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9 Freezer Meal Tips and Tricks For Busy Parents

Overwhelmed by meal prepping for your family? Don’t be!  Below, I’ve given you some tips and tricks for making easy freezer meals that will be perfect for your family.

Set Aside A Day To Shop

Give yourself a day to shop for the ingredients you’ll need for your freezer meals.  Don’t try to shop and prepare all in one day.  The goal is to make your life easier, not more hectic.  Take a list of ingredients that you’ll need and buy in bulk when you can.  This will save you time and also the effort of having to restock items in the long run.  Of course, some fresh items like vegetables will not keep for months on end. Try to shop in bulk for items that have a long shelf life.  Items like meat can also be bought in large quantities and then frozen.

Buy Items That Are On Sale In Bulk

Keep an eye out for when items are on sale and then stock up big time.  This will not only save you money, but it will also save you time in the long run.  Think how easy it will be to grab a pound of ground meat out of your freezer instead of running to the store.  I like buying dried items liked rolled oats in large quantities.

Freeze Individual Servings in Muffin Tins

A simple way to freeze items in serving sizes is to use a muffin tin pan.  Most serving sizes are about half the size of your fist.  That is also about the size of a muffin tin.  Simply make large quantities of food items like soup and then ladle the soup into a muffin tin and freeze. When frozen, take out of the muffin tin and place into freezer bags, and presto, you have individual servings of soup.  This little trick can also work for food items like lasagna and casseroles.

Print Directions On Mailing Labels

If you have a mailing label system on your computer, you can use it to label your freezer bag meals.  If you don’t have a label program, then simply print out the name of the freezer meal, then copy and paste the item on a document for as many freezer bags of that meal that you made.  If you are not using a mailing label, cut with scissors and use clear tape to place labels on bags.  Think how organized it will look in your freezer.

Double The Recipes Every Time You Cook

One of the most efficient ways to lessen your meal preparation time is to double recipes and then freeze the extra. Then you can eat your meal and have another meal prepared for another night.

Lay Freezer Meals Flat To Save Space

By laying freezer bags flat, you will save a lot of space in your freezer.  It also makes it easier to see all of your meal options.  You can even place the labels on the bottom end of the bag facing outward so that you can see at a glance all of your freezer meal options every time you open your freezer.

Recruit Extra Hands To Help Prepare Freezer Meals

I know a family of 9 that makes freezer meals together every weekend.  One of their most popular items is to make lots of breakfast burritos that they freeze and then heat up each morning.  It makes it easier for the family to do breakfast this way and it’s a healthy option too.  Think of recruiting your spouse, kids, or friends to help you prepare freezer meals.  Some people like to throw a freezer meal party.  The more help, the faster the process will go. It can also be a lot of fun to get together and prepare meals.

Put The Meat in the Bag Last For Crock Pot Meals

When preparing crock pot meals, many people like to give the meat a jump start to cook before adding veggies and such.  By placing the meat in the freezer bag last, you can reach in and get it out first when it’s time to cook it.  This small trick saves on cleaning off your counter.

Poke Holes in Meat To Allow Marinade To Enter

Want your meat to be flavorful throughout? Want to spend less time waiting for it to thaw? Then this trick is perfect for your family. Simply poke holes in the meat before you cook it after you take it out of the freezer bag. This is a straightforward trick to make your meat taste flavorful all the way through.

Final Thoughts

Freezer meals can make meal preparation so much easier.  It can also be a fun task.  Try to involve your whole family or ask some friends to come over and help you.  Divide up the expenses, and everyone goes home with lots of freezer meals.  It beats playing cards or a board game in my opinion.  I hope that these little tips and tricks inspired you to try some freezer meal preparations of your own.

 

 

 

 

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