Last night, we were rushing around close to dinner time. We hadn’t planned what to have for dinner, so we were left with that far too familiar dilemma about what to make when it was already getting close to 6 pm.
Thanks to some pre-planning, however, we were able to have a tasty dinner in no time! I know — I just said we hadn’t planned, and now I’m saying that we planned. We hadn’t planned for dinner that night, but we were able to take advantage of the fact that I had previously purchased and browned several pounds of ground beef. I made a couple of pounds of that ground beef into sloppy joes (which I made into two different meal portions), and then I made the rest of the ground beef into taco meat. I froze all of these into meal sized portions in Ziploc bags.
So, although we hadn’t planned for dinner, we were able to quickly throw together a meal of sloppy joes thanks to some time spent after a trip to the grocery store.
Do you have any go to meals or quick tricks that help you on nights like this? Trust me — I could use them!
This post is linked to Tasty Tuesday.
photo by AZAdam
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I actually just started doing this myself. One of our favorite meals is chicken ziti and the sauce freezes beautifully.
Brown one lb ground chicken and 1 lb chicken sausage in a skillet. Add garlic, salt and pepper to taste. Add 2 jars pasta sauce and 2 bay leaves. Simmer for at least 30 minutes then serve over pasta. Half of this recipe feeds my family of 4 without a problem.
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My tip is only helpful if you have a smoker. We have an electric smoker and I love it. We can smoke two chickens at one time, and we eat one for dinner and then shred the other one and freeze it in 1.5-2 cup portions. I use the frozen chicken in soup, pot pies, salads, pasta, whatever. We all love the flavor of smoked meat. I think we paid about 200 dollars for the smoker, but it was worth every penny because it is so low-maintenance. Once you turn it on and set the temperature, all you have to do is add wood chips every 1.5 hours or so.
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I cook huge batches of rice and freeze them in ziploc bags. I also cook a big batch of steel cut oats once a week and we reheat them in the mornings.
I also just started making a large batch of beans each week and keeping them in the fridge. I want to try freezing them, too. Love the sloppy joe idea…yum!
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I keep wonton or other Chinese dumplings in the freezer. Usually, they are homemade, but sometimes I buy them. They make a quick lunch or dinner, just bring a pot of water to boil, add the dumplings, and bring to a boil again. Fast and easy (though making the dumplings can be tedious).
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I put cooked meat from turkeys or chicken I buy on sale in portioned bags in the freezer. Then, like tonight- I took out a bag and made BBQ sauce and had BBQ sandwiches for the kids and BBQ baked potatoes for us! Easy!
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