid reason to eat out often and not a valid reason to not prepare healthy meals. Another reason people have is that they don't want to deal with a lot of leftovers because they will get tired of the same thing during the week. This is understandable because most people don't want to eat the same thing every day for several days in a row. Both of these issues can be solved by freezing your leftovers.

Investing in freezer-friendly plastic containers can help your budget and your time. You can freeze almost anything! When you cook your meals, let the leftovers cool completely and then transfer them to the freezer-friendly containers. Make sure the container you are using is the appropriate size to reduce how much air is between the food and the lid. I have a large variety of sizes because I freeze almost everything. Most plastic containers are sold in sets with different sizes. My two favorite brands are Glad and Ziploc.

Freezing meals can actually save time. Whether you have to make double or not, having meals already prepared is helpful for almost any family. All you have to do it let it thaw out and then reheat! I have made two casseroles at once and put one in the freezer for later because I knew that my family would eat all of the first one, but I knew it would save time later on to go ahead and make two at once. During my pregnancies, I cooked extra food at each meal during the last trimester and froze it for my family to have after I had given birth. Having a new baby is hard enough and the last thing on my mind was cooking dinner.

You can freeze food for about 3 months. I try not to go over the 3 month time frame because the food I make does not contain preservatives. When I am ready to thaw out the frozen food, I put it in the fridge overnight. It's not recommended to thaw foods on the kitchen counter because bacteria can spread and cause food poisoning. Once the food has thawed, I microwave it on half power for about 3 minutes then check the temperature. If it still needs to be heated, I microwave it on full power for 1 minute at a time until it is hot enough. 



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