Meals for a Month--Cooking for your Freezer

Recently, my 2-year-old daughter spent the weekend with her grandparents (my in-laws). I seized my opportunity and made a whopping 40+ meals for my freezer. I learned a lot and am already reaping the benefits of this labor of love, so I'm writing a small series on full tummies to share my experience.

My small family (2 adults, 1 2-year-old, 2 1-year-olds) can polish off half a pan of lasagna per meal. However, since we certainly can't polish off an entire pan of lasagna, I merely split the lasagnas I was making up into two smaller square pans. I did this with meals like chili and bigger casseroles. I really only needed 4 servings per meal. That's partly how I was able to make so many meals--it wasn't 40 separate "family-size" entrees.

With school fast approaching, it seems to me that this cooking approach might really benefit any who are attached to the academic calendar (for me, my husband was going back to work after the summer off--I knew my "dinner-time" referee was not going to be around; I needed to simplify the dinner routine so I would be available to referee). If your kids are headed back to school and its accompanying whirlwind of activities, if you are heading back as a teacher, if you plan to homeschool--you might benefit tremendously from a Saturday of cooking. Check out the series at full tummies these next couple of weeks if you're interested. You'll also need to round up some family-favorite recipes that freeze well, whether gathered from your existing cookbooks, or checking out a cookbook designed especially for this sort of cooking.

Happy Cooking!