Tuesday, October 19, 2010

What's For Dinner????

“There is no reason why dinner should not be on the table every night.” That is what I am thinking after surveying the amount of food (mainly meat) that I have purchased on great sales and have frozen in our freezer. However, I do find that it is not always easy to carve out the time to cook a healthy meal and have it ready by the time that Dawson comes home from work. Don’t get me wrong…I really enjoy cooking and I love to try new recipes and delicious recipes. In fact, I am not sure what recipes I really cook “a lot.” Well, maybe taco salad, since it is an easy meal to make with ground meat (turkey for my family!). However, time seems to get swallowed up and before I know it, the clock says 4:30pm…and I am not sure what I am going to feed my family! This does not happen all of the time, but since we started our 4 year old in soccer and preschool, it seems like it has happened more than ever before and I was tired of it and wanted it to change!

So, I have made strides in the past month to changing what has happened in the past. Writing out a menu for the week was not the only thing that would help me (and I really have not done that yet - that will come soon!). I needed to have meals that were already prepped and only needed to be cooked or reheated, and I am not referring to buying frozen or packaged meals. That is not the answer that I was looking for!

What I decided to start doing (again) is referred to as freezer cooking or once-a-month cooking (although I do not cook for the whole month!). There are many different ways to do this. You can plan and prep/cook the meals by yourself or with a friend or two. Cook for 1 or 2 days straight, or break it up into many days, maybe by simply doubling a recipe and freezing half of it for another day - whatever works for you. I decided that the best way for me to do this was by myself, plan the meals out with using a specific type of meat (either ground turkey, cooked chicken, boneless skinless chicken breast, etc), and cook each week or every other week, or whenever I felt led to cook or if the freezer is getting a little low! Some weeks I don’t only prep/cook the main course meal. I have also cooked/frozen apple sauce, muffins and healthy cookies. It has been fun, and I have begun to become more organized in dinner planning and prep. I am definitely inspired by the recipes and the process and my family has been enjoying the benefits of it…a homemade, delicious dinner every night!

What have I been making??? Stay tuned!

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