Cook for twice as many – and freeze.

Image source: http://www.browneyedbaker.com

Cook twice the volume of casseroles and soups than you would normally need for your family.  It may take a few hours of your time on a Saturday or Sunday but if you plan it out right, shopping, prep, and cooking for a whole week can be done in 4hours. 1 hr to shop or less as long as you stick to your list and 3 hours to prep/cook and again you can multitask cooking here as well.

If you can handle really large batches, that’s great; but a lot of women report that too large a batch is “too tiring”, causing them to abandon the “cook and freeze” plan.  However, if you cook for twice as much as you need and freeze half the results, you’ll find yourself with a good turnover rate:  You’ll stockpile dishes in the freezer – but they won’t hang around in there too long.

The best thing about cooking ahead, it’s NOT from a box!  Who has not said, “oh I’ll just whip this up” (grabbing the first frozen,packaged meal they see) in order to save time OR “let’s just eat out”, causing your refrigerated goods to become that much closer to expiration date. Additionally, your not just saving time, your lowering your waste, improving your consumption of what you actually buy and saving cash!!

You DO The Math:

Cooking More in Bulk (as your family needs) – a bit more of a weekend day cooking

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Saving $$$, lower food waste and gained TIME!

Have you prepared freezer meals or precooked for a week, what major mistakes did you make as you learned to do this? How much time do you think you saved yourself during the week?

Looking for cook books to get you started on freezer meals? Check out the list I put together below from Amazon available for download on your Kindle or hard copies can be ordered!