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Does Your Freezer Save You Time or Money?

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The freezers in our homes are often forgettable until they break, destroying the food inside. Did you know that your freezer can be a huge asset to your diet, meal preparation and food budget?

Freezer meals help my family survive breakfast, lunch and dinner on a regular basis. Some may argue that freezer foods do not taste as good as fresh foods. While this is likely true, if food is frozen properly, it can serve as tasty food to help with daily life.

Typical foods that are great to freeze are breakfast meats, breakfast sandwiches and homemade muffins. If you ever shop at a big box store you may end up with a month’s worth of bacon or sausage. Excess can easily be dropped in the freezer to save for a later date to preserve its freshness and reduce the risk of unused food.

We also make homemade English muffin egg, cheese and bacon sandwiches. Although, they can picked up at any fast food restaurant, an hour of making them in the kitchen means only minute and a half in a microwave on a rushed morning. Homemade sandwiches can also be made healthier depending on the items added and can save time in traffic and in drive thru lanes. Homemade muffins are also a favorite in our home. To limit overindulgence, we freeze only enough muffins for one meal at a time.

Anytime a meal is made in our home that freezes well, a larger than needed amount is made. Half is eaten for the meal, and half is stored in the freezer for another night. A stash of soup, chili, roast or grilled chicken has saved meal time in our home on more than one occasion. For Sunday’s Super Bowl, we enjoyed wings that I had premarinated, frozen and then roasted in the oven. Not only were they healthier than deep fried ones from a restaurant but there was no traveling or wait times to purchase them. The added bonus is that cooking our own wings also saves money. A batch of 30 wings at our favorite restaurant costs us about $30, but a batch of 60 wings bought at Costco costs us $20, and they are cooked to our preference.

In our house, we enjoy certain marinated meats to eat with salads for lunches. Making a larger batch of meat while cooking for dinner allows us to place portions of meat in the freezer to use for a later healthy lunch.

What happens to your perfectly good food in your fridge when you go out of town? Most of the time it gets thrown in the trash. Every time you throw food in the trash, it is as if you are throwing away money. Freezing many of the items can save you money in the long run. Cheese, lunch meat, and left over dinner can all be frozen for another time to prevent unnecessary waste.

 

Writer Bio: Summer Bolte

 

I spend most of my time and days with my three kids, husband and dog. My kids frequently play near me as I garden, cook, DIY and volunteer. My most unusual paying job has to be feeding fruit flies in a research lab, and my most fulfilling job was being an oncology nurse for seven years.  

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