Spend More Time Enjoying Dinner and Less Time Making It

 

With a freezer — something almost all of us have — we can cook once and then eat much, much later. Preparing food in advance means spending less on dining out, ordering in or grabbing stuff at drive-thru. It also means throwing out less of the food you purchase, and having more time to spend with family! Check out these tips from Dream Dinners about how to spend less time in the kitchen and more time at the table.

 

1. Freeze… but not everything! Most things freeze beautifully, including rice, meatballs, oatmeal, quinoa, sauces, soups, breads, fruit, beans, casseroles, chili, muffins and pies. In fact, here’s a fabulous chart that gives you the maximum amount of time most foods should be frozen for. But there are some things that don’t freeze well at all. Mayonnaise, low-fat cream cheese, uncooked potatoes and lettuce all get funky in the freezer.

 

2. Plastic wrap is your best friend – Before you begin filling up baking pans and casserole dishes, line them thoroughly with plastic wrap. À la this recipe for baked pasta, once the food has frozen, simply lift up the frozen food, “remove plastic wrap, and transfer to resealable freezer bags” and then place the bags in the freezer. When you are ready to eat, slide the food out of the bag, place it onto a pan, and reheat.

 

3. Flash freeze your messy stuff – You can freeze a whole lot more than just soups and casseroles. Individual items, even messy ones like olive cheese, which would normally fuse together if frozen the traditional way, can be “flash” frozen. Think balls of cookie dough, hamburger patties, meatballs and more. Place separate pieces on baking sheets, freeze for a short time until the surface hardens, and then freeze them together with their buddies in airtight containers or freezer bags.

 

4. Use muffin tins for perfect portions – Store food in the freezer the way you will be eating it. If you plan to serve a dish to six people, that’s one thing; But if you don’t – freeze individual servings instead. Using smaller portions makes food quicker to reheat and helps you waste less food. And embrace muffin tins! They’re perfect for freezing individual portions of soup and oatmeal.

 

At Dream Dinners you can customize your meals online; they will prepare the ingredients and clean up everything for you. All you need to do is thaw a few meals from the freezer per week and cook as directed! The only thing that’s left is to enjoy the wholesome meals with your family without all the cooking stress!

 

Dream Dinners has been in Pasadena for 11 years and is located at 1274 East Colorado Boulevard. Call (626) 796-7863 or visit http://dreamdinners.com/main.php?page=store&id=80 for more details.