Freezer Meals: a timesaving trend for busy families
The freezer meal is a cooking trend that many busy families are trying out. Friends often organize get togethers where they chop, dice and prep upwards of 10 family meals in just a few hours. The meals are then packaged into freezer safe containers and labeled appropriately so whenever an easy meal is needed, it is there to throw in the crock pot, oven, or skillet. The necessary oil and spices are frozen along with the meat and veggies, so really not much thought has to go into the cooking. This has proven to also be cost effective, since you can buy in bulk which is often cheaper. There are many resources on the internet to get you started with freezer meals as well as companies that guide you through the process of meal prep while marketing their products.
Amy Harper, is a local personal chef known as the “Fresh Chef.” She prepares and delivers healthy and creative meals to her clients from New Tampa into Spring Hill. With four children and a career, making dinner for her family became a daunting task.
“At the end of the day after I am done cooking for my clients, I have to go home and cook for my family. A lot of times they are disappointed because this gourmet chef ends up preparing hamburger helper or something similar because it’s quick and easy,” Amy said.
Amy found a company that will help her not only spend more time with her family but also provide healthy meals.
“One of the great things I love about Wildtree is they offer the Frozen Meal Workshops, and in about an hour and half’s time, I can prep 10 meals. I don’t have to worry about what’s for dinner.”
Amy hosted a Wildtree Workshop at the Head and Heel Ranch in Brooksville on a rainy Sunday afternoon. The kit to create delicious family meals had been set at the tables. A counter was showcasing some great tasting tacos as well as other items created using the Wildtree products which gave everyone the opportunity to try these tasty meal additions.
Before the workshop, participants had selected a recipe from the website that they would like to prepare, and then they are sent an email of their grocery list of items they needed to create the meal. All they needed to purchase was the protein (meats) and the suggested vegetables, all the oil to seasoning was available for them to prep in their freezer bags.
“You shop for the proteins and produce on the provided shopping list (you can give the meat list to the butcher and he will cut your meats accordingly saving more time) the price per serving breaks down to approximately $5 and each meal makes 4-6 servings which can be stored in smaller portions according to family size. The kit includes enough ingredients to make the workshop twice or to use in the thousands of recipes on the Wildtree website. It’s a great value both nutritionally and economically allowing families to eat healthy, conveniently, while staying on budget by planning ahead,” Amy explained.
For more information about this workshop contact Amy Harper @ 352-263-6038 Email: orders@flfreshchef.com
If you prefer to use your own spices and ingredients, there are numerous resources on the web to provide recipes and guidance on preparing freezer meals. Here are just a few:
http://www.stockpilingmoms.com/2014/02/20-freezer-meals-in-4-hours/
http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/2014/05/12/ten-freezer-meals-in-one-hour/
With the number of websites out there with suggestions on prepping freezer meals, you could easily have a new freezer meal each day for a year! So if you are a social cooker, get some friends together, grab your ziplocs or pyrex and start chopping, dicing and filling up your freezer.