I used to rely pretty heavily on packaged prepared foods. Not microwave meals, per se (although I’ll admit I’ve eaten a fair few of those in my day as well), but mostly pre-made components that I would incorporate into my meals. Over time I realized just how much money I was spending on things that I could easily make myself, and in most cases could make better.
I still love the convenience of pulling something out of the freezer, though. That’s where the allure lies, in the comfort of knowing that in the fridge is a meal, or at least a good head-start, for those days when spending hours in the kitchen doesn’t sound quite as relaxing as sitting down with a beer. Of course, there’s always tofu and tempeh to make for a quick fix, but I don’t think The Brit would last very long on tofu and tempeh every day. That’s why I make double, triple and even quadruple batches of staples, and put the extras in the freezer. I don’t really know why it took me so long to figure that one out, actually.
It means that some days I can throw together a meal of burgers from the freezer, homemade buns (that I made at the same time as our sandwich bread), oven chips (fries) and a quick homemade coleslaw in about 20 minutes, and still feel good about it.
That lettuce from the farmers market was the best lettuce ever.
We could probably get about two weeks worth of dinners out of our freezer at the moment – I have pizza dough, chickpea cutlets, chicken-style seitan, chopped bbq seitan, apple-sage sausages, veggie ‘meatloaf’ and homemade burgers, all of which I made. It’s a better feeling to me than just having some Boca burgers and a frozen pizza to come to the rescue on those desperate days, and makes meal planning and cooking throughout the week much easier.
That’s why I love my freezer. I hope you’re getting the most out of your freezer, too.
