Day 1: Coconut shrimp, Asian slaw with ginger peanut dressing
Day 2: Broccoli soup with cheddar toasts
Day 3: Homemade pizza, Tossed salad with radish, greenhouse tomatoes, and cucumbers
Day 4: Sausage cauliflower cassoulet
Day 5: Baked honey mustard salmon, Sauteed asparagus, Mashed sweet potato
Day 6: Ratatouille (from frozen supply), Corn muffins (from frozen supply)
Day 7: Quiche with seasonal veggies (ramps, mushrooms, spinach), Fruit smoothie
Notes: Busy week ahead so I’m utilizing my freezer a lot. Here are some of my tips and tricks that I used to make sure we still eat local, homecooked meals even when life gets crazy.
- Freeze your pie crust. Yeah, you could buy pre-made frozen pie crust, but it just isn’t the same and I find myself reading and rereading the ingredients every time because the companies like to slip in nasty ingredients like partially hydrogenated oils (a.k.a. trans fat), a ton of sugar, and preservatives. So instead I use Martha Stewart’s Pate Brisee recipe which is quite simple and makes two single crusts. I use half the dough for my planned supper and make a second crustless quiche for my low-carb eating husband (just pour the egg mixture into a greased pie pan). The left over dough is pressed into an aluminum pie pan that I reuse over and over, then I slip the whole thing into a gallon zipper bag that I also reuse over and over. Next time you are craving a quiche or have an impromptu brunch, you will have your very own pre-made pie crust that will cut the prep time for this dish in half. You could even double the recipe, use one crust and freeze three to set yourself up for several months.
- The double (or triple) batch and freeze method works for so many things. I do this all the time with baked goods like bread, muffins, even cookies. The muffins are a favorite because they are so easy to take straight from the freezer, heat for a few seconds in the microwave and have an easy breakfast, snack, or side dish for soup. For loaves of bread, I learned a trick from my mother-in-law to wrap them in aluminum foil first and then place in the freezer bag. The foil keeps freezer burn off the bread and can be recycled when you are done. The muffins usually don’t last long enough to spoil!
- Speaking of soups, this is one of the most common things that I freeze. A large stockpot is a must have item in my kitchen. I make soup almost every week. The combinations are endless and it is a great way to use up those veggies that are starting to get limp. I know most people like to enjoy soup in the winter, but I eat it all year round and just change up the ingredients based on what produce is available in my area at the time. I typically make a double batch and freeze half so that I have an easy weeknight meal at my fingertips. The soup freezes well in gallon zip lock bags. Take it out of the freezer the night before or place in a sink full of warm (not hot) water until it starts to thaw and then dump the contents into a stock pot and gradually warm until heated through.
- Did you know you can freeze pizza dough? My husband is now an expert at pizza dough making as he makes it from scratch almost every single Saturday. He suggests to make a double or triple batch of dough, allow it to rise, split it into 2-3 balls, then freeze what you want and put the rest in the fridge for an hour before rolling it out. He finds that it is easier to work with the dough if it is slightly chilled. For frozen dough, place in the fridge the night before you need it to allow it to thaw completely.
- What you use to freeze food makes a big difference in how successful you are at this method of food storage. You need to make sure you are freezing in containers that you can make as airtight as possible and are thick enough to avoid freezer burn on your food. My go to items are zip freezer bags. Now, I usually don’t promote plastic items, but these bags work so well and they actually can be reused over and over again until they spring a leak. Once there are holes, I then use them for storing non-food items. I’ve been using the same box of freezer bags for at least 3 years and I freeze a lot! The downside to plastic bags is that, well, they are plastic and you never want to put anything hot directly in them or heat them in the microwave or you risk toxins from the plastic leaching into your food. Now, I’m gradually adding Stasher bags and other silicone bags into my supply. These are great to freeze pizza dough, leftovers, muffins, soups, fruits, and veggies. For casseroles and other full meals, I freeze in aluminum pans.
- My last tip for freezing food is to make sure you don’t forget about anything. I try to peek in my freezer every week when I am doing my meal planning to make sure there isn’t something in there that is getting too old. I hate food waste! Today, I dug deep in my freezer and found one last ratatouille from the fall veggie harvest. You can probably find zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes from Mexico in the grocery store, however you all know by now that local and seasonal veggies are more my thing and you’re just not going to find them in Wisconsin right now (except those greenhouse cherry tomatoes). That is why finding these summer/fall veggie meals in my freezer is such a treasure right now. Check out your freezer and see if there is something in there that you forgot about that you could use this week on a busy night. Maybe a lasagna or soup? Whatever it is, freezer meals will save you loads of time.
