Rachel, will you plan to defrost meals in the fridge and then cook in the oven or a microwave? Or will you plan to defrost in a microwave and then cook in an oven or microwave? Or some of each/all? Sounds like freezer-to-oven from what you have said.

I used to freeze meals in the pans I meant to cook them in BUT lined them with foil (clear wrap/wax paper if m’wave) and then took them out the dish once frozen, sealed them, double-wrapped them (or used a ziploc bag if the size worked) and then labelled the bag with Magic Marker or masking tape + Magic Marker.

The idea was to not have to have a bunch of pans taking up space in the freezer and to have the meals such that I could either just pop them back in the pan, still wrapped, to thaw and bake OR thaw just a little to remove the wrap and then put back in the pan. The former idea saves clean-up on the pan; the latter looks better for guests. ;-)

My old plan was to cook once for three or four or more meals. There are some great books for that, probably online now in blogs, etc. I can remember cooking all Sunday afternoon for the whole week, with a couple of large batches of basics (we were not vegetarians) such as ground meat cooked with bell peppers, onions and garlic that then became Italian, Mexican, Oriental stir-fry or other meals with the addition of different sauces, fresh vegetables, starches, etc. Rice freezes and reheats very well; I was taught (by my mother) never to freeze potatoes but to add them later (not that I followed the advice, mind you).

I’d also take the cooked meat (meat substitute) + garlic, peppers and onions and freeze it in meal-sized batches in ziploc bags (earlier than that I had a seal-a-meal thing) so a meal was half-cooked and I could just add fresh vegetables to make it something else. For stews, chowders and soups I froze in flat packs (Ziploc or Seal-A-Meal) and stacked then in the freezer. Thawed, they could be poured into a saucepan to heat or baked in the oven (as for a stew with dumplings added to it).

My strategy was to do the messy stuff and chopping etc in one big batch/at one time so there was one major cleanup and the main course was half- or fully prepared. Whatever remained could be easily done so that dinner was on the table in a short time.

When my daughter was having her kids, before I left after my month there after each of the births was to cook up a storm the last week and leave her big freezer filled with ready meals for after I was gone. She always told me what a sad day it was when the last meal was gone. So I think your plans are sound!

I look forward to everyone else’s more current and up-to-date suggestions. What a great request for thoughts.

I think Cynthia has said it all. I do use the Food Saver vacuum gizmo. It’s great. Good luck to you.

Not sure this suits all of your preferences, but just to toss my hat in the ring….

I make soups and stews in a very big pot, and make enough for about 20 good-sized, almost-3-cup servings. So, 10 meals for the 2 of us. I keep about half of it in the fridge, to eat during the following week, and freeze the other half – so we end up with 10 servings (5 meals for 2) frozen for later.

I think that’s kind of excessive compared to the volumes that most people cook, but that’s what makes it seem worthwhile for me. It does take some hours to prepare that much food.

I use the rectangular plastic containers (boxes) and lids made by Ziploc, for freezer use. They’re free of the worst toxins (bpa), and the lids are sufficiently water-tight.

However, no matter what any manufacturer says, I would not ever put anything but glass or pottery/ceramic in the microwave — nor would I ever use plastic wrap, or even waxed paper, in microwave (if you’re concerned about toxins in food).

THe Ziploc boxes come in various shapes and sizes.
But they don’t solve your need for fast thawing — if I want that, I need to take them out of the freezer ahead of time, or shift them to the fridge overnight. If I forget to do that, it’s a slow thaw for something like stew or soup, in a saucepan on the stovetop. But that doesn’t usually bother me. I add a little water, set the heat on medium (or low to begin with), and just do something else for an hour or so, coming back to look & stir once in a while.

If I’m putting the contents right from freezer into pot, I let warm water run over the outside of the container, until the frozen block loosens enough to get it out.

To me, this is a “happy defrosting experience”. But maybe it wouldn’t be happy enough for you. :-) Maybe that smiley face makes it happier. ;)

The reason I went for these Ziploc boxes is that, after lots of experimenting with different kinds of plastic bags, I found that a solid container is so much easier to fill (with liquidy stuff like stew), and so much easier to deal with (stack) in the freezer.

For me, plastic bags and the like slide around and don’t stack well. Every time I tried to do anything in the freezer, I’d have to catch and reorganize the frigging plastic bags. And those 2 things (filling, and stacking/organizing in the freezer) turned out to be the biggest pains-in-the-neck for me.

I just label each box, with the name of the contents, and the date. I usually use little rectangles of paper with scotch tape, but masking tape is probably much more expedient.

I don’t know exactly what this is:
- flat packs (Ziploc or Seal-A-Meal) – from Cynthia
or this:
- Food Saver vacuum gizmo – from Karen

Maybe those things would be better for you than the Ziploc boxes I use.

Ah, Ziploc boxes! They came onto the market after I left the US, though I have lusted after them on visits and occasionally bought a few and smuggled them away. My daughter uses them.

Here is a current U.S. version of Seal-a-Meal. I had one of the originals, 30+ years ago.
http://www.amazon.com/Seal-a-Meal-VS108-P-Vacuum-Sealer/dp/B009EQJTFS

Good info on bpa’s etc, thank you. I knew there would be newer data than I had/knew. I feel fortunate having lived in the UK and now here, I guess, because the EU regulations and those in Australia/NZ are more stringent about toxins and additives than the US (though I don’t know about Canada at all). I thank my stars that GMO foods are forbidden (and I don’t buy food from China because they do horrible things to make it more appealing and who knows what else).

Good catch on ‘wax paper’ by Mary Ann. My mother’s term; she used to wrap our school sandwiches in itI actually use ‘parchment paper’ and have, I guess, since 1999. I have never seen ‘waxed paper’ in the UK or Malaysia—old vocabulary, sorry. The box claims that it is bpa-free (UK brand), and I believe the takeaway boxes we get are as well. They were in the UK, should check these.

Check out foodsaver.com. I find that I enjoy using it and that I actually do use it.

You know what – I don’t even trust “parchment paper”.
Maybe it’s bpa-free, but what other kind of shit is in it?
When you heat things up to high temperatures, plus put food oils on them, all kinds of things leach out into the food.
The thing is, the regulations around all this stuff are so poor – we really aren’t protected very well from what manufacturers put in the stuff we buy.

Look at non-stick coatings, for example. I used that stuff for years, and some people still think it’s safe. But not me. And now they’re selling all kinds of silicone baking ware. Maybe that’s safe, but the amount of research required to figure that out, is more than I can do.

I know it’s not possible to eliminate ALL risk from exposure to toxins, but I try my best. I know too many people who have, or who have died from, cancer (not to mention other diseases like MS, that may be related to environmental toxins), to fool around with this stuff.

So for cooking – I stick to stainless steel, tempered glass, and crockery/pottery (IF the latter is made in a place that seems trustworthy. That excludes China, for sure.)

I do use plastic (Saran) wrap, waxed paper, and parchment paper — but only cold, not when heating food up.

Obviously a lot of great info here already, but I have a few thoughts:

- I like a black sharpie directly on the foil or ziplock bag for labeling.
- I love having cooked, chopped chicken or turkey in the freezer to be able to add to a soup or casserole.
- seems like one of the best tips I’ve heard is to work with a friend and both end up with twice the variety and twice the food.
- I always had a challenge remembering to defrost in time but with a smart phone and a calendar app, that seems to be a non-issue
— ziplock bags are good for storage and can be cut away from frozen food

Mysterious strike through! I really do like black sharpie!

Okay – I’ll pop in my survival strategy that healthily and easily (low cost and very freezer friendly) got me through grad school.

Every Sunday I got fruit and veggies and bread and eggs and milk groceries to make fresh breakfasts and lunches. Then 1x/month I went to the grocery store and got the ingredients to make 6 different dinners. They were: cous-cous; lentil soup; chili; refried beans; spaghetti sauce; and split-pea soup. These 6 dinners were had every week for 2 years! They freeze very well and I had to choose foods that I liked the taste of and were healthy because I couldn’t rely on being creative nor have the energy available to think!

Of course thus left 1 free night each week when whatever happened happened which allowed me to keep sane.

BTW I froze them in containers that fit the fridge and used masking tape and black markers to say what they were: CC; chili; spag; lentil; SP;RB. Also I had only 4 containers for each: one for each week so it made it really easy.

Freezer burn couldn’t happen; everything got used; and there was enough variety that I could handle it.

PS. If there were evenings of unexpected company this too meant that it could be easily managed.

The big deal is one full day of grocery shopping, cutting and preparing all the Mel’s ONLY ONCE A MONTH!

Good luck and make it enjoyable.

I’d have the husband BBQ/Grill alot. Just saying that’s what I do when the wife isn’t feeling up to it.

3-aussies, wow. That’s good.

Thanks for all the freezer meals info guys!

From what I’m seeing, the BPA-free plastic ziplock containers sound decent, on the assumption that being home from work will improve my track record for defrosting.

I did pick up a glass ziplock container that claims to go from freezer to oven (up to a certain temperature), for about $7. I think that might be an easy way to go – maybe even cost-effective given the circumstances?

I have a suspicion that freezing cooked meats is worth exploring.

Last few days I haven’t had much chance to explore this further, but I will report my findings once I’m able bring it back to the top of my list! :-)

Just bought this for my iPhone’s kindle app:

http://www.amazon.com/Freezer-Cooking-Made-Simple-ebook/dp/B00ACBTL9S/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1360099928&sr=1-1&keywords=freezer+cooking+made+simple

Thanks for the tip

Why did you picked this rule? it is to avoid take out or junk food? or because you want to make a warm meal from scratch (maybe with a minimum number of ingredients and tools you must use)?
To me as long as you start from scratch (in your case from cleaning and chopping the veggies) it is sort of cooking

If your goal in choosing this rule was simply to have a healthy dinner that is prepared by you, I would think the smoothie would be fine, as would a meal fixed in the microwave or by any other method. If your reason for the rule was to spend a certain amount of time and work on actually “cooking”, then that’s different… :)

intent of rule rules for me.
an ice cream sundae would meet criteria for me if I spooned it into the bowl. certainly a salad would count.
for me that rule is mostly about not having my husband make dinner and not getting carry-out.

Thanks S and Karen. I think I’ve clarified this a little in my head. I would consider making roasted vegetables to be cooking and the only substantial difference between making roasted veggies and making a smoothie is turning on an oven rather than turning on a blender. That’s a rather arbitrary distinction to make. I’m really trying to be healthier and not eat freezer food or takeout as much so I think I’ll make it so that anything that involves handling fresh ingredients is cooking. Thanks.

Thanks also bridget, your comment hadn’t appeared when I made mine. The intent of my rule is to eat healthier so using the microwave to steam a vegetable is cooking but using it to heat up a freezer meal is not.

Glad you sorted it out for yourself.
I would have “seconded” what the other three said, i.e., depends on the intention or goal you had.

Applying heat is irrelevant. Intentional preparation of healthy food is “cooking” for this purpose.

I’ll chime in late to say that for me, using the blender would totally count as cooking, since the thing I would be trying to avoid is just eating crackers out of the box for a meal. So any kind of preparation that involves making dishes I have to wash counts as cooking. (Wow, I hadn’t realized that my definition had so much to do with clean-up rather than the actual activity. Thanks for the opportunity to think this through! It is a rule I have flirted with adding but never actually chosen.)

Stir fry. It practically cooks itself, it’s an easy way to cram veggies into a meal, and it stretches your meat if you are on a budget. Just stir and fry.

That’s exactly what I do, Vicki.

Thanks for the tip! Excellent idea!

Stew is a great standby… chop some onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots, or whatever you like (or whatever you have leftover); add a handful of lentils, rice, or quinoa; add some spices you like; and simmer for a while.

I love knowing exactly what is in the food I am eating and I enjoy using high quality ingredients. I love seeing and tasting the finished product.

I say yes. You cooked it the first time. Reheating takeout would not count. :)

that’s the beauty of Health Month—you’re accountable to yourself and you can tweak the rules as you go along. Lots of folks count all their rules as done if they are sick, for example.

Reheating stuff you’ve already made totes counts as making dinner.

Thanks marmot and sperose! I won’t have to drown in leftovers! (though cooking and freezing whole batches of food for later is a good idea…if I can get around to it…)

absolutely counts!

I say yes! It’s not eating out, therefore, it’s making dinner.

Ooh, me likey.

If I ever try to make indian or thai food, that muffin tin idea will be a great help!

That tip about making multiple loaves of bread at once actually made a cameo appearance in my dreams last night.

My brain does weird things sometimes.

I’m not so sure about that loaf pan in a longer pan. If the loaf pan sides flared outward the loaves to the left and right would taper in from bottom. I decided that would be fine for home loaves. The middle loaf could be the give away.

Wondering about that dream, PM.

Be the first to start the fondue season! :)

Fajita Fiesta ftw :)

tacos for everybody!

It counts!

definitely.

#Merdeka

#Merdeka

Wow, sounds like a great benefit! and a good recipe.

Ese es un genial #consejodedomestica

like karate? i am from asia but i can’t karate. LOL

Yes I take a form of kenpo. Which is a lot of fun :0

wow,i wanna try too but i do not have skill to do that

nice to know you jessica. :)

Great idea, Jess!

Thanks for your posts, Laviria.
One favor: please post only full messages so as not to take up extra space on the Game Wall.
Thanks!
AJ

okay i’m sorry

cook pasta. stir in can of tomatoes. sprinkle of dried basil and pepper. eat :)

salads! pastas! breakfast for dinner!

would you mind giving me a sponsorship? please if you don’t mind. thanks before :)

you don’t need sponsoring, you’re playing the free game.

but i want to play the purple brackets

I recommend playing on the yellow bracket first. After you’ve proven you can follow a few rules, then you should move to the higher brackets! So far, I see you haven’t finished a month. How about you finish three months in a row before you look for sponsoring? :) Good luck!

ok thank you so much :) but if i have finished my game, could you sponsor me please?

seriously, dude, I am looking at your past games, you never even started one yet. I highly recommend playing the yellow bracket before you move up. Starting with a too big goal will only get you frustrated. This is about improving your habits, so make sure you’re selecting good goals that you can actually follow through. If you have that much you want to improve, do it step by step.

ok thanks :)

Laura, about making a tasty broth – I don’t know if you would consider this “cheating”, but if you purchase some beef bouillion cubes and throw one in, that would really add to the taste. To make a good chicken broth, without even using chicken bouillon, I take one of those store cooked chickens and after slicing some off for lunch or dinner – throw the chicken in a pot covered with water, add an onion and 3 or 4 bayleaves, bring to a boil and then simmer for 90 minutes or so, covered & add a bit more water if necessary. Then you can throw in carrots, celery, & potatoes if you like and spice to taste (I use lots of marjoram or basil if I don’t have marjoram) and simmer for another 30 minutes or so. Have fun!

Hey Hilary! I’m not a big fan of the cubes, as they usually have to much sodium, but I’ll certainly try this chicken broth recipe. I’ll use the leftover chicken on the weekend and will let you know how it went :) thanks!

sounds yummy! i’ll try it.

sounds yummy! i’ll try it.

Oh that sounds really good! I definitely need to add some new recipes in if I’m going to keep to my goal of cooking more!

Ooh I love potato leek soup – works well in a crock pot too.

I made that soup after I saw you tweet about it. I really enjoyed it, but my man apparently does not like pureed soups. More for me. It was quite tasty.

I think it counts. You did cook dinner at home, right? You just ate it somewhere else.

I agree with Buster. To me, the cook dinner rule is about not ordering takeout/delivery or eating out or reheating a frozen dinner. It’s about actually making something right then, even if it’s as basic as a ham sandwich.