meal ready to serve when you get home from work

SomebodyElse

Sun, May 03 2009, 10:56 pm

rgk wrote:

I like a lot of these tips, but question for all of you. What do you do when you're too tired to prepare it the night before or wake up early the next morning? Thanks!

Spaghetti with cheese and marinara sauce from a jar, and frozen veggies zapped in the microwave. Ready in less than 15 minutes.

rgk

Mon, May 04 2009, 9:32 am

Thanks for the tips. ra_mom, do you freeze the raw chicken with seasonings/spices or sauce already on it, and then cook it the night you use it? Or do you put the stuff on after you take it out of the freezer? Also, how long do you cook/bake frozen chicken? Should you defrost it first? Thanks

ra_mom

Mon, May 04 2009, 11:52 am

rgk wrote:

I try to put the seasoning on the chicken, before I even freeze it- ready to bake. The sauce sometimes ends up running to the bottom this way, but it is still so tastey and delicious, so it's worthwhile.
If I am having a hard Sunday night, but need to prepare for the week, then I just clean the chicken, lay it out nicely in a 9x13 pan, cover it with foil, and freeze without any seasonings.
It works out better when it's preseasoned (time and sanity wise), but chicken layed out in a baking pan and frozen is still a huge help! You only 1-5 minutes of time spent on the seasoning, before placing it in the oven.

And I pop the chicken in the oven, while it's frozen. I just bake it for an 30 minutes. (Or an extra 15 minutes for chicken cutlets.)

Mrs Bissli

Mon, May 04 2009, 4:48 pm

rgk wrote:

I like a lot of these tips, but question for all of you. What do you do when you're too tired to prepare it the night before or wake up early the next morning? Thanks!

send my kids for late-afternoon playdates. Joking aside, my options are any combination of tuna salad/frozen sweetcorn or peas/cucumber sticks with cherry tomato/frozen veggie burgers or sausages/cheese toast or pizza toast (same as cheese toast but with pasta sauce underneath and mushroom or sweet peppers as toppings).

PinkandYellow

Thu, May 07 2009, 2:17 pm

I'm wondering about freezing the chicken in tin pans. I only use tin pans so as not to have dishes. how much wrappings/covers of tin foil do you freeze a pan with to avoid freezer burn? how do I know if food is freezer burnt? my dh is pretty paranoid about the concept of frozen burnt food

ra_mom

Thu, May 07 2009, 9:50 pm

PinkandYellow wrote:

I am really paranoid about freezer burn myself. But I learned that as long as I only prepare enough pans to last for two weeks, the chicken does not get freezer burned. Longer than that, and it probably will.

RachelEve14

Fri, May 08 2009, 3:52 am

PinkandYellow wrote:

You can also freeze in zip lock bags. Use a straw to suck out all the air and the food will last longer.