Cooking Tip#8
Cooking Ahead of Time – Ready Made Meals in Minutes
In addition to meal planning simply having meals that are already cooked will make life SO much easier during the week, especially if you work outside of the home.
I commute to work, so on weeks when I’m able to make 2 or 3 meals ahead of time, our evenings are much more relaxing because we’ve saved nearly an hour or more of prep & clean up time.
My favorite way to make meals ahead of time is to use 2-3 slow cookers on Sunday to prepare at least 3 different one pot meals. You simply place all the ingredients in the slow cookers, let them go for 3-4 hours on high. I love that I can get other things done around the house while the meals are cooking and then when they are finished I can simply place them in serving size containers for lunches or in large containers for weeknight meals.
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| Image Source - Dollar Store Mom |
Here are several links for recipes that teach you how to make instant “freezer” slow cooker meals. You pre-chop, pre-dice all the ingredients for a given meal and place it in a freezer ziplock bag. Then whenever you need slow cooker meals, you just pour the frozen prepared ingredients into the slow cooker and go.
- Full Monthly Menus from "Once a Month Mom" -- A WHOLE month's worth of meals with complete recipes and instructions on how to make freezer meals.
- Gluten Free Recipes for the Freezer from Angela's Kitchen -- more complete menu ideas with full recipes and shopping lists!
- 5 Easy Gluten Free Freezer Meals from I'm A Celiac -- A nice mix of 5 easy, family friendly recipes including beef, chicken, sausage, and pork chops all rolled into one easy, printable post!
- Making 50 Freezer Meals in One Day -- Not specifically gluten free, but a good introduction to freezer cooking!
Reader’s Tip of the Day:
“Taste as you go...and always, always, ALWAYS taste before serving the meal! It might sound like a no-brainer to some people, but the concept was foreign to me until i started watching a lot of Food Network a couple of years ago. I uses to just cross my fingers and HOPE it was good, without taking the time to check flavor, add seasonings, etc. This one simple thing revolutionized my cooking”. – Courtney M.G
Please visit each topic in "10 Days of Gluten Free"
From: May 7th - May 18th
- Getting Started - Linda @ The Gluten-Free Homemaker
- Resources – Wendy @ Celiacs in the House
- Traveling – Karen @ Gluten-Free Travel Blog
- Eating Out – Heather @ Gluten-Free Cat
- Frugal Tips – Janelle @ Gluten Freely Frugal
- Baking – Jules @ Jules Gluten Free
- Kids – Lynn @ Lynn’s Recipe Adventures
- Lunch Boxes – Tessa @ Tessa the Domestic Diva
- Shopping – Laura @ Gluten Free Pantry
10 Days Gluten Free GIVEAWAY!
Included with this awesome series is a giveaway on each blog once the two weeks are over! I will be giving away a brand new copy of Carol Fenster's cookbook, "100 Best Gluten-Free Recipes." This is one of my FAVORITE gluten free cookbooks with an awesome collection of Carol's absolute best recipes.
The Giveaway Nitty Gritty:
- This giveaway is limited to U.S. residents 18 and older.
- You are allowed one entry per "10 Days of Gluten Free" blog post for a total of 10 entries on this blog.
- Enter by leaving a comment (WITH an email address to contact you) on this post (and other 10 Days of GF posts).
- The giveaway begins May 7, 2012 and ends at 11:59 pm eastern time on May 18, 2012.
- No purchase is necessary.
- Odds of winning are based on the number of entries.
- The winner will be randomly chosen and will be contacted by email.
- The winner will have 48 hours to respond. If the winner does not respond, a new winner will be randomly chosen
