FREEZER MEAL PREP, TOOLS, TIPS TRICKS

Today, I am going to start out my series on freezer meals by sharing some quick tips, tricks and resources on what I find easy to use when prepping freezer meals. Some of these things are for convenience. Some are necessary and some are just nice to have. It is my hope that these tips and suggestions will help you along your way to making freezer meals a regular part of your meal prep strategy.

As you may know, I am preparing to have surgery at the end of this month. With that in mind I am going to be prepping a lot of freezer meals that can be used while I am recovering from said surgery. To make this easy on my family who are virtually all adults, I want to have everything available to make it easy to throw a meal into the slow cooker or pressure cooker or into the oven. Aside from making a vegetable/ salad or some noodles rice or potatoes, the main course will be ready to go with ease of preparation. This is not just something that I use when getting ready for a life event. This is a way of life for us.

Having a number of freezer meals at the ready makes life very easy. Even for me, who works from home. I often get to the end of a busy day and have neglected to thaw meat for a main course or altogether did not think about what to make for dinner. Having a tub of meatballs in sauce or a large container of homemade soup, stew or chili in the freezer can make the difference between eating something not so great to having a meal that is super satisfying and delicious.

Another benefit of having a number of freezer meals on hand is that you always have something on hand to share in the event that you need to feed a family from church or a neighbor who has had a baby or a trip to the hospital or a loss in their family. Pop that in the oven or the slow cooker and you will always have something to share that is warm and comforting. I love this part the best, because feeding people helps to feed my soul and make my heart happy.

The basics are plastic bags, gallon and quart size either disposable or reusable, which I think are a great idea if you plan to keep making freezer meals because then you are not tossing so much waste in the trash. Foil pans are a convenience for me and I always have them. You can always line your regular casserole dishes with foil, plastic and parchment and freeze till solid then pop the casserole out for storing and pop back into the same pan when cooking. I will always have foil pans in the house. I buy them from a restaurant supply and they are pennies per unit. I like to have casserole size large loaf size and small loaf size as well as round. All with lids of their own and this makes it extra easy to stack and store.

I love to have the bag holders I shared because they are literally an extra set of hands. They are about $12 for a set of 6 and worth it to me. You can purchase them individually as well if you don't think you will use six of them.

Foil and parchment are next on the list. These are a must if you did not get pans or containers with lids. The parchment is something I always put on top of the food directly before covering with foil. This helps with leaching in the event that my dish has a high acid content like tomato sauce. These all help with storage and avoiding freezer burn. Another great tip is to get some 2 gallon zip lock bags and place your 9x13 casseroles in them for longer term freshness. You can also wrap the sealed casserole in some plastic wrap as well.

My last tip is about labeling! You always want to label! Because you will forget! LIfe happens and spaghetti sauce and chili look the same. Use a sharpie or other permanent marker to write directly on the plastic bag or foil lid what the item is, the date it was made and the reheating instructions. This will make your work and your inventory much easier to deal with! I like to take things a step further and use printer labels in the 2"x4" size and print the information the stick on the bag or foil lid then cover with a couple pieces of packing tape. This helps to keep the label waterproof and helps to keep things adhered.

That sums it up! I hope you learned something and I hope it helped!

Happy Eating!

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