Cook for a day, eat for a month: A handful of recipes and a freezer add up to more "freeper "time

newsobserver.com via newsmax ^ | Wednesday, October 17, 2001 | SUSAN HOUSTON

[callisto]

I thought a few freepers might like this idea....It allows for more time on FR without forgetting about the family.... but how am I going to be offline long enough to cook this many meals?...hmmmm.

[anniegetyourgun]

I've always admired such domestic planners, as I decide that day what I'll need to cook for dinner. Perhaps I'll get to this point someday. However, it probably won't happen 'til my kids are grown and gone. Then my husband won't want to eat anything out of the freezer.

[MoJo2001]

Thank you so much!! This is awesome!! I do hate cooking meals all the time, but I do love for my family to eat. So? I"ve gotta cook!LOL! Or, the hubby grills for the rest of his life!LOL!

[Tijeras_Slim]

Don't these people know how to open cans and use a microwave? Pantry to plate in 90 seconds. Of course there will never be a Cooking with Tijeras Slim Show...

[Luke FReeman]

Thanks for the post!

This could be the "ticket"! (as in 'meal ticket')

FRegards! without the FReezer burn!

[winodog]

Sounds great to me. Where can I hire one of these cooks?

[JRandomFreeper]

Ok, call me stupid, but I cook my family a home-made meal every night. I use mainly fresh ingredients, and shop every 3rd day. What we eat depends on what was on sale with the best quality. Wife and I both work, but we still have time for everything. Do these people watch too much TV or what? Where is their time?

/john

[Wright is right!]

"(Lanier stores some of her meals in the freezer of an extra refrigerator in the garage.")

Freepers with extra fridges or freezers in unheated garages need to beware of a caveat. During extremely COLD weather, the heat exchange between the fridge/freezer and the surrounding cold air is actually TOO fast, and the fridge/freezer compressor doesn't like it and will stop running. And, depending on the model, it won't try to restart itself, either, once the air warms up. This can cause a loss of everything you've got stashed in that garage fridge/freezer.

What happens is that the compressor runs to remove heat from inside the fridge and force it into the ambient air in the garage. When the heat exchange is too rapid, the compressor thinks it has no work to do - and stops. Admittedly, this is probably a problem only on older fridges (which our garage model is) and protection circuitry is likely to be present on newer models. Further, many people buy freezer-only models EXPRESSLY to put in the garage, so they are likely to have protection/restart cycling circuity.

But if you do recycle an old working fridge by putting it in the garage, be aware that when outside temps get down to around 5-10 degress F. for an extended period of time, be watchful of what your garage fridge is doing. Fortunately, a restart is simple. Unplug for a few minutes. Plug back in. Compressor should start up again.

This happened to us a couple of winters back, so forewarned is forearmed.

Michael

[callisto]

If you were to ask my husband he would say "She's on the computer, again....Arggghhh!!!

I give my family one delivery night per week(usually pizza). I love to cook, especially with fresh veggies and fruits, but in wintertime I love to make HUGE pots of soups, stews, and sauces and freezing portion-size containers makes feeding everyone a cinch when they're in a hurry.

[Alas]

Can you spare a bit of that time for your country? Are you a vet?

US Military vets needed

[gulfcoast6]

Since my wife died, I can really put my all into cooking and like to do it. My daughter and her family get all they want. Thank goodness for crockpots.

[basil]

It wouldn't work for my family--I can't imagine how awful black-eyed peas, okra, and cornbread would be if it came from the freezer-LOL! And BTW, how on earth someone can call something "barbecue sauce" when the main ingredient is ketchup is beyond me.

After preparing meals for a family of seven for about 20 years, I find it much harder to cook for only two, now that the kids are grown and gone.

[Poseidon]

I think I would further caveat this by saying that the load you're going to put on your freezer with this bulk cooking/freezing is going to be tremendous and anything that you have in the freezer already runs the risk of being thawed...

[TontoKowalski]

Do these people watch too much TV or what? Where is their time?

We don't do this, but this is a popular method for a lot of homeschooling families I know.

[eureka!]

Thanks for the post. Maybe FR needs a "Culinary" category of posts. In any event, flagged to print for the missus--Though I do a lot of grill cooking-tonite some of the best burgers in the world...

[JessicaDragonet]

There is one thing I do a lot. I love mashed=creamed potatoes...so when I'm cooking, I try to cook more than needed so I can have some handy when I don't have time to make them. Tastes just like the freshly made ones.

[Gabz]

The last step of cooking day may be surprising, but it's a recommendation in the book that Lanier always follows. That night, with a month's supply of dinners in storage, the family goes out to eat.

My kinda woman!!!!!

Seriously, I understand where she's coming from. After a day in the kitchen putting up food - the last thing on earth I am interested in doing is dealing with dinner. Generally, I'm not even interested in eating.

[plinker's2sense]

When those three boys become teens they'll go through that freezer food like a wildfire in a hay barn.

[callisto]

I have four close relations who are former military...my support is always there!

[callisto]

I've never cooked a barbeque sauce with ketchup, before. Sounds like something my mother would use. Yuck! It has to be made from scratch.