More in the Kitchen Tips

Your days are a flurry of activity, filled with business meetings and carpools and doing the family laundry.  It’s no wonder by the time 6pm rolls around, you’re ready to collapse in a chair and grope for a takeout menu. There are several ways that you can plan ahead to make life easier for yourself when it comes to preparing quick, easy, home-cooked meals for your family.

COOKING AHEAD FOR MEALS

~Spend a few hours on Sunday preparing as much as you can freeze so someone can get a meal started before you walk in the door.

~Wash and dry lettuce for the upcoming week, wrap it in paper towels, and store it in a plastic bag.

~Cut up raw vegetables for quick snacks or buy them pre-washed and ready to eat.

~Make up individual snack bags for day care or school for the whole week.

USING YOUR FREEZER

~Look in the want ads for a cheap or used second freezer for your basement or garage.

~To cut down on frozen containers, freeze soup and sauces in loaf-size baking tins, pop them out when frozen, and wrap them with plastic wrap.

~Prepare chopped onions, mushrooms, peppers, and other vegetables that you use in small amounts, freeze them in muffin tins, and store them in plastic sealed bags. Use as needed in recipes.

~Cook sauce in large batches, freeze meal-sized portions, and reheat one whenever you need it.

~Make a double or triple batch of any item you cook for dinner, and freeze the extras for dinner another night, ideally within a month or two. This works particularly well with appetizers and desserts that you can pull out whenever you have unexpected company.

~Freeze two or three dinner items before a trip to avoid unnecessary stress when you return.

Mom Central