Photo by Teodora Valicu
I’m hungry, and I just made a startling discovery. I looked in my freezer, and I’m all out of convenience foods. You see, I keep convenience foods on hand because they’re….well, they’re convenient. They’re just the thing for a late-night snack, or the noon-blues (that’s what I call it when I can’t think of what to serve for lunch), or a lunch on-the-go. I can hear you now. You’re all, what is she talking about? That food at the store is expensive and unhealthy! That’s right, it is. But it’s convenient. That’s why it sells so well. I do have a healthier, cheaper option though.
I make my own.
It doesn’t have to be expensive. It doesn’t have to be time consuming. By the end of the week (I will do a big grocery trip after the first) I will have home-made hot pockets, home made burritos, soup, individual servings of pasta, egg sandwiches, and other things that I am not thinking of. This is how I do it.
- I plan. I will start making my menu and grocery list tomorrow. I will include my meals plus extra so that I can freeze individual portions. When I make my menu, I will try to make things that can be easily doubled and frozen. Think burritos, spaghetti, cabbage pockets, casseroles, soup, etc.
- When I go shopping, I will be sure to buy enough to make several more servings than usual.
- When I cook, I will make enough to feed my small family, and then I will also make extra servings for the freezer. This doesn’t take a whole lot of extra time, and I find that it is easier to do it this way than set aside a whole day or even afternoon for making special things.
- As I have the extra done, I will wrap it well, label it, and then freeze it.
This method has saved me from ordering out or running to the store more than once. When I do this, I try to make enough over a week’s time to last four to six weeks. We like it because we don’t really have to stop what we are doing just to fix and eat lunch. It is very easy to pop whatever it is in the microwave and serve it with fresh fruit and veggies. Have I mentioned how cost effective it is? I feel a homemade vs. store bought post coming on! But not right now. Right now, I am going to scrounge through the kitchen to find something quick and edible.
Well, you all have my ideas for convenience food. What are yours?
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I do this with waffles and pancakes. I always make extra (often the large batch of pancakes) and then freeze them flat in the freezer in a zip lock. Then, all I need to do is pop them in the microwave (pancakes) or toaster (waffles). My kids could polish off a package of Eggo waffles in the blink of an eye!
I’d love to hear some of the recipes you use!
That’s a seriously good idea. Do you put any wax paper or anything between them when you freeze them? That would make mornings extra-super-fast around here. Oh, and stay tuned for the recipies.
we do the pre-made egg sandwiches at my house. those things are awesome, and so easy to make. prep day is a little lenthy depending on the extent of the super-snacks, but so worth it!
I do this too with burritos and big batches of spaghetti sauce, soup, or beans. Lately I’ve been experimenting with homemade veggie burgers and freezing the extras. Thanks for reminding me about homemade hot pockets–we made those several times, years ago, but got out of the habit somehow. I like the idea of freezing individual spaghetti portions, too–spaghetti is my favorite food!
I also like to make 4 loaves at a time (that’s how many loaf pans we have!) of Raisin Bran Bread or other quick breads: 1 to eat right away, 1 for the fridge to eat soon, and 2 to freeze. They’re nice to have in summer when it’s too hot to bake.
One of my favorite convenience foods is kale chopped and frozen in small bags. It thaws quickly and works well in many different meals. I also freeze other vegetables when they’re in season so that we spend less to eat those same veggies in the winter.
You can save even more money on homemade frozen foods if you wash and reuse freezer bags!
I would love to know some of your convenience recipes…
LIB
I’ll be sure to take pictures and post some of those recipies as I make them