CHatting with Charity ~ 31

Good Morning!  So how many of you have made your tried and true recipe list and planned out your month on a calendar?  I hope you have and that it is helping to make dinner time a little more simple!  If not, don't fear, you can do it!  You just need to take the first small step! I hope today's tip is as life changing ;-) for you as it was for me! 
One year our family had the GREAT pleasure of spending almost a month in a travel trailer.  We spent a week and a half in the mountains came home for a week and then spent a week and a half at the beach, it was wonderful.  Before both trips I had premade and froze as much food as possible for our family to help keep us from eating out and so that we did not get sick of hot dogs and hamburgers!  It was a wonderful three weeks with very little cooking by me but plenty of home cooked meals.  One night towards the end I realized how easy it had made life and wondered why I hadn't been doing this at home.  Well, let me tell you, I did start doing it at home and it did make my life easier.  Did you know you can make ahead and freeze almost anything?  If they sell it in the frozen food section at the grocery store, you can make it ahead and freeze it yourself!
Here are a few tips to keep in mind
1. Stock up on freezer bags and disposable pans
2.  Always make double of what you are cooking and freeze the extra
3.  Most soups freeze wonderfully if you leave the noodles out.  Just add them when you are heating it to serve
4.  Lots of pasta dishes can be frozen before you bake, such as homemade macaroni and cheese and lasagna
5.  Homemade baked good freeze well
Just this week we have used two freezer meals.  The first was spaghetti sauce with Italian sausage, all I had to do was heat it up while I cooked the pasta.  The second was chicken enchiladas, I let them thaw, baked them, made a quick sauce, and dinner was served.  It made a crazy week feel a little more normal because we were still having a normal dinner routine. 
 Colossians 3:17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
Are freezer meals a normal part of your dinner routine?

Charity