You and Your Freezer Should Spend Some More Time Together

You and Your Freezer Should Spend Some More Time Together

In an earlier post I talked about the importance of having a chest freezer around and how you should cook things in advance and save them in meal sized containers.  Well as it turns out there are people out there on the Web who’ve written quite extensively about how this should best be accomplished.  So, I thought I’d provide a few helpful links to people who might be interested in getting the most out of their freezer.

•   Freezer Meal Recipes Master List - This is absolutely incredible!  The recipes are broken down by category (chicken, pork, fish etc).  There is information on techniques, and as a bonus, there is even a section on which foods don’t freeze well.
•   Freezer Tips from the Hillbilly Housewife – Some nice ideas for a whole range of frugal make-ahead meals.
•   The Frugal Freezer Mom – Yep, an entire blog devoted to make-ahead meals and using your freezer to improve your lifestyle.
•   Frugal Families has a very nice collection of tips and recipes for make-ahead deep freeze meals.
•   Low Cost Living – is a site from the UK with some great recipes that go a bit beyond the usual lasagna and chili dishes.  Here you’ll find recipes for onion bhajis and butternut squash soup.  It’s great to see a little culinary adventure out there!

So, it’s not just me.  The deep freeze is a fabulous tool for saving your household time and money.

Making Your Favorite Take-out Food At Home: Eggplant in Hot Garlic Sauce

Making Your Favorite Take-out Food At Home:  Eggplant in Hot Garlic Sauce

This is a Chinese take-out dish that I have loved for years, and I was very surprised to find that it’s a pretty easy meal to make at home.  The secret is in the little jar of Lee Kum Kee Spicy Garlic Sauce. Lee Kum Kee is sort of the Chef Boyardee of Chinese food – in the same way that Patak’s is the Chef Boyardee of Indian food.  In actual fact both brands are far better than the Chef.

Anyway the recipe is pretty easy. 

Ingredients:

8 ounce jar of Kum Kee Spicy Garlic Sauce

½ pound of ground chicken/pork/beef/turkey/soyburger

5 Chinese eggplants (the long purple ones)

1 small onion

1 cup chopped white mushrooms

In a large saucepan fry up half a pound of ground pork/beef/turkey/chicken.  The original recipe calls for pork, but any ground meat will do.  Vegans may want to substitute soyburger. 

Throw in one small chopped onion and a cup of chopped mushrooms

Chop up five Chinese eggplants and put them in a large covered Corningware container.  Nuke for 5 minutes on high or until soft.  Transfer to the large saucepan with the ground meat, mushrooms and onions.

Mix in half the jar (4 ozs) of Lee Kum Kim Spicy Garlic Sauce and let simmer for a couple of minutes.

Then serve with rice.  This is 2-4 servings depending on whether it’s the main course or a side dish.

Making Your Favorite Takeout Food at Home: Mango Salad

Making Your Favorite Takeout Food at Home: Mango Salad

There are plenty of recipes out there already, but I thought it might be nice to contribute a few for those dishes that we normally either go out for, or order in. 

When I really started to make an effort to economize it was cutting out the take-out Thai and Chinese food that really hurt the most.  So I decided to learn how to make some of my favorite take-out food, and it really wasn’t that hard.

So, I just finished making a batch of mango salad. Whenever I ordered in Thai food it would always include mango salad.  If the response is good, I might be persuaded to provide you with my recipe for coconut tom yum.

Mango salad:

take two red mangoes, peel and cut them into spears

add one small thinly sliced red onion 

add a cup of cilantro leaves

and half a cup of chopped peanuts (or a cup if you like)

Mix together in a good sized bowl, I usually use a corningware container with a lid.

The dressing for the salad is made from:

2 tablespoons of lime juice

2 teaspoons of brown sugar

1 teaspoon of vegetable oil

a dash of fish sauce (or soy sauce or worcestershire sauce, depending on what you've got hanging around).

Pour on the dressing and give it a stir. 

This will make 4-6 servings and it will keep for a day or 2 in the fridge

In Praise of the Lowly Chest Freezer

In Praise of the Lowly Chest Freezer

It’s hard to imagine an appliance that has the same economic benefits of a chest freezer.  I like chest freezers because they can come in some very small sizes – sometimes under 2 cubic feet.  At that size they can fit on the counter of your kitchen.  That means that you don’t have to own a traditional house with a basement or laundry room to enjoy the savings that this unassuming white box can provide you.

And we’re not going to fill it up with frozen pizzas or any kind of microwaveable meals, no sir.  We’re going to fill it with meat, bread, bagels and frozen vegetables that we purchased on sale.  We’re going to buy several yards of sausage at sale prices, take them home, cook them all, then put 3 or 4 each in baggies to freeze.  And we’ll do the same with those chicken thighs that we found on sale.  We’re going to make a football field sized lasagne then cut it into individual servings and put them in generic plastic food storage containers.  Then we’ll make a rain barrel full of chilli and do the same thing.  So, there’s no need to call for delivery or pick-up drive-through, you already have a chest full of fast-food.

If you live alone, a chest freezer can help you save money and eat healthier.  When I lived alone I found that eating vegetables was difficult because they were always going bad in my fridge.  Access to a good sized deep freeze means that you‘ll never have to worry about your vegetables going bad ever again.

You can get a medium sized chest freezer for around $150.   At that price you’ll probably find that it’ll pay for itself in grocery savings in 3-6 months.   You’ll also enjoy the benefits of lower grocery bills and fewer grocery excursions. 

So, while you might not be cool, at least you can always be chillin’.