More On Multi-Meal Preparation...

Here are links to websites, blogs and forums that may be useful anyone interested in learning more about this topic...

Frozen Assets

Recipe Zaar

Make Ahead Meals

Friendly Freezer

I hope these are helpful!  Until next time...

                                                                Kathy

Eating Well While Spending Less Time - Multimeal Preparation

OAMC ... OAWC ... freezer meal preparation ... multi-meal preparation ... assembly cooking...What do all these terms have in common? 

1. They are all strategies used to prepare more than one meal in a single cooking session and then store the extras so they can be eaten later.  
2. They can shorten food prep time by hours to days each month.
3. Using one of these strateges can decrease transportation, grocery, and utility expenses more than you can imagine.

I generally do mult-meal preparation once each week and store between 4 and 5 meals.  I purchase enough of whatever meat is on sale and double or triple each of 1 to 2 recipes that freeze well.
A few weeks ago, I purchased two 3# bags of fresh chicken tenders.  I had 2 bottles of jamaican jerk marinade, a bottle of italian salad dressing, and the fixins for vegetable soup in the pantry.
-- From the first bag of tenders, I divided the chicken equally into 3 freezer bags, poured jerk chicken marinade over them, squeezed as much air out of each bag as I could and placed the sealed freezer bags flat in my freezer.
-- With the other bag of chicken tenders, I used a third of the chicken for chicken vegetable soup which we ate that night with cornbread.  I sauteed the rest in italian salad dressing for chicken salad dinners, divided the cooked chicken pieces in two freezer bags and placed the sealed freezer bags flat in my freezer.
--Once all the chicken meals were frozen, I turned them on end like old fashioned album covers. 
All 5 dinners took less than 30 minutes to prepare, cost less than $22.00, and used less than 2 inches of freezer space!

A Gift for You on Thanksgiving

What are you thankful for on this Thanksgiving day?  I am thankful for the abundance of blessings in my life - my family and friends, warm shelter, food to eat, good books (and blogs) to read, and the opportunity to be creative from time to time. 

Unfortunately, this Thanksgiving will likely be difficult for many families affected by our nation's recession and its outcomes in their lives - under and unemployment, financial issues related to not having enough money ranging from hunger and homelessness to not being able to celebrate the holidays in the manner to which they are accustomed. 

My gift this Thanksgiving is to share a bit of financial creativity with folks looking for ways to celebrate the holidays without adding financial stress to their lives.  

• First, go to www.bing.com and register for a Bing Cashback account.  Here's how it works...Once registered, if you shop online from this site, you will get cash back ranging from 2 up to about 20% on purchases made from stores identified directly into your paypal account. 
• Next, if you want to spend even less, go to www.couponcabin.com and search for your store and product to find coupon codes that can add to your savings.  These codes can be used to save on a specific product, any purchase from a specific store or for a discount on shipping. 

I hope this information is helpful during this holiday season!

Until next time...

Kathy