Save Dinner with Meals You Can Freeze

We all want to feed our families a nice home-cooked meal but we often lack the time (and energy) to make that happen at the end of the day. All too often, the answer to the dinner dilemma is to pick up something quick and easy at the drive thru.

Making meals you can freeze is the answer to your dinner dilemma. This cooking method allows you to put a delicious dinner on the table every night with very little effort at supper time. Do this once and you will be a convert for life!

Imagine coming home every day to a meal that is nutritious and wholesome. It can be your reality if you take a bit of time to make meals you can freeze ahead of time.

Often called once a month cooking or batch cooking, making meals you can freeze is a method many busy cooks take advantage of.

As more and more people learn the benefits of making meals you can freeze, "meal assembly" kitchens have popped up all over the United States. At a meal assembly establishment, you go to their store and use their recipes to package meals to take home and store in your freezer. The meals you make at the assembly stores are easy and quick... and expensive.

The benefit of going to a meal assembly kitchen is that they supply the recipes that have been tested and work well for storage in the freezer.

What you should know is that you can EASILY make your own freezer meals at home. Simply use a great cookbook that details how to make your own freezer meals and gives you the recipes that work. It really is that simple.

Skip the meal assembly stores - you can do this at home for a fraction of the price!

Making meals you can freeze really is quite simple and is a great way to cut your grocery budget down to size.

First you will need to know what you're going to cook. Collect recipes for meals that others have successfully tried to freeze. It's important to know which meals freeze well and which ones don't.

A good "freezer cookbook" is a great place to start. Freezer cookbooks not only detail what to cook, they also give other helpful tips (such as the best container to freeze the meal in and how to make the most of your planning).

After you have your meal plan in place, it's off to get your supplies. Again, a freezer cookbook will give you lots of good advice here. You will need to do a grocery shopping trip and may want to make a stop at a discount store to buy some the containers you want to use (whether it's reusable plastic or zipper bags or foil/wrap).

You don't need any special tools or devices in the kitchen- just the basic kitchen supplies. You will need some freezer space, some pots and pans, and some freezer containers. That's about it.

Chicken With Artichokes and Sun Dried Tomatoes:

This recipes goes together quite easily. It is fast to prepare and quick to cook. Be sure to defrost in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours before you plan to cook it. After it's fully thawed it cooks up in just 30 minutes.

Serve with bow tie pasta and a great loaf of bread for a meal your family will ask for again and again!

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
15 oz. jar/can artichoke hearts
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil (or a jarred bruschetta mix)
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 bottle of bottled Italian salad dressing

Wash chicken pieces and pat dry. Combine all ingredients in a freezer container (I used a large freezer zipper bag).

Freeze.

Thaw (in the fridge) for 24-48 hours. Pour all ingredients into a baking dish. Bake (uncovered) at 350 for about 30 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in the middle. Serve over cooked pasta.