What You Need:

2 C of pkg pancake waffle mix
Wax paper
Freezer wrap

How to Make It:

Prepare waffles as directed on the package.
Pour about 1/2 C of batter into a preheated waffle iron.
Close the lid and cook until iron stops steaming or as directed by the manufacturer of the waffle iron.
Do not raise lid during cooking time.
When waffle is finished cooking, lift lid and remove the waffle to a wire rack to cool.
Continue making waffles until all the batter has been used.
When the waffles are cooled place a piece of waxed paper on the counter. Place one waffle on the wax paper.
Place another piece of wax paper on top of the waffle. Then add another waffle.
Continue alternating wax paper and waffles until all the waffles are stacked and ending with wax paper.
Wrap tightly in freezer wrap. Freeze.
Waffles are good for up to 2 months.
To reheat place the waffles in a toaster on low setting.
You can also place waffles in an oven to reheat. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Place then directly on the oven rack and bake 3 to 5 minutes or until heated through.

What You Need:

1 pt heavy cream
1/4 C confectioners’ sugar
Food coloring
Aluminum foil
Cardboard
Freezer bags

How to Make It:

Place the cream and sugar into a large mixing bowl.
Whip together until mixture becomes very stiff.
Separate into bowls to add the food coloring.
Cover the cardboard with the aluminum foil.
Use a pastry bag with a rosette tip and pipe the mixture onto the foil.
Place in the freezer for at least 2 hours.
Rosettes need to very firm when removed to package.
Remove from freezer and store in the freezer bags.
Do this quickly so the rosettes don’t become soft.
Freeze for up to 2 months.
Use to decorate cakes, frozen pies or any other types of desserts.

What You Need:

2 lb ground chuck
Wax paper
Freezer paper
Butter or margarine

How to Make It:

Shape the ground chuck into four inch patties.
Place the wax paper on a flat surface.
Place a patty on the wax paper.
Add a piece of wax paper to the top of the patty.
Add another patty.
Continue until all the patties are stacked alternating back and forth between the patties and wax paper and being sure to end with the wax paper.
Wrap in the freezer paper and secure tightly.
Freeze for up to 2 months.
When ready to use place the butter in a skillet.
Heat on medium heat until butter is melted.
Add the patties.
Cook 7 minutes.
Flip and cook an addition 7 minutes or until as well as you like.

What You Need:

1 egg
1/2 C milk
3/4 C white bread crumbs, soft
1 1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 lb ground chuck
Aluminum foil

How to Make It:

Beat egg slightly in a large mixing bowl.
Carefully stir in the milk.
Add the breadcrumbs and mix.
Sprinkle in the salt and pepper.
Add the ground chuck and mix well with hands to completely combine.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray each cup of a muffin tin with a non stick cooking spray.
Fill each cup with the meat mixture.
Bake 30 minutes.
Remove pan from the oven and allow to cool 10 minutes.
Remove muffins from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.
Wrap each muffin tightly in aluminum foil.
Freeze for up to 2 months.
To reheat, remove muffins from freezer.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Place wrapped muffins on a cookie sheet.
Bake 30 minutes.
Unwrap and bake another 5 minutes.

What You Need:

Manicotti pasta shells
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves – minced
1/4 C olive oil
3 C cooked ham, chopped
1 C grated Parmesan cheese, divided
6 T butter
6 T all purpose flour
3 C milk
2 C shredded Swiss cheese
Freezer wrap

How to Make It:

Place the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Add the onion and garlic.
Cook until tender about 5 minutes.
Remove from the heat.
Add the ham and allow to cool for about 15 minutes.
Stir in 1/2 C of the Parmesan cheese.
Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box.
Drain and allow to cool.
Place the butter in a large saucepan over medium high heat.
Cook until butter becomes foamy looking.
Carefully stir in the flour.
Cook 3 minutes until it begins to bubble.
Be sure to stir continuously so the flour doesn’t burn.
Carefully pour in the milk.
Stir continuously until the sauce begins to thicken.
Stir in the Swiss cheese until smooth.
Place 1/4 of the cheese sauce into the ham mixture and stir.
Fill each shell with the ham mixture.
Place enough cheese sauce to cover the bottom of a large glass baking dish.
Place the shells in the cheese sauce.
Pour the rest of the cheese sauce over the top of the pasta shells.
Place in the refrigerator to cool.
Once cool wrap with the freezer wrap and freeze for up to 2 months.
When ready to cook thaw the dish overnight in the refrigerator.
Uncover and cover with the 1/2 grated Parmesan cheese.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Bake casserole for 1 hour or until heated completely through.

What You Need:

2 T lemon juice
4 C purple plums, sliced
1 C sugar
2 T quick cooking tapioca
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
Freezer pie crust for 2 crusts
2 T butter or margarine
Heavy duty aluminum foil

How to Make It:

Place the plums in a large mixing bowl.
Sprinkle with the lemon juice.
In another bowl combine the sugar, tapioca, cinnamon and nutmeg together.
Add plums to the sugar mixture.
Toss to cover plums.
Let stand 15 minutes.
Place the aluminum foil in a 9 in pie plate being sure to extend the foil about 6 in over the plate.
Fill the foil with the plum filling.
Fold the foil over the top.
Freeze for several hours or overnight.
Place more foil over the filling being sure it’s secured tightly around the filling.
Freeze for up to 6 months.
To bake remove both the crust and filling from the freezer.
Allow the crust to come to room temperature.
Roll one crust out on a floured surface to an 11 in circle.
Place the crust in the pie plate.
Fill with the filling.
Roll the second crust out to about a 10 in circle.
Dot the filling with the butter.
Place the second crust on top.
Crimp the edges being sure to cut off any extra.
Place 4 slits in the crust to release the steam.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Bake pie 45 minutes or until top is a golden brown.

What You Need:

1/2 lb ground chuck
1/2 lb ground pork
1 1/2 C shredded Swiss cheese, divided
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 small onion, chopped
1 t celery salt
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t allspice
3 C cooked rice, divided
1 (10 oz) can cream of mushroom soup
3/4 C milk
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 C grated Parmesan cheese
Aluminum foil
Freezer wrap

How to Make It:

Place the ground chuck and ground pork into a large mixing bowl.
Add the egg, onion, celery salt, nutmeg and allspice.
Sprinkle in 1/2 C of the Swiss cheese and 1 C of the cooked rice.
Mix together well with your hands.
Form into meatballs.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Place the meatballs in a large baking dish.
Bake 25 minutes or until browned.
Place meatballs in the refrigerator for fast cooling.
In a large mixing bowl combine the remaining Swiss cheese, the soup and milk.
Add the garlic, Parmesan cheese and the remaining cooked rice.
Mix all together well.
Line a baking dish with aluminum foil.
Pour the Swiss cheese mixture into the prepared baking dish.
Place the cooled meatballs into the mixture.
Cover with freezer wrap and freeze for up to 3 months.
To reheat place casserole in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Bake 45 minutes or until hot.

What You Need To Make Peachy Freezer Jam:

3 lbs peaches
2 T ginger
5 C sugar
2 pkgs (1 3/4 oz) powdered pectin
1 C cold water
4 (1 pint) freezer containers with lids

How to Make It:

Remove the pits from the peaches and peel.
Chop peaches up very fine to make about 4 C.
Place peaches in a large mixing bowl.
Add ginger and stir together.
Slowly add the sugar and mix until well combined.
Place the cold water in a small saucepan and place over medium heat.
Add the pectin.
Bring to a boil being sure to stir continuously.
When water comes to a rapid boil cook 1 minute.
Remove from heat and pour into fruit.
Stir until all is combined.
Continue to stir 4 minutes.
Pour mixture into the 1 pint freezer containers and cover with lids.
Leave standing at room temperature for 1 full day (24 hours).
Freeze for up to 6 months.
When ready to use remove from freezer and allow coming to room temperature about 1 to 2 hours.
Freezer jam will stay good in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

Busy days can lead to frustration when it comes to making dinner. Who has time to fix a meal when they don’t get home until 6pm or later? Better yet, who feels like cooking a meal after a hard day’s work? So, what’s a girl to do in order to avoid frozen dinners or worse yet, fast food? Use your weekends off to prepare all your meals for the upcoming week.

We’ve all been there at least once and if you’re like me, more times than we wish to admit. We go to the grocery store and spend a ton of money so that there will be food in the house. We then make a promise to cook each and every night since the food is already there and ready to be consumed.

But, guess what happens? I come home from work late and I am tired. Everyone else is tired from work and school and no one wants to cook. It falls on me to cook so I suggest that we order take-out food. We spend twenty or thirty dollars on food for one meal when we have a freezer full of food. Have you been there, too? Not a very good choice when we’re trying hard to save money, right?

One way I’ve found to stop this endless cycle is to pick one day on the weekend and have a cooking party. Yes, you read that right – a cooking party. I make a menu for the week and thaw out the food on Friday. Then, on Saturday morning I get to work. The kids can help me if they choose and when they do, they get a say in what we will be eating.

For your weekend cooking party, decide on the menu early. This ensures that everything needed is present and accounted for. Start with the meats. They will take the longest to cook so get that going and try to have a variety so you’re not bored with the same meats all week long.

Side dishes should be prepared, too. It seems like such a small thing to cook the main part of the meal and save the rest for later. What usually happens is no one feels like cooking anything. Avoid the drama by cooking everything at the same time.

Cooking that much food for later requires containers to hold it all. There are two ways this can be done. One way is to use containers that are large enough for each side dish and the main meat courses. Each day, take a meat and two sides out of the fridge and heat it up for dinner.

The second way gives the family a little more of a choice each day of what they want to eat. When the food cools (everything needs to cool before placing it in containers), have each person scoop what they want to eat into a serving container. Have one meat and two sides per container. In the absence of the family you can do it yourself. Label each with what is inside. During the week, everyone can pick from a variety of dinner combinations.

Each works, but it is up to you to decide which is better for your family. Cooking on the weekend saves time and money because you’ll be less tempted to go out when you’re tired from working all day. Not to mention, for once you’re sure to use the leftovers!

If your food makes more meals than you could eat in a week, freeze several of them for another time. Simply thaw each meal the day you plan to serve it. Yes, you will have to make an investment in dinner size containers, but it pays off the more you use them. Once you see how much stress you relieve and healthier your family is eating it will be well worth the initial cost.

Chicken is routinely eaten at evening mealtime in American households. We each have our favorite ways of preparing it. When cooking a whole chicken, you can do wonders with what you don’t eat for dinner. Here are some ways to make that roasted chicken appealing to the family.

Learn to slice a whole chicken. Slicing one properly makes it easier to remove the rest of the meat from the bone. The skeleton can be used to create broth. Boil it in some water until the rest of the meat falls off.

You can season the broth with herbs and spices. After it cools, pour it into jars for storage. You’ll be able to keep the broth for a few weeks. Use it to flavor soups and casseroles.

Do your kids carry their lunches to school? Instead of buying lunch meat, slice leftover chicken breast for sandwiches. It will be a nice change from the usual lunch fare.

On the weekends, instead of ordering a pizza or going to McDonald’s, use that chicken. Cube a few pieces to toss on top of a salad with some cheese and croutons. Combine with peppers and onions in a skillet to make filling for fajitas or soft tacos.

Does your family like chicken pot pie? Add some of that chicken, along with vegetables (canned or frozen) and a can of creamed soup to a pie crust and you’ve got an instant dinner that takes less than an hour to prepare. It is a quick meal idea perfect for busy families. A salad on the side will make a complete and healthy dinner.

Chicken based casseroles can be made and frozen for future meals. The family may be all “chickened out” for the week, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make the most of the chicken you have left for future weeks.

Do you still have more chicken? Well let’s keep going with more ideas. Hey, our mothers and grandmothers learned to use chicken in many ways and so can we. What tastes the best when you have a cold and are feeling under the weather? Why, chicken noodle soup of course.

Don’t settle for canned soup with small noodles. Make your own soup with juicy chicken pieces and wide egg noodles. That broth you jarred up will serve as a nice base and best of all it is already seasoned.

Add wide egg noodles and sliced vegetables like carrots, celery, and onions to your soup. When the noodles are tender, add the chicken. Since it is already cooked it just needs to warn up. Ladle up a bowl for the sick and the healthy as a light weekend lunch.

What are you doing with your chicken after dinner tonight? Try some of these ideas to make that chicken do double and triple duty to save on your family’s grocery bill. The best part is that the new meals are just as tasty as the original dish.